Why I Believe In A Pre-Tribulational Rapture

By Nathan Ingram

As the years of this century draw to a close, the fervor over Bible prophecy is at an all-time high. The great prophecy conferences of the early part of this century dug deep roots that manifest themselves today in many varied branches of belief.

In the midst of old criticisms and new challenges, I still hold true to my deep-seated, Bible-based view that Jesus Christ will come back to snatch His church away before the seven years of Great Tribulation comes upon the earth.

To support this view, I offer five propositions, supported with scripture, for consideration. I offer these propositions to challenge the mind of the premillenial Bible student as to the validity of the pretribulational rapture of the Church. My words shall be few, and are by no means exhaustive. I invite you to examine God’s word and be encouraged as we await the blessed hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The prophetic blueprint of 70 weeks given to us in Daniel 9 summarizes the future of the nation of Israel. The periods mentioned in Daniel 9 are weeks of years (7 year time periods). In Daniel 9:25, we are told that from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah, there will be 69 weeks (or 483 years).

We know this to be true in history. The text goes on to say that after that 69th week, Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. This is a prediction of the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ by His own. The next week the text describes is the tribulation week (7 years) which is split in half (3-½ years of peace and 3-½ years of hardship) and is described in great detail in the book of Revelation.

The seventieth week of Daniel, the tribulation period, is “decreed for your people and your holy city (Dan. 9:24),” that is, Israel and Jerusalem—not the Church. It is immediately obvious that the prophecy skips the nearly 2000 years of Church history and moves directly from the cutting off of Messiah to the tribulation period. This is because the Church was a mystery in the Old Testament, not revealed to the Prophets.

The Church has no relation whatsoever to the tribulation. The time is declared for Israel alone. When Israel rejected Messiah, her prophetic clock stopped, and the Church Age began. In order for Israel’s clock to resume (for the final week—the tribulation), the Church must likewise be taken out. Therefore, since the tribulation is exclusively Jewish in character, the Church will in no way be part of it.

Proposition 2: Believers are “kept from the hour of testing.”

With the grand scheme of prophecy in view from the Book of Daniel, we can now begin to look at specific verses in the New Testament, which explain the absence of the Church in the Tribulation. Revelation 3:10 states:

“Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.”

This verse is a strong exhibit for the case of the pretribulational rapture. It essentially states that the persevering ones (the true Church, born-again and regenerated by the Holy Spirit) will be kept from the time during which the rest of the world will be tested. This is obviously a reference to the Great Tribulation.

The emphasis of the verse is on the meaning of the small two letter Greek preposition “ek,” translated “from.” This is the same word that was used of Lazarus coming “out from” the tomb. It’s basic meaning is a change of location from one place to another. Here in Revelation 3:10, that small little word encourages us that Jesus Christ will come to us before that horrible hour and snatch away those that belong to Him.

Those who do not hold to a pretribulational rapture find themselves in the precarious position of having to make this little preposition mean something that it does not.

Many have gone to great lengths to do so, attempting to teach that the verse teaches not that Christ will take us out of the trubulation, but rather that He will keep us through it. However, Lazarus was not kept alive in his tomb, he was released from that dank prison, and so shall we be.

Proposition 3: Believers are saved from God’s wrath through Christ.

Romans 5:9 states that, “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” Justification is the act of God whereby He declares righteous the sinner who puts his faith in Jesus Christ as His sin debt bearer. Hanging in our stead at Calvary, Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God that our sin deserved.

The Tribulation is not man’s wrath, nor Satan’s wrath, but rather the wrath of God poured out upon the world in retribution for sin. For God to make us endure any kind of wrath would therefore be double jeopardy.

To leave us here to endure God’s wrath would be to say that Christ’s atonement was not sufficient - I must still bear some of the punishment for my sin. Such would be a slap in the Savior’s face.

Some might argue that Romans 5:9 is only applicable to the wrath of God in the future in the Lake of Fire. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 states that “Jesus . . . delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians was written to clarify issues concerning the Rapture and the Day of the Lord (beginning with the tribulation). The wrath in view here from which Jesus delivers us is most certainly the wrath of the tribulation.

Furthermore, in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Paul continues: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is clearly taught that wrath is simply not in the destiny of the true child of God, for Jesus Christ has already shouldered the weight of that wrath at the cross.

The salvation spoken of here is necessarily from the eternal wrath of God in the Lake of Fire. However, it is also salvation (the same Greek word as deliverance in 1:10) from the wrath of God in time and space during the tribulation. By the grace of God, believers in Jesus Christ have a totally wrath-free future.

Proposition 4: The Book of Revelation reveals the rapture.

In Revelation 1-3, John records the words of Christ to several historical churches commending their good deeds, and commanding their obedience in various areas. Immediately following the words of exhortation to the Church, John writes:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking to me, said ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.”

It is significant to note that after the Churches had been addressed, John, hearing a trumpet, was caught up into heaven (suspiciously similar to the description of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4) from which he observed the rest of the tribulation period on earth. John was not on the earth in the middle of the tribulation, but rather was watching it from heaven.

It is also important to note that the church is never again mentioned in Revelation after John is called up into heaven. This is because Revelation is primarily dealing with the events of the tribulation on earth and the Church is in heaven.

Furthermore, that God would come and deliver someone before judgement was to befall the world is not a new idea in scripture. Enoch was raptured out from the ancient world before God caused it to be destroyed with water.

Proposition 5: Any other view causes us to take our eyes off heaven.

This is perhaps the most crucial of my propositions to our normal day-to-day Christian lives. First, it must be maintained that the coming of the Lord for His Church is imminent, it can occur at any moment.

This is made clear by many scriptures that show Paul expected the rapture to occur within his lifetime. He uses “we” in dealing with those who will be raptured (“we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them”). He expected to be in this group. We are always encouraged to be on guard because the coming of the Lord could be at any time.

Believing that the rapture occurs halfway through, three-quarters through, or at the end of the tribulation completely shatters the age-old Doctrine of the Imminent Return of Christ. The mid-tribulationist knows that 3-½ years after the tribulation begins, he can expect to be raptured by the Lord. The same is true for posttribulationists and pre-wrath proponents. Titus 2:11-13 exhorts us:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

We are to live godly lives because we know not the hour when Christ will return for us. We are to live every moment of our lives as though it were our last, for it might just be. No other view of the rapture can fit with this biblical mandate.

Further, a not-often considered result of the church going into the tribulation, is that is forces us to be watching for the Anti-Christ instead of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 encourages us “to wait from His Son, from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

Our eyes are to be fixed on the skies awaiting the return of Christ. However, if I am to be left here on the earth for at least part of the tribulation, I am no longer waiting on Christ, but Anti-Christ to be revealed so that I know when the tribulation begins. What a precarious predicament for a child of God to be awaiting the Anti-Christ!

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My prayer is that this brief discussion of certain relevant issues has been an encouragement in your spiritual life. The purpose of Biblical truth is never to win arguments, but rather to change lives. It is important, however, to be informed with truth on such issues which mold our Christian walk. Therefore, be children of light . . . and KEEP LOOKING UP!