The Timing of Christ's Return - The Second Coming and Rapture

Biblical Evidence of a Post Tribulation Rapture

Jesus said that the tribulation would come first, and THEN, AFTER the tribulation, would come the very visible 2^nd coming of Christ and the rapture:

Matthew 24:29-31  “Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  30  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  31  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Also, note that Jesus said the rapture (i.e. the gathering of His elect) not only occurs AFTER the tribulation but that it is also AFTER the (1) sun and the (2) moon are darkened and (3) the stars fall from heaven.

John, in the book of Revelation, says that those 3 things occur midway through the great tribulation at the 4^th end-time trumpet:

Revelation 8:12  The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

Not only that, but John says those three things occur at the 6^th trumpet:

Revelation 6:12-13  When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,  13  and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

By all accounts that this author is aware of, the 6^th seal is well into (or at the end of) the tribulation period.

So, according to Jesus and the holy scripture, the rapture  (when Jesus returns with his angels to rapture all of the believers in Christ) comes AFTER the tribulation, and AFTER the sun and moon are darkened and the stars fall from heaven, AFTER the 4^th and the 6^th end time trumpets are blown.

30  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  31  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Note too that Jesus said that His second coming, which includes the rapture, will be announced by a loud heavenly trumpet call. Paul refers to this same trumpet, which he calls the LAST trumpet:

1 Corinthians 15:51-52  Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  52  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Further on, in 1^st Thessalonians, Paul once again mentions this same trumpet that announces the resurrection and rapture and he uses a particular Greek word (ἀπάντησιν) to describe our meeting with Christ in the air.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  16  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  17  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet (ἀπάντησιν) the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

That Greek word ἀπάντησις means to go out to meet and welcome and escort a dignitary who is coming to visit your town.

This means that Paul is saying all believers (living and dead) will be caught up into the air to meet and welcome and escort Jesus back to his destination – the earth.

The Greek word ἀπάντησιν does NOT mean that Jesus raptures the Church and returns to heaven for seven years until the great tribulation is over. NO! It means we meet Christ in the air to welcome and escort/accompany Christ back to the earth as part of His heavenly host so that He can rule and reign. It describes Christ’s SECOND COMING to this earth (the first being His physical incarnation at the virgin birth).

Acts contains an example of what the word ἀπάντησιν means:

Acts 28:14-16  … and so we went toward Rome.  15  Now the believers from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet (ἀπάντησιν) us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.  16  And when we came to Rome, …

In this passage, Paul was going to Rome – his destination. Believers came out of the city of Rome to meet and welcome and escort Paul before he arrived at his destination (Rome) on the last leg of Paul’s journey.

Likewise, Jesus will return to the earth for His 2^nd coming and we will be gathered to Him by the angels at our resurrection/rapture to meet/welcome Christ in the air and accompany/escort Jesus to His final destination – the earth.

John also speaks of this same last/final trumpet as being the 7^th trumpet call, announcing the moment when Christ returns to the earth to take charge and render judgment – condemning the unrighteous and rewarding the faithful who have endured to the very end:

Revelation 10:7  but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 11:15  Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Revelation 11:18  The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

Paul often uses a specific Greek word that refers to Christ’s second coming to the earth – that word is parousia/παρουσία. He says that Christ’s second coming (i.e., His return to the earth and our rapture to accompany Jesus back to the earth) will occur AFTER the great apostasy (rebellion, falling away from the faith) and AFTER the appearance of the Antichrist.

Paul calls Christ’s second coming (which includes the rapture, “our being gathered together to him” – 2 Thes. 2:1; cf Matt 24:31) as “the day of the Lord”, which throughout scripture refers to that end-time day when God comes to do two things: judge the wicked and reward the righteous.

 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4  Now concerning the coming (parousia/παρουσία) of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,  2  not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.  3  Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,  4  who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

So, the scriptures are VERY clear as to when the resurrection and rapture and second coming of Christ occurs:

After:

1. the sinful falling away of many from the historic Christian faith

2. the revelation of the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist)

3. the tribulation

4. the 4^th end time trumpet

when sun & moon are darkened & stars fall from the sky

5. and after the 6^th end time trumpet

at the sound of the seventh and final trumpet call

Patiently Enduring Fiery Trials and How to Be an Overcomer

When we consider that true active Christians have always suffered persecution and that Christians will have to go through the great tribulation then all of the verses which speak of our need for patient faithful endurance start to make more sense.

Because we will have to go through the great tribulation and because we as believers MUST suffer deprivation and persecution and even martyrdom at the hands of an evil regime, God over and over again tells us that we must patiently and faithfully endure such hardships until the very end of it all.

1. What are we to endure?

Are we to endure prosperity, or comfort, or good times, or self-centered lives, or living lives of sinful pleasures? NO! As the scriptures below indicate, all manner of hardships and disappointments and trials and persecutions have been and will be faced by sincere active Christians – especially in the last days during the great tribulation.

Much as the Church began in the crucible of conflicts persecutions and hardships, the scriptures declare that the Church age will come to a close in much the same fashion.

Matthew 10:22  and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

2 Timothy 3:12  Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Revelation 2:10  Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

2. What are hardships, tribulations and fiery testings and trials for?

Such things teach us how to wait on God and trust in Him rather than in things or others or ourselves, and these testings are for our purification so that we can be refined in the fiery crucible of hardships.

We also find that such trials and hardships and tribulations can be used by God for our punishment and our correction. At other times such hardships are for our pruning to separate us from that which harms limits or hinders our testimony and our life in Christ.

Romans 5:3-5  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;  4  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:  5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

(See: Dan 11:35; 1^st Pet 1:22; Tit 2:14; Heb 9:14; 1^st Jn 3:3; etc.)

3. How are we to endure and even overcome?

Do we fight back, or retaliate, or seek revenge? NO! The passages below show that patient faithful endurance is needed and that we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by our testimony – even if our victory comes through martyrdom.

Revelation 12:11  But they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

(See also: Col 1:11-14; Gal 6:4; 2Pet 2:9)

The Church has NEVER taught a pre-tribulation rapture. It has ALWAYS taught that there would be great deceptions and a great falling away from the original faith, that the Antichrist would be revealed, persecutions would occur against true Christians, God would pour out his wrath on the ungodly and that Christ would then return to earth (the Second Coming) to punish the wicked and reward the faithful.

So, where did the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture come from?

It all started back in Scotland and England around the year 1820 when a Scottish girl (Margaret McDonald) had a personal revelation of what would happen to believers in the end times.

Margaret McDonald’s personal revelation was that a partial rapture of Christians would occur BEFORE the rapture. This would be a pre-tribulation rapture of ONLY the most enlightened and holy of the Christians, but all the other Christians would have to endure the great tribulation.

Members of the Plymouth Brethren in Scotland and England took this idea and turned it into the doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture for ALL believers.

Many of the more scholarly members of the Plymouth Brethren warned that this was a false gospel – a new and dangerous false doctrine. But there were so many people in the Church who longed for special personal revelations and wanted something new and exciting to believe in that they were eager to believe in such rubbish.

It took time for the “scholars” who were enamored by this new doctrine to find a way to reinterpret the Bible to make this new theory “fit.” C.I. Schofield and John Nelson Darby helped do this and their bible commentary notes were widely accepted in the United States.

The rest is history, but one fact remains: The Church (Greek Orthodox, Catholic, and most major Protestant churches) do NOT teach a pre-tribulation rapture. The sole teaching of the mainline Church from the time of the Apostles on has been that of a POST-tribulation rapture of the Church at Christ’s very open visible and public second coming.

About the Author:

The author is 65 years of age, has earned both a B.A. (1975) and M.A. (1977) in Biblical Literature/ Theology, has lived in Israel for well over a year, and has been researching many issues related to the “end times” for well over 22 years. Married with 3 children and 5 grandchildren, he lives a relatively quiet retired life in Oklahoma, caring for his 92 year old Father-in-law and attends a cowboy church not far away.