Note to the reader: This chapter reflects the author's response to the popular teaching of the rapture. More formal prooftexting of the pretrib rapture is addressed in subsequent chapters.

Faulty Foundations of Pretrib

There are many reasons that the pretrib timing of the rapture doesn't work. The first is that the scriptures clearly tell us when the rapture occurs, and it cannot be pretribulational. Another reason is that the pretrib position, as taught by most churches today, is supported only by a handful of verses, and when we take a closer look at those verses, we see that they do not support the position that pretrib teachers are trying to prove.

The popular approach to the pretrib position boils down to three points:

1. God's wrath is poured out during the seven seal judgments, the seven trumpet judgments, and the seven bowl judgments described in Revelation.

2. This period of time is called “the Great Tribulation.

3. Jesus will rapture His Church prior to the pouring out of God's wrath and therefore prior to the Great Tribulation. [1]

With the exception of the Church's exemption from wrath, there are no direct scriptural references to support these points. This is because they are built upon inference. This inference starts with the first point that, because the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments bring such trouble upon the earth, they must all be part of God's wrath. In reality, however, the seals are not part of God's wrath. They are part of man's wrath—specifically, the wrath of one man, the Antichrist. [2]

The second point, that the Great Tribulation refers to the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls, is also built upon inference. As we have seen, the phrase itself is scriptural, but Jesus uses it to refer to a very specific period of time between the abomination of desolation (the Antichrist's desecration of the temple) and the cosmic disturbances of the sixth seal (see chart on p. 41). Because Dan. 9:27 tells us that the abomination of desolation occurs at the midpoint of “the Tribulation,” the Great Tribulation cannot be the full seven years. At most, it can last only three-and-one-half years, and in fact, is much shorter than that. The Great Tribulation corresponds only with the fifth seal, the martyrdom of the saints.

The third point, that Jesus will return to rapture His Church prior to the outpouring of His wrath, is supported by scripture. However, God's wrath does not coincide with the start of the Great Tribulation. As we discussed in the last chapter, God's wrath starts after the Great Tribulation, as part of the Day of the Lord. [3]

That the pretribulation rapture is built on inference is readily acknowledged by top pretrib scholars. In The Rapture Question, one of the founding scholars of pretribulationism, John Walvoord, admits, “One of the problems that face both pretribulationism and posttribulationism is the fact that their point of view is an induction based on scriptural facts rather than an explicit statement of the Bible.” Furthermore, in The Return of the Lord, Walvoord compounds the problem by stating, “One of the reasons for confusion concerning future events is the failure to analyze correctly the purpose of God in this present age. Some have come to the Bible without the proper method of interpretation” (p. 19). Likewise, Thomas D. Ice, in the well-respected theological journal Bibliotheca Sacra, notes that, “the timing of the rapture is more the product of one's theology than the prooftexting of specific passages.” [4]

This may answer a question readers may be asking themselves as they read this book, which is, “Why do you repeatedly put the phrase `the Tribulation' or `the Tribulation period' in quotation marks?” It is because there is no such thing. The seven-year period extending from the opening of the first seal to the Battle of Armageddon, which is commonly called “the Tribulation,” is actually the 70th Week of Daniel. “The Tribulation” is a simply nickname given to this period that causes much misunderstanding.

Daniel's 70th Week

In order to fully understand the timing of the rapture, it is necessary to spend a little more time discussing the 70th Week. The phrase comes from Daniel 9:24, in which God determines 70 weeks to deal with the Jewish people:

"Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city. To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."

Bible scholars agree that the term “weeks,” based on the Hebrew word shbuah, means “weeks of years,” or series of seven-year periods. For this reason, some Bible translations, such as The New International Version, translate shbuah as “sevens”:

"Seventy 'sevens' are determined for your people and for your holy city. To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."

In other words, 70 weeks, or 70 “sevens” (a period of 490 years) is set forth by God to finish what He started. God's purposes for Israel were not abolished when Israel rejected Christ as the Messiah. They were only put on hold.

According to Daniel's prophecy, God's 70-week prophetic time clock started when the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by the prophet Ezra in 445 B.C. and continued until the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. [5] Sadly, Daniel foretold that the Messiah would be “cut off,” or killed by His people, and God's prophetic time clock would stop. The amount of time elapsing between the start of the 70 weeks and the cutting off of the Messiah would be 69 weeks, or 483 years. Fulfilling Daniel's prophecy to the letter, God's prophetic time clock stopped when Jesus was crucified in A.D. 33.

Out of one of mankind's worst moments, however, rose one of God's greatest acts of mercy. Isaiah prophesied that the cutting off of the Messiah would result in the Lord sending His salvation to the Gentiles. [6] This period, commonly called the Church Age, will last until the gospel has reached every nation (Matt. 24:14). After this prophecy has been fulfilled, God will once again turn His focus back to Israel.

CHART – DANIEL'S 70 WEEKS PROPHECY

So far, the Church Age has extended nearly 2,000 years, although the rapid fulfillment of end-times prophecy indicates it may soon be coming to an end. Once God's purposes are fulfilled, the Antichrist will sign a seven-year treaty with Israel and God's attention will turn back to Israel. At this time, the prophetic time clock will resume (Dan. 9:27) and the countdown to Armageddon will begin. [7] This will be Daniel's 70th Week.

There are two prophetic markers relevant to this discussion. The first is the Antichrist's signing of a seven-year peace treaty with Israel (Dan. 9:27), which signals that the 70th Week has begun. From the time this occurs, there will be one “week” (or period of seven years) until Jesus appears with His heavenly host at Armageddon. At the midpoint of this week, the Antichrist will break the treaty with Israel, take away the daily sacrifices in the (yet to be built) temple, and set up an idol of himself to be worshipped (Dan. 12:11). Jesus called this “the abomination of desolation” (Matt. 24:15). The amount of time elapsing between the setting up of the abomination of desolation and the end of the 70th Week will be another three-and-one-half years. [8] This timetable is accepted by all conservative Bible scholars, regardless of the rapture position they hold.

CHART – DANIEL'S 70TH WEEK (2)

Because the time period many people call “the Tribulation” is actually the 70th Week, from this point on, this book will refer to this seven-year period by its proper name, Daniel's 70th Week. Understanding this background, we can now return to the discussion about the Great Tribulation. [9]

Defining “the Great Tribulation”

The erroneous idea that the Great Tribulation includes all of the events of Revelation is a fundamental tenet of the pretrib doctrine. In most popular treatments of the rapture, the reasoning goes like this: The entire period of God's judgment, which includes the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls, is a time of great destruction. Jesus calls this the “time of great tribulation,” but the phrase is sometimes shortened to simply “the Tribulation.” [10] Since we are not destined for wrath, believers must be raptured before the Great Tribulation starts.

This is not what scripture teaches. The term “Great Tribulation” is first seen in Matt. 24:21, during the Olivet Discourse. The apostles have just asked Jesus to identify the “end of the age” and the time when Jesus will return. In answer, Jesus gives them a list of very specific signs that will precede this event:

"Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?' And Jesus answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, `I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows'” (Matt. 24:3–8).

Jesus then tells His disciples that the trials will escalate. This will be a terrible time when believers will be killed, false christs will prosper, and lawlessness will abound. However, He also makes it clear that all of these events will occur prior to His return:

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another....Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matt. 24: 9–14).

In the verses that follow, Jesus describes the Antichrist, who has been rising to world domination during this time and is now at the height of his power. He explains how the Antichrist will stand in the temple in Jerusalem and declare himself to be God (or as God). When this occurs, Jesus warns, the Great Tribulation will occur:

"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place..., let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matt. 24:15–21).

It is now understandable why Jesus didn't give the sign of His coming right away. He chose to first warn His children of the perils to come, to prepare and strengthen them during these difficult times. He was particularly concerned about arming His people against deception. Three times after describing the Great Tribulation, He warns them not to be deceived:

"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or “Look, He is in the inner rooms!” do not believe it" (Matt. 24:23–26).

CHART – DEFINING THE GREAT TRIBULATION

After this background, Jesus finally answers the disciples' question:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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" (Matt. 24:29–31).

The phrase “immediately after” is very clear. The Great Tribulation will occur after the Antichrist stands in the temple and before the great cosmic disturbances. When will these cosmic disturbances occur? As part of the sixth seal: “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind” (Rev. 6:12–13).

This presents a difficulty for the pretribulation position. Daniel prophesied that the Antichrist will stand in the temple at the midpoint of the 70th Week, or three-and-one-half years from the time that he signs the treaty with Israel. Jesus' statement in Matt. 24:29, “after the tribulation of those days,” puts a limit on the length of this tribulation, only until the sixth seal (remember, 14 judgments—the seven trumpet and seven bowl judgments—are still to come). Therefore, the Great Tribulation cannot refer to the entire 70th Week—or even the last half of it as some pretrib scholars teach—but only to the portion between the midpoint and the sixth seal. [11]

CHART – DANIEL'S 70TH WEEK (3)

Once we look more closely at each of these fundamental premises of the pretrib position, it becomes clear why this position doesn't work. God's wrath is not poured out during the seal judgments (for more on this, see Chapter 2, “What the Bible Says About the Rapture” and Chapter 4, “When Does God's Wrath Begin?”), so there is no reason to require the Church to be raptured prior to the first seal. Even the Great Tribulation, which results in the cry of the martyred saints under the fifth seal, is not God's wrath and concludes before the rapture occurs.

Therefore, the entire premise that because Jesus will rapture His Church prior to the pouring out of God's wrath it must be prior to the Great Tribulation is a faulty premise.

Footnotes

[1] As mentioned, these points reflect the popular treatment of the rapture, not the scholarly treatment, which is less simplified but comes to the same conclusions. Short discussions of some of these approaches are covered briefly in the footnotes and more in depth in the appendices of this book.

[2] There is something else going on that is encouraging this position. It is a phenomena described by lawyer Philip Johnson in his book Darwin on Trial (Intervarsity Press, 1993), in which he dissects the argument for evolution based on the way the arguments are presented. Johnson writes that, in scientific circles, the theory of evolution is assumed to be true simply because no acceptable alternative exists. Therefore, the evidence—from fossilized remains to the mechanisms of genetics—is investigated, not for the purpose of discovering whether evolution could have occurred, but for the purpose of discovering how evolution has occurred. This, Johnson writes, is where the flaw begins: “There is an important difference between going to the empirical evidence to test a doubtful theory against some plausible alternative and going to the evidence to look for confirmation of the only theory that one is willing to tolerate” (p. 28). In fact, the scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the idea of “special creation,” or the emergence of new species spontaneously, already wholly formed. Genetics, for example, shows that there are biological limits to the amount of change that a species can undergo, and the fossil records reveal that the fundamental characteristic of species is stasis (or lack of significant change), even over millions of years. The fossil record also fails to reveal, as Darwin had hoped, the abundance of transitional life forms that would be required by his theory. The logic used to support the arguments for evolution and the arguments used to support the pretrib rapture are remarkably similar. Let's take Johnson's words and apply them to the pretrib rapture: “There is an important difference between going to the scriptural evidence to test a doubtful theory against some plausible alternative, and going to the scriptural evidence to look for confirmation of the only theory that one is willing to tolerate.” There are no verses that provide direct scriptural evidence for the pretrib rapture. Those that provide indirect evidence are taken out of context or require redefined terms and phrases. For conservative Christians who believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, this should raise serious doubts about the accuracy of the theory. Instead, because the pretrib timing remains the only theory that many are willing to tolerate, they do not allow this lack of evidence to bother them. Johnson writes of a meeting between top mathematicians and leading Darwinists at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia in 1967. One mathematician argued that it was highly improbable that the eye could have evolved by the accumulation of small mutations, as Darwinism suggested. The Darwinists responded that “[the mathematician] was doing his science backwards; the fact was that the eye had evolved and therefore the mathematical difficulties must only be apparent” (p. 38). Once again, the similarities to the pretrib position are strong. “[The opponents of pretrib theory] must be doing their scripture interpretation backwards; the fact is that the pretrib position is correct and therefore the scriptural difficulties must only be apparent.” In both cases—Darwinism and pretrib rapturism—proponents prefer to live with a theory based on faulty data rather than accept a conclusion that is philosophically uncomfortable. I realize that many pretrib scholars have invested tremendous amounts of time and energy into studying the scriptural foundations of the pretrib rapture. However, I humbly submit that if they had not first been taught the pretrib rapture, it is highly unlikely that they would have come up with this timing on their own.

[3] Some pretrib scholars, however, define the Great Tribulation as starting at the midpoint of the 70th Week and extending until Armageddon, a period lasting three-and-one-half years. For a discussion on this subject, see Appendix B.

[4] John Walvoord, The Rapture Question: Revised and Expanded Edition (The Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 18; John Walvoord, The Return of the Lord (Zondervan Publishing House, 1974); Thomas D. Ice, Bibliotheca Sacra (Dallas Theological Seminary, April-June 1990), p. 164.

[5] Ezra 1–6; Daniel 9:25.

[6] Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 60:3. Some see this parenthesis as the “times of the Gentiles” spoken of by Jesus in Luke 21:24 and Paul in Romans 11:25. While this fits with the theme of the gospel being given as a light to the Gentiles, it does not fit with the concluding characteristics of this time, which are that Jerusalem will no longer be trodden underfoot by Gentiles and that the blindness of the children of Israel will be lifted. Marvin Rosenthal has suggested that the times of the Gentiles began, not with the cutting off of the Messiah, but with the end of the rule of the royal line of David, which occurred when the kingdom of Judah was carried into captivity in 586 B.C. (“12 Messages on Daniel”—1A). In 2 Sam. 7:16, David was promised by God that his house and his kingdom would be established forever. When the Assyrians took Israel captive in 722 B.C., then Judah in 586 B.C., this ended the kingdom of David temporarily. By the time of Jesus, the Israelites had been returned to their homeland but remained under foreign rule as they had for six centuries. They were anxiously looking for their deliverer, a son of the house of David to once again throw off the yoke of foreign oppression and take the throne. When Jesus entered Jerusalem at the end of His ministry and the crowds cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matt. 21:9), they were indicating the legitimacy of Jesus' right to rule. Had Israel accepted Jesus as Messiah, the times of the Gentiles would have ended. But the Jews did not accept Jesus, and He was crucified, ending the 69th Week. To this day, there has been no son of David on the throne of Israel, nor will there be until Jesus comes again. When the Son of David touches down, however, He will take back Jerusalem, which is to be the seat of His throne, fulfilling Luke 21:24. Further, the blindness of Israel will be lifted in fulfillment of Romans 11:25. At His Coming, “every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him” (Rev. 1:7) and “all the tribes of the earth will mourn” (Matt. 24:30). If the time of the Gentiles ends with the beginning of the 70th Week, as some contend, however, this pattern of fulfillment would be lost. Indeed, there would be no event to precipitate these changes.

[7] The fulfillment of the 69 weeks was outlined by Sir Robert Anderson in his 1895 work The Coming Prince. Grant Jeffrey gives an excellent synopsis of Anderson's work in his book Armageddon: Appointment With Destiny, pp. 27-30. The calculations were worked out using the old Jewish calendar, based on a year of 360 days, which was used at the time that these prophecies were written. Any attempt to work out the dates using the modern 365.25-day calendar will result in error.

[8] As determined by the old Jewish calendar, which used a 360-day year.

[9] An excellent description of the relationship of the Church Age to the 69th and 70th Week, and the resulting impact on interpretation of prophecy, is given by Marvin Rosenthal in his tape series, “12 Messages on Daniel.” I will summarize his presentation as follows: There was a 69-week period—made up of a seven-week period, or 49 years, starting with the decree to build Jerusalem in 445 B.C., followed by 62 weeks, or 434 years, for a total of 69 weeks or 483 years—until the Messiah would be cut off. That began the Church Age, which Paul says was not known in other generations but was made known to him by divine revelation. Paul called this a mystery, something that was always in the plan and program and heart and purpose of God, but in His sovereignty, it was something God chose not to reveal in the Old Testament. As a result, the Old Testament prophets spoke of 69 weeks and one week (for a total of 70 weeks), but they didn't know that there would be an intervening gap (the Church Age) between the 69th and 70th Weeks. They looked down what we now call “the corridor of history” and saw two mountain peaks. The first mountain peak is the First Coming. They wrote about the fact that a child would be born, that a son would be given. They wrote about the fact that His name would be called Emmanuel, “God with us,” and the fact that He would be born in Bethlehem in Judea. As they looked down the corridor of time, they also saw the second mountain peak, the Second Coming of Christ, but they did not understand the span between them. Look at how Isaiah writes about it: “For unto us a child is born (that was the first mountain peak), for unto us a son is given (because he was the preincarnate, preexistent son of God),” then there is a comma, “and the government will be upon his shoulder,” which refers to His Second Coming. So in one verse, with only a comma in between, Isaiah writes about the First Coming and the Second Coming, with no understanding of the gap in between, because it was a mystery (1 Pet. 1:10-12). Today, we have an advantage over the Old Testament prophets. We are living in the Church Age. What Isaiah was writing about as prophecy is now history to us (“Twelve Messages on Daniel,” Tape 5-B, Zion's Hope)

[10] Because a straightforward reading of the Olivet Discourse places the rapture after the sixth seal, some pretrib scholars define the Great Tribulation as lasting from the midpoint of the 70th Week to the end, or three-and-a-half years. This puts them in the difficult position of proving that Jesus' coming on the clouds in great glory, which is a defining characteristic of the rapture, actually occurs at Armageddon. The length of the Great Tribulation is discussed in detail in Appendix B.

11] In his article, “A Review of the Prewrath Rapture of the Church,” Gerald Stanton argues that “the tribulation period,” the Day of the Lord, and the Great Tribulation are essentially the same, and criticizes any attempt to limit the Great Tribulation to the time period between the midpoint of the 70th Week and the cosmic disturbances of the sixth seal. He writes, “These descriptions have to do with content, not with duration of that period, and certainly do not designate the timing of the rapture” (Bibliotheca Sacra, January-March 1991, Ibid., p. 97). I strongly disagree. Due to the repeated use of words and phrases like “then” and “immediately after” throughout Matt. 24, I believe that the plain meaning of the text is the exact opposite—that they are meant to indicate duration.

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