Outline Studies On The Rapture Question

By Ed F. Sanders

Chapter 2: Is Jesus Coming Before The Tribulation?

The rapture of the saints and the resurrection of the righteous occur at the "Coming of the Lord" (I Thess. 4:15, cp II Thess. 2:1). The first and most obvious distinction of the pre-trib position is that Jesus will come before the tribulation. The post-trib position requires that "the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together ‘unto Him" (II Thess. 2:1) occur after a period of time described as the tribulation. In order to answer with certainty the question this chapter raises it is necessary to examine both the passages dealing generally with the Lord's return and specifically with the rapture(1).

Concerning the time of the Lord's return:
 
1. Jesus taught that He would not come until "immediately after the tribulation" (Matt. 24:29,30, Mark 13:24-26). These important passages occur in the great Olivet Discourse given by the Lord, in answer to the disciples' specific questions concerning His return - and the events surrounding it (cp. Matt. 24:3, Mark 13:4, Luke 21:7). Jesus' lengthy discourse has been aptly called "The Apostolic Textbook on Prophecy" (Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). Since this is the Lord Jesus' own personal teaching and outline of future events, it must be the criterion of all investigation into prophetic Scripture (cp. Rev. 19:10). An examination of a collation of Scriptures containing all that Jesus taught concerning His return will prove conclusively that Jesus never taught a pretrib rapture and coming(2). He taught only a return and gathering of His own after the tribulation. To this writer, this point alone resolves the Rapture question. It is unthinkable that the apostles - who wrote later - changed, contradicted, or supplanted the teachings of Jesus! For as Christ's Church has historically taught: the teachings of the O.T. Prophets were the preparation for the teaching of Jesus, and the N.T. Apostles were the extension, but the Lord's own personal teachings are the cornerstone or apex for the Church(3). (Eph. 2:19,20, also Chapter 6, Intro.) .

2. The Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, under divine direction to the Church to guide it in future events (cp. 1:4, ch. 2-3, 22:16). Yet in Revelation there is no mention of a pre-trib coming of the Lord: (See also Chapter 5.3). John portrays only one coming of the Lord, after the tribulation. This one coming is personaI, posttribulation, premillennial, glorious, victorious and the vindication of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 1:4, 19:11-20:6).

3. The apostle Peter teaches the Church that Jesus will not leave Heaven until He returns in victory, to set up His Kingdom (Acts 2:34,35,3:20,21). This same teaching is reflected in Heb. 10:12,13 (cp. Ps. 110:1). These passages would be contradictory if the pre-trib coming and rapture were taught elsewhere in Scripture.

4. Luke records a vivid picture of how the coming of the Lord will be in Acts 1:6-11: it will be visible and personal (1:11) and will restore the theocratic kingdom (cp. 1:6). According to the Lord's divinely inspired messengers His next manifestation will be his glory-appearing, not a secret rapture seven years earlier: Dr. Murray Harris in a course on Acts at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1972), related to me how this passage alone exegetically demolishes the pre-trib case and establishes beyond a doubt the next coming of the Lord will be post-trib, pre-millennial.

Other references the posttrib return of the Lord will be cited in later chapters but the above will suffice at this point. In view of the Lord's teaching concerning the time of His return (which in fact was continued - not changed by the Apostles), the crucial questions become:

1) Where in Scripture is it clearly asserted that the Lord Jesus' teaching has been changed or supplanted?

2) What Scripture passage can be cited that states that Jesus will come before the tribulation?

Advocates of pretribulationism should be able to answer these questions with Scriptural propositions, not mere inference or conjecture. As one popular pretrib author has said, "It is dangerous and wrong to found any doctrine on implication without a single categorical statement in the Bible"!(4)

A fundamental rule of Biblical interpretation (prophetic or otherwise) is that you do not change clear direct statements of Scripture by inference, conjecture or speculation(5). Jesus clearly taught He was only coming "after the tribulation" (Matt. 24:39, Mark 13:34, etc.). Those that teach Jesus is coming before the tribulation do so on their own authority, not that of God's word(6).

In1972 a Moody Bible Institute professor in response to my question admitted that the pretrib coming was not taught in the Bible "in so many words." If the theory is not taught "in so many words," then it should not be proclaimed as an established, infallible doctrine, nor made a test of fellowship among believers.

Endnotes:

[1] Both pre, mid, and posttribs agree that the rapture and the return of the Lord are different space-time events. The problem is the time relationship and when they occur.

[2] See Zondervan Topical Bible, pp. 575-576, 926. All serious Bible students should have this book in their library: It is invaluable to see all of the Scripture teaching printed out on almost every subject. Taking into account the "whole counsel of God" on a given topic (such as the Lord's Return) will guard against erroneous conclusions.

[3] See The Progress of Doctrine in the N.T, T. D. Bernard (Pickering and Inglis)

[4] John R. Rice, The Power of Pentecost, (Sword Of The Lord Publications), p. 226.

[5] Sound, consistent, grammatical-historical exegesis and interpretation leads to historic posttrib, premillennialism. Cp. Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, (W. A. Wilde Publishers); also Mickelsen, Interpreting the Bible (Eerdmans).

[6] Latin has a proper phrase to describe "self-made statements without any authority” and that is “ipse dixit’, a favorite technique for those who cannot cite a clear Bible passage for their teaching.


(c)1973, 2005