RAPTURE AT SECOND COMING, PART #5: “MORE PASSAGES THAT ARE EXPLICIT IN TEACHING THE RAPTURE AT SECOND COMING”
Thus far, I believe I have proven from a number of key Scripture passages that the Rapture of the Church takes place after the Tribulation period at the Second Coming of Christ. (Please, if you haven’t read Parts #1-4, I encourage you to do so.) Passages covered to date are: Matthew 24:29-31, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8. Before moving on to other relevant and related topics, I want to briefly cite several other passages that reinforce what we have found so far. (I am using ESV translation unless otherwise stated.)
I CORINTHIANS 15:50-52 “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 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.”
EVALUATION USING THE DOCTRINE TEST: This passage is often cited as a verse supporting the pre-Trib Rapture. How can that be so, when verse 52 says EXPLICITLY that our transformation happens at the LAST trumpet. We know from the other passages we have looked at that there is a trumpet blast at Christ’s Second Coming. The Greek NT word used for “last” is “eschaton,” which means last, utmost, extreme. How can this “LAST trumpet” refer to the next-to-last trumpet, seven years prior to the LAST trumpet? Simply put, it cannot. Conclusion: We are transformed in the twinkling of an eye, when Christ comes for us at His Second Coming.
TITUS 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 WAITING FOR OUR BLESSED HOPE, THE APPEARING OF THE GLORY OF OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
EVALUATION USING THE DOCTRINE TEST: First, a question: Is there anything in this passage that explicitly (clearly stated) or implicitly (easily proven from Scripture) teaches that this is a description of the pre-Trib Rapture rather than the Second Coming of Christ? No, there is not. The passage describes Christians who are saved by God’s grace, and who are being trained by His grace to live godly lives while they are “waiting for our blessed hope, THE APPEARING of the GLORY of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The Greek NT word used for “appearing” is “epiphaneia,” which means appearing, a shining forth. The Greek NT word for “glory” is “doxa,” which in this context, according to Vine’s NT Words Dictionary, means brightness or splendor, supernatural, emanating from God. This coming of Christ is not a secret and invisible rapture of the Church before the Tribulation, but a gloriously visible appearing, a great shining forth in majesty and splendor of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ when He returns at His Second Coming.
2 PETER 3:2-4,8-13 “… you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that SCOFFERS WILL COME IN THE LAST DAYS with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 THEY WILL SAY, “WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING?… 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 THE LORD IS NOT SLOW TO FULFILL HIS PROMISE as some count slowness, BUT IS PATIENT TOWARD YOU, NOT WISHING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, but that all should reach repentance. 10 BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME LIKE A THIEF, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 SINCE ALL THESE THINGS ARE THUS TO BE DISSOLVED, WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE OUGHT YOU TO BE IN LIVES OF HOLINESS AND GODLINESS, 12 WAITING FOR AND HASTENING THE COMING OF THE DAY OF GOD, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE WE ARE WAITING FOR NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH in which righteousness dwells.”
EVALUATION USING THE DOCTRINE TEST: (I encourage you to read this whole chapter for context.) In this passage, Peter exhorts believers to trust God, that the Day of the Lord (the Second Coming of Christ to save His faithful followers and to judge the wicked) is indeed coming, in spite of what scoffers say. God isn’t slow about keeping His promise, but He is delaying because He wants as many people as possible to repent and be saved. Peter goes on to describe what will happen when Christ comes: the heavens and the earth will be burned up, dissolved, (destroyed, NIV). In light of what is coming, he asks Christians, “What sort of people ought you to be?” They need to be people who are living lives of holiness and godliness as they wait for His coming. It is EXPLICIT that Peter is speaking to Christ’s followers who will be living on the earth as they wait for the Second Coming of Christ. To be prepared for His coming, which will be accompanied by the destruction of the current heavens and the earth, His followers must live lives that honor God. The wicked will be judged, and the righteous will be saved, “looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (NIV). No pre-Trib Rapture here.
All the Scriptures we have examined thus far teach EXPLICITLY that Christians will be on the earth until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Not a single one of these passages teaches that the Church is removed from the earth by a secret and invisible rapture prior to the Tribulation period. Surveying the teaching of Jesus, including the parables, I have not been able to find even one that would explicitly or implicitly teach a pre-Trib Rapture. Take a quick survey of His parables that follow His end times teachings in Matthew 24: The parable of the ten virgins (Matt 25:1-13), the talents (Matt 25:14-30), and the sheep and the goats (Matt 25:31-46). These all are consistent with believers being on earth until Christ’s Second Coming, when He will reward His people and judge the wicked.
Now look at the parable of the wheat and the tares, or the weeds in Matt 13:24-30. This one is VERY compelling, as are the others. In this parable, the owner of the field was asked by his workers if he wanted them to pull up the weeds that an enemy had planted where the landowner was growing wheat. His answer was, “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Jesus infers here that at harvest time unbelievers will first be gathered and judged; then believers will be gathered for Christ. This parable reinforces the same conclusion we have reached in all the prior passages; namely, that they teach EXPLICITLY that Christ’s followers will not be raptured or gathered to meet Him until His Second Coming.
NEXT POST: “Will Christians experience God’s Wrath during the Tribulation period?”