When Will the Rapture Occur- in Relation to the Tribulation?

There are three opinions on this timing: 1) Before the Tribulation; 2) During the Tribulation; and 3) After the Tribulation. The following will provide information about each that should tell you what the Bible says is the correct timing. Before proceeding, it should be made clear that the Bible, on this information, does not tell us the exact date of the Rapture. It could happen today or many years from now. Jesus tells us that “no one” will know or can predict that date (and our name is not “NO ONE”). What follows deals with the Rapture in relation to when the Tribulation will occur- based on events not on specific dates.

God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins (John 3:16).If we could save ourselves or if there was any other way for us to be saved and have eternal life, God would have not put His Son through the agony of the cross. We need to believe this or the Rapture means nothing to non-believers who remain behind, as the Rapture is for Christians- true believers.  If God did this for His believers, He certainly would prevent His believers from suffering through the Tribulation.

Now let us consider some specifics from the Bible:

1. The church is NOT on earth in Revelation chapters 4-18.

The church (believers) is not on earth in Revelation 4-18. In Revelation chapters 1-3 the common New Testament term for “church” is the Greek term “ekklesia” and it is used 19 times in these 3 chapters which deals with the historical church of the first century. Then John is told by Jesus to use the term “church” only one more time and that at the very end (22:16), where John returns to addressing the first-century church. What is the significance of this? Nowhere during the Tribulation period is the term “church” used in reference to believers on earth.

John’s shift from his detailed instructions for the church to his absolute silence about the church for many chapters is remarkable and totally unexpected if in the church continued – on earth- into the Tribulation. If the church were to experience the Tribulation (the seventieth week of Daniel 9) then surely the most detailed study of Tribulation events would include instructions for the church (Believers on earth).  The only valid explanation for this frequent mention of the church in Revelation 1-3 and then the total absence of the church on earth until Revelation 22:16 is pretribulation rapture, which will relocate the church from earth to heaven prior to the Tribulation.

2. Post Tribulation Rapture makes no sense!

The absence of instructions for the church to prepare for the Tribulation seems to follow the times when a situation is not in the Bible tells us there is a significant reason- like it has no consequences for the believers. If God miraculously preserves the church through the Tribulation, why have rapture? If it is to avoid the wrath of God at Armageddon (at the end of the Tribulation), then why would God not continue to protect the saints on earth (as is postulated by post tribulation theory) just as He protected Israel (Exodus 8:22; 9:4, 26; 10:23; 11:7) from His wrath poured out upon Pharaoh and Egypt? Further, if the purpose of the rapture is for living saints to avoid Armageddon, why also resurrect the saints (who are already immune) at the same time?  If the rapture took place in connection with our Lord’s post tribulation glorious appearing, the subsequent separation of the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) would be redundant. Separation would have taken place in the very act of translation.

If all Tribulation-era believers are raptured and glorified after the Tribulation and just prior to the inauguration of the millennial kingdom, who then will be left to populate and propagate the kingdom? The Scriptures indicate that God will judge the living unbelievers at the end of the Tribulation and remove them from the earth (Matthew 13:41-42; 25:41). Yet they also teach that children will be born to believers during the millennium and that these children will capable of sin (Isaiah 65:20; Revelation 20:7-10). This would not be possible if all the believers on earth were glorified through post tribulation rapture.

A post tribulation rapture, or a rapture just prior to, and the church’s supposed immediate return to earth leaves no time for the “bema”- the judgment seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10). For these reasons, a pretribulation rapture, by contrast, does not leave us with these insurmountable difficulties.

3. How About Rapture During the Tribulation?

Well for one comment, if the Tribulation is underway- it is not impending! The New Testament epistles teaches that God gave many instructions to the church, including warnings, but never once are believers warned to prepare for entering and enduring the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week). We read about many warnings of coming error and false prophets in the New Testament (Acts 20:29-30; 2 Peter 2:1:1; John 4:1-3; Jude 4) and certainly against ungodly living (Ephesians 4:25-5:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; Hebrews 12:1). We, as believers, are to endure in the midst of “present tribulation” (1 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; and all of 1 Peter). In these verses it is clear that the Scriptures are referring to current troubles. The New Testament, however, is absolutely silent about the church preparing for the Tribulation as describes in Revelation 6-18, and remembering these are the words from Jesus after His resurrection when He was telling John to record all of His words.

The Scriptures would certainly not be silent about such a major and traumatic period of time for the church. If the Rapture, in deed, happens partway through or at the end of the Tribulation, we should expect the epistles to teach the presence purpose and conduct of the church during the Tribulation. We find none of these teachings anywhere in the New Testament. Only a pretribulation rapture satisfactorily explains the lack of such instructions.

So How Does 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Deal With the Rapture

To help determine the meaning of this Scripture, let’s assume that the rapture is not pretribulation. As we look at 1 Thessalonians 4, what is that we would see? The Thessalonians should be joyous over the fact that loved ones are home with the Lord and will not have to endure the horrors of the Tribulation. However, what we see is that the Thessalonians are actually grieving because they fear their loved ones have missed the rapture. Only the possibility of a pretribulation rapture accounts for this grief.

We would also expect the Thessalonians to be grieving over their impending trial rather than over their loved ones .Furthermore, we would expect the Thessalonians to be asking about their own doom. However, they have no fear or questions about the coming Tribulation. And we would think that Paul, in the absence of interest or questions by the Thessalonians, to give them instructions and exhortation for such a supreme test. Any such instructions would make their present tribulation seem microscopic in comparison. However, Paul does not give any indication of any impending tribulation of this kind. Therefore, given the scene and happenings in 1 Thessalonians 4, the only possibility is that a pretribulation makes sense. Some will use this Scripture to say nothing is said directly about the Tribulation. However, that does not follow the scene and the Thessalonians reactions in the context of this Scripture.

How Does John 14:1-3 Match Up to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

John 14:1-3 refers to Christ’s coming again. This is not a promise to all believers that they will go to Him at death. It refers to the rapture of the church. Notice the parallels between the promises of John 14:1-3 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. First, consider that the promises of a presence with Christ, “that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3), and “thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Second, look at the promise of comfort: “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1), and “Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 “⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”  This states that all, even though that have not fallen asleep, will be changed quickly and raised with glorious bodies. This is clearly different than Revelation 19:11-18 when Jesus returns (typically called “Jesus’ Second Coming) where it says nothing about changing and raising of anyone- especially those who have not fallen asleep. 

Jesus instructed the disciples that He was going to His Father’s house (heaven) to prepare a place for them. He promised them that He would return and receive them so that they could be with Him wherever He was. The phrase “wherever I am”, while implying continued presence in general, here means presence in heaven in particular. Our Lord told the Pharisees in John 7:34, “Where I am you cannot come”. He was not talking about His presence on earth, but rather, His resurrected presence at the right hand of the Father.  In John 14:3, “where I am” must mean in heaven, or 14:1-3 would be meaningless.

A post tribulation rapture would require that the saints meet Christ in the air and immediately descend to earth without experiencing what our Lord promised in John 14. Because John 14 refers to the rapture, only a pretribulation rapture satisfies the language of John 14:1-3 and allows raptured saints to dwell for a meaningful period of time with Christ in His Father’s house.