The Strand Study Bible

LUKE LUKE of WRATH begin? Does it begin before the Seven-Year Tribulation Period begins, during the middle , or at the end (at the Second Coming)? Christendom cannot agree. Doug Chatham in The Rapture Book notes: 1678 Believers who are very sincere (among them many professors of Bible departments and outstanding authors) hold differing viewpoints on whether the Rapture will take place before or after that great Tribulation which is to immediately precede (Matthew 24:29) the Second Coming of Christ to earth. 1 Christians holds to one of three views concerning when the Rapture of the Church will occur. They hold to a: 1. pre-tribulation rapture view (in which Christians will be “caught up” before Daniel’s Seventieth Week begins) According to The Encyclopedia of Christianity , the originator of this view appears to have been John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), an Anglican priest who was the leader of a group of separatist believers who later became known as the Plymouth Brethren. 2 William E. Anderson in Rapture? Sure… but when? notes: John Nelson Darby, whose writings had no clear pre-tribulational teaching before 1839, helped found a church called the “Brethren” in the United Kingdom. In the early days of the life of that fellowship, it gave nurture and impetus to the theory. Darby popularized the teaching both in the United Kingdom and (beginning in about 1862) in America, and he saw it grow ever more familiar by means of the “Bible School” movement and, most powerfully, by the Scofield Bible. 3 Martin R. De Haan II, president of RBC Ministries, in his booklet called ‘ What Can We Know About The Antichrist? ’ agrees with the pre-tribulation rapture view . He notes: Antichrist may be living today! But he probably won’t come forward openly as a Christ-hating world dictator until after Jesus has caught up Christians from the earth to be with Him in heaven. This event, described in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and usually called the rapture, could occur at any moment. 4 2. mid-tribulation rapture view (in which Christians will be “caught up” during the middle of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, right before the Great Tribulation begins) 3. post-tribulation rapture view (in which Christians will be “caught up” at the end of Daniel’s Seventieth Week in order to meet Christ in the air right before His Second Coming). Harry Rimmer in That’s a Good Question! notes: I do not believe that the rapture will take place before the mark of the Beast becomes known to men. There is a broad latitude of interpretation among conservative Bible teachers here, but it is my personal opinion that when the iniquity of this earth has filled up the cup of the measure of judgment, the trump will sound, the dead in Christ will rise, we who are living and believe in Christ will be caught up to meet Him in the air, and that we will at once come back with Him to reign over the earth and share in the triumph of His coming. 5 William E. Anderson in Rapture? Sure… but when? agrees. He notes:

Any one of many events might occur next. Believers might continue in an upward direction into the skies with Christ (as pre-tribulationists say), or they might descend with Christ to the earth for the battle of Armageddon (as the Church has historically taught), but in any case, we are simply not told what happens after meeting Christ… 3

While it is true that many of our early Church Fathers held to a Post-tribulation rapture view (such as, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Cyprian, and Victorinus), some did not. Ephraim of Nisibis (AD 306-373), a prolific Syrian church father, in an apocalyptic sermon, noted:

Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world?... All the saints and elect of God are gathering together before the tribulation, which is to come, and we are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins. 6

According to I Thessalonians 5:9 God has not appointed us to wrath (Tribulation), but to obtain salvation, or deliverance from it. Seeing that the Seven-Year Tribulation Period (referred to as Daniel’s Seventieth Week – Dan 9:24-27) is dedicated to a time of wrath, and seeing that Christians are not appointed to wrath, then it follows that the Church will be raptured before the Tribulation begins, not during the middle or at the end of it. Tim LaHaye in No Fear of the Storm notes:

Since so many saints will be martyred during the Tribulation, there will be few (if any) alive at the Glorious Appearing of Christ. This promise cannot mean, then, that He willdeliver believers during the time of wrath, for the saints mentioned there (the Tribulation saints) will not be delivered; in fact, most will be martyred. To be delivered out of it, the church will have to be raptured before it begins. 7

NOTE – Due to three promises that God made to the Church, it appears that there will be a pre-tribulation rapture: 1. God’s promise to the Church to be exempt from the WRATH to come ( IThess 1:10 & 5:2,9 , Eph 5:6, Colo 3:6, Rom5:8-9 and Rev 3:10) While it is true that the last 3½ years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Seven-Year Tribulation Period) is referred to as the Great Tribulation and that the Judgment of God begins to intensify in number and severity after the second seal is opened in Revelation 6:3, it is also true that every seal, including the first seal, which introduces theAntichrist to theworld at the beginning of the Seven- Year Tribulation Period (Rev 6:1-2), is part of the Judgment of God. Therefore, it is the opinion of this author that God would not send His sweet Bride (the Church) through this time of great Wrath. Paul Enns, a pre-tribulational theologian, agrees. He notes:

The nature and purpose of the Tribulation is important in resolving the issue of the Church’s participation in it. (1) Nature of the Tribulation. It has already been shown that the Tribulation is a time of the outpouring of the wrath of God (I Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 6:16,17; 11:18; 14:19; 15:1; 16:1,19); it is a time of punishment (Isaiah 24:20-