The Rapture

The subject of the Rapture is a controversial topic in Christian circles.  There are five main Rapture views: Pre-Tribulation, Mid-Tribulation, Post-Tribulation, Pre-Wrath, and Multiple Raptures.  If you wish to read more about those Rapture views, as well as more specific Rapture information at changed bodies and caught up, I suggest that you do so after first reading everything else in this commentary.  Then you can take links at the end of Part 2, under Rapture Views and Specifics.  You also may want to read Corrie ten Boom on the Tribulation and the Rapture and Ruth B. Graham on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.

Although there are numerous biblical passages describing or referring to the Rapture event, probably the two most descriptive passages are 1 Corinthians 15:50-55 and 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.  Those caught up in the Rapture event will be “lifted up in love” to be with Jesus in the clouds.  The question is, when does this astonishing event occur?

A widely-accepted theory is that of the Pre-Tribulation or “Pre-Trib” Rapture.  This is based on the belief that the Rapture event (that is, the catching up of all those who maintain a belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior) will take place just prior to the final seven years of this age (also referred to as the 70th Week, and often called the “tribulation” period).  See “Pre-Trib”: My Prior View.

To help determine the point during the 70th Week at which the initial, primary Rapture event will occur, it first is helpful to determine the points at which other events are known or presumed to occur.  Then, this collection of scripturally-sound information becomes a solid foundation on which to build the Pre-Wrath theory—which, I feel, demonstrates the proper timing of the main Rapture.  My detailed chart, The 70th Week and Extensions, at the bottom of Part 2, shows my placement of the Pre-Wrath Rapture during the 70th Week.

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him and asked Him what would be the sign of His Second Coming and of the “end of the age.”  Jesus responded with a lengthy series of answers (Matthew 24:4-31) which, I believe, explain events that will take place from the beginning of the 70th Week to the point during that final seven-year period when the primary Rapture event will occur.  The latter will take place shortly after the opening of the Sixth Seal of the heavenly scroll, depicted in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 6:12-17), as viewed and described by the apostle John.  (See also The Chronology of Revelation.)

In the midst of Jesus’ response is a very significant statement:  “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel...” (Matthew 24:15).  Jesus was referring to words written by the Old Testament prophet Daniel (via a prophecy given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel), and the event to which Jesus’ statement refers can be placed at a specific point  during the 70th Week.  In considering this self-evident axiom, it can be seen in Daniel 9:27bc that it is in the middle of the 70th Week when the ending of sacrifices and offerings, as well as the abomination that causes desolation, will take place in the future temple (or “holy place,” as Jesus called it).  This temple also was mentioned by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and by John in Revelation 11:1.

Evidently, the Third Temple will be built and standing in Jerusalem by the midpoint of the 70th Week.  The “abomination that causes desolation” may be something taking place in the temple which is revolting to orthodox Jews, such as the setting up of an idol and/or the sacrificing of a pig on the altar.  Or it simply may be the public proclamation, inside the temple, by the Antichrist (“the first beast”) that he is God, as well as his blasphemy of the True God and the heavenly host (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:5,6).  As of yet, it is uncertain as to the particular abomination (or abominations) which will cause the subsequent desolation—either of the temple, of Jerusalem, or of both.

Paul indicated that something or someone was restraining or holding back the “secret power of lawlessness,” the latter which will empower the man of lawlessness (Antichrist) when he ultimately is revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8).  Those who adhere to the “Pre-Tribulation” Rapture viewpoint commonly believe that it is a government or, more commonly, the Holy Spirit who is holding back the power (and man) of lawlessness until the proper time of revelation.  If the restrainer is the Holy Spirit, then the idea is that He is working through believers in the world; and after they are raptured (allegedly at the beginning of the 70th Week), the man of lawlessness will be revealed.

I hold a different view altogether.  Jesus indicated that, following the abomination that causes desolation (at the midpoint of the 70th Week), “there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” (Matthew 24:21).  The Old Testament prophet Daniel indicated that just prior to this same period of distress, the archangel Michael would “arise” (Daniel 12:1).

The archangel Michael always has been the special protective “prince” of Daniel’s people, Israel (Daniel 10:13,21).  At the midpoint of the 70th Week, he is seen to “arise” or “stand up.”  The term used is the Hebrew word amad, which actually means to “stand aside,” “stand still,” “desist,” or “be inactive.”  Other examples of the usage of amad  are found in Job 32:16, Nehemiah 8:5, and 2 Samuel 18:30 (see Amad).

Michael, in the middle of the 70th Week, will oust Satan and his angels from heaven (where they still continue to have access, accusing saints before God day and night), hurling them down to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9)—ending Satan’s access to heaven forever.  Immediately after this, the following will happen, in sequential order:

1. Michael, the restrainer, will “amad” (desist from any further assistance to Israel—Daniel 12:1a) by being “taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7b).  This will lead to a period of great distress on the earth, unequaled previous to that time (Matthew 24:21), for all nations including Israel.
2. The revealing of the true nature of the “lawless one” (Antichrist) will occur.  Ultimately, this man will be destroyed by Jesus, following His return to earth (2 Thessalonians 2:8) 3½ years later.
3. The work of Satan, through the “lawless one” who will come, will be “displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing” (2:9,10a).

After mentioning the abomination that causes desolation, recall that Jesus added, “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” (Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1b).  In some versions of the Bible, “great distress” is translated “great tribulation.”  Since the abomination that causes desolation will be set up in the middle of the 70th Week, another self-evident axiom is that the Great Tribulation can be seen to begin at the midpoint of the 70th Week as well.

At only one other place in the New Testament is the term “great tribulation” seen: Revelation 7:14.  Nowhere else in the New Testament is the word “tribulation” found.  The label of “tribulation” is found in the annotated Bible notes of some “Pre-Tribulation” Rapture advocates, such as C. I. Scofield and Grant Jeffrey.  As such, even though I agree that the term “tribulation” (implying “distress”) is an apt description of the overall atmosphere and mood of the 70th Week, its use as a substitutionary name for that final period of seven years is not scriptural.

After Jesus referred to the “great distress” (i.e., “great tribulation”), which will begin at the midpoint of the 70th Week, He described an eerie time “immediately after the distress of those days” when the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will seem to be falling from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken (Matthew 24:29).  This prophecy parallels one by the Old Testament prophet, Joel, in which he describes similar cosmic disturbances as happening just before the period of time known as the “day of the Lord” (Joel 2:30,31).  In effect, God will “clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering” (Isaiah 50:3)—I believe as a stark expression to humankind that there will be one last chance to repent before God begins to pour out His wrath upon the world.

Another Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, described these same cosmic disturbances (Isaiah 13:10).  They are contained in a passage in which Isaiah claimed that the “day of the Lord”—described as “a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger”—would be coming.  After describing the astonishing cosmic disturbances, he said that God would “punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins” and that the heavens would tremble and the earth would shake “at the wrath of the Lord Almighty in the day of his burning anger” (13:6-13).  The prophet Amos wrote that the “day of the Lord” would be one of “darkness, not light” (Amos 5:18,20), which is in keeping with the fact that the sun and moon will have been darkened, just prior to that time.

Another self-evident axiom is that Jesus’ description of the cosmic disturbances, as well as everyone’s observation of it (Matthew 24:29,30), is paralleled in the Book of Revelation by John’s description of what will occur after the opening of the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12-17).  Similarly to Joel’s prophecy, John indicated that the cosmic disturbances would occur just before the great “day of their wrath,” referring to the wrath of the Father and of the Lamb (the Son), which is equivalent to the Day of the Lord.  Even the Apostle Peter attested to this, adding that all who would call on the name of the Lord at that time would be saved (Acts 2:19-21)—I believe, via the Rapture.

There are those (such as many who embrace the “Pre-Tribulation” and “Post-Tribulation” Rapture views) who believe that the events of the Sixth Seal (Matthew 24:29, Revelation 6:12-17) will occur at the very end of the 70th Week.  Thus, those of the “Pre-Tribulation” persuasion believe that Matthew 24:30,31 must be a picture of Jesus’ return to earth, while those of the “Post-Tribulation” persuasion believe that the same passage is a picture of the Rapture concurrent with  Jesus’ return to earth.  I agree with neither of these views, for these reasons:

1. Matthew 24:30,31 says nothing about Jesus’ returning to earth, only about His appearance on the clouds of the sky, at which time He will send His angels to gather His elect to join Him (at the Rapture).
2. The Sixth Seal events do not  occur at the very end of the 70th Week (see Sixth Seal and Seventh Bowl).  Following the Sixth Seal, the events of the Seventh Seal will still have yet to transpire before Jesus returns to earth at the end of the 70th Week.  (Read The Chronology of Revelation for many more details regarding the chronology of the events about which John wrote in the Book of Revelation.)
3. Jesus stated,

   Immediately after the distress [or tribulation] of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken (Matthew 24:29).

   The word “distress,” in some versions of the Bible, is translated “tribulation.”  For many, there is an erroneous assumption that “tribulation” refers to the entire 70th Week (final 7-year period).  Yet, there is nothing at all in the Bible assigning or referring the term “tribulation” to the 70th Week.  The only portion of the 70th Week which aptly can be called a period of “great tribulation” is the period following the setting up of the abomination that causes desolation (in the middle of the seven years) to the point when the Sixth Seal is opened.

Here is Jesus’ description of what will happen simultaneous with  or immediately following the cosmic disturbances of the Sixth Seal (as described by Jesus in Matthew 24:29; cf. Revelation 6:12,13):

At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.  They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Matthew 24:30,31).

The Rapture is the first phase in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and it will not  be a “silent, hushed” phenomenon, as many in the “Pre-Trib” camp suppose.  The people of the world will “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30b).  John gives us added information, in the Book of Revelation, as to what will happen when the nations of the world see Jesus, coming in the clouds on His throne:

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.  They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” (Revelation 6:15,16).

Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55).

On the other hand, those who, up to that point, will have failed to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, will be “left behind” to be subjected to the imminent wrath of God about to come upon the earth:

For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:17).

Commonly, but I believe inappropriately, the entire 70th Week is referred to as the Day of the Lord by those who embrace the “Pre-Tribulation” Rapture point of view.  On the contrary, I have shown that, starting at the midpoint  of the 70th Week, the following events—as a sequence of four axioms used as foundational blocks in demonstrating the timing of the Pre-Wrath Rapture event—will occur in chronological order:

1. the cessation of sacrifices and offerings, then the abomination that causes desolation inside the newly-built Jewish temple, which will be standing in Jerusalem;
2. the beginning of the Great Tribulation period;
3. the cosmic disturbances of the Sixth Seal, where the sun and moon will turn dark and the heavenlies will be shaken;
4. the Pre-Wrath Rapture of believers, and finally
5. the Day of the Lord, which is not merely one day in length but is a period of time, beginning with the opening of the Seventh Seal.  The opening portion of the Day of the Lord—the “day of vengeance”—probably will last approximately a year (Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, 63:4), during which the devastating wrath of God will be poured out upon the earth.  Just as the 70th Week is a “week” of seven years, the final “day” of that “week” of years (the seventh year) will be the first segment of the Day of the Lord period.  The remaining majority portion of the Day of the Lord will be the Millennium, lasting a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8).

Interestingly, the apostle Peter, quoting the prophet Joel (Joel 2:31) in his reference to the Day of the Lord (Acts 2:20), changed one word in his description.  Joel said that it would be “great and dreadful,” but Peter described it as “great and glorious.”  Both were correct.  The beginning of the Day of the Lord period will be dark, cruel, fierce, and dreadful.  After that, however, that “day” will be bright, compassionate, gentle, and glorious (Isaiah 11:10).  Just as a day, in Jewish tradition, begins with darkness (after sunset) and ends with light (after dawn), so the Day of the Lord will begin with a time of gloominess and despair and be transformed, after Jesus returns, into an era of illumination and enlightenment.

In Paul’s day, some of the Thessalonians had been given deceptive information, indicating that the “day of the Lord”—with which Paul associated “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered [raptured] to him” (2 Thessalonians 2:1,2)—already had come.  Paul told the Thessalonians that the “day of the Lord” would not come until  the man of lawlessness (Antichrist) would be “revealed” at the time that he “sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2:3,4).

It would seem that the man who will be the Antichrist will be a primary supporter of the prophesied covenant, involving Israel, which will commence the 70th Week—which, possibly, could have begun with the establishment and funding of the European Neighbourhood Policy, a “confirmation” or “strengthening” of EuroMed.  It is likely that, initially, his “face” to the world will be one of honesty, integrity, and sincerity.  Presumably, he will be an advocate of peace.  Becoming a well-known and popular figure, he evidently will rise to the zenith of power, amidst great turmoil and disorder worldwide.  Then, after 3½ years, his “beastly” qualities will be “revealed” to the world.

Paul noted that, at a certain time, this man will be “revealed” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).  This will be at the midpoint of the final seven years, when the Antichrist will walk into the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and set up the abomination that causes desolation.  Displaying his true character and temperament, he will begin to behave as a “beast,” will utter blasphemies against God, and will make war against the saints of God.  He will conquer them for a period of 42 months or for “a time, times and half a time” (that is, one year plus two years plus half a year), which will be the final 3½ years (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7) of the 70th Week.

The latter half (3½ years) of the 70th Week will begin with the Great Tribulation period, which will be “cut short,” according to Jesus, “for the sake of the elect” because, otherwise, “no one would survive” (Matthew 24:22).  The tumult of the cosmic disturbances: Sixth Seal will cut short the Great Tribulation, after which the Day of the Lord period will transpire and, I surmise, most likely will last for a span of about one year.

The prophet Isaiah wrote, “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause” (Isaiah 34:8).  In this passage, I believe that “a day of vengeance” refers to the initial segment of “the day of the Lord,” and “a year of retribution” may indicate that this period will last for about a year (see The Seventh Year).

Isaiah also wrote, “For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come” (Isaiah 63:4).  Here, the “day of vengeance” is equated to “the year of my redemption”—that is, the year during which God will take vengeance on unbelievers and  during which believers will be redeemed, via the Rapture.

Similar to this is another passage by Isaiah: “...to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God...” (Isaiah 61:2).  In effect, this equates to a year of vengeance taken upon most of the world, while the Lord’s favor will been given to others at the Rapture.

Much of God’s vengeance, at the beginning of the Day of the Lord, will be in response to slain believers’ having cried out to God during the Fifth Seal persecution, to judge mankind and to avenge their blood, which will have been shed upon the earth:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.  They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” (Revelation 6:9,10).

See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins.  The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer (Isaiah 26:21).

Jesus’ specific answer to His disciples’ inquiry about His future coming was that the nations would “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory,” at which time angels will gather His elect to be with Him (Matthew 24:30,31).  At that time, believers, both dead and alive, will experience deliverance via the Rapture.  This will be Jesus’ return in the clouds, not  His return to earth to rule and reign.

Many who embrace the idea of either a “Pre-Tribulation” or a “Post-Tribulation” Rapture event feel that the incidents described in Matthew 24:30,31 will take place at the very end  of the 70th Week.  However, I maintain that they will occur soon after the removal of the Sixth Seal from the heavenly scroll, which will not  be at the end of the 70th Week but rather, most likely, about a year prior to the end (Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, 63:4—see The Seventh Year).  The events of the Seventh Seal, the seven Trumpet Judgments, and the seven Bowl Judgments described by John will be yet to come (see Sixth Seal and Seventh Bowl).

In Revelation 6:16 is described how the world will see “the face of him who sits on the throne.”  I believe that this is when the Pre-Wrath Rapture will take place.  The Rapture will be the initial  event in the Second Coming of Jesus.  It will portend the imminent  beginning of the Day of the Lord period (which will commence soon after the opening of the Seventh Seal).  Jesus’ Second Coming will be completed  when He returns physically to earth, at the end of the 70th Week, immediately prior to the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet (11:15-17).

Jesus compared the first phase of His next (second) coming to the time of Noah and the ark (Matthew 24:37-41).  At that time, Noah was saved by entering the ark, but the flood took away all those who had no idea that the flood was coming.  At the Rapture, the saved will be taken (caught up), while the lost will be left behind to be swept away by the “flood” of God’s wrath.

Jesus used the Hebrew word airo to indicate how the flood “took away” the lost people in Noah’s time; whereas, He used the word paralambano to describe how the saved people in the future will be “taken.”  While airo implies to “take up” or to “take away” (with a negative connotation), paralambano means to “take alongside” (in a positive context, occurring also in Matthew 1:24, 2:14, and 20:17).

Thus, it seems evident that the multitude comprising the elect, taken at the initial coming of the Son of Man in the clouds (Matthew 24:30,31), will be saved individuals, caught up in the Rapture to be alongside Jesus.  On the other hand, those remaining, at least up to that point, will be unbelievers and/or scorners who will be left to face the terrifying Day of the Lord judgments.