Is the Pre-tribulation view of the Rapture the correct view?


Email Received:

In my studies, I have determined that the Pre-tribulation view of the Rapture of the Church is the view that I endorse. Do you believe that this is the correct view?


Ted’s Response:

For quite a long time, I embraced the "Pre-tribulation" Rapture view as well—the view that the Rapture event will take place prior to the final seven years (the 70th Week), commonly referred to as the "tribulation" period. However, I always had questions about that view that no one could answer adequately. I found many "missing links" that were inconsistent with other passages in Scripture.

I also found it very perplexing when people (most commonly, "Pre-tribbers") would call certain Bible passages "parenthetical," particularly in the Book of Revelation. Such "parenthetical" sections commonly are "cut" out of where they belong and "pasted" into other places, out of sequential order; whereas, they actually are chronologically correct as written. My proposed sequencing and ordering of Revelation can be found in my three-part commentary, The Chronology of Revelation.

Placing the so-called "Pre-tribulation" Rapture event at Revelation 4:1,2, simply because it symbolically "seems" to fit there (since that is where John is seen to be taken up into heaven to write about the future events he saw there), is a gigantic error. It was done by C. I. Scofield in his scriptural annotations, thus causing improper and invalid changes in his sequencing and explanations of the remainder of Revelation.

In any case, I had no choice but to explore other Rapture views thoroughly, since I believe that it is sensible to explore all views of a topic before coming to educated inferences about it. I have come to the conclusion that the Pre-Wrath Rapture view absolutely makes the most sense of all of the Rapture viewpoints.  This involves a catching-up of believers following soon after the opening of the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12), but before God's wrathful "day of vengeance," which will commence in conjunction with the opening of the dreaded Seventh Seal (8:1).

In my opinion, the "Pre-trib" view of the Rapture is little more than a "feel good" notion, embraced by many people who wish to believe that they will not have to endure any of the trials and tribulations of the 70th Week. In short, I feel that the "Pre-trib" view is merely a pie-in-the-sky, wishful-thinking fantasy.

I suggest that you read my two-part commentary, The Rapture, or at least a summary of The Rapture.  In addition, here are two other email responses that I have written:

More of my email responses about the Rapture topic can be found in my Rapture Questions and Responses section. You also could read the “Pre-Tribulation” Rapture (Pre-TR) and disputes with Pre-TR sections in my online book, Creation ... Counterfeits ... and the 70th Week (written in the early 1990s).


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