RAPTURE AT THE SECOND COMING #6: “WILL CHRISTIANS EXPERIENCE GOD’S WRATH DURING THE TRIBULATION PERIOD? (PART 1)”At this point I think it’s a good idea to review and summarize a few things. First, my initial question and invitation to you (on Facebook, July 19) was this: “I don’t ask this to create a controversy or start futile debates over things that are more peripheral than central. But I’m curious to know if any of you might want solid biblical reasons why a biblically conservative evangelical Christian, namely me, believes that the rapture of the Church takes place at the Second Coming of Christ, and not seven years prior to His return? Let me know if you’re interested. Thanks!” Since that time, over 240 of you have said “I’m in,” indicating a desire to be notified when I post an article on this subject.
In post #1, I shared seven introductory thoughts, including my concern that we Christians prepare to endure rather than prepare to escape. In post #2 I introduced “the Doctrine Test”, evaluating whether a passage teaches a particular doctrine EXPLICITLY (clearly stated), IMPLICITLY (easily proven by Scripture), or only by SPECULATION (pre-supposing, assuming, guessing without clear evidence from Scripture). In posts #3, #4, and #5, we applied the Doctrine Test to numerous New Testament Scriptures to see what they teach. Summarizing, we found that the following Scriptures EXPLICITLY teach that the Rapture of the Church happens at the Second Coming of Christ and not before it: Matthew 24:29-31, 1 Thess 4:15-18, 2 Thess 1:5-10, 2 Thess 2:1-8, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Titus 2:11-14, and 2 Peter 3:2-13. We also saw that Jesus’ parables in Matthew 25 (following His Matthew 24 teaching) and elsewhere reinforce the view that Christians who are alive on the earth at the end will be gathered to meet Jesus at His Second Coming and not before. What we have established thus far is HUGE! So huge, in fact, that I personally believe what we have proven from Scripture is insurmountable evidence that the Rapture is at the Second Coming. (If you haven’t read the prior posts, please do so, as they provide an essential foundation for understanding why I believe what I do.)
In order to teach otherwise, that the Rapture takes place at any time prior to the Second Coming, would require an equally impressive number of EXPLICIT Scriptures to warrant ignoring or casting aside all the passages we have examined. And yet, in all my 50 years of studying the Bible, I have not found even one passage that explicitly or implicitly teaches a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. What I have found to be true is this: Every Scripture that my pre-Trib Rapture friends use to prove their point seems to require a prior assumption, presupposition, or inference. In order to infer a pre-Trib Rapture there must be some undeniably clear biblical evidence to make that inference, and I don’t believe there is any such evidence in the Bible. (I imagine that some of you may be angry with me right now, but I’m just telling you what I believe and why; and I even hope that you are right and I am wrong! 
) In light of all that’s happening in our country and world today, it makes more sense to me than ever in my lifetime that we believers in Christ must be prepared for whatever comes.
Now, let’s look at a few Scriptures in seeking to answer the question, “WILL CHRISTIANS EXPERIENCE THE WRATH OF GOD IN THE TRIBULATION PERIOD?” A quick answer is “No, they will not.” But that is a different question than, “Will Jesus’ followers be alive on the earth during the Tribulation period?” The answer to that is “Yes.” And another important question, “Is the Tribulation period to be understood as “the wrath of God?” Lots of opinions on these things. Before we go further, let’s look at two passages in Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica:
I THESS 1:8-10 “For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and TO WAIT FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVEN, whom He raised from the dead, JESUS WHO DELIVERS US FROM THE WRATH TO COME.”
I THESS 5:7-11 “For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 FOR GOD HAS NOT DESTINED US FOR WRATH, BUT TO OBTAIN SALVATION THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
EVALUATION USING THE DOCTRINE TEST: The Greek NT word used for “wrath” in both passages is “orge”, often the word used to describe our just and holy God’s final judgment on those who reject Christ (see also, for example, Romans 2:4-6, where Paul warns those who reject God’s loving calls to repentance that they are storing up “orge”/wrath for themselves on the day of God’s wrath). Taking into account that Paul EXPLICITLY teaches in his two letters to the Thessalonian believers that BOTH the wrath of God against the wicked AND the Rapture of believers take place at Christ’s Second Coming (see 1 Thess 4:15-18, 2 Thess 1:5-10, and 2 Thess 2:1-8), we must conclude that these passages refer to the wrath unbelievers will experience when Jesus comes back for the Church at his Second Coming. Christians are definitely not destined to suffer God’s wrath, judgment, or Hell, which will be unleashed in the final Judgment. Quite the contrary, we are saved from His wrath by faith, through the precious blood of Christ.
We know that God’s wrath fell on unbelievers in the Old Testament at the Flood and at Sodom and Gomorrah and elsewhere. One question where Christians may disagree is this: “Does God’s wrath sometimes fall on unbelievers in the New Testament era, or is wrath being withheld until final judgment?” In at least one instance the New Testament talks about God’s contemporary “orge”/wrath on sinners prior to the final judgment. For example, in Romans 1:18-32 Paul writes that “THE WRATH OF GOD IS BEING REVEALED from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness…” (1:18). When people refuse to acknowledge God or give Him thanks and continue to reject His truth, He expresses wrath by giving them over to the wickedness that is in their sinful hearts. For example: “Therefore, God gave them over…” (1:24-25); “Because of this, God gave them over…” (1:26-27); and “He gave them over to a depraved mind…” (1:28-32). However, generally speaking, when the NT points to coming of God’s wrath/”orge”, it refers to His judgment on unrepentant sinners accompanying the Second Coming of Christ, at which time believers will be gathered to meet Him (raptured).
I know I have barely scratched the surface of the question, “Will Christians experience the wrath of God in the Tribulation period?” But to keep this post from getting too long, I’m going to hold up here and continue this topic in my next post. I want to do a good job evaluating other Scriptures, and particularly REVELATION 3:10, where Jesus told the church in Philadelphia, “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” This Scripture is very widely considered to be one of the strongest arguments to support the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.
In preparation for the next post, your “homework” assignment is to look at the historical and literary context of this passage (Revelation 3:10); apply the Doctrine test to the passage; and, seeking God’s wisdom, ask yourself these questions: 1) Is this passage addressed to the whole Church for all time, or just to the Christians in Philadelphia at the end of the 1st Century AD? 2) Do we interpret the Book of Revelation (which is apocalyptic literature with many symbols) literally, or symbolically? How do you know when it’s meant to be taken symbolically? 3) Does Rev 3:10 teach explicitly or implicitly that the whole end times Church will escape a time of worldwide trial by being taken out of the world, or is that speculative? 4) Is this time of trial necessarily the Great Tribulation, or could it be a time of worldwide persecution and trials before that? Or could it be the judgment coming at Christ’s return?
Next post #7: “Will Christians experience God’s Wrath in the Tribulation period, Part 2”