Some are teaching aggressively against the Pre-Tribulation Rapture view. However, I have yet come across an objection that could not be explained fully with Scripture. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is the only view where all Scriptures actually work together in unity.
The fact is, there are TWO RETURNS of Christ in the Last Days; The Rapture Event and the Second Coming Event. By the Scriptures very context, they cannot be the same event. Scripture clearly shows this.
Why These Are Two Separate Events
The Rapture Verses are NOT the same as the Second Coming verses.
WHEN, TIMING DIFFERENCES:
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: The exact timing and date of this event is not know or provided to us in Scripture (1 Thes. 5:4-6, Rev 3:3). Although we can see signs for the Tribulation period approaching. Notice that I am not mentioning the Matthew 24:36-37 verse about ‘not knowing the Day nor the Hour’. Many are teaching it is about the Rapture Event but they are wrong by context. Matthew 24:36-37 is NOT about the Rapture but is Jesus telling the disciples about the Second Coming Event! Just look a couple of verses prior for proper context. Jesus actually tells us He is talking about AFTER the Tribulation Period:
“Immediately AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:” (Matthew 24:29 KJV)
→ The Second Coming: The date will actually be known in the Tribulation Period. Also, the Second Coming happens after the 7 year Tribulation period. The exact day and hour is not known but all will see Christ coming (Matt 24:29-30, Dan 9:24-27, 2 Thes. 2:3-8).
LOCATION DIFFERENCES:
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: Christ is seen coming to meet us “in the air” (1 Thess. 4:13-18) to a place He has been preparing for the last 2000 years. It is a physical place with width/length/height. A huge place 1500 miles cubed! Large enough to hold every believer from the beginning of time! A place prepared to TAKE US TOO and where we will be WITH HIM. (John 14:1–3). This place is called the New Jerusalem, that celestial heavenly city. It is located in a place called ‘Heaven’. Heaven may be in our universe too far away for us to see or it could be in a different dimension. All we know is that it will come ‘out of Heaven’ and enter the space some distance from Earth during the Millennium Kingdom Age on Earth to come.
→ The Second Coming: Jesus lands His feet ON EARTH PHYSICALLY. Scripture shows Christ returning to start His 1000 year reign ON EARTH. No one is TAKEN to be with Him where He is. Instead, Christ is coming to be here on Earth for 1000 years. Those Raptured will be coming WITH HIM.
TAKEN VS. LEFT
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: Christians are the first to be TAKEN and unbelievers are LEFT BEHIND. (1 Thes. 4:13-18)
→ The Second Coming: The opposite is seen! The “wicked” (unsaved) are taken first and the “righteous” (saved) are LEFT BEHIND on Earth. The unbelievers who survive the Tribulation Period are the “GOATS” killed and the believers who survived the Tribulation are the “SHEEP” who will repopulate the Earth in the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth. (Matthew 25:32-46)
WHAT JESUS WILL DO
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: Jesus is going to gather together His Bride (This is about us today, Believers, The Church, in the age of grace we now live in) to where Jesus is for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, a celebration of a believers marriage to Christ fully completed as we have already received our new glorified bodies. Now our Spirit and body are both perfected. (Rev. 19:6-9)
→ The Second Coming: Jesus returns to Earth and His feet LAND on the Earth. He then executes judgement on the nations (Sheep/Goats Judgement) and sets up His Kingdom ON EARTH where the previously Raptured will be ruling and reigning WITH CHRIST on Earth. (Jude 14-15, Rev 19:11-21, Zech 14:3-4)
SPEED Of COMING
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: Happens in the ‘twinkling of an eye’, and that is faster than one blink of an eye! (1 Corinthians 15:52)
→ The Second Coming: Scripture states that every eye will see Jesus coming. People will be terrified knowing what is coming and they will hide themselves in rocks and caves. And so, it seems like the Second Coming is not going to be an instant moment like the Rapture Event. (Rev 6:15-17)
WHO WILL BE SEEING JESUS?
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: Believers in Christ will see Him. (1 John 3:2, 1 Cor 15:52) The unsaved will see that millions of people, in an instant, right before their very eyes, vanished. The devil is prepared for this event and has a plan to explain what has happened (2 Thessalonians 2). It is likely one of the reasons he takes over the world government which will be in instant panic , economic disaster and utter despair; seeking someone to save them from their troubles. There will be a great deception. Some speculate it is something to do with an alien invasion, others about trans-humanism, but we do not know what it will be at this time.
→ The Second Coming: Scripture indicates that EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM on Earth. Even those who rejected Him as Lord and Savior. (Rev. 1:7)
SHOUTING?
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: Jesus calls believers to meet Him in the air with a SHOUT. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
→ The Second Coming: Cannot find a verse where Jesus is shouting to believers.
THE RESURRECTION!
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: The dead in Christ are bodily resurrected with new glorified bodies. Those Believers alive at the Rapture event are CHANGED physically into glorified bodies as Jesus now has. Eternal bodies without the sin problem. This is our Bodily resurrection. The ‘the redemption of the purchased possession’, our new bodily resurrection (Ephesians 1:13-14, 1 Thes. 4:13-18, 1 Cor 15:51-54)
→ The Second Coming: There is no resurrection spoken of for those who survive the Tribulation Period. The Sheep and Goats Judgement (Matthew 25:31-46) occurs instead where the unbelievers are killed and will one day be resurrected for the Great White Throne Judgement of the condemned. Surviving believers will repopulate the Earth in the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth. The only resurrection mentioned at the Second Coming is for the believers who were martyred or died during the Tribulation period. They will be resurrected at the Second Coming as they come back to Earth with Christ. (Rev. 20:4-5, Zech. 12:10, Zech.14:4-5, Rev 1:7, Rev 19:11-21, Rev 20:11-15)
THE MENTION OF ANGELS
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: No angels gather anyone. “For the Lord HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with a shout…” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Not angels, Christ Himself. Christ resurrects and changes our bodies and we meet Him “in the air” and so shall we forever be with the Lord.
→ The Second Coming: Scripture clearly shows that God sends angels to gather the surviving Tribulation period unbelievers for judgment and then they are killed. (Matt 13:39, 41 & 49, Matt. 24:31, Matt. 25:31, 2 Thes. 1:7-10)
WILD HORSES!
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: NO MENTION of Jesus coming on a ‘white horse’.
→ The Second Coming: Jesus will return riding a ‘white horse’. (Rev. 19:11)
THE BLESSED HOPE!
→ The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: This event is described as our ‘blessed hope’ (Titus 2:13). Something believers are to look forward to. Believers today are to be DELIVERED FROM THE WRATH TO COME (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
→ The Second Coming: Judgment is coming to the unbelievers who survived the Tribulation period. (Revelation 19:11-21)
These above are just some of the reasons why the Pre-Tribulation Rapture and the Second Coming are two different events.
APOSTLE PAUL TAUGHT CLEARLY THAT THE RAPTURE HAPPENS BEFORE THE TRIBULATION PERIOD IN 2 THESSALONIANS 2
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
(2 Thessalonians 2: 1-10 KJV)
There is a few things to unpack here to see the truth of this passage:
I. First, what is going on here with the Thessalonian believers?
Paul had helped setup and establish the church for the Thessalonians and had them left the area. After a while, a rumour from a fraudulent letter that looked like it was sent from Apostle Paul was troubling them. This rumour from this fraudulent letter was telling the Thessalonians believers that they had missed the Harpazo/Rapture. And because Paul taught them about the Tribulation Period to come, they were “shaken in mind and troubled”. They were fearful because they knew if they missed the Harpazo Rapture then they are going to go through the worst period in human history on Earth! This is the devil using a fraudulent letter against the Thessalonians for sure. The document must have been very convincing, even having the stamp of Apostle Paul looking real.
II. What is The Day of Christ here?
Is this day of Christ the Harpazo Rapture or the Second Coming Event? Well, we can see by the context here where it reads ” as that day of Christ is at hand.”, that it is the Second Coming event. Why? because that is what they were fearful about, going through the horrible time of Jacobs Trouble, the Tribulation Period, thinking they had missed the Rapture from the fraudulent letter and rumours about it that shook them t their core in fear. Logically, if the Rapture was not before the Tribulation Period, why would they have been fearful of having missed the Harpazo / Rapture? They would still have looked forward to the Blessed Hope of the Rapture event but instead were fearful of having missed it. Instead they thought they would face the Tribulation Period of Jacobs Trouble and the Antichrist as Paul had previously taught them and as described to OT believers in the book of Daniel. That is why in verse 5 Paul wrote,
“Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” (2 Thess. 2 :5 KJV)
III. Paul Writes Them To Ease Their Minds About The Harpazo/Rapture.
Paul apparently heard about this fraudulent letter of false teaching to them and so 2 Thessalonians 2 is Paul writing to the Thessalonians to ease their minds with the truth. Paul tells them to not be deceived and that it is a lie, not from him. Paul wrote,
“3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” (2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV)
It is in this verse where the timing of the Harpazo is even more clearly revealed and the Rapture of Church Age believers is clearly shown.
Paul tells them to not be deceived and in verse 5 says Paul had told them about this. This is stating that the Day of The Lord will not come until there come a “falling away” first. What does this phrase mean? Well, let’s look at older Bible manuscripts and we will see very clearly what this means.
The Greek word for this phrase is the word ‘apostasia‘. And when we look at older Bible manuscripts we can see the meaning to be A DEPARTING.
1384 Wycliffe Bible – Departynge First
1526 Tyndale Bible – Departynge First
1576 CRammer Bible – Departing First
1608 Geneva Bible – Departing First
1611 KJV – Falling Away
Apostasia is clearly defined as a Departing First. I do not know why the KJV shows this as a “falling away” but it is a “departing first”. Maybe for some reason it made sense in the time it was translated to KJV. I do not pretend to know why myself. The Geneva Bible alone is very accurate but we see the same “departing first” in many other older manuscripts, even preceding the Geneva Bible.
This is clearly by context of the entire passage, the Harpazo/Rapture. The departure of born again Church Age believers to Heaven in the clouds which must happen before the Tribulation Period starts. Before anyone knows who Antichrist is, when he will be revealed.
Apostle Paul goes on writing to encourage them that this fraudulent letter is a lie and that they will be Harpazo/Raptured FIRST, before the time of trouble coming upon the whole Earth in the Tribulation Period and time of Jacob’s Trouble to come.
COMFORT YOUR HEARTS today as well my fellow believers in Christ for righteousness and salvation! Even when many are telling you the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church Age believers is false. Do not believe that lie of the devil. The same lie the devil tried to get over on the Thessalonians. Do not let them rob you of the comfort we have in the coming BLESSED HOPE! Take heart today for the Harpazo/Rapture is closer than ever before!
“5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.“
(2 Thess 2: 10-15 KJV)
