Thoughts on the End Times [4]: The Only Rapture Passage
My senior theology prof challenged us to defend the pretribulation rapture. But the only Bible passage that mentions the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18) doesn’t mention the Tribulation. What my prof was asking seemed impossible. I decided to start by taking a closer look at 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18. Here’s the passage from the English Standard Version:
[4.13] But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
[4.14] For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
[4.15] For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
[4.16] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
[4.17] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
[4.18] Therefore encourage one another with these words.
The Thessalonians Christians believed that Christian friends who had died would be at some sort of disadvantage (we’re not told what) when Christ returns (4.13-14). Paul sets out to correct this misunderstanding.
The resurrection of Jesus, Paul says, guarantees the resurrection of those who have died (4.14). God revealed to Paul (4.15 – by a word from the Lord) that when Christ returns, the resurrection power will raise the dead first (4.15-16). Then it will touch the living (4.17).
Their friends who had died were not losing out on anything! When Christ returns, those friends will be raised first (i.e. given new bodies), rising to meet the Lord in the air. Then those still living will be ‘snatched up’ (4.17) – and presumably also given new bodies (1 Corinthians 15.50-53). It will be a grand reunion – not a reason to grieve but to rejoice with hope (4.18)!
It seems to me that it’s clear that this is what 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 says in its context. The Tribulation isn’t mentioned, but the return of Christ and the resurrection are – and elsewhere the Bible places those events after the Tribulation. The rapture, tied explicitly to the resurrection and the return of Christ, seems to belong after the Tribulation (post-tribulation) rather than before it (pre-tribulation).
Looking at the only rapture passage in the Bible I saw no way to defend the pre-tribulation view. It’s simply not explicitly taught there. To write my paper I’d have to go back to the drawing board.
[4.13] But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
[4.14] For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
[4.15] For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
[4.16] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
[4.17] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
[4.18] Therefore encourage one another with these words.
The Thessalonians Christians believed that Christian friends who had died would be at some sort of disadvantage (we’re not told what) when Christ returns (4.13-14). Paul sets out to correct this misunderstanding.
The resurrection of Jesus, Paul says, guarantees the resurrection of those who have died (4.14). God revealed to Paul (4.15 – by a word from the Lord) that when Christ returns, the resurrection power will raise the dead first (4.15-16). Then it will touch the living (4.17).
Their friends who had died were not losing out on anything! When Christ returns, those friends will be raised first (i.e. given new bodies), rising to meet the Lord in the air. Then those still living will be ‘snatched up’ (4.17) – and presumably also given new bodies (1 Corinthians 15.50-53). It will be a grand reunion – not a reason to grieve but to rejoice with hope (4.18)!
It seems to me that it’s clear that this is what 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 says in its context. The Tribulation isn’t mentioned, but the return of Christ and the resurrection are – and elsewhere the Bible places those events after the Tribulation. The rapture, tied explicitly to the resurrection and the return of Christ, seems to belong after the Tribulation (post-tribulation) rather than before it (pre-tribulation).
Looking at the only rapture passage in the Bible I saw no way to defend the pre-tribulation view. It’s simply not explicitly taught there. To write my paper I’d have to go back to the drawing board.