The bible teaches that Jesus will one day return for the church in an event we call the rapture. We see this first in John 14:1-3 where Jesus tells His disciples that He has a place prepared for them in heaven and will one day come back for them so that He can take them there, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
Later in the New Testament, Paul provides more details concerning this event in both 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. When we put together what we read in these two passages, we see that there’s a set of events that take place at the rapture:
- The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God
- The dead in Christ will be raised first and given glorified bodies
- Those who are alive when this event happens will be given glorified bodies
- Those who are alive will be caught up together with those who were resurrected to meet the Lord in the clouds
At the rapture, all Christians who have died throughout church history will be resurrected and given glorified bodies, while Christians that are alive during this event will be changed into glorified bodies and caught up to meet the Lord and be reunited with previously departed loved ones in the air.
When is the Rapture?
The big question then is when does this event occur? There are 4 main views on when the rapture will take place centering on the tribulation period – the worst period of human history leading up to Christ’s second coming. During this time frame is when the Antichrist appears on the world scene, the mark of the beast system is implemented, and God judges an unrepentant world through 7 seal, 7 trumpet, and 7 bowl judgments among other things. Each of the 4 views is summarized below.
Pre-trib
- The pre-trib rapture occurs before the start of the tribulation. In this view, Christians are taken out of the earth to avoid the horrors of the tribulation period.
- The pre-trib view is the only one of the 4 that states we will not go through the tribulation.
Mid-trib
- The mid-trib rapture occurs at the half-way (3.5 year) mark of the tribulation. In this view, Christians experience only the first half of the tribulation and are taken out before the 2nd half starts.
Pre-wrath
- The pre-wrath view is similar to the mid-trib view, that Christians go through about half and are then taken out of it. The biggest difference between the two is that those who hold this position believe we will be taken out of it before God pours his 7 bowl judgments on the earth. The bowl judgments are noted in the bible as “God’s wrath” hence where the name of the view is derived from. This is demonstrated in Revelation 15:1, Revelation 15:7, and Revelation 16:1 for example.
Post-trib
- The post-trib rapture occurs at the end of the 7 year tribulation. It’s the only one that states we will go through the full 7 years of tribulation. Those that adhere to this view commonly use Matthew 24:29-31 as a basis that after the tribulation Jesus will return and gather us to Himself.
Although not the main focus of my study, there are also those who hold onto the belief of a partial rapture in which only “good” Christians will be raptured while “worldly” Christians are left behind and those who don’t believe in a rapture at all.
Neither of which I believe are biblical and for the most part Christians who hold to the 4 main views see these 2 as un-biblical as well. These last 2 views are not my focus but I will touch upon them quickly in future articles.
I believe that the pre-tribulation rapture view is the biblical accurate one. I believe that the bible makes it clear we will be taken out of the world before the tribulation starts. I hold on to a pre-trib rapture view because I believe the bible, through many key ideas, shows this to be true. Due to this, I also believe the other 3 views contradict what the bible says.
My goal through this rapture study is to take a comprehensive look at what I believe many of us miss when we talk about the rapture. It goes deeper than we might think and touches a lot of varying subjects. This first article was to define what the various rapture views are. In the next post I’ll shift our focus to the tribulation to give us a better understanding of the rapture.
Other articles in this series:
- A Rapture Study: The Tribulation
- A Rapture Study: The Tribulation II
- A Rapture Study: Rapture vs Second Coming
- A Rapture Study: Rapture vs Second Coming II
- A Rapture Study: One Taken, One Left
- A Rapture Study: One Taken, One Left II
- A Rapture Study: Parable of the Wheat and Tares
Also Learn more about what follows this “blessed hope”:
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Glad you are tackling this issue and I’ll be keeping up with it! I’m personally convinced that the Bible indicates a post-trib rapture so I’m really interested in your case for pre-trib!
Thanks for taking time to read this. I’m interested to hear your thoughts going forward as well.
Interesting. I wrote a paper on this in the spring, but landed on the post-trib option. I’m interested in your following posts 🙂
I’d be interested in reading that paper if you’re able to share it. Thanks for your comment!
Shayo, interesting post; I had written a challenge in biblical study on the rapture a while back; no need to meet the challenge (the only one who responded really didn’t either), but I hope its contents may be helpful to you in your study; I focus on three main passages which discuss the topic. Would be interested in hour thoughts/ feedback.
https://pnuematicrain.wordpress.com/2016/11/02/the-rapture-challenge/
Thanks for taking your time to read this and thanks for your comment. I will give your article a read although I dont know if I’ll be going into details to “challenge” your view. I briefly skimmed your article for now and it seems to me that the resurrection is one of your main points which is something I intend to touch on myself in a future article.
Certainly, as mentioned, I don’t expect a response on the challenge, but thought you may take an interest in the points laid out. I don’t like to make too great a point about terminology, but using the term ‘rapture’ gives the general impression that there is an event other than the resurrection (which is not biblical). Thus when I refer to the rapture, I am referring to the event which is scripturally called ‘the resurrection of the dead.’
Yes I understand your point. When I use “rapture” I’m referring to the original Greek “Harpazo” which was then translated to the Latin “Rapturo” which we have in English as “Rapture”. All it is is a “catching away” which we see in cases like Revelation 12 with the manchild being caught up to heaven. For the pre-trib view, I believe the resurrection of the dead first happens and then those alive are caught up. It occurs together. But ya, I will be dealing with this in a later article.
I just getting a chance to see your article and I know you did an in-depth study. My point is on what you said about the dead rising again. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 at the end that God will bring us with him. Meaning that when we die, we are absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8) You get a more detail description about the separation of body and soul/spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:35-54, so only the celestial body will rise from the ground to meet us that have died and is Heaven only to come back in the air/clouds for that body. Paul also state in 2 Corinthians 5:2-3 that we groan to be clothed in these celestial bodies.
Definitely agree with you! Were you thinking I was saying something different in the article?