POST-TRIBULATIONAL RAPTURE

I am often asked "What is this all about?" Before explaining this view it is important to understand something about those who have such crazy theological views, especially when it comes to biblical prophecy. There are those who (1) are just poor scholars and who have sorry skills when it comes to interpretation. (2) There are those who have a personal agenda. They have preconceptions and refuse to take the Bible at face value. (3) There are those who hate premillennialism and dispensationalism, though they could not really tell you why!    I call the post-tribulational view the escalator view of the doctrine of the rapture of the church. They argue that the rapture comes at the very end of the tribulation. The church is caught up into heaven right at the end of the tribulation, goes to glory, and then turns right around and instantly returns to earth to be in the kingdom! Now that is just plain dumb!    Why would they have this view? For some reason they want the church to go through the tribulation. Some argue that to go through the tribulation is a way to purge and clean up the church before the return of Christ. This shows that they have no correct concept of the doctrine of sanctification.    The posttribers say the church does not go through the final wrath of God as described in the seventh bowl of wrath in Revelation 16: 17-21. The passage says God gives to Babylon the Harlot "the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath" (v. 19).       But because the posters have such sorry observation and contextual skills in interpreting the Bible they fail to notice that the Scriptures make it clear that the entire tribulation, the total seven years, is labeled the wrath of God. And the wrath of God is used to describe this total period that starts in Revelation 6.     In the book of Revelation, the tribulation is rightly divided into two parts: one half and one half. But in most contexts outside of Revelation the tribulation is seen as a whole, the entire period is called the wrath of God. And again as mentioned, the church does not go under any part of that seven years.    The seven year tribulation actually begins in Revelation 6 with the seven seal judgments. This entire period is called "Their wrath," that is, the wrath (seen as a whole) that comes from God the Father and from Christ the Lamb (vv. 16-17). The world begs to be hidden from their wrath, "for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to [remain] standing" or to survive this entire period that falls upon the whole earth?    The apostle Paul describes the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. There, he says we are waiting for His Son from heaven, "whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath 'that is on its way'" (v. 10). Again, the wrath is seen as a whole, an entire period that has a start and a finish, from a beginning to an ending. The church will be removed from that entire period!     Paul repeats this in 5:9. He writes, "For God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ." This wrath starts in Revelation 6. Jeremiah describes the wrath as "the birth pangs" that fall upon Israel, and he adds, "Alas! For that day is great, there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob's (Israel's) distress" (Jer. 30:6-7). The word "distress" in Hebrew is "zarach" and can be translated "tribulation" or "wrath."     The wrath is seen as a whole, an entire period, in many OT passages. Zephaniah 1:15-17 says "A day of wrath is that day, a day of troubles and distress; a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, and a day of clouds and thick darkness. … I will bring distress on all men."     Remember, people who have strange views that contradict Scripture have an agenda. They are trying to avoid the obvious and change what is clear to the average reader who lets the Bible speak in all its clarity.     Talking about someone mixed up! George Ladd wrote: "The Church is 'already' passing through the Tribulation." Walvoord correctly noted about this view: "A literal interpretation of the Scriptures dealing with the tribulation and taking into account all the factors reveled in Scriptures concerning the Tribulation … supports the pretribulational rapture concept." Those of us who hold the pretribulational rapture are correct; the rest are wrong! – Dr. Mal Couch