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RAPTURE? WHICH RAPTURE?

Andy C

Well-known
Among Christians who believe there will be a rapture of the Church, the great majority of us are convinced it will precede the end times judgments. This position is commonly called the pre-tribulation rapture.

Those who reject the pre-trib view are either mid-tribulation, post tribulation or pre-wrath rapture advocates. In this study we’ll review these rapture positions.

The Mid Tribulation Rapture​

These believers place the rapture at the end of the trumpet judgments, just before the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Their justification for doing so comes from equating the seventh trumpet of Rev. 11:15 with the last trump from Paul’s description of the rapture in 1 Cor. 15:51-53. Also the mid-trib view does not agree that the Seal and Trumpet judgments are manifestations of divine wrath, which in their view consists only the Bowl judgments. For them, that makes the Bowls the time of wrath the Bible says we are not appointed to suffer (1 Thes. 5:9).

The other two positions appear to be similar as far as the rapture is concerned because they both claim to place the rapture of the Church after the Great Tribulation. But as we’ll see, they are actually quite different.

A few weeks ago, I was specifically asked to provide a concise explanation of these two positions. You might ask why such a strong pre-trib believer as I am would be asked to explain positions with which I disagree. The answer, which I’ve recently confirmed for myself, is that many post-trib and pre-wrath articles devote more time to refuting the pre-trib position than they do to explaining their own.

Because of that, people who are just looking for the Biblical support for these positions so they can do their own evaluation have to sift through a lot of anti pre-trib rhetoric to find what they’re looking for. It’s like having to listen to someone’s opinion on why they don’t like Fords when the question you asked was “Why do people like Chevrolets”.

So what is the essence of these positions? It boils down to their interpretation of Matt. 24. Both positions are based on the belief that Jesus was talking about the Church when He mentioned “the elect” in Matt. 24:22, 24 & 31. And they both agree that Matt. 24:29marks the end of the Great Tribulation.

 
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