A Rapture Study

The Bible describes this moment as a minuscule amount of time; He disappears as soon as He appears and takes us with Him.

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What is the Rapture?

Most people have heard of the word “rapture” and have a general understanding that it’s a belief Christians hold, meaning that, at one point in time, all Christians will be taken off the face of the earth before the “end of the world.” To the skeptic, this is one of many “fairy tales” the Bible contains, but to the Christians, it’s our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13, NKJV).

To define it in more concrete terms, the Bible teaches that, during the end times leading up to Jesus’s 2nd coming, He will return to the earth in the clouds for His church, those who have placed their trust in Jesus’s finished work at the cross. The Bible describes this moment as a minuscule amount of time; He disappears as soon as He appears and takes us with Him.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Cor. 15:51-52, NKJV).

During this short time frame, those who died believing in Jesus will be resurrected and given glorified bodies. Afterward, those of us who are alive will be changed from mortal to immortal and given glorified bodies. We will then meet Jesus in the air and be transported to God’s throne room.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:13-18, NKJV).

This is the rapture.

 

When is the Rapture?

Something you may not know, however, is that there are 4 differing views on when the rapture will take place. This timing centers on the tribulation period. The tribulation is a 7-year time frame when Satan will have unrestrained power over the earth and use this last 7 years to deceive its inhabitants to finally rebel against God.

During this time frame is when the Antichrist appears on the world scene, the mark of the beast system rises, and God judges an unrepentant world through 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowl judgments. The 4 rapture views are stated below. Going forward, I will be condensing “tribulation” into “trib.”

 

Pre-trib

  • The pre-trib rapture occurs before the start of the tribulation in which Christians are taken out of the earth to avoid the horrors of the tribulation period.
  • The majority of the church believes in a pre-trib rapture.
  • 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 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 on to this view believe we will be taken out of it before God pours His 7 bowl judgments on an unrepentant world. The bowl judgments are noted in the Bible as “God’s wrath” hence the name of the view. This is demonstrated in Revelation 15:1, Revelation 15:7, and Revelation 16:1 for example.
  • I hold onto the belief that the whole tribulation and all of God’s judgments is his wrath. It’s just that the bowls completes it. I will address this specific viewpoint at a later time

 

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 hold on to this view commonly use Matthew 24:29-31 as a basis that, after the tribulation, Jesus will return and gather us to Himself. This is debated as many (including myself) believe this passage and the majority of Matthew 24 is for the Jews.

As a side note, there are also those who hold on to 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 is biblical and, for the most part, Christians who hold to the 4 main views see these 2 as unbiblical as well. These last 2 views are not my focus but I will touch upon them quickly in future articles.

Personally, I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. From my personal research, 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 because I believe the Bible, through many key ideas, shows this to be true. Likewise, due to these ideas, I believe the other 3 views contradict what the Bible says.

I understand that many Christians don’t agree with this view and that’s ok. My purpose isn’t to belittle anyone for holding a different view, nor do I believe this should divide us as I so often see it does. 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 the various rapture views. From here on, I will be going into the below subjects from a pre-trib rapture point of view to make a case for what I believe Scripture says. My goal is to lay out the evidence and facts and have you – the reader – do your own research and come to your own conclusions. At the end of the day, the rapture view we hold isn’t a bearing on our salvation.

Just when you thought the rapture was complicated on its own…below are some of what I believe to be key ideas relating to the rapture. This list is by no means exhaustive, and I do plan on adding more to it as I learn:

  1. The Tribulation: “Jacob’s Trouble”/”Daniel’s 70th week”
  2. The “Blessed Hope”
  3. Mystery of the rapture
  4. Typologies
  5. The “Great Sign in Heaven”
  6. Fullness of the Gentiles
  7. Jewish Marriage Customs
  8. The 7 Churches and Their Rewards
  9. The 24 Elders
  10. The First Resurrection
  11. The 3 Harvests
  12. The Day of the Lord and God’s wrath
  13. Kept from the Hour of Trial
  14. Identity of the “Saints”
  15. History of the Pre-Trib Rapture

 

 

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on himitsustudy.com

Featured Image by Nick Owuor

The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

Ayo is an energetic blogger striving to use his insights and God given talents to share the Gospel. Through his blog, he aspires to point skeptics of the bible to the truth of the Gospel using apologetics. His aspires to also inform others - both believer and non-believer - regarding the times we're living in preceding the Lord's soon return through the study of prophecy. He hopes to both inform his readers with facts, equip them with tools to communicate the Gospel, and offer hope and encouragement through God's Word.

  1. […] greater evil from coming upon the earth. However, once born again Christians are removed (by the rapture), the Holy Spirit “steps aside” and allows the antichrist to come to power. Until this sequence […]

  2. […] In A Rapture Study, I examined the four main rapture views which all center around the tribulation period. This part of the study on the rapture will primarily focus on the tribulation’s purpose and who the tribulation is for. I believe these are key questions to ask to determine who will and who won’t be a part of this period of time and why. Although the tribulation is an important concept to understand the rapture, it is still one of the many pieces to this puzzle. If you’re not familiar with the tribulation and want more insight, navigate to the articles below on my 2 part study on this time period for a general overview. […]

  3. […] 2:9-12, NKJV). My opinion is — and many also share this thought process — after the rapture of the church, a type of “mass alien abduction” explanation may be given to explain away the sudden […]

  4. […] are coming and rejoice in the fact that, if we see these events on the horizon, it means the rapture of the church is near! However, for those who have yet to put their faith in Christ, all of this […]

  5. […] Only those who have trusted in Christ for the atonement of sins will escape this time in the rapture of the […]

  6. […] has been alluding to the resurrection and rapture of his church since the first letter to Ephesus and this doesn’t change here. We can find this in Revelation […]

  7. […] for the unbeliever, it is a warning posed by the Bible for those who will be left behind after the rapture of the Church. Through this study of the tribulation, I hope to inform skeptics of the truth and necessity of the […]

  8. […] is important because it shows us how close the tribulation period is and, even closer, the rapture of the church. It’s a warning to those who have yet put their trust in Christ and a signpost to those eagerly […]