Q&A: Why Are People Confused About the Timing of the Rapture?

Question: Why are religious people so divided on when the Rapture will happen? Can’t they reach a logical conclusion in this one major topic?

The issue is that while Paul is clear that there will be a Rapture of the Righteous off the earth into Heaven, he does not give a specific time. This allows Bible scholars to theorize three scenarios as to when the Rapture will occur.

Pre-Tribulation Rapture: This is by far the most accepted timing of the Rapture. This theory is based on the idea that nothing prophetic now needs to happen for this event to take place. The triune Godhead agrees on an initiation time, Jesus gives the command, and the power of the Holy Spirit causes the command to be realized. It is this Rapture that triggers the Tribulation Period as it removes 2.4 billion living Christians and 2.4 billion children from the earth.

At the same time, many billions of the righteous dead are resurrected from their graves. Their bodies pass through the earth {aka Molecular Tunneling} as easily as Jesus’ body passed through the solid rock of His tomb. These bodies are now reunited with their intelligent spirits, having been kept safe by Christ for this momentous occasion. Then, all the righteous of the earth will be instantaneously caught up into the sky. Both groups will be translated from mortal to immortal and then follow Christ into Heaven to a place He has prepared for them (John 14:3). There, they will attend the Bema Seat Judgement and receive rewards for their acts of kindness and efforts to spread the good news of salvation and eternal life through Christ (II Corinthians 5:10). They will then attend the Marriage of the Lamb {Christ} to His Bride {the Church} followed by a grand Supper (Revelation 19:7). Both groups will then physically return with Christ at His Second Coming to reclaim the earth and participate in His millennial Reign (Revelation 19:11-14).

Mid-Tribulation Rapture: This theory is interesting for two reasons. It assumes that the first 3.5 years of the Tribulation Period are not really that bad. After all, it is the last 3.5 years that are referred to as the “Great Tribulation. It is during this time period that the Antichrist breaks the 7 year peace treaty, declares himself worthy of worship, and God pours out the first of His "Seven Bowl Judgements" on the earth. Yes, there are wars and rumors of wars, and the earth is experiencing violent climatic swings that cause disease and famine (Matthew 24:6). But for most people of the earth, the events that occur over the first 3.5 years are not dramatic enough to cause widespread panic among the nations. However, the alert faithful will recognize these signs and know that the Rapture is at hand. This will in turn energized their faith and cause mass revivals throughout Christendom.

Scripture tells us that it is during the "Great Tribulation" that a series of wars are fought. The first occurs when the Pale Horse with its Rider is released and together they kill 25% of the world’s population. With the righteous adults and children already raptured, that would leave a population of approximately 3 billion unrighteous people on earth. If 25% were killed, that would be 750 million deaths. Then Revelation tells us of a second war that involves two hundred million troops (Revelation 9:16). These troops kill one-third of the earth’s remaining population of 2.25 billion people. And we have not even factored in the casualties caused by God's Seven Bowl Judgements and the final War of Armageddon.

So, a Mid-Tribulation Rapture would theoretically allow the righteous of the world to see the signs of the End Times through nature, minor wars and rumors of wars, and even witness the rise of the Antichrist (Matthew 24:6-8). They would witness the signing of a 7 year Israeli-Arab peace agreement. It is during this time that the people of God will initiate one final revival effort to save family and friends before being caught up (Matthew 14:14). The very latest date of a Mid-Tribulation Rapture to occur would be when the righteous witness the Antichrist breaking the peace treaty and declaring himself a god worthy of worship (Matthew 24:15-20). The Rapture would then occur in a nanosecond with the righteous dead and living experiencing the events previously cited in the Pre-Tribulation section. According to Jesus, the entire earth will then be immediately plunged into the most horrific series of catastrophes ever witnessed in the history of mankind (Matthew 24:21-22).

Post-Tribulation Rapture: Today this theory is seldom taught as it portrays a loving God allowing His precious children to be tortured by the Antichrist. The Tribulation is a wakeup call for the unrepentant Jews and gentiles of the world. It is not for the repentant reborn Children of God. This theory is divided into two categories of thought.

The first rationale is that, if God allowed the early Church Christians to be tested by way of torture, why would modern Christians be so presumptuous as to believe that they would get a free ride into eternity just because they happen to be living during the End Times? I have always found this rationale to have a somewhat sadomasochistic ring to it. This reasoning is based on a Christian looking forward to the Tribulation Period as a way for them to show or prove to Jesus, that torture only serves to purify and strengthen the resolve of their Spirit. Pain makes the Spirit stronger and thus more valuable to Christ. In other words, a Christian who is tortured to death has displayed the ultimate faith and in turn has earned a more meaningful reward than say, a Christian that lived during peaceful times and died a peaceful death. This is completely ludicrous and flies in the face of the basic doctrines of Christianity. That being, Christ paid in full all the sin debts of all mankind. Full stop! To say that a Christian is challenged to do more than Christ did on the cross is tantamount to saying that Christ did not die enough on the cross. He left some salvation necessities uncovered. That Christians must always seek to find opportunities whereby they can prove that they are worthy of their salvation, when in fact salvation is a gift from God. While it is true that all Christians who are martyred receive well-deserved special recognition, ultimately all crowns {rewards} are laid at the feet of Christ who made salvation and eternal life possible (Revelation 4:9-11; Revelation 2:10; Revelation 20:4-6).

Post Tribulation believers have a second rational in which they wrongly assume that the term "Last Trumpet" in Paul's writings is referring to the Seventh or Last Trumpet sounding in the Book of Revelation composed by the Apostle John. It is not. The Last Trumpet in Revelation signifies the end of a series of judgments on mankind and the arrival of the Kingdom Age (Revelation 11:15-19). The last Trumpet of Paul is referring to the Resurrection and Rapture of God's faithful before the start of the Tribulation Period (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; I Corinthians 15:52).

A second Post-Tribulation teaching is more reasonable and may be possible. We read in the Book of Revelation that the Two Witnesses, Elijah and Moses, who appear and prophesize the imminent Second Coming of Christ, are allowed by God to be murdered by the Antichrist. Their bodies are left on public display in Jerusalem for three and a half days. The people actually celebrate their deaths, thinking that the many curses they have endured are now over. However, after three and a half days, the Two Witnesses are publicly resurrected from the dead and are Raptured into Heaven (Revelation 11:3-12). This event is then followed by the Second Coming of Christ.

Now, it might be that when the Two Witnesses are resurrected and raptured, God may use this event to resurrect and Rapture all those believers who have come to Christ but have since died during the 7-year Tribulation Period. And, because we know time ceases to exist in eternity, which is outside of the earth’s time-space continuum, all these final resurrected immortal saints could attend the Wedding and Supper of the Lamb and be blissfully unaware that 7 years have gone by on earth. This way, all of God’s Children will have the opportunity to fellowship with Christ and family, rejoice during the ceremonies, and accompany Christ back to the earth at His Second Coming.

So, the Great Rapture of the Church took place 7 years earlier, but a second much smaller Rapture might occur so that those who died in the intervening 7 years would have the honor of also participating in the Marriage events and the return of Christ to the earth.