The Biblical Impossibility of the Pre-Wrath Rapture

[Note:  the pre-wrath Rapture is generally supposed by adherents to take place during the latter part of the seven-year Tribulation period when God pours out His wrath upon mankind at the Bowl judgments.  The Bowl judgments are the final series of Tribula­tion judgments.]

In this writer’s view, a pre-wrath Rapture of the Church is impossible for at least five reasons:

1.    The pre-wrath Rapture contradicts the calling out of the 144,000 Jews “before the earth is harmed”

The calling out of the 144,000 Jewish virgin males in the book of Revelation (Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5) readily suggests, if not demands, a pre-Tribulation Rapture.  It is clear that the 144,000 are saved before the Tribula­tion begins:  “do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their fore­heads” (Rev. 7:3).  More­over, it should be noted that the 144,000 Jewish Christians are not only saved be­fore the Tribulation period begins, but in fact are the first persons saved af­ter the Rapture occurs:  “These have been pur­chased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.”  The first per­sons saved during the Church Age (i.e., the “first fruits” of the Church Age harvest) were the 120 disciples (including Peter and several women) in the Up­per Room, then the 3,000 Jews who responded to Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, then the ones who were being added day by day (Acts 2:47), and then the 5,000 Jews (including widows) who responded the Peter’s second sermon a few weeks later.  In the early years of the church, the Gospel always went “to the Jew first and then to the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16; Acts 13:46).  It seems logical, then, that the Gospel will also go forth “to the Jew first and then to the Gentile” after the Rapture.  Accordingly, the 144,000 are the first persons saved, perhaps in the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the Rapture. 

Moreover, the calling out of the 144,000 before the earth or sea or trees are harmed (Rev. 7:3) renders—because of the Law of Non-Contradiction—the pre-wrath Rap­ture position Bib­lically impossible:  by the time a pre-wrath Rapture would take place, a minimum of one-half of the earth’s popula­tion will have been killed (Rev. 6:3-8; 9:13-18); Israel will have been denuded by the Antichrist; a worldwide earth­quake will have taken place (Rev. 6:12-14); a third of the earth, a third of the trees, and all the green grass will have been burned up (Rev. 8:7); a third of the sea will have become blood (Rev. 8:8); a third of all marine life will have died (Rev. 8:9); and a third of the riv­ers and lakes will have become bitter (Rev. 8:10-11).   Thus, it would be wholly untenable for an expositor of Scripture to suggest that the earth has “not yet been harmed” by the time a pre-wrath Rapture takes place—a stance which pre-wrath proponents would have to take if they are to interpret God’s word at face value.   Indeed, not only will the earth itself have been “harmed” by the time a pre-wrath Rapture would take place, but half its popu­lation will have been killed (and grievously harmed).

2.    The pre-wrath Rapture contradicts Christ’s promise to keep born-again Christians “from the hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole world.”

            The Lord Himself promises that Church Age believers will not go through the Tribulation.  Jesus tells His sheep:  “Because you have kept the word of My persever­ance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:10).  Jesus states un­equivocally that He will keep His chil­dren—born-again Christians—from the “hour of testing.”  Because this hour of testing is to come upon the whole world (and because the context of the Lord’s promise is the book of Revelation, which deals with the End-Times and the Tribulation judgments), it is clear that Christ is talk­ing about keeping His children out of the Tribu­lation period.  Only the pre-tribulation Rapture coincides with Christ’s promise.  The pre-wrath Rapture position, on the other hand, contradicts this promise, because by the time the Bowl judgments commence and a pre-wrath Rapture allegedly takes place, one-half of the earth’s population will have been killed (Revelation 6 and 9).   Such a death toll would include Christians (Rev. 7:9-17).  Therefore, how has Christ “protected” Christians dur­ing the Tribulation if millions of Christians have been killed? 

3.     The pre-wrath Rapture contradicts Paul’s teaching that born-again Christians are not “destined for wrath”

            The Apostle Paul teaches that Church Age believers will not go through the Tribulation.  Paul states in I Thessalonians 5:9: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The context of Paul’s teaching in I Thessalonians 4:13 – 5:11 is the Rapture of the Church, and Paul presents exactly the same promise as Christ:  believers are not destined to go through “wrath” (the Tribulation).  Pre-wrath proponents, however, assert that the “wrath” to which Paul refers is only the “wrath of God” which is poured out on mankind during the Bowl judgments.  As a result, pre-wrath proponents are forced to conclude that—for Paul—the following Tribulation events do not amount to wrath:  the death of one-half of the earth’s popula­tion (Rev. 6:3-8; 9:13-18); the destruction of Israel by the Antichrist imme­diately after the mid-point of the Tribulation; a worldwide earth­quake (Rev. 6:12-14); a third of the earth being burned (Rev. 8:7); a third of the trees being burned (Rev. 8:7); all the green grass being burned (Rev. 8:7); a third of the sea becoming blood (Rev. 8:8); a third of all marine life dying (Rev. 8:9); and a third of the riv­ers and lakes becoming bitter (Rev. 8:10-11)—an untenable conclusion to most Bible expositors.  Once again, if one-half of the earth’s population has been killed and a third of it burned—events which would certainly include Christians in the devastation—then how has God kept these Christians from wrath?  If the death of one-half of the earth’s population in such a short period of time, and a worldwide earthquake, and the burning of one-third of the earth’s surface is not wrath, then what is?

4.   The pre-wrath Rapture fails to harmonize with the Lord’s many ex­hortations that His return for the Church will be sudden, unan­nounced, and as un­expected as a thief entering a home at night.

            Once the Middle-East peace treaty be­tween the Antichrist and Israel is signed, the Christian knows from Scripture that Christ will return bodily to the earth exactly 2,550 days after the signing of the treaty—1,260 days to the breaking of the treaty and 1,290 days from the breaking of the treaty to the bodily return of Christ (Dan. 12:11-12).  Thus, a person who holds to the pre-wrath position need not be looking for an imminent, unex­pected, any-moment Rapture of the Church, but indeed need only be looking for the signing of the Antichrist’s peace treaty.  Such Christians could then live it up until near the end of the Tribulation, should they choose to do so, and then get ready for a Rapture.  Un­fortunately for such Christians, many of them will not have survived by the time the Bowl judgments commence:  true Chris­tians will be hunted down and murdered by the Apostate Church (the “harlot”) during the first half of the Tribulation and by the Anti­christ’s follow­ers during the second half of the Tribulation (Rev. 12:17; 13:6,7; 17:6).  To be sure, the whole con­cept of “immi­nence”—the Lord’s coming at any moment for His “bride” (the Church), as taught by Christ in the Gos­pels and as pic­tured in the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13)—is either ignored, dismissed, or rejected by the pre-wrath position. 

5.    The pre-wrath Rapture fails to harmonize with Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks” prophecy.

On the Day of Pentecost in 30 A.D., God interrupted His prophetic plan for Israel (Dan. 9:24-27) so that He could begin to fulfill His purposes for the Gentile na­tions (Romans 11:25-26).  When God finishes this Gentile grace, He will Rapture the Church and will then once again take up for His people Israel in order to fulfill Daniel’s Sev­enty Weeks prophecy—and to bring His prophetic plan for Israel to completion.  The pre-wrath Rapture posi­tion does not harmonize with the Seventy Weeks prophecy (God’s previous and still-future dealings with Israel), because the Church, in the pre-wrath view, is Raptured during Daniel’s final week (rather than before it).  In contrast, the pre-tribulation Rapture position—because it shows the Church being removed from the earth before the final “week” of Daniel’s prophecy begins—harmonizes perfectly with this prophecy.

Conclusion:

            The pre-wrath Rapture position, while well-meaning, contradicts Scripture in sev­eral ways and must be laid aside by born-again Christians who desire to in­ter­pret Bible prophecy accurately.  The pre-wrath Rapture position (1) con­tradicts Christ’s reve­lation to John that the 144,000 Jewish “first fruits” of God’s Tribulation har­vest will be called to salvation before the earth is harmed; (2) contradicts Christ’s unequivocal prom­ise to keep born-again believers from “the hour of testing, which is to come upon the whole earth” (the Tribulation period); (3) fails to har­mo­nize with Paul’s teaching that born-again Christians are not destined for wrath (the Tribulation period); (4) ignores, dismisses, or rejects Christ’s straight­forward teaching on the unan­nounced, unexpected, any-moment nature of the Rapture; and (5) fails to harmonize with Daniel’s Seventy Weeks prophecy.

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