1). The earthly kingdom of Christ promised in Revelation 6-18 does not mention the church as being on earth.
Because Revelation 1-3 uses the Greek word for church nineteen times, one would reasonably assume that if the church were on earth rather than in heaven in chapters 6-18, they would use “church” with similar frequency, but such is not the case. Therefore, one can assume that the church is not present on the earth during the period of tribulation described in Revelation 6-18 and that therefore the Lord has removed it from the earth and relocated it to heaven by means of the Rapture.
2). Revelation 19 does not mention a Rapture even though that is where a post-translational Rapture (if true) would logically occur.
Thus one can conclude that the Rapture will have already occurred.
3). A post tribulation Rapture renders the Rapture concept itself inconsequential.
If God preserves the church during the Tribulation, as post-tribulationists assert, then why have a Rapture at all? It makes no sense to Rapture believers from earth to heaven for no apparent purpose other than to return them immediately with Christ to earth. Further, a post tribulation Rapture makes the unique separation of the sheep (believers) from the goats (unbelievers) at the return of Christ in judgment redundant because a post tribulation Rapture would have already accomplished that.
4). If God raptures and glorifies all believers just prior to the inauguration of the millennial kingdom (as a post tribulation Rapture demands) no one would be left to populate the earthly kingdom of Christ promised to Israel.
It is not within the Lord’s plan and purpose to use glorified individuals to propagate the earth during the Millennium. Therefore, the Rapture needs to occur earlier so that after God has raptured all believers, He can save more souls-including Israel’s remnant- during the seven-year Tribulation. Those people can then enter the millennial kingdom in earthly form. The most reasonable possibility for this scenario is the pre-tribulational Rapture.
5). The New Testament does not warn of an impending tribulation, such as is experienced during Daniel’s seventieth week, for church-age believers.
The New Testament would not be silent concerning such a traumatic change as Daniel’s seventieth week if post-tribulationism were true.
6). Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians demand a pre-tribulation Rapture because, if Paul were teaching them post-tribulationism, one would expect them to rejoice that loved ones were home with the Lord and spared the horrors of the Tribulation.
But, in actuality, the Thessalonians grieved.
7). The sequence of events at Christ’s coming following the Tribulation demands a pre-tribulation Rapture.
A comparing and contrasting of Rapture passages with Second Coming passages yields strong indicators that the Rapture could not be post-tribulational.
A). At the Rapture, Christ gathers His own (1 Thess. 4:16-17), but at the Second Coming, the angels gather the elect (Matt. 24:31).
B). At the Rapture, resurrection is prominent (1 Thess. 4:15-16), but regarding the Second Coming, Scripture does not mention the resurrection.
C). At the Rapture, Christ comes to reward to reward believers (1 Thess. 4:17), but at the Second Coming, Christ comes to judge the earth (Matt. 25:41-46).
D). At the Rapture, the Lord snatches away true believers from the earth (1 Thess. 4:15-17), but at the Second Coming, He takes away unbelievers (Matt. 24:37-41).
E). At the Rapture, unbelievers remain on the earth, whereas at the Second Coming, believers remain on the earth.
F). Concerning the Rapture, Scripture does not mention the establishment of Christ’s kingdom, but at His Second Coming, Christ sets up His kingdom.
G). At the Rapture, believers will receive glorified bodies, whereas at the Second Coming, no one will receive glorified bodies.
8). Certain of Jesus’ teachings demand a pre-tribulational Rapture.
For instance, the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:24-30) portrays the reapers (angels) removing the tares (unbelievers) from among the wheat (believers) in order to judge the tares, which demonstrates that at the Second Coming, the Lord has unbelievers removed from among believers. However at the Rapture, He takes believers from among unbelievers. This is also true in the parable of the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50) and in the discussion of the days of Noah and the description of the nations’ judgment, both in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24-25).
9). Revelation 3:10 teaches that the Lord will remove the church prior to the Tribulation.
In the Greek, the phrase “I also will keep you from” can mean nothing other than “I will prevent you from entering into.” Jesus Christ will honor the church by preventing it from entering the hour of testing, namely Daniel’s seventieth week, which is about to come upon the entire world. Only a pre-tribulational Rapture can explain how this can happen.
Rapture articles in JewishRoots.Net include:
Are you prepared to meet your maker if the rapture occurred today?
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary 1&2 Thessalonians p.135-136.
