What is So Bad About Believing in a Pretribulation Rapture?
Many believe that Jesus will return secretly to take Christians out of the world. They also believe that the world will plunge into tribulation very shortly after this happens. Those who believe this typically believe it will occur 7 years (or perhaps 3.5 years) before Jesus returns visibly before the whole world. This is commonly referred to as belief in a pretribulation rapture. What could be so bad about believing this?
Believing in a pretribulation rapture provides a misdirected and false hope. The Bible actually teaches that the kingdom of God is entered through much tribulation. There is no other way to walk in the Christian faith as it is delineated in the Bible.
Acts 14:21-22: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
Being prepared to meet Christ when He returns depends upon being subject to Him here and now. This always involves suffering.
Romans 8:17: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
People who live in sin might bring problems upon themselves as a result of doing so, yet they also might shelter themselves from suffering that would come upon them if they were to live as they ought to in God’s eyes. In relation to this, try telling a man who has lost his wife and kids because he actually followed through commanding and enforcing Biblical order in his home that Christians are not supposed to go through tribulation. Try telling a woman in a 3rd world country who has been kicked out of her home for refusing to bow to a god besides the God of the Bible that Christians are not supposed to go through tribulation. Or try telling people in North Korea who risk brutal imprisonment or execution if they choose to follow Christ that Christians are not supposed to go through tribulation. You would be misleading these people and discouraging them in going the right way by telling them this.
Not all tribulation is of the same degree. It is also true that two people who are being obedient to the Word of God might be facing very different degrees of tribulation at the moment. That variation often has much to do with the government one lives under. The great tribulation in the years which occur immediately before Jesus returns will obviously happen due to an exceedingly wicked government having power over the entire world. However, there is a notable degree of tribulation involved in being faithful to the Lord right now no matter where one lives and no matter what earthly authorities rule over them. Pretribulation teachers typically dismiss this reality. It is no wonder that the pretribulation rapture doctrine surged in popularity in relatively affluent and safe nations through teachers living in the same.
Some pretribulation rapture believers will even tell people who don’t believe in a pretribulation rapture that they have no hope. They might sooner encourage a pretribulation rapture believer who is obviously living in sin than they would encourage a blameless individual who denies the pretribulation rapture. This demonstrates how disoriented and off the mark they are.
Walking in a living faith in Christ and being subject to what His Word commands are inseparable. Someone who possesses a rightly directed hope walks in a living faith in Jesus by being subject to His Word with the confidence that they will be redeemed when He returns to reign. Colossians 3:1-4 and Romans 8:20-25 are Biblical proofs of this. Those who look up these verses should note in the latter example how the redemption of the faithful will happen at the same time as the redemption of creation as a whole. To hope for salvation in Jesus which occurs before this point is a false and misdirected hope. When Jesus returns, He will execute justice and cause righteousness to prevail by putting down all wicked authority and reigning over all Himself. Even pretribulation rapture believers acknowledge that those things will not accompany the alleged occurrence of the pretribulation rapture which they have set their hope upon. Their hope must be misplaced then.
As a result of these things, believing in a pretribulation rapture even greatly risks altering the Gospel itself. This is inevitable when escaping tribulation is set forth as a primary goal of Christianity. Pretribulation rapture preachers often practically present this as the chief goal. It is no wonder that they often do not even call people to repent of their sins and be subject to the authority of Jesus’ Word (i.e the Bible). Rather than escaping tribulation, the goal of the Biblical Gospel is making people compatible with Jesus’ coming kingdom. Those who are not compatible will not be able to stand when He returns to reign. It is no surprise that pretribulation rapture preachers usually minimize or outrightly deny the need to turn away from sin and live as the grace of God demands according to the Bible.
Titus 2:11-14: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
By the way: Note in Titus 2:13 how Jesus’ return is spoken of as a one time event rather than as two separate events like the pretribulation rapture preachers believe. They claim that Christ will have two second comings- a secret one and a visible one. This is both illogical and contrary to how the Bible repeatedly speaks of the second coming as a one time event. Jesus will visibly come in the clouds of heaven and He will reign over all from that point forward. There will be no need to question if it has happened when it has happened.
Pretribulation rapture preachers also almost always believe in unconditional security. They deny the possibility that a true believer might not endure on the narrow way to life and be rejected when they stand before Christ in judgment. Denying this possibility involves discounting and setting aside a multitude of warnings in the Bible. As with Acts 14:21-22, it is even seen in the following verses how the Biblical Gospel is inseparable from the goal of making people compatible with Christ’s coming kingdom. It is also seen in these verses how adherence to this goal involves enduring tribulation.
Matthew 24:9-14: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many (my note- like the people who invented and the people who popularized the pretribulation rapture concept). And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
Even though many claim that verses 10 to 13 of Matthew chapter 24 only serve as a warning to those with a dead faith, warning people about falling away from a dead faith would actually be very bad counsel. These verses are dealing with the very real potential of true believers in Christ falling away after having undergone a real conversion and new birth in Him.
Believing in a pretribulation rapture also requires twisting the Bible and dismissing many things which it obviously teaches. Some examples of this have already been looked at. Here is another one.
Luke 21:36: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
Many assume that this verse is teaching a pretribulation rapture. Yet Jesus is exhorting us to escape service to sin in order to stand before Him even as the conditions of the world become exceedingly perplexing and chaotic. His second coming will be a snare to those who are not ready to meet Him, yet He had already made it clear in verses 28 and 31 of Luke 21 that faithful Christians will see the things which He would go on to say that we should pray always to be accounted worthy to escape. We do indeed need to be accounted as worthy to stand before the Son of man when He returns. And contrary to what pretribulation rapture preachers and others might say, this requires not doing evil in His eyes and not being consumed with the cares of this life. Look at the preceding verses.
Luke 21:34-35: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (i.e. excess), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”
Another example of the unwarranted assumptions of pretribulation rapture preachers is how they view the promise to the Philadelphian church which is recorded in Revelation.
Revelation 3:10: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”
It is amazing that many take this as a reference to a pretribulation rapture when the promise was particularly given to a church composed of people that lived in the late first century who were never raptured and died a long time ago. The promise must have been fulfilled to them in another way, even if we don’t know exactly what that hour of temptation was or how the Philadelphian Christians were kept from it. We do know that Philadelphia was one of only two churches of Asia whom Christ did not rebuke. He evaluated seven. He rebuked five and demonstrated how repentance was needed among them. Yet even Smyrna, the only other faithful church, was told something much different than what Philadelphia was told in terms of its impending circumstances.
Revelation 2:8-11: “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”
Though the external circumstances of the seven churches of Asia were not all the same, they were all told that they needed to overcome. All who were harboring sin and all who were enabling sin among them were told that they needed to repent. This goes back to the actual meaning of Luke 21:34-36.
It should be no surprise then that Christ’s church is indeed on earth during the tribulation period in Revelation. Pretribulation rapture teachers say that Christ’s church is not on earth between Revelation chapters 6 through 18. Here are a few proofs regarding why that is false.
Revelation 13:7: “And it was given unto him (i.e. the Beast) to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
Revelation 14:11-12: “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Though pretribulation rapture teachers will say that all of the saints mentioned in the preceding examples came to Christ after the tribulation began, they have no solid basis to claim this. They also claim that any who believe in Christ during the tribulation period will not technically be part of His church even though there is no solid basis to claim this either. More on that shortly. They also say that the word ekklesia is never found during the events of the tribulation period in Revelation. Ekklesia is usually the word in the Greek text where the word “church” is seen in the New Testament (as a side note, the word could have been translated as congregation or assembly). Though the word ekklesia is never used in the Greek text between Revelation 3:22 and Revelation 22:16, it does not need to be used in order for Christ’s congregation of called out ones to be mentioned. This is easy to prove. The word ekklesia is never used in the Book of Romans until the very last chapter. Does that mean that the true church of Christ is never spoken of in the first 15 chapters of Romans? Of course not. Ekkklesia is actually never used at all in the books of 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, and Jude. Does that mean that the ekklesia of Christ is not spoken of in these books? Of course not. The ekklesia of Christ is obviously seen on earth in Revelation 13:7, Revelation 14:12, and several other places in Revelation chapters 6 through 18.
At its very roots, the pretribulation rapture concept is based on a false distinction between the time period in which Christ builds His church and the time in which He deals with Israel as a nation. This is inseparable from the false concept that He has a covenant with the Jewish people and a distinct covenant with the ekklesia of Christ. These are core tenets of the theology of Dispensationalism which produced the pretribulation rapture concept.
We have other studies which demonstrate that God does not have a separate covenant with the Jewish people than He does with faithful believers in Jesus Christ. How it really works is that His covenant is with believers in the Jewish Messiah (Jesus Christ). Those who obediently believe in Him, whether they are naturally Jews or Gentiles, are the remnant of Israel and the spiritual seed of Abraham which is in covenant with Him. This is proven by Galatians 3:29, Galatians 6:16, and several other places in the Bible. There is no separate covenant for anyone else.
It is also blatantly not true that Christ’s people would have to be taken out of the world in order for Him to deal with national Israel. The Jewish nation was being called to repentance in the first century (as well as beforehand). The Jewish Temple and nation were destroyed by God’s judgment through the Romans in AD 70. This occurred simultaneously with Jewish and Gentile individuals believing in Jesus Christ and entering His true church. History has already demonstrated that the ekklesia of Christ can be built as the Lord deals with Israel nationally. The modern nation of Israel is composed mainly of natural Jews who reject the Jewish Messiah whom the true God’s people worship and obey. It is not in covenant with God nor was it established by Him. Its existence is not the fulfillment of Biblical promises. However, that still does not mean it is free from having to deal with the Lord. No nation nor collective entity of any kind is.
Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
God’s prescribed worship was indeed centered in ancient Israel. That ceased to be the case when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. His prescribed worship will not be centered in Jerusalem again until Jesus actually returns. The times of the Gentiles will continue until that day. Until then, His prescribed worship will be scattered throughout the world in whatever Christian churches He regards as faithful.
In relation to these things, the theology of Dispensationalism teaches a false distinction between the Gospel of the kingdom of God and the Gospel of the grace of God. In reality, there is no such distinction. This has already been demonstrated from Titus 2:11-14. God’s grace is only for those who are submitted to the King who died to make people acceptable subjects of His coming kingdom. Dispensationalist preachers and many others who speak of grace, justification, and forgiveness through the blood of Christ disregard the context in which these things are offered to mankind. They are only offered to people in the context of repentance from sin and submission to the King of Kings. It is seen in Acts 20:24-25 how the Apostle Paul equated his testimony of the Gospel of the grace of God with his preaching of the kingdom of God. These are equivalent to each other. Along the same lines, note how the Book of Acts closes.
Acts 28:30-31: “And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”
Was Paul preaching the grace of God in the preceding verses? Of course he was. It is also important to note that he preached the same gospel to everyone instead of preaching one gospel to Jews and another gospel to Gentiles.
These things show how believing in a pretribulation rapture is a lot more harmful than just having a confused timeline regarding the end times. There are many false premises and much falsehood regarding the Gospel itself at the roots of the pretribulation rapture concept.
Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com