In examining the Scriptures to see what is stated regarding the time of the rapture, I cannot find any verse which specifically locates it before a tribulation.
If anyone knows of a verse which specifically locates it then, I would appreciate learning of it.
However, I have found Scriptures, apart from unfulfilled prophecy, that do instruct about the rapture.
But because of the dismal track record of God's people in their private interpretion of symbolic unfulfilled prophecy--that Messiah would set up an earthly kingdom comes to mind--I will not be including unfulfilled prophecies in what I have found.
There is also another reason I do not include symbolic unfulfilled prophecies here, whose private interpretations cannot be certain, and that is: whatever these symbolic unfulfilled prophecies may mean, they will
not disagree with what is clear and certain in the Word of God.
So following the principle of examining what is clear and certain in the Word of God, apart from what is not certain in symbolic unfulfilled prophecy, this is what I find regarding the time of the rapture.
In
Ac 3:21, Peter says that Jesus must "remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything" (
Ro 8:19-23), which is the new heavens and new earth, the home of righteousness he tells us about in 2Pe 3:10-13, at the end of time, where there is no death (Rev 21:1-4).
(1) Since Jesus must remain in heaven, there can be
no appearing prior to his coming to restore all things at
the end of time, which therefore specifically locates the rapture at the end of time.
In
Heb 9:27-28 the author states that there will be no appearing prior to his coming to judge the world, because Christ appears but twice, once to atone and once to judge.
Heb states that just as men die once and then face judgment, so Christ appears once to die and once to judge, and not in between.
(2) Since Jesus appears only twice, there can be
only one more appearing to come, the only one
in which the rapture can occur, and therefore specifically locating the rapture at the end of time.
In
2Th 1:6-10, Paul locates Jesus' coming to relieve the saints (rapture) from persecution (v.7) with Jesus' coming to judge the world (vv. 8-10). There Paul is comforting the Thessalonians in their suffering (v.4) with the fact that God will punish those who persecute them (vv. 5-6), and that God will punish the persecutors when Jesus comes to relieve the saints (rapture) from that persecution (v.7), which is his coming in judgment (v.8).
(3) Again, the
rapture is specifically located with Jesus coming to judge the world
at the end of time.
However, there is an interesting situation in this passage. Note where Paul locates himself when Jesus comes in judgment (vv. 7-10).
He does not see himself coming from heaven with Jesus in that coming, as he would be if he had been raptured prior to a tribulation, but sees himself on earth waiting to be relieved with others when Jesus comes in judgment:
"He. . .will give relief to you who are troubled, and
to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God, and do not obey the gospel (Mk 1:15; Ac 17:30) of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished with everlasing destruction, and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people (
segullah) and to be marveled at among all those who have believed."
What is interesting is that Paul seemed to believe Jesus would come in final judgment during Paul's lifetime. Jesus said he would come "soon," and it seems the NT writers thought "soon" was "sooner" than God had planned-- Ro 13:11-12; 1Co 7:26-27, 29; Php 4:5; 1Ti 6:13-14; Heb 10:25-27; Jas 5:8-9; 1Pe 4:7; 1Jn 2:18; 1Co 15:52 ("we"); 1Th 4:15, 17 ("we").
But I digress. So if Paul saw himself on earth waiting for Jesus to come in judgment, that means he did not teach a rapture of the saints prior to Jesus' return in judgment, but rather at Jesus' return at the end of time. And what Paul teaches is most significant because he is the only NT writer who informs us of the rapture, although
In
Lk 17:29-37, Jesus makes reference to it in the context of judgment (Mt 24:37-41). However, regarding any actual instruction,
(4) we are instructed about the rapture only by Paul.
In
1Th 2:1-8, Paul teaches there will be no rapture (v.1) until the apostasy occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed (v.3).
At that coming of Jesus and rapture (v.1), Jesus will destroy the man of lawlessness (v.8), which is the end of time, as he said previously in 1Th 1:6-10.
(5) So what I find is that
the only writer who informs us of the rapture does not locate the rapture prior to Jesus coming to judge the world, but specifically
locates it at Jesus' coming to judge the world at the end of time. And then in:
In
1Pe 1:5, 13, along with Ac 3:21, there is an interesting juxtaposition. In the latter, Peter says there will be no
appearing of Jesus prior to his coming to restore all things at the end of time (presented above), and in the former he says that our coming salvation (of Ro 8:18-23; Heb 9:28; Php 3:20-21; 1Jn 3:2-3; 1Co 15:52) will be given to us when Jesus is
revealed at the end of time (cf Lk 17:24-37).
(6) So although
Peter's nomenclaure is not exactly the same, he
is referring to exactly the same event--final judgment at the end of time.
And then by extension, there is in the Word of God another
connection of the rapture
to the final restoration at the end of time:
In
Ro 8:19-21, the revealing of the sons of God (the
resurrection--1Jn 3:1-2), is located with the
liberation of creation from decay; i.e., the new heavens and new earth (2Pe 3:13), where there is no death (Rev 21:1-4). But this liberation from decay can occur
only after the ravages of a tribulation.
So, since the saints'
resurrection and creation's
liberation from decay, in the new heavens and new earth at the end of time, occur
together (Ro 8:19-21),
and since the saint's
resurrection and the
rapture occur
together (1Th 4:16-17), then
by extension and the law of logic: "two events (rapt, lib) occuring at the same time as a
third event (resur), therefore occur at the same time as
each other (rapt=lib)," means
rapture = saints' resurrection = liberation at the end of time, which means that
(7) all three events occur together at the end of time, again specifically locating the rapture at the end of time.
So upon examination of the clear and certain Word of God, what I find is that
- Christ comes again only once (Heb 9:27-28)
- at the restoration of all things (Ac 3:21), which is the liberation of all creation (Ro 8:19-23), at the end of time,
- which restoration can only occur after the ravages of a tribulation,
- which restoration after tribulation occurs at the resurrection (Ro 8:19-23), which locates the saints' resurrection after tribulation,
- which resurrection after tribulation occurs with the rapture (1Th 4:16-17), and with the restoration/liberation of all things
(Ac 3:21; Ro 8:19-23) at the end of time,
so that
the saints' resurrection, the rapture and the restoration/liberation all occur together, at the end of time.
Now if Paul had presented us with one easy lesson on the rapture, this puzzle-piecing to see the Biblical relationships among the various events wouldn't be necessary. But then if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Conclusion: The clear and certain Word of God specifically locates the rapture
after the tribulation, and
with the restoration of all things at the end of time.
And again, keeping in mind that, although we can't say private interpretations are certain for unfulfilled symbolic prophecies, we can say that whatever the meanings of any symbolic unfulfilled prophecies, those meanings will
not disagree with what is certain and clear in the Word of God.
