Pre-tribulation Rapture Eschatology?
Pre-tribulation Rapture Eschatology?
Years ago I was in a Bible Study discussing the Book of Revelation. Our teacher was a hardcore Pretrib rapturist. His eschatology, along with every other Pretrib rapturist I have met, believe that there are two foundational reasons for their Pretrib belief:1. The “He” in 2 Thessalonians 2:7¹ is the Holy Spirit and when He is taken out of the way (removed from the earth) that He takes the whole Church along with Him. The Church and the Holy Spirit are no longer on the earth. Therefore sin and evil run rampant due to the void left on the earth when both the Church and the Holy Spirit are no longer on the earth.
¹For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2:7
2. The Church (God’s people) are not appointed to wrath² and therefore are not present when the wrath of God is revealed in the Book of Revelation during the Tribulation.
²For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ… 1 Thessalonians 5:9
There is a problem.
Pretrib rapturists also believe that during the Tribulation many people will come to Christ. They believe that the unsaved, after witnessing the rapture, will be convinced about the truth of Jesus. This will lead to a great ingathering. They conclude these people are the martyrs who are under the alter asking:
“How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”Verse 11 continues: Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. Revelation 6:10-11
Furthermore, they believe that during the Tribulation all Israel will be saved—the rapture of the church also leads to Israel’s salvation. Romans 11:25-26 states that all of Israel will be saved after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
The problem continues:
To reiterate 1 above: Pretribulation rapturists believe that the Holy Spirit removes the Church when He Himself is “taken out of the way,” leaving a void for the most pronounced evil to run rampant upon the earth. If the Holy Spirit is removed “taken out of the way” from the earth, how will people get saved? It takes the Holy Spirit for someone to become born-again. Jesus is the threshold, but the Holy Spirit is the means to rebirth—one receives Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes into them, regenerates them making them a new creation in Christ.
So again I ask: If the Holy Spirit is gone, how will anyone become a Christian? Furthermore, if someone did become a Christian, the church would again be on the earth. The church is anywhere a Christian is, therefore if someone receives Christ the church again exists on the earth.
Food for thought.
