Legs
to Stand On
By
Rev. Charles Cooper
Bible scholars
and students alike have wrestled with describing the Prewrath rapture
position. Dr. Paul Benware labels it as "A more recent position
concerning the time of the Rapture . . ." (1) Others call it
"the old posttrib position," and some define it as "a
modified midtrib" view. The truth of the matter is that Prewrath
is a balanced and biblical synthesis of pre-, mid-, and posttribulationalism
with a refinement of the timing issue that brings harmony to all
of the rapture passages in question. A thorough examination of the
Prewrath position reveals that the unquestionable truths of each
of the three positions are kept while the errors that divide them
are discarded. The proponents of these three positions would probably
concur that the major area of disagreement concerns the actual timing
of the rapture which, they would have to admit, also controls their
interpretation of many passages that deal with issues related to
the rapture question.
Each camp
on the rapture question has committed followers of Jesus Christ
as adherents. Dr. John F. Walvoord is an advocate of the pretribulation
view. Having studied at Dallas Theological Seminary and spent time
in his company, I can personally testify to Dr. Walvoord's love
for God and His Word. "A giant of the faith in modern time"
is a fitting title for this man of God. The fact that he believes
the church will be taken before Daniel's Seventieth Week
makes him no less an honorable man. Dr. Gleason L. Archer, Jr. on
the other hand follows the midtribulation viewpoint. He argues that
Christ returns to rapture His church at the mid-point of the Seventieth
Week. I have not personally met Dr. Archer, but I have read and
utilized his writings. As an Old Testament professor at Trinity
International University in Deerfield, Illinois, Dr. Archer has
distinguished himself as a first rate exegete of God's Word. The
fact that he believes the church will be taken at the mid-point
of the Seventieth Week, before the "great tribulation,"
makes him no less a serious student of the Bible. Dr. Douglas J.
Moo, who also serves at Trinity International University, endorses
a posttribulation rapture. As Assistant Professor of New Testament,
Dr. Moo has demonstrated an outstanding mind for New Testament exegesis;
he is simply brilliant. The fact that Dr. Moo believes Scripture
to teach that Christ will return at the end of the Seventieth Week
to rapture His church, after the "great tribulation"
and after the six trumpets and six bowl judgments, makes
him no less a committed follower of Christ. The number of faithful
followers of Jesus Christ who hold to each of the positions stated
above are many. Logically, it makes sense that the correct position
on the timing of Christ's return is some combination of the three
major views, given that each view is based on the same passages
of Scripture. It is arrogant and illogical then to conclude that
only one of these positions is absolutely right and the other two
are totally wrong.
The question
that each position is attempting to answer concerns the timing of
the rapture. This continues to be the irreconcilable difference.
Countless hours of time and gallons of ink have been spent in order
to prove the other two positions wrong. Scholars continue to search
for the one argument that will close the debate in favor of their
respective position. The sad result is that the discussions have
gotten so trivial and the distinctions between words so technical
that the average follower of Christ cannot follow the arguments.
The price of this continual in-fighting is, on the one hand, an
uneducated laity convinced that the truth cannot be known. On the
other hand, committed godly men and women support pre-, mid-, and
posttribulationalism with fierce devotion to their position. For
now, the debate is purely esoteric. No real danger exists, for all
things continue as before. However, one day there will be a world
full of people that will be called upon to be that final generation
of humanity to experience the climactic events of history. The old
adage that end time events "will all pan out in the end"
will not be taken so lightly by the generation that must see these
things begin to happen.
A Starting
Point
The Church
of Jesus Christ is exempted from the eschatological wrath
of God. On this point, posttribbers (George E. Ladd and Robert H.
Gundry), midtribbers (Gleason L. Archer Jr. and J. Oliver Buswell),
and pretribbers (John F. Walvoord and Leon Wood) are in perfect
accord. The message of 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 5:9 (2) is unmistakable
in asserting that believers are promised to be delivered from the
eschatological wrath of God. The problems begin in light of this
fact. Precisely, what is the wrath of God and when does it occur?
What method will God use to deliver His people? Will He remove them
out of the world or merely protect them while in the world?
To illustrate
the eschatological positions, let's use a chair. This chair has
a beautiful place in which the believer sits-the rapture. The problem
is: the legs are missing. The correct eschatological position must
give the seat the support it needs-four solid legs-for the chair
to be complete, reliable, and practical. Let's example pretribulationalism
first.
The Truth
of Pretribulationalism
Pretribbers
accept the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ is exempted
from the eschatological wrath of God. However, every other
element of the pretrib position can be and is debated. The flaw
of the position is the insistence that the entire Seventieth
Week of Daniel is the direct wrath of God, thereby requiring the
Church to be raptured out of the world before the Seventieth Week
begins. There is no incontrovertible biblical support that says
the entire Seventieth Week of Daniel is the wrath of God. Perhaps
this is why Dr. John F. Walvoord wrote some years ago, "neither
posttribulationalism nor pretribulationalism is an explicit teaching
of Scripture. The Bible does not, in so many words, state either."
(3) Equally, to make this entire time the eschatological wrath of
God necessitates that the people found in Revelation 7:9-17, described
as "a great multitude which no one could number," are
the victims of God's wrath. That's illogical! In this writer's opinion,
the pretrib position has only one valid leg to stand on.
The Truth
of Midtribulationalsim
Midtribulationalism
also recognizes that the church is exempted from the wrath of God.
But midtribbers also make a fundamental distinction in the nature
of the Seventieth Week of Daniel that is different than those of
the pretribulational persuasion. Dr. Gleason L. Archer, Jr. indicates
two sources of wrath during the Seventieth Week. When speaking
of the wrath issue, he writes,
"It
simply regards the first three and a half years, during which the
Antichrist will increase his power and mount his persecution against
the church, as a less tribulation, not nearly as terrifying or destructive
of life as those fearsome plagues that will dominate the last three
and a half years. In other words, this interpretation makes a
clear division between the first half as the period of the wrath
of man, and the second half as the period of the wrath of God.
For the reasons adduced . . . we understand that the final generation
of the pre-Rapture church will be subject to the wrath of man, but
spared from the wrath of God." (boldface added) (4)
He also
adds that, ". . . when we speak of the 'wrath of man' as the
distinctive feature of the first half of the 'week,' we mean that
the wrath of the Antichrist and his associates in government is
the dominating feature on the stage of this drama. . . . But as
the second half of the week comes into play, with the church safely
removed from the scene, the indignation of the Lord breaks forth
with overwhelming, supernatural power. . . . Hence we rightly speak
of this period as the 'wrath of God.'" (5)
We agree
with Archer in that a distinction must be maintained between the
wrath of Antichrist/man and the wrath of God. But like the pretrib
position, the "great multitude which no man could number who
come up out of the great tribulation" mentioned in Revelation
7 would still become martyrs at the hand of God.
Thus, like
pretribulationalism, the flaw of this position is Dr. Archer's incorrect
assessment of the nature of the Seventieth Week when it comes to
the timing of the rapture. Daniel 9:27 indicates three-and-a-half
years of tranquillity for Israel followed by three-and-a-half years
of intense persecution at the hands of "the Prince who is to
come." New Testament Scriptures emphasize that Satan, the beast,
and the false prophet will execute a reign of terror against the
people of God during the second half-42 months-of the Seventieth
Week, (6) and Revelation 12:12-14 explains that this final three-and-a-half
years of persecution is "Satan's wrath." More specifically,
Satan will give his power to Antichrist who will persecute the people
of God. Given the intensity and level of Satan/Antichrist's persecution,
it would be hard to understand how God alone will be magnified when
His wrath begins (Is. 2:12-22), if Satan/Antichrist is permitted
to persecute and kill the children of God at the same time. Revelation
6:12-17 indicates when God's wrath begins upon the earth, beginning
with the trumpet judgments, and Revelation 15:1 explains that the
bowl judgments are the end of His wrath. As we saw earlier, Isaiah
2:12-22 indicates that once the wrath of God begins, nothing and
no one will be exalted but the Lord alone. It is clearly the wrath
of God that brings Satan/Antichrist's wrath to an end. Therefore,
the wrath of Antichrist and the wrath of God will both be evident
during the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week, but they cannot
occur at the same time. This, in part, contradicts the midtribbers
who insist that only God's wrath will be incurred during the second
half of Daniel's Seventieth Week.
Continuing
the chair illustration, while the pretrib position has only one
solid leg to stand on, the midtrib chair has two solid legs to stand
on: the exemption from the eschatological wrath of God and the distinction
between God's wrath and the wrath of man.
The Truth
of Posttribulationalism
The posttrib
position takes the rapture question one step further. Like the midtrib
position, posttribbers recognize the involvement of both the wrath
of God and the wrath of Satan during Daniel's Seventieth Week. (7)
However, posttribulationalism offers a different explanation for
the order of events and the timing of the rapture. Dr. Douglas Moo
explains that the great tribulation will be the persecution of the
saints by Antichrist, and will continue for a large portion of the
second half of the Seventieth Week. The wrath of God will be concentrated
in the very last part of the Week. The wrath of God is limited to
the eschatological Day of the Lord which Dr. Moo argues is "a
decisive intervention of God for judgment and deliverance."
(8) Since the eschatological Day of the Lord involves both the judgment
of God (9) and the deliverance of His people, (10) posttribbers
argue that the eschatological Day of the Lord and "the great
tribulation" cannot be the same event. Dr. Moo writes,
"Several
factors suggest that it is not. First, no reference to the eschatological
'day' in the New Testament clearly includes a description of the
Tribulation. . . . Second, Malachi 4:5 (the coming of Elijah) and
Joel 2:30-31 (cosmic portents) place what are generally agreed to
be Tribulational events before the Day. . . . Third, Paul
seems to suggest in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the Day cannot come until
certain, clearly tribulational, events transpire." (11)
2 Thessalonians
2:3 indicates that "the man of lawlessness" is revealed
before the "Day" begins. Therefore, posttribbers contend
that the eschatological Day of the Lord follows the period called
"the great tribulation" that occurs at the beginning of
the second half of the Seventieth Week. Since Paul teaches that
the coming (parousia) of Christ ends the reign of "the man
of lawlessness," the Parousia must occur at the very
end of the Seventieth Week, i.e., posttribulational. Dr. Moo writes,
"The
Parousia is indisputably posttribulational in Matthew 24:3, 27,
37, 39 and in 2 Thessalonians 2:8. . . . On the other hand, the
Parousia of Christ is explicitly stated to be an object of the believer's
expectation in 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 3:13; James 5:7-8; and 1 John
2:28. . . . If, then, believers are exhorted to look forward to
this coming of Christ, and this coming is presented as posttribulational,
it is natural to conclude that believers will be present through
the Tribulation." (12)
Continuing
our chair illustration, posttribulationalism is three-legged. Like
the first two positions, posttribbers hold to the Church's exemption
from the eschatological wrath of God. Like the midtribbers, the
Seventieth Week of Daniel will evidence both the wrath of God and
the wrath of Antichrist. Thirdly and differently from the other
two positions, the eschatological Day of the Lord and "the
great tribulation" do not cover the same time period during
the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week, but the "day of
God's wrath" follows the time of Antichrist's tribulation.
It is our position that all of these legs are incontrovertible.
The flaw
of the posttrib position is in its timing of the rapture. By placing
it at the end of the Seventieth Week there is insufficient time
allowed for the trumpet and bowl judgments to occur sequentially
(as the text indicates), the Bema Seat Judgment that occurs before
the bowl judgments, the Battle of Armageddon, and the salvation
of Israel's remnant and some Gentile converts to populate the millennial
kingdom. Another flaw of the posttrib position states that believers
will not be removed from earth during the eschatological wrath of
God, but rather that they will be protected from it as if under
a big umbrella. The rather fancy attempt by Dr. Robert H. Gundry
to explain how God's people can be protected if God's judgment is
selective does not measure up to biblical scrutiny. (13) Posttribbers'
continual insistence that believers will be caught up to heaven
and immediately returned to earth cannot be harmonized without serious
problems in sequencing as outlined in Revelation. The correct position
must allow sufficient time between the rapture and the second advent.
Dr. Paul Feinberg outlines this necessity when he writes,
"To
begin with it is important to see the need for saints in
nonglorified, physical bodies. While the Millennium will see the
radical reduction of evil and the flourishing of righteousness,
sin will still exist. . . . There will be sickness and death (Isa.
65:20). . . . All of these are not usually thought of as a part
of the life of those who have been glorified." (14)
Matthew
25:31-45 indicates that only believers will enter the millennial
kingdom. Isaiah 19:18-25 clearly indicates that Gentiles along with
Jews will populate the millennial kingdom in nonglorified bodies.
Since the fully glorified do not sin, and some earthly kingdom constituents
will, the rapture must have an interval between it and the coming
of Christ at the battle of Armageddon to allow for the salvation
of those nonglorified people who will populate the millennium. While
it is certainly true that God has in the past protected His people
in the midst of judgment, Scripture indicates a different type of
protection in the last days . . . as in the days of Noah . . . as
in the days of Lot.
The Truth
of Prewrath
The Sign
Ministries believes that the Prewrath position adds the fourth leg
to our chair illustration. By taking what is biblically sound from
each of the other three positions, the Prewrath position begins
with strong supports already in place. As do all the rapture positions
discussed, we uniformly believe that the saints will not experience
the eschatological wrath of God. Like those who hold to the midtrib
position, we see a distinction between the wrath of God and the
wrath of Antichrist/man. Like the posttrib position, we believe
that the wrath of God will be evidenced only after the persecution
of Antichrist is finished. Therefore, like the posttribbers, we
believe that the Church will experience the direct persecution of
Satan/Antichrist.
This is
where the Prewrath position adds the critical fourth leg to the
chair. The Word of God teaches that Satan/Antichrist's persecution
will be cut short (15) in Matthew 24:22. (16) How? By removing the
object of the evil one's persecution-the Church-to heaven and putting
the remnant of Israel in hiding. (17) This one refinement makes
several things possible: (1) it provides sufficient time for all
of God's wrath to occur without manufacturing a way for the Church
to be present while that wrath rains down all around them; (2) it
provides the necessary time needed for the salvation of Zechariah's
prophesied one-third remnant of Israel who will be the inhabitants
of the millennial kingdom; (3) it provides the time necessary for
the salvation of a remnant of Gentiles from the nations who refuse
to take the mark of Antichrist; and (4) it provides the platform
by which God alone is exalted in the earth once His wrath begins.
Therefore,
the Prewrath position stands on four solid legs. One leg involves
the Church's exemption from the wrath of God (pretribulationalism).
One leg consists of a distinction between the wrath of God and the
wrath of Antichrist (midtribulationalism). One leg constitutes a
distinction between the "great tribulation" and the eschatological
Day of the Lord (posttribulationalism). The last leg shows that
the persecution by Antichrist will be cut short, (18) before the
end of the Seventieth Week, providing the interval between the rapture
and Christ's coming at the battle of Armageddon during which time
all of the trumpet and bowl judgments will be played out.
The identification
of the wrath of God with the eschatological Day of the Lord is the
key. All sides agree that the eschatological Day of the Lord involves
both the final judgment of God and the deliverance of His saints.
Drs. Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock in reference to 1 Thessalonians
write,
"Deliverance
in the Day of the Lord is a special theme of 1 Thessalonians. At
His return, Jesus 'delivers us from the wrath to come' (1:10). Paul
teaches the church that the Day of the Lord will not 'over take
you like a thief' (5:4). . . . In the context, this deliverance
would seem to be the blessing of resurrection and translation into
immortality which Christ will grant His own at His coming (1 Thes.
4:13-18), an event which is called the Rapture. . . . This deliverance,
or rapture, would appear to coincide with the inception or coming
of the Day of the Lord, since that is the focus in 1 Thessaolonians
5:2-4." (19)
Both Drs.
Blaising and Bock taught at Dallas Seminary during my time of study
there. It was from Dr. Blaising that I studied eschatology. Both
are solidly pretrib, yet they recognize the importance of the eschatological
Day of the Lord at the timing of the rapture. J. Dwight Pentecost
writes in his book Things to Come,
"The
only way this day could break unexpectedly upon the world is to
have it begin immediately after the rapture of the church. It is
thus concluded that the Day of the Lord is that extended period
of time beginning with God's dealing with Israel after the rapture
at the beginning of the tribulation period and extending through
the second advent and the millennial age unto the creation of the
new heavens and the new earth after the millennium." (20)
Pentecost
is obviously pretribulational. However, he too recognizes that the
eschatological Day of the Lord follows the rapture. The timing issue
can be settled if the beginning of the Day of the Lord can be determined
within the frame work of end-time events. The Prewrath position
acknowledges that the eschatological Day of the Lord will be signaled
by a sign given in the sun, moon, and stars, a sign distinctly described
in the eschatological book of Joel. (21) Jesus indicates in the
Olivet Discourse that His Parousia will immediately follow
the sign Joel prophesied, which marks the inception of the eschatological
Day of the Lord. Jesus also indicated in His revelation to John
that Joel's sign in the sun, moon, and stars will be the sign that
announces the day in which His wrath begins, a sign given in the
heavenlies that will be displayed at the breaking of the sixth seal.
Therefore, as one compares the six seals to the events outlined
in the Olivet Discourse, one quickly sees that the rapture must
occur after the Seventieth Week of Daniel begins, after
the mid-point of that same Week has begun, and after Satan/Antichrist's
persecution of the Church is cut short (Matt. 24:22) when the sign
of the eschatological Day of the Lord and the parousia of
Christ is given in the sun, moon, and stars. The exact day or hour
when the sixth seal will be broken is not detailed in the Scriptures
(Matt. 24:36), but when that happens it will announce to all the
world the inception of the eschatological Day of the Lord.
Does the
timing component offered by the Prewrath position have incontrovertible
biblical support? If you search the Scriptures we believe that it
does. Our four-legged chair is durable, reliable, and practical.
Have a seat, and test it for yourself.
ENDNOTES
1.
Paul N. Benware, Understanding End Times Prophecy, (Chicago:
Moody Press, 1995), 221.
2.
These two passages most clearly refer to the eschatological wrath
of God, unlike Romans 5:9, Ephesians 5:6 and Colossians 3:6 which
may speak about the wrath of God all unbelievers will suffer at
the white throne judgment.
3.
John Walvoord, The Rapture Question, (Findlay, Ohio: n.p.
1957), 148.
4.
Richard R. Reiter, Paul D. Feinberg, Gleason L. Archer and Douglas
J. Moo, The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 139.
5.
ibid., 108.
6.
See Dan. 9:27 and Rev. 12:7-13:18.
7.
See Mark 13:14; 2 Thess. 2:3; and Rev. 13:1-8 with Rev. 15:1, 7
and 16:1.
8.
Richard R. Reiter, Paul D. Feinberg, Gleason L. Archer and Douglas
J. Moo, The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 183.
9.
See Ob. 15; Zeph. 1:15-18 and Is. 13:6.
10.
See Is. 27; Jer. 30:8-9 and Joel 2:32.
11.
ibid., 182.
12.
ibid., 177.
13.
Robert H. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation, (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973), 44-63.
14.
Richard R. Reiter, Paul D. Feinberg, Gleason L. Archer and Douglas
J. Moo, The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 72.
15.
The term koloboo in the passive sense refers to that which has been
amputated or reduced in size. The LXX used this verb to explain
the actions of David's men in 2 Samuel 4:12 where clearly amputation
is the sense. Extant occurrences of the term support a literal interpretation
in Matthew 24:22.
16.
It is important at this point for the reader to understand that
it is the persecution that Christ is referring to, not the second
half of the Seventieth Week of Daniel. Antichrist will reign for
three-and-a-half years, but his persecution will not.
17.
This position is argued in detail in The Rapture Question Answered
Plain and Simple and The Sign by Robert Van Kampen.
18.
See endnote 14 above.
19.
Drs. Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism,
(Wheaton: Victor Books, 1993), 263-64.
20.
J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, (Grand Rapids: Dunham
Publishing Company, 1967), 230-231. Dr. Pentecost would make the
Day of the Lord 1007 years long-a fact that is greatly debated.
21.
See Joel 2:28-32; Matt. 24:29-31; Acts 2:14-21 and Rev. 6:12-17.
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