Understanding the End Times & the Rapture
by Tim Webb
An event known as the rapture is when Jesus will bring all of his believers up to heaven. Most Biblical scholars agree that the rapture will indeed happen, but there is much debate over WHEN it will happen. The timing of the rapture creates more debate than any other subject dealing with the End Times. The word rapture is never used in the Bible. The term comes from a Latin word meaning a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away. The rapture of the church is clearly taught in scripture. Most of what we know about the details surrounding the rapture comes from the Apostle Paul in the New Testament.
In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reassured them that they, along with their loved ones who had already died, had not missed the rapture.
In First Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul writes, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Later in First Corinthians 15:50-54, Paul describes the rapture as happening in the twinkling of an eye. “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Different Views of the Rapture To understand the rapture, it’s important to first understand some of the major events surrounding the End Times. Daniel 9:27 tells us that the true End Times will happen over a period of seven years, which is known as the tribulation. During that time, a man known as the Antichrist will achieve world domination and will persecute the children of God, including both Christians and Jews. This seven-year period will be split into two halves. At exactly three and a half years into the tribulation, the Antichrist will set himself up in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and will declare himself God and will force the world to worship him through what’s known as the mark of the beast. This turning point is often called the mid-point, meaning it will happen at the mid-point of the final seven years. These final three and a half years will then be known as the great tribulation. In theology, the four basic theories concerning the timing of the rapture are known as the pretribulational theory, which places the rapture before the tribulation begins; the midtribulational theory, which places the rapture at or near the midpoint of the tribulation; the prewrath theory, which places the rapture sometime after the midpoint when the Antichrist has been revealed, but before the wrath of God begins. Finally, the posttribulational theory places the rapture at the very end of the tribulation at the Battle of Armageddon.
Scripture fully supports the prewrath theory, with Daniel 9:27, Jesus’ Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Paul’s teaching on the rapture and the Antichrist in first and second Thessalonians, and finally John’s prophecy in Revelation 6 and 7, as the foundational scriptures.
Unfortunately, a prewrath rapture means that the saints who are alive during this time will endure persecution from the Antichrist but will be raptured from the earth before God ends everything by systematically destroying the earth and pouring out his wrath and final judgement on the ungodly. Accordingly, there is an important Biblical distinction between the events of the Antichrist’s great tribulation and the day of the Lord’s wrath. The Antichrist’s great tribulation will be directed against the church and Israel, followed by God’s wrath directed against the ungodly. Persecution from the Antichrist will look like a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God! Why All the Controversy It has been a popular belief in modern times that the church will be spared suffering by being raptured before the tribulation begins and before the Antichrist arrives, and this is known as the pretribulational theory. Growing up in church, I remember preachers saying that you didn’t have to worry about surviving the great tribulation because as Christians we won’t be here when it happens. The theory of pretribulationism has only been taught since the early 1800s, so, this view is relatively new.
The Apostle Paul paints a different picture in Second Thessalonians 2:1-4 where he clearly states that the rapture won’t happen until the Antichrist has been revealed. He writes, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
And the Bible makes it clear in Daniel 9:27 that The Antichrist will be revealed at the mid-point of the final seven years. “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. Even most conservative End Times scholars agree that the Antichrist will be revealed at the mid-point when he causes the “abomination that causes desolation,” which happens when he sets himself up in the Jewish Temple. In the prewrath theory, the rapture is still imminent, though it is narrowed down to a much shorter window of time. But, as Paul tells us, the burden behind the imminence of Jesus’ return is placed on the back of the ungodly, not the children of God. As Christians, we believe in the imminent return of Jesus, and we know it’s coming, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to us.
Paul says the following in First Thessalonians 5:1-4, 9, “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Olivet Discourse & the Book of Revelation Much of the proof for a prewrath rapture comes from what is nicknamed the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, where Jesus explained to his disciples how the End Times would play out, and in Revelation chapters six and seven when Jesus, at some point in the future, will open the End Times scroll with the seven seals that contain seven trumpets and the seven bowls. These two sets of scripture serve as a blueprint for the timeline. This can all sound confusing, but it’s important to remember that multiple books of the Bible tell the same End Times story. Matthew 24 Parallels Revelation 6-7 Verses 4-5 The Antichrist/False Messiahs First Seal, 6:1-2Verses 6-7 Wars Second Seal, 6:3-4Verse 7 Famine Third Seal, 6:5-6Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fourth Seal, 6:7-8Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fifth Seal, 6:9-11Verse 29 Celestial Disturbances Sixth Seal, 6:12-17Verses 30-31 Raptured Saints Interlude, 7:9-17Verses 14, 30, 36-41 Day of the Lord’s Wrath Seventh Seal, Trumpets & Bowls
In Matthew 24 Jesus described in great detail how the Antichrist will rise up, deceive many, and persecute the children of God during the great tribulation. In verses 4-14 Jesus says, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Jesus goes on to say in verses 15-22 that the End Times will not be easy for the children of God. “So, when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” Celestial Disturbances Then Jesus describes a celestial event that will take place immediately following the time of the Antichrist where the sun and moon will be darkened, stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. In Matthew 24:29, Jesus says, “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” There are passages in Isaiah 13:9-10, Joel 2:31, and Revelation 6:12-17, and all three describe the same celestial disturbances. These will happen immediately before God’s wrath begins. The importance of these celestial events is they prove that certain precursors must happen before the day of the Lord can begin.
Then in verse thirty of Matthew 24, Jesus describes the rapture when he says, “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” The celestial disturbances and the rapture of Matthew 24:29-31 line up perfectly with the same events in Revelation 6:9-17, 7:9-17 (see chart above). In Revelation 6:9-11, the Apostle John writes, “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood? Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake.”
Revelation chapter six continues to describe the End Times events. It says in verses 12-17, “The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?
Then in Revelation 7:9-17 John describes the rapture from the view-point of heaven. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’
Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.’ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
Pretribulationists have always said that the martyred saints under the alter of God in Revelation 6:9 are what’s known as “tribulational saints,” who will come to believe in Jesus and will be killed during the great tribulation, but after the church has already been raptured out. But there is no scripture to support this, they’re only speculating to support their view. When you line up The Olivet Discourse, with the two Thessalonians, and Revelation, it becomes obvious that the rapture will happen after the mid-point but before the wrath of God begins. Suffering & Persecution It only makes sense that Christians will be persecuted in the End Times because we have been persecuted for much of the last 2,000 years. Persecution and suffering simply comes with the turf in being a Christian. You have to remember that Christians were used as human torches in Rome during Emperor Nero’s reign and were also fed to the lions as sport. All of Jesus’ apostles were martyred except John, and he was put in exile. Even in modern times, Christians are imprisoned and killed for their belief in Christ. Churches in China and North Korea, for example, still continue to operate underground out of fear of persecution. Christians all over the globe are being persecuted even in modern times.
Jesus warned us in advance about the End Times persecution that his followers would have to endure. In Matthew 24:9 Jesus says, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” In John 15:18-19 Jesus told his disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Many scholars believe that the purpose for the church to suffer greatly just before Christ’s second coming will be for purging and purifying, separating out those who claim to have faith from those who actually possess true faith. When faced with starvation will a saint sell their soul for a loaf of bread? Christians who are unfortunate enough to be alive during the great tribulation will be forced to choose God over Satan. There will be no riding the fence. There will be no ambiguity. It will be clear as night and day.
But know and understand that Satan will be happy to take your soul under any condition, such as trickery and deception, just like he fooled Adam and Eve thousands of years ago. God, on the other hand, will require you to make a concrete decision. It will be a decision of the heart. God or Satan. The final three and a half years will be Satan’s greatest hour. Satan isn’t stupid. He’s very shrewd, crafty, and clever. He reads the same Bible that we do. He knows that he is a short-timer and that he can’t change that fact. But misery loves company, and he will work as hard as he can to take as many souls as possible with him to eternal burning in the lake of sulfur! Are We in the End Times Now? People love to ask the question, “Are we in the End Times now?” I have heard that so many times, especially since the Covid pandemic of 2020, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. There are two ways to look at this question. From a macro point-of-view the absolute answer is yes! The End Times have been here since the very moment that Jesus ascended back to heaven. He told us he would return. He just didn’t tell us when. It’s because of Jesus’ promised return that we’ve been in the End Times for 2000 years.
The second way to look at this question is from a micro point-of-view, which looks at where we are in the world today. There are still certain things, big things, that have to happen first for us to truly be in the End Times. Mainly, Israel still has to have its temple rebuilt, and the Antichrist has to be revealed. It’s easy to think that God has forgotten about us, but as the old saying goes, God may be slow but he’s never late.
The Apostle Peter tells us in Second Peter 3:8, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
While things in the world are bad, we have to keep them in perspective with the rest of history because there’s nothing new about any of the things that we’re experiencing today. There has always been disease, natural disasters, famine, and wars. Think about if there had been social media when city of Pompeii was wiped out by a volcano in 79 A.D. Or what if there had been cable news and YouTube during the Black Plague of the 1300s when millions in Europe died from disease, or when 20 million people died during World War I, and another 50 million people died from the Spanish Flu in 1918.
Although the Covid pandemic was devastating in many ways, it doesn’t begin to compare to some of the other periods of suffering in history. We tend to be so focused on our own current condition that it becomes easy to proclaim that we’re in the End Times simply out of a knee-jerk reaction. It’s easy for us to think that the year 2020 was the worst year ever, and it may have been the worst year in our lifetime, but actually, historians will tell you that the year 536 A.D. was the worst year ever because of cataclysmic events caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland. But we’re all still here today which means our ancestors survived it. To truly study the End Times and all of the prophecy associated with it, we have to look at it from a big-picture point-of-view. You can’t judge it based solely on the events going on around you at the time. While the depravity of the world seems to be escalating at a rapid pace, we are getting closer to those “birthing pains” that Jesus spoke about, but we’re not there yet. There are still some big prophecies that have to happen first. Scripture clearly states that these events must happen before the End Times can begin in earnest. 1. The Jews must rebuild their temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15-16, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). 2. The Antichrist still has to be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). 3. The Antichrist will have to exist for three and a half years before he will institute the mark of the beast, because the mark is something that will happen after the mid-point of the final seven years (Daniel 9:27, Revelation 13:11-18).
One of the controversies surrounding the Covid 19 vaccine stemmed from the belief that it contained the mark of the beast. And while it is possible that the Antichrist and his false prophet could use an injection of some kind to administer the mark, scripture clearly says a person will receive the mark on their right hand or on their forehead (Revelation 13:16). And while the Antichrist may very well be alive right now, he certainly hasn’t been revealed yet, and that is a requirement. Which means according to scripture, the Covid 19 vaccine cannot be the mark of the beast because the mark of the beast will be a very overt, dictatorial process conducted by the False Prophet on behalf of the Antichrist when it happens. It won’t be a secret or a trick.
To keep it in perspective, there are many tools in our society that might aid the Antichrist in administering the mark of the beast. Everything from a biochip inserted into a person’s hand to a simple tattoo will work. Just because certain tools exist that does not make them the mark of the beast. An example of a tool that can be perceived as doing both good and bad is the printing press. The same printing press that can print a Bible can also print a pornographic magazine, but that doesn’t make the printing press a bad thing. It’s simply a tool. It’s the human motive behind the tool that makes it good or bad.
It's also important to remember that most of humanity will never see the rapture or the great tribulation. There will only be a small percentage of Christians alive when these two things happen. Pop culture loves to talk about the mark of the beast, but you never hear anyone talk about the seal of God or being protected by the Holy Spirit. As a Christian I know that God will protect my soul because I believe in him, which means Satan can’t touch my soul. I have been baptized and saved in God, and I worship and praise him daily. And God has had me cradled in his bosom since before I was ever born. He may choose to protect my earthly body if I live through the great tribulation. Or he may not. I’m fine either way, because my time on Earth has been short ever since I arrived here at 3:30 p.m. on January 31, 1970. My true home is in eternity with God in heaven, not here on this Earth.
Suffering is not only part of our human experience, but it’s also part of our spiritual experience as Christians. Jesus was the most innocent man in history, but he suffered a very cruel and painful death on our behalf. Suffering reminds us that we truly are aliens in this world, because eternity with God is where we belong. In the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Paul echoed the same sentiment when he wrote about suffering in Romans 5:3-4. Paul writes, “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” It’s not all complete gloom and doom. When I think about the End Times, I think about all of the times that God has protected me, even when I didn’t realize that he was protecting me. Plus, the scripture from First Thessalonians tells us that not all believers will be killed during the great tribulation. Paul told us that there will be people raptured from the earth, which means not all Christians will die during that time.
There is also biblical proof that God might choose to protect us. In the book of Exodus when God was punishing Pharaoh and Egypt with terrible plagues, he protected the Israelites from most of those plagues, although they were living alongside the Egyptians. Listen to these words from Exodus 8:22, “But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people.” Spiritual PreppingIn Revelation 12:13-14 John uses apocalyptic writing to describe how God will protect Israel from Satan during the great tribulation. John writes, “When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.”
Here are more comforting words from God about sealing his own people the same as the Antichrist will seal his followers with the mark of the beast. Revelation 7:3 says, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” In Revelation 9:4 he also says, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” While these two particular proof texts come after the rapture is mentioned in the book of Revelation and is for a special group of Jews known as the 144,000, it shows in plain language that God can protect whomever he chooses to protect.
Other scriptures that show God sealing his children include Second Timothy 2:19. There Paul says, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” Ephesians 4:30 also echoes this. There Paul writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
The bottom line is this. If I’m alive when it all goes down and God chooses to protect me from the Antichrist, I’ll gladly accept his protection. If he doesn’t, I’ll gladly martyr my soul and step into eternity. This earth is temporary one way or another and anything I do here is temporary. Planet Earth is not where it’s at. God designed all of this. He decided before the beginning of time how it would play out because he is in control, and he is sovereign. I know as long as I am a believer, that I’ll be okay. If I live to see the End Times it will be difficult, but ultimately, suffering through three and a half years of the great tribulation can never compare to spending eternity with God in Heaven. Selling your soul for a loaf of bread simply isn’t worth it! Jesus said it best in Matthew 16:26, when he said, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
There are a lot of things about the End Times that are part of God’s plan and that we will never have control over. First and foremost, don’t get hung up on the world’s current events. Jesus counseled us on this matter in Matthew 24:6-8, he said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
The world is like the Titanic. It’s a sinking ship! The Bible clearly says that this world is ruled by Satan and that we as believers don’t belong to this world. We belong with God. Our Job as Christians is not to save the Titanic. It’s impossible to save the world! Instead, our job is to fulfill the great commission and get as many people as possible off of the Titanic and into the lifeboat of God.
If the End Times is Satan’s greatest hour, it will also be the greatest hour for the great commission. Remember there will be two types of people during the End Times. Those who curse God, and those who figure out that the Bible was right and run to God. As Christians, if we live through the great tribulation, there will be much work to do, and God will expect more from us than to simply survive it in the fetal position. He will expect us to be just like the Apostle Paul, suffer as we will, and try to save as many as possible! There will be droves of nonbelievers looking for answers. And those answers will be found in our Bibles. We just have to be willing and ready to share the good news that we already know. When things get scary all we have to do is trust God and remind ourselves that he is sovereign.
And never forget this one simple fact, that in the end…Jesus wins!
In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reassured them that they, along with their loved ones who had already died, had not missed the rapture.
In First Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul writes, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Later in First Corinthians 15:50-54, Paul describes the rapture as happening in the twinkling of an eye. “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Different Views of the Rapture To understand the rapture, it’s important to first understand some of the major events surrounding the End Times. Daniel 9:27 tells us that the true End Times will happen over a period of seven years, which is known as the tribulation. During that time, a man known as the Antichrist will achieve world domination and will persecute the children of God, including both Christians and Jews. This seven-year period will be split into two halves. At exactly three and a half years into the tribulation, the Antichrist will set himself up in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and will declare himself God and will force the world to worship him through what’s known as the mark of the beast. This turning point is often called the mid-point, meaning it will happen at the mid-point of the final seven years. These final three and a half years will then be known as the great tribulation. In theology, the four basic theories concerning the timing of the rapture are known as the pretribulational theory, which places the rapture before the tribulation begins; the midtribulational theory, which places the rapture at or near the midpoint of the tribulation; the prewrath theory, which places the rapture sometime after the midpoint when the Antichrist has been revealed, but before the wrath of God begins. Finally, the posttribulational theory places the rapture at the very end of the tribulation at the Battle of Armageddon.
Scripture fully supports the prewrath theory, with Daniel 9:27, Jesus’ Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Paul’s teaching on the rapture and the Antichrist in first and second Thessalonians, and finally John’s prophecy in Revelation 6 and 7, as the foundational scriptures.
Unfortunately, a prewrath rapture means that the saints who are alive during this time will endure persecution from the Antichrist but will be raptured from the earth before God ends everything by systematically destroying the earth and pouring out his wrath and final judgement on the ungodly. Accordingly, there is an important Biblical distinction between the events of the Antichrist’s great tribulation and the day of the Lord’s wrath. The Antichrist’s great tribulation will be directed against the church and Israel, followed by God’s wrath directed against the ungodly. Persecution from the Antichrist will look like a walk in the park compared to the wrath of God! Why All the Controversy It has been a popular belief in modern times that the church will be spared suffering by being raptured before the tribulation begins and before the Antichrist arrives, and this is known as the pretribulational theory. Growing up in church, I remember preachers saying that you didn’t have to worry about surviving the great tribulation because as Christians we won’t be here when it happens. The theory of pretribulationism has only been taught since the early 1800s, so, this view is relatively new.
The Apostle Paul paints a different picture in Second Thessalonians 2:1-4 where he clearly states that the rapture won’t happen until the Antichrist has been revealed. He writes, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
And the Bible makes it clear in Daniel 9:27 that The Antichrist will be revealed at the mid-point of the final seven years. “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. Even most conservative End Times scholars agree that the Antichrist will be revealed at the mid-point when he causes the “abomination that causes desolation,” which happens when he sets himself up in the Jewish Temple. In the prewrath theory, the rapture is still imminent, though it is narrowed down to a much shorter window of time. But, as Paul tells us, the burden behind the imminence of Jesus’ return is placed on the back of the ungodly, not the children of God. As Christians, we believe in the imminent return of Jesus, and we know it’s coming, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to us.
Paul says the following in First Thessalonians 5:1-4, 9, “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Olivet Discourse & the Book of Revelation Much of the proof for a prewrath rapture comes from what is nicknamed the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, where Jesus explained to his disciples how the End Times would play out, and in Revelation chapters six and seven when Jesus, at some point in the future, will open the End Times scroll with the seven seals that contain seven trumpets and the seven bowls. These two sets of scripture serve as a blueprint for the timeline. This can all sound confusing, but it’s important to remember that multiple books of the Bible tell the same End Times story. Matthew 24 Parallels Revelation 6-7 Verses 4-5 The Antichrist/False Messiahs First Seal, 6:1-2Verses 6-7 Wars Second Seal, 6:3-4Verse 7 Famine Third Seal, 6:5-6Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fourth Seal, 6:7-8Verses 9, 21-22 Martyrdom (Great Tribulation) Fifth Seal, 6:9-11Verse 29 Celestial Disturbances Sixth Seal, 6:12-17Verses 30-31 Raptured Saints Interlude, 7:9-17Verses 14, 30, 36-41 Day of the Lord’s Wrath Seventh Seal, Trumpets & Bowls
In Matthew 24 Jesus described in great detail how the Antichrist will rise up, deceive many, and persecute the children of God during the great tribulation. In verses 4-14 Jesus says, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Jesus goes on to say in verses 15-22 that the End Times will not be easy for the children of God. “So, when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” Celestial Disturbances Then Jesus describes a celestial event that will take place immediately following the time of the Antichrist where the sun and moon will be darkened, stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. In Matthew 24:29, Jesus says, “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” There are passages in Isaiah 13:9-10, Joel 2:31, and Revelation 6:12-17, and all three describe the same celestial disturbances. These will happen immediately before God’s wrath begins. The importance of these celestial events is they prove that certain precursors must happen before the day of the Lord can begin.
Then in verse thirty of Matthew 24, Jesus describes the rapture when he says, “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” The celestial disturbances and the rapture of Matthew 24:29-31 line up perfectly with the same events in Revelation 6:9-17, 7:9-17 (see chart above). In Revelation 6:9-11, the Apostle John writes, “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood? Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake.”
Revelation chapter six continues to describe the End Times events. It says in verses 12-17, “The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?
Then in Revelation 7:9-17 John describes the rapture from the view-point of heaven. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’
Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.’ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
Pretribulationists have always said that the martyred saints under the alter of God in Revelation 6:9 are what’s known as “tribulational saints,” who will come to believe in Jesus and will be killed during the great tribulation, but after the church has already been raptured out. But there is no scripture to support this, they’re only speculating to support their view. When you line up The Olivet Discourse, with the two Thessalonians, and Revelation, it becomes obvious that the rapture will happen after the mid-point but before the wrath of God begins. Suffering & Persecution It only makes sense that Christians will be persecuted in the End Times because we have been persecuted for much of the last 2,000 years. Persecution and suffering simply comes with the turf in being a Christian. You have to remember that Christians were used as human torches in Rome during Emperor Nero’s reign and were also fed to the lions as sport. All of Jesus’ apostles were martyred except John, and he was put in exile. Even in modern times, Christians are imprisoned and killed for their belief in Christ. Churches in China and North Korea, for example, still continue to operate underground out of fear of persecution. Christians all over the globe are being persecuted even in modern times.
Jesus warned us in advance about the End Times persecution that his followers would have to endure. In Matthew 24:9 Jesus says, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” In John 15:18-19 Jesus told his disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Many scholars believe that the purpose for the church to suffer greatly just before Christ’s second coming will be for purging and purifying, separating out those who claim to have faith from those who actually possess true faith. When faced with starvation will a saint sell their soul for a loaf of bread? Christians who are unfortunate enough to be alive during the great tribulation will be forced to choose God over Satan. There will be no riding the fence. There will be no ambiguity. It will be clear as night and day.
But know and understand that Satan will be happy to take your soul under any condition, such as trickery and deception, just like he fooled Adam and Eve thousands of years ago. God, on the other hand, will require you to make a concrete decision. It will be a decision of the heart. God or Satan. The final three and a half years will be Satan’s greatest hour. Satan isn’t stupid. He’s very shrewd, crafty, and clever. He reads the same Bible that we do. He knows that he is a short-timer and that he can’t change that fact. But misery loves company, and he will work as hard as he can to take as many souls as possible with him to eternal burning in the lake of sulfur! Are We in the End Times Now? People love to ask the question, “Are we in the End Times now?” I have heard that so many times, especially since the Covid pandemic of 2020, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. There are two ways to look at this question. From a macro point-of-view the absolute answer is yes! The End Times have been here since the very moment that Jesus ascended back to heaven. He told us he would return. He just didn’t tell us when. It’s because of Jesus’ promised return that we’ve been in the End Times for 2000 years.
The second way to look at this question is from a micro point-of-view, which looks at where we are in the world today. There are still certain things, big things, that have to happen first for us to truly be in the End Times. Mainly, Israel still has to have its temple rebuilt, and the Antichrist has to be revealed. It’s easy to think that God has forgotten about us, but as the old saying goes, God may be slow but he’s never late.
The Apostle Peter tells us in Second Peter 3:8, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
While things in the world are bad, we have to keep them in perspective with the rest of history because there’s nothing new about any of the things that we’re experiencing today. There has always been disease, natural disasters, famine, and wars. Think about if there had been social media when city of Pompeii was wiped out by a volcano in 79 A.D. Or what if there had been cable news and YouTube during the Black Plague of the 1300s when millions in Europe died from disease, or when 20 million people died during World War I, and another 50 million people died from the Spanish Flu in 1918.
Although the Covid pandemic was devastating in many ways, it doesn’t begin to compare to some of the other periods of suffering in history. We tend to be so focused on our own current condition that it becomes easy to proclaim that we’re in the End Times simply out of a knee-jerk reaction. It’s easy for us to think that the year 2020 was the worst year ever, and it may have been the worst year in our lifetime, but actually, historians will tell you that the year 536 A.D. was the worst year ever because of cataclysmic events caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland. But we’re all still here today which means our ancestors survived it. To truly study the End Times and all of the prophecy associated with it, we have to look at it from a big-picture point-of-view. You can’t judge it based solely on the events going on around you at the time. While the depravity of the world seems to be escalating at a rapid pace, we are getting closer to those “birthing pains” that Jesus spoke about, but we’re not there yet. There are still some big prophecies that have to happen first. Scripture clearly states that these events must happen before the End Times can begin in earnest. 1. The Jews must rebuild their temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15-16, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). 2. The Antichrist still has to be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). 3. The Antichrist will have to exist for three and a half years before he will institute the mark of the beast, because the mark is something that will happen after the mid-point of the final seven years (Daniel 9:27, Revelation 13:11-18).
One of the controversies surrounding the Covid 19 vaccine stemmed from the belief that it contained the mark of the beast. And while it is possible that the Antichrist and his false prophet could use an injection of some kind to administer the mark, scripture clearly says a person will receive the mark on their right hand or on their forehead (Revelation 13:16). And while the Antichrist may very well be alive right now, he certainly hasn’t been revealed yet, and that is a requirement. Which means according to scripture, the Covid 19 vaccine cannot be the mark of the beast because the mark of the beast will be a very overt, dictatorial process conducted by the False Prophet on behalf of the Antichrist when it happens. It won’t be a secret or a trick.
To keep it in perspective, there are many tools in our society that might aid the Antichrist in administering the mark of the beast. Everything from a biochip inserted into a person’s hand to a simple tattoo will work. Just because certain tools exist that does not make them the mark of the beast. An example of a tool that can be perceived as doing both good and bad is the printing press. The same printing press that can print a Bible can also print a pornographic magazine, but that doesn’t make the printing press a bad thing. It’s simply a tool. It’s the human motive behind the tool that makes it good or bad.
It's also important to remember that most of humanity will never see the rapture or the great tribulation. There will only be a small percentage of Christians alive when these two things happen. Pop culture loves to talk about the mark of the beast, but you never hear anyone talk about the seal of God or being protected by the Holy Spirit. As a Christian I know that God will protect my soul because I believe in him, which means Satan can’t touch my soul. I have been baptized and saved in God, and I worship and praise him daily. And God has had me cradled in his bosom since before I was ever born. He may choose to protect my earthly body if I live through the great tribulation. Or he may not. I’m fine either way, because my time on Earth has been short ever since I arrived here at 3:30 p.m. on January 31, 1970. My true home is in eternity with God in heaven, not here on this Earth.
Suffering is not only part of our human experience, but it’s also part of our spiritual experience as Christians. Jesus was the most innocent man in history, but he suffered a very cruel and painful death on our behalf. Suffering reminds us that we truly are aliens in this world, because eternity with God is where we belong. In the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Paul echoed the same sentiment when he wrote about suffering in Romans 5:3-4. Paul writes, “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” It’s not all complete gloom and doom. When I think about the End Times, I think about all of the times that God has protected me, even when I didn’t realize that he was protecting me. Plus, the scripture from First Thessalonians tells us that not all believers will be killed during the great tribulation. Paul told us that there will be people raptured from the earth, which means not all Christians will die during that time.
There is also biblical proof that God might choose to protect us. In the book of Exodus when God was punishing Pharaoh and Egypt with terrible plagues, he protected the Israelites from most of those plagues, although they were living alongside the Egyptians. Listen to these words from Exodus 8:22, “But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people.” Spiritual PreppingIn Revelation 12:13-14 John uses apocalyptic writing to describe how God will protect Israel from Satan during the great tribulation. John writes, “When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.”
Here are more comforting words from God about sealing his own people the same as the Antichrist will seal his followers with the mark of the beast. Revelation 7:3 says, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” In Revelation 9:4 he also says, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” While these two particular proof texts come after the rapture is mentioned in the book of Revelation and is for a special group of Jews known as the 144,000, it shows in plain language that God can protect whomever he chooses to protect.
Other scriptures that show God sealing his children include Second Timothy 2:19. There Paul says, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” Ephesians 4:30 also echoes this. There Paul writes, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
The bottom line is this. If I’m alive when it all goes down and God chooses to protect me from the Antichrist, I’ll gladly accept his protection. If he doesn’t, I’ll gladly martyr my soul and step into eternity. This earth is temporary one way or another and anything I do here is temporary. Planet Earth is not where it’s at. God designed all of this. He decided before the beginning of time how it would play out because he is in control, and he is sovereign. I know as long as I am a believer, that I’ll be okay. If I live to see the End Times it will be difficult, but ultimately, suffering through three and a half years of the great tribulation can never compare to spending eternity with God in Heaven. Selling your soul for a loaf of bread simply isn’t worth it! Jesus said it best in Matthew 16:26, when he said, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
There are a lot of things about the End Times that are part of God’s plan and that we will never have control over. First and foremost, don’t get hung up on the world’s current events. Jesus counseled us on this matter in Matthew 24:6-8, he said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
The world is like the Titanic. It’s a sinking ship! The Bible clearly says that this world is ruled by Satan and that we as believers don’t belong to this world. We belong with God. Our Job as Christians is not to save the Titanic. It’s impossible to save the world! Instead, our job is to fulfill the great commission and get as many people as possible off of the Titanic and into the lifeboat of God.
If the End Times is Satan’s greatest hour, it will also be the greatest hour for the great commission. Remember there will be two types of people during the End Times. Those who curse God, and those who figure out that the Bible was right and run to God. As Christians, if we live through the great tribulation, there will be much work to do, and God will expect more from us than to simply survive it in the fetal position. He will expect us to be just like the Apostle Paul, suffer as we will, and try to save as many as possible! There will be droves of nonbelievers looking for answers. And those answers will be found in our Bibles. We just have to be willing and ready to share the good news that we already know. When things get scary all we have to do is trust God and remind ourselves that he is sovereign.
And never forget this one simple fact, that in the end…Jesus wins!