Prophecy - The End Times

[Matt Anderson]

The rapture - part 1

Here are some options for the timing and audience of the rapture that I have heard, read or envisioned over the years. In my mind, each of these views has a different ranking or weighting of likelihood. For example, most pre-tribulational rapture proponents will emphasize that it is not in the nature of God to put the church through the events of the Great Tribulation. They also point at key portions of the Word as support.

Having gone through this exercise for each variation of interpretation from multiple perspectives, I can pretty confidently say that there is no way to come to a definitive conclusion and remain intellectually honest. I know that some people think they can, but under the scrutiny of testing I don't think any view really holds up. Over the years, I attempted to take up each view in my mind (and through notes) to see if there was any view that I could support without also being able to poke holes in it. I haven't found any view that can legitimately survive attempts to poke holes in them.

As background, I think it is worth mentioning that most people on this forum will fit into the "dispensational pre-millenial" view, but there are also "historical premillenialists", "amillenialists" and "post-millenialists". I'm not trying to chase all these views, just sharing that there are entirely different approaches to the key End Times events that can alter how you handle the Word of God. I'm sticking with more of a "dispensational pre-millenial" view which basically just says that Jesus Christ will "literally" return for the second time before we enter the time of the Millenial Kingdom.

For the rapture, here are some of the views I have entertained in review of this topic over a number of years. The complexity of all of these views against the whole of scripture has made my head spin. I haven't spent unending hours of analysis trying to figure it out. I've had help and with some insights from God, I have verified what I have seen against scripture. Even after doing this, I still hold my current understanding "loosely" because of the speculative nature of this topic.

TIMING:
For a one-time, singular fulfillment of the rapture:

• Pre-trib - the whole "church" before the start of the Great Tribulation (I have defined this as 3.5 years) or 7-year period since others define the Great Tribulation as 7 years.
• Mid-trib - the whole "church" near or at the middle of the Great Tribulation (this fits better with a 7-year view of Great Tribulation)
• Pre-wrath - the whole "church" before God's wrath is poured out
• Out of the Midst of Wrath - the whole "church" out of the midst of God's wrath being poured out
• Post-wrath - the whole "church" after God's wrath is poured out

Some of these timings may seem implausible. Especially, "out of the midst of wrath" and "post-wrath". When we start to review all the text, you may be surprised that at least one of these two is not implausible.

For a multiple occurrence fulfillment of the rapture:

• Multiple fulfillments of rapture for portions of the "saints" (pre-, mid-, etc). I am not equating "saints" with the whole church.
• Progressive rapture based on individual maturity
• Progressive rapture based on individual maturity with multiple fulfillments of rapture mixed in as well

These are the main ones I know, does anyone have any more?

AUDIENCE (OR TARGET) OF RAPTURE:
You don't have to pick just one item from this list. It could be a combination of items.

• Some (mature, overcomers, etc) or All of the Church
• Tribulation Saints (if they exist as a distinct grouping under a different dispensation)
• Some or All of Old Testament Saints - I tossed this one in just to move "outside the box" in thinking about this subject. Will all the Old Testament ones that God has credited with faith wait for the end of the Millenial Kingdom to be raised from the dead?

In general, figuring out the audience of the rapture gets hard right away. Even if we narrow our thoughts to just the Church, We do not know when membership in the Church stops. We assume things about this topic. Assuming that the total membership in the Church starts with Jesus' death and resurrection and ends at another point in time, we can look at the POSSIBLE timing and end point of membership in the Church. Said another way, we do not know when the "dispensation of grace through Jesus Christ" ends and another dispensation begins. Here are some options.

1. Assuming a pre-tribulational rapture of all members of the Church then this could be the endpoint
2. If the rapture happens later - the "eternal gospel" (Rev 14:6) could be the endpoint
3. If the rapture happens later - Armageddon/Christ's Second Coming could be the endpoint

There may be some other endpoint options, but these three seem to be most plausible.

Sorry to be so analytical with all these categorizations and interpretive options, but this topic is a mine field that kind of requires doing this to try to bring some foundations before proceeding. Next, I am going to start introducing key text from the Bible related to the rapture. If I miss some references that anyone thinks are important, please add them in.

Matt