In this article I want to address the subject of the Lord’s return and the rapture of the church. Many in the church believe we are living in the last days and that the Lord’s return is near. Yet, there are differing views on how this will unfold.

Most who expect the Lord’s return believe that one day the Lord will appear in the clouds, as it is described in the Bible, and that believers will be taken up to meet the coming Lord, which is called the rapture of the church.

Yet, there is disagreement among believers regarding the timing of the rapture.

• Most in the church today believe that the rapture will occur before the Great Tribulation, a time when the Antichrist comes to power and when followers of Jesus will face intense persecution. This view is called the pretribulation rapture. [1]
• Nevertheless, an increasing number of Christians see from the Scripture that the church will be raptured after or during the great tribulation. This views are called the posttribulation rapture or the prewrath rapture. [2]

To keep things simple I will not focus on the details of these differing views. It is important just to keep in mind that the disagreement is on the issue of whether or not the church will experience a time of great tribulation.

 

This topic is quite challenging because it carries a strong emotional component. None of us would want to experience the time of persecution. However, it is not about our preferences but about the truth of God’s Word.

Looking at the events unfolding in the world, it seems that the Lord’s coming may not be far off. If this is the case, one of two things could happen in our lifetime:

• we could be raptured before the tribulation, as some believe, or
• we could find ourselves in the great tribulation, as others believe.

It is worth asking ourselves whether we are prepared for both possibilities – or only for the first.

What if we were wrong? What if the rapture did not occur when we expected, and instead, we found ourselves caught up in the great tribulation? In such a situation, would we be able to hold on to our faith and remain steadfast in the truth of God’s Word, or would doubt begin to creep in?

 

Do you remember Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins? In this parable, the Lord comes at night. I believe this night represents or is a picture of the great tribulation.

Notice that only half of them were prepared for the Lord’s coming. The other half were not ready because He did not arrive when they expected. Instead, He came much later – after the oil in their lamps had already run out.

If the Lord delays, will we have enough oil in our lamps to remain steadfast in faith until His return in the middle of the night?

I want to encourage us to be wise virgins, always ready for the coming of the Lord – whether it’s before, during, or after the great tribulation.

Whatever God has planned, He will not leave us. He will be with us in every situation, even in the time of tribulation, because He is a God who loves us and cares for us.

To avoid prolonging this introduction, I will now move on to the heart of the issue I want to discuss.

 

Two future comings or one coming?

There is a significant difference between believing in a pretribulation rapture of the church and a posttribulation or prewrath rapture. The issue is not simply whether believers will go through the tribulation. A more important question arises: will there be only one Second Coming of Christ, or will there be more than one?

Not everyone realizes this, but the pretribulation rapture of the church implies two future comings of the Lord, following His first coming in the first century. In contrast, both the posttribulation and prewrath rapture views suggest that there will only be one future coming of the Lord.

Let me explain this.

 

There are two reasons why two future comings are necessary in pretribulational view.

First, the rapture of the church is not an event that happens on its own; it is not a stand-alone event. Those who teach that the rapture will occur first, followed by the Lord’s return later, are misleading believers.

 

So, what is the rapture of the church?

As I already mentioned, for believers who are alive during this time, the rapture will be an event in which the Lord returns, and they are caught up into the air to meet Him.

 

In the 1 Thessalonians Paul describes the rapture this way:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NIV)

16 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.

17 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.

As we see in this passage, for the rapture to take place, there must be a coming of the Lord.

 

Second, the Gospels clearly teach that the Lord will come after the tribulation, or this could also be interpreted as during the great tribulation.

Matthew 24:29-30 (NKJV)

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

When the Lord says, ‘Immediately after the tribulation of those days,’ He is referring to the persecution of believers by the Antichrist, as described earlier in this chapter.

This does not imply that the Lord’s return will occur after the completion of the entire 3.5-year period of the great tribulation. Rather, it means that the Lord will appear at some point within the final 3.5 years of history.

 

Taken together, these two points, that

• the rapture occurs only at the coming of the Lord, and
• the coming of the Lord in the Gospels is announced during the great tribulation,

create a significant problem for the pretribulational rapture theory.

 

In this situation, pretribulationists are forced to assume that there must be an additional coming of the Lord.

This is precisely how it is presented by pretribulational teachers. For instance, John Walvoord, in his book The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation, distinguishes between ‘the coming of Christ for His church’ and ‘the coming of Christ to establish His kingdom’. These two comings of the Lord are separated, according to John Walvoord, by a seven-year period.

Chuck Missler, in his book The Rapture, explains that Christ’s Second Coming occurs in two phases. He writes, ‘In one case, He comes in secret for His own; in the other, every eye shall see Him (Rev 1:7).’ [3]

As Chuck Missler explains, these two comings not only occur at different times but are also of distinct natures. The first is secret and invisible, while the second is visible and glorious.

 

As we can see, adopting the pretribulational position creates the issue of two separate comings of the Lord in the last days, following His first coming in the first century.

In contrast, the posttribulation and prewrath rapture views do not require multiple returns of Christ. According to these perspectives, at His one return during the great tribulation, the church will be raptured to meet the coming Lord, after which the wrath of God will be poured out upon the unbelieving world.

 

In this context, we must ask ourselves a few important questions:

• Does the Bible truly teach two separate comings of the Lord in the end times – one for the church and another to establish God’s kingdom – or does it describe only one coming during the tribulation, at which the church will be raptured and the kingdom established?
• If we had never heard any teachings from church leaders or online sources, would we arrive at these conclusions simply by reading the Bible? Would we be able to see two comings of the Lord after His first coming, separated by seven years, simply by reading the Bible?

When I came to the Lord at the age of 25 and started attending church, I first heard about the rapture of the church. I didn’t fully understand what it was, and I couldn’t even find it in the Bible, but I accepted what I was taught. However, as I began studying the Bible more seriously, I struggled to reconcile what I had heard in church with what was actually written. That journey led me to where I am today. ^[4]

 

The Synoptic Gospels and the Olivet Discourse

We must briefly consider the teachings of the Lord Jesus regarding His own return. Two days before His death, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus explained to four of His disciples what would happen in the last days and what His return would be like. This teaching is known as the Olivet Discourse and is recorded in three Gospels: Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. It is from this discourse that we primarily derive the chronology of the events of the last days.

 

Jesus says there that His return will be preceded by wars and ethnic conflicts. He declares, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (v. 7).

This will be only the beginning, as even greater trials will follow.

Jesus next warns that believers will be handed over to persecution, put to death, and hated by everyone because of their faith in Him (v. 9).

During that time, many believers will abandon their faith, betraying and even hating one another so that “the love of most will grow cold” (verses 10–12).

Nevertheless, this period of persecution will eventually be interrupted by the Lord’s return.

The Lord will appear in the clouds, and all living believers will be gathered to Him.

 

This gathering of believers to the lord is described in Gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 24:30-31

30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

 

Do you know why the Lord’s gathering of believers from the earth at this time is so important? Because the appearance of the Lord in the clouds means the beginning of God’s wrath upon the world, but believers ‘are not appointed to wrath’ (1 Thess 5:9).

 

However, proponents of the pretribulation rapture argue that this gathering to the Lord is not the rapture of the church.

They reach this conclusion because Jesus speaks of His return and the gathering of believers during the tribulation, not before it.

 

This raises an important question:

If the rapture were to occur before the Great Tribulation, why would Jesus overlook such a important event and instead instruct His disciples on how to endure it?

Interestingly, in Gospel of Matthew, just a few chapters before His Olivet Discourse, Jesus speaks about the church, saying that He will build His church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Matt 16:18). Yet, despite mentioning the church earlier, when explaining end-time events to His disciples, He says nothing about a pretribulation rapture of the church. Instead of explaining the details of the great tribulation, He could have simply told them not to worry, because believers would be taken away before that time. Why didn’t He do that?

Perhaps it’s because the pretribulation rapture is not part of God’s plan.

 

In fact, first-century Christians took Jesus’ words about the tribulation literally, and that understanding saved their lives. During the Jewish-Roman War, which started in 66 AD, when the Roman legions briefly lifted the siege of Jerusalem, Christians fled the city. They remembered Jesus’ warning to flee when they saw “Jerusalem being surrounded by armies” (Luke 21:20-21). Later, the Roman legions returned, completely destroying Jerusalem and killing nearly all of its inhabitants.

The final fulfilment of this prophecy still lies in the future. This is because this prophecy contains the promise of the Lord’s return.

 

As I mentioned, pretribulation rapture proponents argue that the gathering of believers at the Lord’s coming, described in the Olivet Discourse, is not the rapture of the church.

Instead, they claim there will be a separate gathering of believers seven years earlier.

Thus, beyond introducing an additional return of the Lord, they are also compelled to propose an extra gathering of believers – something Jesus never mentioned.

 

Interestingly, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul speaks of the rapture as “our gathering together” to the Lord. [5]

Matthew 24:31 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together (episynaxousin) His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together (episynagōgēs) to Him, …

Both mention a gathering of believers and share a related word that originates from the same Greek root – ἐπισυνάγω (episynagō).

 

Given what has been discussed, which seems more credible to you, that:

• the gathering of believers Jesus speaks of refers to the rapture of the church, or that
• the rapture occurs seven years earlier during a different gathering, despite no textual support for the latter?

 

Gospel of Matthew vs Gospel of John

Now, we need to examine two major passages of God’s Word that are often cited by pretribulationists as referring to a pretribulation rapture. I will begin with the Gospel of John and then move on to Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians.

 

John 14:1-3 (NKJV)

1 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

 

I mentioned that, according to proponents of the pretribulational rapture, the rapture is not found in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. However, they believe that Jesus introduces the rapture in John 14.

I agree that John writes about the rapture of the Church here. But is there anything in this passage that suggests John is referring to a pretribulation rapture?

Is it even possible that John is describing a different coming of the Lord – one not mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels, and about which the Lord Jesus Himself said nothing in the Olivet Discourse?

We must take into account that John was very familiar with Jesus’ teaching from the Mount of Olives, as he was one of the four apostles present with the Lord during that conversation. [6]

 

Even when we compare Matthew’s text with John’s, we see that John uses the same Greek word – ἔρχομαι (érchomai)  – for the coming of the Lord, only in a different grammatical form. [7]

 

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come (erchomai) again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Matthew 24:30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming (erchomenon) on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

 

Whatever John meant by what he wrote, in my opinion, it must be fulfilled at the Second Coming of Christ. For John, as for the other apostles, there was only one return of Christ during the tribulation.

 

Gospel of Matthew vs Paul’s letters to Thessalonians

In 1 Thessalonians we find the main passage in Scripture that speaks of the rapture of the church.

According to pretribulation rapture proponents, this passage speaks of a secret coming of the Lord for the church that will take place 7 years before the Second Coming.

 

1 Thessalonians 4

15 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.

16 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.

17 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.

 

However, moving on to analyze this passage in the context of the entire letter to the Thessalonians, we encounter the same issue we discussed earlier. There is no indication in this letter that Paul was referring to any return of the Lord other than the one announced by Jesus Himself in the Gospels, which will occur during the tribulation.

Is it even possible that, without any explanation, Paul could be referring to the another coming of the Lord, secret, invisible, occurring seven years before the Second Coming?

Or rather, what seems more obvious Paul is referring to the same coming of the Lord that Jesus spoke about, but here he is providing additional details that the Lord did not elaborate on.

By starting with the words ‘according to the Lord’s word,‘ Paul clearly indicates that he is referring to the teaching of the Lord, which he must have known not only by revelation, but also from the apostles and disciples of Jesus, who passed on His teaching through oral tradition.

Let us remember that Paul, before his second missionary journey – during which he arrived in Thessalonica – had been in Jerusalem, where he met with the apostles. He travelled to Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Council in 49 AD and then returned to Antioch to begin his second missionary journey.

 

Moreover, a comparison of the Lord’s teaching in the Gospel of Matthew with this passage from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians reveals that they are speaking about the same event. Paul simply expands on what Jesus said on the Mount of Olives.

Matthew 24 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming (parousia) of the Son of Man.  30 “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. 31 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.

1 Thessalonians 4 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming (parousia) of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 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. 17 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.

 

When comparing these two texts side by side, we first notice that both Paul and Matthew use the same word for the coming of the Lord: parousia. [8]

In the history of the Church, the Greek word παρουσία (parousia) became a theological term referring specifically to the Second Coming of Christ. The term originally meant “presence” or “arrival”, but in Christian theology, it took on an eschatological meaning, referring to Christ’s glorious return to judge the living and the dead.

Second, in both of these passages we see the Lord appearing in the clouds. It is not that in Matthew, Jesus descends to the earth, while in Paul, He stops in the air. Rather, both texts present the same event.

Third, both passages mention angels and the trumpet of God.

Fourth, in both passages we see the gathering of believers to meet the coming Lord.

 

In Matthew, the Lord Jesus simply explains to the apostles that at His coming, He will gather all believers to Himself. Paul, on the other hand, addresses a specific issue that arose in the church at Thessalonica. Expanding on what the Lord had said, he adds that on that day, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, the bodies of the living will be transformed, and then all will be caught up together to meet the Lord.

In my view, Paul is speaking about the very same coming of the Lord that Jesus described to His disciples – a coming that will take place at the Second Coming during the great tribulation.

 

We must also remember that, according to advocates of the pre-tribulation rapture,

• Matthew describes the visible coming of the Lord, while
• Paul speaks of an invisible, secret coming.

 

Analyze it for yourselves and determine what is more credible, that

• Paul is simply expanding on what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, or that
• Paul is speaking of a completely separate coming of the Lord, a different trumpet of God, and another gathering of believers – one that would take place seven years earlier and, furthermore, be invisible and secret.

 

Finally,

I want to quote the last verse.

Hebrews 9

27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time (deuterou), not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. [9]

The author of the letter to the Hebrews, writing about the coming of the Lord, uses the word δευτέρου (deuterou), which means – a second time.

According to the writer of Hebrews, there will be only one more appearance of the Lord, not two as pre-tribulation rapture advocates teach.

 

In closing,

I want to emphasize once again that there is only one Second Coming of Christ and there will be no secret rapture of the Church before His visible return in glory.

The rapture that Scripture speaks about will take place during the Great Tribulation, at the Second Coming of the Lord.

The Synoptic Gospels, the Apostle John, and the Apostle Paul all testify to the same event – the singular return of Christ during the Great Tribulation. There is no other.

 

As Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). When that time comes, will we be ready? Will we be among the wise or the foolish virgins? Will we have enough oil to endure the night if the Lord’s return seems delayed?

These are critical questions we must ask ourselves, especially in light of the times we are living in. Let us be watchful, prepared, and steadfast in our faith.

 

NOTES

[1] The view that the Church will be raptured before the tribulation is called the pretribulation rapture. As some of you know this position is fairly new. The Pretribulation Rapture view first appeared in the early 19th century, primarily through the teachings of John Nelson Darby (1800–1882), a leader of the Plymouth Brethren movement.

[2] The posttribulation rapture view holds that the church will be raptured after the great tribulation. This was position largely held by the Church in the first centuries after Jesus death.

The prewrath rapture view holds that the church will be raptured during the great tribulation, but before the wrath of God is poured out upon the world. The Prewrath Rapture view first appeared in the late 20th century, primarily through the work of Robert Van Kampen (1938–1999) and Marvin Rosenthal (1939–2022).

[3] Chuck Missler, The Rapture: Christianity’s Most Preposterous Belief, p. 43

[4] As a side note, it should be noted that the word rapture does not appear in the original Greek New Testament, for it is a Latin word. The Greek term harpazo, which means “caught up” or “snatched up,” was translated to rapturo by Jerome in the Latin Vulgate. Jerome’s word choice caught on, and the term rapture has been used since.

[5] The words – ἐπισυνάξουσιν (episynaxousin) used by Matthew and ἐπισυναγωγῆς (episynagōgēs) used by Paul are related. Both come from the same Greek root ἐπισυνάγω (episynagō), which means “to gather together” or “to assemble.”

[6] According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus delivered the Olivet Discourse privately to Peter, James, John, and Andrew (Mark 13:3-4).

[7] ἔρχομαι (érchomai) is a Greek verb that means “I come” or “I go.” ἐρχόμενον (erchomenon) in Matt 24:30 is the present participle of ἔρχομαι (erchomai), which means “to come” or “to go.”

[8] Παρουσία (parousia) and παρουσίαν (parousian) in 1 Thess 4:15 are the same word, but in different grammatical cases:

• παρουσία is the nominative singular form, which is used for the subject of a sentence;
• παρουσίαν is the accusative singular form, which is used for the direct object of a sentence.

[9] δευτέρου (deuterou) – a second time

* The image generated by AI.

Author: Artur Pluta