We concluded last week’s blog post with a question. Will Christians go through the Tribulation? After exploring Old Testament types of the Rapture, we ended the discussion on that note. Will Jesus take His church out of the world before or after the Tribulation?
God secured Noah in the ark before the Flood. Angels led Lot from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah before they burned. These illustrate a “pre-Tribulation Rapture.” They reveal how God got His people out of the way before His judgment fell because He didn’t want them harmed. In similar fashion, Jesus will take Christians to heaven before the seven year period of judgment on the world.
But the Old Testament also suggests a second option. God watched over Israel when He unleashed ten plagues on Egypt. The enslaved Israelites suffered no ill effects from these judgments. This event suggests a “post-Tribulation Rapture.” God distinguished between the righteous and the unrighteous. He knew how to preserve His people. In this light, we could claim that God will keep His hand on Christ’s disciples throughout the Tribulation. His judgment will fall on the world, not on the church.
Which alternative should we select?
It doesn’t matter!
Both examples prove how God is capable of protecting His own. This principle is biblical.
Joshua asserts his security in the Lord.
“It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.” – Joshua 24:17
So does the psalmist David.
“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” – Psalm 32:7
The Lord Jesus prays for our protection.
“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” – John 17:11
And the apostle Paul declares the good news of God’s commitment to us.
“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:3
So it doesn’t matter whether we adopt a “pre-Trib” or “post-Trib” viewpoint because Jesus will look out for us either way. Christ’s work at the cross gives us certainty.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” – Romans 5:8-9
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:9
We won’t suffer God’s wrath at the end of the age because Jesus will either remove us or cover us. Either way, we’re protected.
This perspective on the end times has a positive, even optimistic, flavor. It assures us believers that troubles won’t overwhelm us. The Lord will look out for us and keep us from harm.
That’s why I chose the image I did for this post. I trusted Jesus for salvation back in 1979 and the Rapture was a hot topic at that time. I remember the picture of the Rapture and it always stuck in my mind.
What I didn’t notice at the time was how middle class the image was. It’s a typical American city on what appears to be a warm, sunny day. People are commuting to work, a plane is (was!) flying–life was going on as normal.
Then the Christians vanish!
In a flash, believers in Jesus–the living and the deceased–are resurrected to meet the Lord.
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– 52in 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.” – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
This is a wonderful hope, but what if the context isn’t what we assumed? In general, Christians have presupposed life would be good and then Jesus would take us away before He judged the world. That’s possible, but it disregards persecutions past and present. Will life be pleasant for believers before the Rapture? Or tumultuous?
That’s what we’ll consider next!
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