The Son Of Man Daniel 7Teaching
The Pre-Trib Rapture Examined
Jesus is coming again, and His people will be gathered to Him. On that, Bible-believing Christians agree. The question is when. This study sets the pre-tribulation teaching beside the plain order of events that Jesus, Paul and John give us.
The blessed hope we share
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (WEB)
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
1 Corinthians 15:51–52 (WEB)
“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
John 14:1–3 (WEB)
The Lord Himself will descend. The dead in Christ will rise. Those who are alive will be changed and caught up to meet Him. That is the rapture, and it is a glorious hope. The disagreement is about its timing.
What the pre-tribulation view teaches
Stated fairly, the pre-tribulation view holds that Christ will come secretly, or at least without any warning signs, to take the Church to heaven before the final seven years (Daniel's seventieth week, Daniel 9:27) begin. The Antichrist then rises, the tribulation runs its course, and Christ returns visibly with His saints at the end. This view became widespread in the nineteenth century through the teaching of John Nelson Darby, and later through the Scofield Reference Bible (1909) and popular books and films.
Its practical message to believers is: you will be removed before anything bad happens. That is the claim we need to test, because if it is wrong, a generation of Christians has been told they will never face a test that Scripture says they will face.
What Scripture says about the order of events
1. The Antichrist is revealed before our gathering
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians specifically about "our gathering together to him", and he told them it would not come until two things had happened first.
Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Christ has already come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
2 Thessalonians 2:1–4 (WEB)
Paul does not say "you will be gone before the man of sin appears". He says the day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of sin is revealed. The Church is told what to look for because the Church will be here to see it.
2. Jesus places the gathering after the tribulation
On the Mount of Olives the disciples asked Jesus for the sign of His coming. He told them to watch for the abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15), warned of a great tribulation (Matthew 24:21), and then gave the order of events in one sentence:
“But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Matthew 24:29–31 (WEB)
First the tribulation of those days. Then the darkened sun and falling stars. Then the sign of the Son of Man. Then the trumpet and the gathering of His chosen ones. There is no gathering before the tribulation in this passage; there is a gathering immediately after it.
3. Revelation shows the same order: the sixth seal, then the great multitude
When the sixth seal is opened, John sees exactly the signs Jesus described: the sun darkened, the moon like blood and the stars falling.
I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place. The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They told 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 his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Revelation 6:12–17 (WEB)
The prophet Joel said these signs come “before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes” (Joel 2:31, WEB) (Joel 2:31). So the sixth seal announces that the day of His wrath is about to begin. Then, before the seventh seal is opened, John sees a multitude no one could count, standing before the throne:
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9–10 (WEB)
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:13–14 (KJV)
Where did they come from? They “came out of great tribulation” (Revelation 7:14, KJV). Only after this is the seventh seal opened (Revelation 8:1), followed by the trumpets and the bowls, which Scripture calls the wrath of God (Revelation 15:1). We believe this is the place of the rapture: after the sixth seal and before the seventh, after the great tribulation of the Antichrist and before the day of the LORD's wrath is poured out.
Answering the main pre-trib arguments
"God has not appointed us to wrath" (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Thessalonians 5:9 (WEB)
This is true, and it fits the gathering after the sixth seal perfectly. Scripture distinguishes tribulation, which believers are promised (John 16:33; Acts 14:22), from God's wrath, which they are not. The sixth seal is the moment the world cries out that “the great day of his wrath has come” (Revelation 6:17, WEB). The Church is gathered before that wrath, not before every hardship.
"I will keep you from the hour of testing" (Revelation 3:10)
Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Revelation 3:10 (WEB)
The same words "keep ... from" are used by Jesus when He prayed for His disciples, and there He explicitly says He is not asking for them to be removed from the world:
I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
John 17:15 (WEB)
To be kept is to be guarded through the trial, as Israel was kept in Goshen while the plagues fell on Egypt (Exodus 8:22; 9:26), and as God's servants are sealed in Revelation 7:3 and 9:4.
"The restrainer is the Church" (2 Thessalonians 2:6–7)
For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2:7 (WEB)
The passage does not say who the restrainer is, and it never mentions the Church being removed. The same chapter has just told the Church it will see the man of sin revealed (verses 3–4). An unnamed restrainer cannot overturn a plainly stated order of events.
"The Church is absent from Revelation 4–18"
The word "church" (ekklēsia) is not used there, but God's people are everywhere. The beast is given power “to make war with the saints” (Revelation 13:7, WEB); believers are called to endurance: “Here is the perseverance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12, WEB) The word "church" also does not appear in Revelation 19 when Christ returns, yet no one concludes the Church is missing from His coming.
"The rapture and the Second Coming are two different events"
The New Testament speaks of one coming (parousia) of Christ, accompanied by one trumpet and one gathering. Paul's rapture happens “at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52, WEB), and Jesus' gathering of His chosen ones happens “with a great sound of a trumpet” (Matthew 24:31, WEB), after the tribulation. Scripture nowhere describes a secret coming seven years before a visible one.
"Daniel's seventieth week is for Israel, not the Church"
Daniel's seventieth week (Daniel 9:27) includes the abomination of desolation, and Jesus applied that very event to His own disciples: “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15, WEB). He told His followers what to do when they see it (Matthew 24:16–20). Rejecting pre-trib does not mean replacing Israel; God's promises to Israel stand (Romans 11:25–29).
"The rapture is imminent: it could happen at any moment"
Jesus told His people to watch for signs: “when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors” (Matthew 24:33, WEB). Paul said believers are not in darkness, “that the day should overtake you like a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4, WEB). Watchfulness means being ready, not being told there is nothing to watch for.
Being ready: the parable of the ten virgins
Jesus' parable in Matthew 25:1–13 is about readiness for a bridegroom who comes later than expected. All ten virgins were waiting; only five had oil when the cry went up at midnight.
While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.
Matthew 25:10 (WEB)
Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Matthew 25:13 (WEB)
Readiness is not fear. It is faith that is rooted, oil that is bought ahead of time: a life in the Word, in prayer and in fellowship, that will stand when the pressure comes.
But he who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 (WEB)
But when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.”
Luke 21:28 (WEB)
Frequently asked questions
Isn't this a message of fear?
No. Paul wrote: “For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7, WEB) The same Lord who walked with Daniel's friends in the furnace will be with His people to the end (Matthew 28:20).
Are Christians who believe in a pre-trib rapture saved?
Yes. This is a question about the timing of Christ's coming, not about salvation, which is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9). Many sincere, godly believers hold the pre-trib view. Our concern is that it leaves believers unprepared.
Will God protect His people during the tribulation?
God seals His servants (Revelation 7:3) and the plagues of the fifth trumpet touch “only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4, WEB). Scripture also says some believers will be martyred (Revelation 6:9–11; 13:7). Jesus promised that the days will be shortened “for the sake of the chosen ones” (Matthew 24:22, WEB).
Does rejecting pre-trib mean believing the Church replaced Israel?
No. Scripture teaches that “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26, WEB) and that God's calling is irrevocable (Romans 11:29). The timing of the rapture and God's faithfulness to Israel are separate questions.
Can anyone know the date of the rapture?
No. ““But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matthew 24:36, WEB) Anyone who sets a date contradicts the words of Jesus. We are told to watch the signs and be ready, not to calculate the day.
What should I do now?
Read Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 6–7 for yourself, like the Bereans (Acts 17:11). Put your trust in Christ, stay in His Word, pray, and encourage other believers to be ready.
Coming soon
A new book on the rapture
An in-depth book examining the rapture question from Scripture and church history is in preparation.