Copyright © 2025 Michael A. Brown
‘In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’ (John 14:2-3)
When Jesus spoke the well-known words
above to his disciples on the evening of the Last Supper, they would have
immediately recognised and understood what he was referring to. Jesus used the analogy of the Jewish wedding
traditions of their day to draw a parallel with his own future return for the
bride of Christ. There would have been no doubt in
their minds that he was referring to this Jewish tradition.
Jesus used this analogy to describe his
own return as the heavenly Bridegroom for his bride, the believing church, in
the event that we know as ‘the rapture’ (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Since he returned to heaven, Jesus has
remained there preparing a place for us, but he will very soon return to
receive us to himself, as he promised. This
is an event which is distinct from his Second Advent at the end of the
tribulation period.
In
traditional Jewish culture, the two fathers would first agree to the
marriage. The groom would then tell his
bride-to-be that he would prepare a place for them in his father’s house, adding
an apartment to it to use as their own home after they were married. Meanwhile, in her parent’s home, the bride
would prepare her wedding garments and get herself ready, and the groom would
return for his bride when he had finished his own preparations.
In
Jewish culture in those days, it was the groom’s father who made the final
decision as to when the new apartment was ready. He would then tell his son that it was ready,
and that the time had finally come when he could go and get his bride.
The son
would then get his best man and a group of close friends, and these would walk
through the streets shouting, “Behold, the bridegroom comes!” They would blow a shofar to announce that
they were coming. When they arrived at
the bride’s house, they would wait outside and she would come out to meet
them. Then they would all return to the
groom’s house, where the wedding ceremony took place. Their marriage was then consummated
physically. After this, the wedding
party then ensued for seven days.[1]
Table 9.1 below highlights this parallel:
|
The Jewish wedding tradition |
The heavenly Bridegroom and his bride |
|
The groom
leaves his father’s home and goes to his prospective bride’s home. The groom
establishes a marriage covenant by paying a tribute or purchase price for his
prospective bride. The groom
promises to return, leaving the bride at her father’s house, and going back
to his own father’s house himself.
They remain separated for a period of time, normally about a year. During the
year of separation, the groom would stay at his father’s house to build
living accommodation for him and his bride. The groom, on
an unannounced night, at the end of the year of separation, would come and
take his bride. This would happen only
after the living quarters were finished, and after his father had given
approval and told him he could go and get his bride. When the
bridegroom came, he and his male escorts would wait outside the bride’s house
until she was ready. They would shout “Behold, the bridegroom is coming!”,
and a shofar would be blown. Then the
bride would come out to join her bridegroom. The couple
would return by torchlight procession to the groom’s father’s house. Upon returning to the groom’s father’s house, the wedding ceremony
took place, and the new couple remained hidden in the bridal chamber for
seven days in what was known as ‘the seven days of the bridal chamber.’ At the end of the seventh day, the groom would come out of hiding with
his bride, so that everyone could see his bride. |
Jesus left
heaven to come to earth. Jesus establishes the new covenant through his blood, redeeming us to himself. Jesus promised to return, left believers on earth, and went to his Father’s house (John 14:2-3). At the end of the separation, Jesus will come from his Father’s house at an unannounced time (Mark 13:32). He will come at his Father’s command (1 Thess. 4:16). Jesus will
return with his bride to his Father’s house to begin living in the many rooms
prepared for us there. When Jesus and his bride return to the Father’s house, they will ‘go into hiding’ for seven years, during the time that the tribulation takes place on earth. At the end of the seven years, Jesus will come out of hiding. He will return to earth in his Second Advent, in order to rule and reign. His bride will come with him in full public display for all to see. |
Table 9.1
The parallel between the traditional Jewish wedding and the rapture of the
bride of Christ
The rapture: the heavenly
Bridegroom comes for his bride
Reading:
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The apostle Paul called the rapture ‘a
mystery,’ i.e. it is something that was not taught clearly in the Old Testament
writings, but was revealed to the apostles in the New Testament. His teaching on the rapture of the bride of
Christ is found in the passages in 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 and 1 Corinthians
15:51-52, as below:
‘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.’ (1
Thess. 4:16-17)
‘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.’ (1 Cor. 15:51-52)
Although we call this event ‘the rapture,’
there are actually two things which happen in it. Firstly, the dead in Christ are resurrected
and then, after this and secondly, those believers who are living at that time
will be transformed and caught up together with those who have been
resurrected, and they will all meet up with the Lord in the air. So in this book, I refer to this event simply
as ‘the rapture’ or, more technically, as the ‘resurrection-rapture event.’
In the first of these two passages, we can
see the parallel with the Jewish wedding traditions as it is outlined in the
table above. When the time comes for
Jesus to descend from heaven and receive his bride, his Father will give him a
clear and loud command to do so, because the Father knows that the time has
come. The Greek word keleuma which is used here in verse 16 referred to
‘an order,’ ‘a command’ or ‘a stimulating cry’ such as that which is given to
rouse and urge horses on in a chariot race, or ‘a loud call which is given to
people’ such as that given to soldiers by a commander.
Verse 16
also tells us that Jesus will be accompanied by one of heaven’s archangels,
much as the young Jewish bridegroom was accompanied by his best man and a group
of close friends. It is this archangel
who will cry out, “Here is the Bridegroom!
Come out to meet him!” (Matt. 25:6), and presumably he will also give
the loud shofar trumpet blast to announce the coming of the heavenly
Bridegroom.
The Lord
will not come down to earth, but will wait in the air, in the same way that the
young Jewish bridegroom would not enter the bride’s house, but would wait for
her outside. The dead in Christ will
then be raised, and believers who are alive will be transformed and caught up,
and they will all meet and gather together with Christ in the air. The Greek verb harpazein which is used here literally means ‘to be
snatched away,’ or ‘to claim something eagerly for oneself.’ Its translation in the Vulgate Latin version
of the Bible uses the verb rapio from
which we get our word ‘rapture.’ The gathered bride of Christ will then return
with him to heaven, his Father’s house, and the wedding supper of the Lamb will
be celebrated there later on (cf. Rev. 19:6-9).
Paul elaborates a little further on this
in the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, where he speaks of the transformation
of the physical bodies of believers into their spiritual bodies as they are
caught up into the air to meet the Lord.
He says that this transformation will happen ‘in a flash’ or ‘in the
twinkling of an eye.’ The Greek words
used here are atomos, meaning a
period of time that is so small it cannot be divided, and rhipe ophthalmou, referring to the time taken for light to
flash on or across the pupil of a person’s eye.
So, expressed proverbially, this transformation of our bodies is going
to happen so fast that, if you blinked your eyes, you’d miss it!
Is there a prophetic
connection between the rapture and the feast of trumpets?
There are some believers, both Jews and Gentiles, who believe that, when it happens, the resurrection-rapture event will be the prophetic and messianic fulfilment of the Hebrew feast of trumpets. This annual Jewish feast is normally celebrated towards the end of September. Therefore, these believers sincerely think and hope that the rapture, in whichever year it does happen, will take place on one of the two days on which this feast is celebrated. However, there are others who, for various reasons, think that this viewpoint is not true. This section briefly presents the evidence for both of these viewpoints, so that the reader can understand why people think and believe differently on this point.
A.
The rapture as the
prophetic messianic fulfilment of the feast of trumpets
According to this viewpoint, from Paul’s
words in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 we can discern a potential connection between
the rapture and feast of trumpets, Yom Teruah (cf. Lev. 23:23-25). The feast of trumpets was the first of the
three autumn feasts which Jews were commanded to celebrate, and, just as the
three spring feasts found their messianic fulfilment in the life and work of
Christ, this feast also has messianic prophetic significance. Today it is often referred to as Rosh
Hashanah and it marks the beginning of the Jewish civil new year. It was held on the first day of the seventh
month (Tishri), and its purpose was to call the Jews to a period of prayer,
confession, repentance and putting things right in their life, in preparation
for the day of atonement (Yom Kippur) which would take place on the tenth day
of that same month. These ten days of
prayer and repentance, beginning on Rosh Hashanah and ending on Yom Kippur, are
called ‘the days of awe.’
Each day during this period, the shofar
(trumpet) is blown to awaken the people, and to warn them to repent and return
to God since his judgement of sin on Yom Kippur is coming soon. The final shofar blast on Rosh Hashanah was
known as ‘the last trump’ (i.e. the last blast of the shofar). It is this ‘last trumpet’ blast which some
believers think that Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. This should not be confused with ‘the trumpet
call of God’ mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, as this refers to the shofar
blast in the Jewish wedding analogy, as we have seen above.
After
the rapture of the bride of Christ, this world will enter into a time of God’s
call to repentance and the pouring out of his wrath on earth because of human
sin, a period of time which is often referred to as ‘the tribulation.’ During the time of the seven trumpets and the
seven bowls of wrath in the book of Revelation, there are references to
repentance, or rather to the lack of it (see Rev. 9:20-21; 16:9-10). This is the time when many Jewish people will
repent and find Jesus as their Messiah (cf. Zech. 12:10 – 13:1). This time of worldwide tribulation is then
followed by the Second Advent of Christ (seen as the messianic fulfilment of
Yom Kippur) when the Lord will judge the nations (Matt. 25:31-46).
Furthermore,
the feast of trumpets is also known as the ‘wedding of Messiah.’ In the analogy of a traditional Jewish
wedding, the marriage takes place over a period of time known as the ‘bridal
week.’ During this bridal week, the
groom and bride consummate their relations in the bridal room which was built
in the father’s home. At the end of this
week, the marriage supper is held. This
bridal week represents the time when the bride of Christ is in heaven after the
rapture, while on earth there will be a time of tribulation.
In
Matthew 24:36, we can see another potential connection between the rapture and
the feast of trumpets:
‘No one knows about that day or hour, not even the
angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’ (Matt. 24:36)
This verse does not refer to the Second
Advent of Christ, but to the event of the rapture. So, according to this verse, the
day when the rapture will happen is known only by the Father. Even the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, does not
know when it will be. He is waiting for
his Father to tell him when the right time has come to go and get his bride, in
parallel with the Jewish wedding tradition.
Furthermore, the feast of trumpets was
known as the feast about which ‘we do not know the day or the hour.’ This was because this feast day (and
therefore the civil new year) could only be announced to have arrived by the
priests when two reliable witnesses had both seen the new crescent moon rising.
The new moon is very difficult to see on the first day, because it can be seen only around the time of
sunset, and it is very close to the sun which is travelling north. So, locating a very slim and faint crescent moon, which is very close to
the sun, is difficult.
If the crescent moon was not seen
on that day, then the new year was announced by default the next day. It is for this
reason that Yom Teruah is celebrated for two days, with the two being thought
of as one long day. This is the only one of the biblical feasts
that the Jews do not know the exact day on which to keep it. They know the season in which it is to be kept,
of course, but not the day or the hour.
Therefore, they have to be alert and to watch out for it. So some believers think that, in his words
about the rapture in Matthew 24:36 above, Jesus was making an implicit
reference to the feast of trumpets.
So, according to this interpretation, the
feast of trumpets will find its prophetic messianic fulfilment in the event of
the rapture. It foreshadows the
return of the heavenly Bridegroom for his bride. Therefore, supporters of this viewpoint
believe that the rapture, when it does actually take place, will happen on the
feast of trumpets, although we do not know in which year or on which of its two
days that will be, of course. So it will
happen on the exact day of its biblical counterpart, in just the same way that
Jesus died on the cross exactly on the day of Passover, in just the same way
that he was raised from the dead exactly on the day of the Feast of
Firstfruits, and in just the same way that the Church came into being exactly
on the day of the Feast of Weeks (the day of Pentecost). However, because Rosh Hashanah is celebrated
as a two-day feast, this means that we do not know the day or the hour when the
rapture would happen, just as it says in Matthew 24:36.
Furthermore,
this viewpoint also notes the fact that, in Jewish tradition, there are three
particular trumpet blasts that have a name.
These are ‘the first trump’ (blown on the feast of weeks whose messianic
fulfilment was in the birth of the Church, cf. Acts 2:1-41), ‘the last trump’
(the Tekiah Gedolah, the final one of the many blasts blown on the feast
of trumpets whose messianic fulfilment is believed to be in the rapture of the
bride of Christ), and ‘the great trump’ (blown on the Day of Atonement whose
messianic fulfilment is believed to be at the Second Advent of Christ, cf.
Matt. 24:31, Isa. 27:13).[1]
This viewpoint is summed up in the
references below:
The spring Hebrew feasts
Passover Lev.
23:4-8 Jesus, the spotless Lamb
of
/ Unleavened Bread God,
bearing our sin
Feast of Firstfruits Lev.
23:9-14 Jesus’ resurrection
Feast of Weeks Lev.
23:15-22 The day of Pentecost
/
Birth of the Church
The autumn Hebrew feasts
Feast of Trumpets Lev.
23:23-25 The rapture of the bride
Day of Atonement Lev. 23-26-32 The Second Advent of Jesus as Judge
Feast of Tabernacles Lev.
23:33-43 The millennial reign of
Christ
B. The
rapture is impending and it can happen at any time
According
to this viewpoint, the rapture has no intrinsic messianic connection with the
feast of trumpets. The rapture is an
impending event, and it can happen at any time.
This certainly seems to be implied by the following verses:
‘No
one knows about that day or hour…’ (Matt. 24:36)
‘Therefore
keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.’
(Matt. 24:42)
‘…the
Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.’
(Matt. 24:44)
‘...the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which God will bring about in his own time…’ (1 Tim. 6:14-15)
This
viewpoint believes that Paul’s words ‘the last trumpet’ in 1 Corinthians
15:51-52 do not refer to the last of the trumpet blasts on the feast of
trumpets, but to the final one of seven trumpet blasts which would be sounded
from the south-western corner of Temple Mount in Jerusalem to remind the local
Jews that they needed to be ready and prepared for whatever occasion was being
heralded, be it the upcoming sabbath or any other given occasion. This viewpoint identifies the final trumpet
blast of the feast of trumpets with the loud trumpet blast of Matthew 24:31,
and therefore with the Second Advent when Jesus returns to earth.
Moreover,
the feast of trumpets is a Jewish feast and therefore it will be fulfilled
messianically in the life of national Israel, just as the spring feasts were,
rather than in the rapture in which the mainly Gentile bride of Christ is taken
away. However, in response to this,
believing Jews in Israel will also be raptured, not just Gentiles, so can this
not be considered to be an event in the life of national Israel?
The
feast of trumpets will have its prophetic messianic fulfilment in the Second
Advent, as indicated below:
The autumn Hebrew feasts
Feast of Trumpets Lev.
23:23-25 The Second Advent
Day of Atonement Lev.
23:26-32 The repentance of Jews
when Christ returns (cf.
Zech. 12:10-13)
Feast of Tabernacles Lev.
23:33-43 The millennial reign of
Christ
Therefore,
we should be looking forward to the rapture happening at any time. It is not connected to a two-day feast on the
Jewish calendar. A human trumpet blast
blown in Jerusalem on the feast of trumpets is not the herald of Christ coming
for his bride. Christ is waiting for his
Father’s command in heaven, not for a human trumpet blast on earth. If the rapture were connected to a two-day
Jewish feast in September, then this means that every year that this feast goes
by without the rapture happening, we then have to wait for another entire year
for this feast to come around again, for it to potentially happen then. So we would actually spend most of the
calendar year not expecting the rapture to happen at any time, because our
faith would be hanging on two specific days in September. This clearly contradicts the words of Matthew
24:42,44 above that we need to be ready at all times. We do not know when the rapture will happen.
Moreover,
the repetition of the fact that the ‘day or hour’ is unknown in Matthew
24:36,42,44,50; 25:13 implies that we should take the words of Matthew 24:36
simply at face value as they stand without seeing any implicit connection with
the feast of trumpets. However, this
does not mean that the rapture cannot happen on the feast of trumpets, it
certainly could because it can happen at any time.[2] It is just as wrong to say that it won’t
happen on the feast of trumpets or on any other given day, as it is to say that
it will. We simply do not know!
From
Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:40-41, we can also look at this in another way. Firstly, if two men are in the field working,
then this is evidently during the daytime; if two women are grinding at the
mill, then this is also during the daytime; if a couple are in bed, then this
is at night (Luke 17:34); and if someone is on their roof, then they are
perhaps entertaining guests, so this would be in the evening (Luke 17:31). We are told that the master of the house
could come back in the evening, during the night, at dawn, or in the morning
(Mark 13:35, Luke 12:38), so he could therefore come back at any time.
And
secondly, to try to set a specific day or time when Jesus will come back is
meaningless when we consider where we live on the globe. What is 2 a.m. at night in Australia, for
example, is 2 p.m. on the previous day in UK.
So if Jesus comes at what is 2 a.m. in Australia when people are
sleeping, then he will come at about 2 p.m. in the afternoon on the previous
day in UK when everyone is working, i.e. at a different time on what for them
is a different day.
The rapture happens before ‘the day of the Lord’
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
The
rapture happens before ‘the day of the Lord,’ i.e. before the period of
tribulation on earth, and this is clear from the apostle Paul’s teaching in 1
Thessalonians 5:1-11.
The
whole of the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 – 5:11 forms one natural section
in this epistle. It is important that we
remember that when Paul wrote this epistle, he did not insert chapter and verse
numbers. These were added into the text
at a much later stage. So Paul’s
teaching about the ‘day of the Lord,’ the time of tribulation and God’s wrath
on earth, follows on naturally from his teaching about the rapture. It is given to us quite clearly in the
context of the rapture.
Evidently
then, the purpose of the rapture is for the Lord to take his bride away before
the time of wrath begins. Paul states
explicitly that, because we are God’s children and we do not live in darkness,
that day will not surprise us like a thief (5:4, cf. Matt. 24:42-44), and he
also states that, as the bride of Christ, we are not destined for wrath, but to
obtain salvation through Christ (5:9).
Indeed, Jesus will come for us in order to rescue us away from the
coming wrath (1:10). So it is clearly
the case that the sudden event of the rapture will save us away from the onset
of ‘the day of the Lord,’ and then, after this period of tribulation on earth
has finished, we will return with the Lord at his Second Advent (4:14).
Furthermore,
we are told that the rapture will happen suddenly and unexpectedly in a time of
relative ‘peace and safety’ on earth.
After the rapture, the world will then be plunged suddenly into the time
of destruction of the tribulation (5:3).
‘Peace and safety’ on earth will not be characteristic of the time of
tribulation, rather it will be a time when people’s hearts will fail them for
fear of what is coming upon the earth (Luke 21:25-26). So the rapture cannot happen at the end
of the time of tribulation, or even sometime after it starts, it must happen before
this time.[3]
Why is our heavenly Bridegroom staying away so long?
We
saw in chapter 8 that the early church expected Jesus to return for his bride
in their own lifetime, and this expectation has been the hope of every
generation of believers since then. It
is a long time now that Jesus has been away, but the hope of his promise
remains fresh for every generation of believers:
‘The bridegroom was a long time in
coming…’ (Matt.
25:5)
There
are at least three reasons why the Lord is staying away so long:
·
God
the Father is working for the fullness of the Gentile harvest to come in. He is not willing that any should perish,
neither us, nor our children nor our grandchildren. He wants everyone to come to repentance and
salvation (Rom. 11:25, 2 Peter 3:9). So
he continues to wait patiently through people’s lifetimes, while one generation
gives way to another, for people to repent and to turn to him in faith through
Christ.
·
The
Lord is preparing a place for his bride (John 14:2-3). He is still waiting
for his Father’s command to come and get his bride.
·
He
is waiting for his bride to prepare for his coming and to get herself ready
(Matt. 24:44, cf. Rev. 19:7). He does
not want her to go through the end-times day of his wrath.
When will the rapture occur in relation to the period
of tribulation?
There
are traditionally three major viewpoints as to when the rapture will occur in
relation to the tribulation period.
These are known as the pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation and
post-tribulation viewpoints. So,
although everyone accepts that it will happen on a day and at a time which is
unknown to us (cf. Matt. 24:36), some believe that the rapture will happen
before the day of the Lord; some believe that it will happen in the middle of
this period, and others that it will happen at the end.
The
post-tribulation viewpoint holds that the rapture will occur at the end of the
tribulation, i.e. at the time of the Second Advent of Christ. So this viewpoint conflates John 14:2-3 and 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18 which are about the rapture, with the passages in Matthew
24:29-31 and Revelation 19:11-16 which are about the Second Advent. People who believe this, think that the
gathering referred to in Matthew 24:31 is the same as the rapture we have
described in this chapter. Hence, in
this scenario, all believers would go through the time of tribulation, and
would then be raptured at the end of it.
So they would be snatched up into the air to meet Christ as he descends
from heaven at his Second Advent, only to then immediately come back down to
the earth with him. It is the conflation
of the passages mentioned above which leads to this confused and wrong belief.
In
this viewpoint, there is no analogy of the rapture with the Jewish wedding
traditions as I have described in this chapter, and the deeply loved bride of
Christ effectively becomes an object of God’s wrath along with everyone else on
earth during the tribulation. This would
be something fearful to have to look forward to, and it would no doubt fill us
with anxiety, worry and stress, rather than looking forward with anticipation
and joy to the rapture happening before the tribulation, as I have described.
No,
those who walk in a living and loving covenant relationship with Christ cannot
go through the time of the outpouring of God’s wrath on earth. It is simply a contradiction in terms to say
that we are deeply loved by Christ as his bride, and that he is totally
committed to us through covenant, but that we will also experience what it is
to go through God’s wrath. What kind of
bridegroom who loves his bride would ever pour out his wrath upon her?!
Furthermore,
Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:22 clearly imply that, by the end of the tribulation
period, there won’t be all that many people left alive on planet earth
(relative to the world’s total population today). Most of them will have died or been killed
during the tribulation from one cause or another, and so the earth will be
largely de-populated during this time.
Therefore, if the rapture were to happen at the end of the tribulation,
then there simply wouldn’t be many believers left alive who could be
raptured. But this, of course, defeats
the very objective of the rapture. God’s
purpose in the rapture is to take believers away from the wrath of God in the
tribulation, so that they do not go through it (1 Thess. 1:10). So the rapture cannot therefore be
post-tribulation.
Additionally,
although we do not know when the rapture will occur, yet we do know exactly
when the Second Advent will occur. It
occurs immediately after the time of tribulation on earth, and it is preceded
by signs in the sun, moon and stars, as described by Jesus himself in Matthew
24:29-30. So, anyone who was alive on
earth in those days and who knew the Scriptures well, would be able to tell
exactly when the Second Advent (and therefore the rapture) was going to
occur. S/he would simply have to wait
for the end of the time of tribulation and to see the signs in the sun, moon
and stars, because it is then that it will occur. So this event does not happen suddenly like a
thief coming in the night, and this viewpoint therefore falls clearly into
contradiction with Matthew 24:36 which says that we cannot know the day or the
hour.
Regarding
the mid-tribulation viewpoint, there are two distinct halves in the tribulation
period, each lasting 3½ years. So again,
if we were alive at that time and knew the Scriptures well, we would know
exactly when the first half of the tribulation would draw to a close. We would simply have to count down the number
of days since it began (cf. Rev. 11:3), and then the rapture will occur. A similar argument also holds for the second
half of the tribulation and for the post-tribulation viewpoint. It simply means that the rapture, when it
came, would not break into our life suddenly and unexpectedly, which is the
picture of it given to us in the Scriptures.
This
viewpoint also conflates the last of the seven trumpets in the book of
Revelation (which will happen at the mid-point of the tribulation period, cf.
Rev. 11:15) with the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52. However, the seventh trumpet of Revelation
11:15 is simply the last of seven trumpet blasts which will be sounded in
heaven, but not heard on earth. So they
are not the same thing.
There
is another viewpoint of when the rapture will occur in relation to the
tribulation period. This is called the
pre-wrath viewpoint, and basically it says that the rapture will happen about
three-quarters of the way through the seven-year period of the tribulation,
just prior to the pouring out of the bowls of God’s wrath (cf. Rev.
ch.16). However, as with the
post-tribulation viewpoint, this means that the bride of Christ will have to
experience at least part of the reign of Antichrist, and that the rapture
cannot happen until after Antichrist has risen up. So then, according to this viewpoint, the
first thing we need to look out for is Antichrist, rather than the return of
the Bridegroom. Again, this contradicts
Matthew 24:36 which says that we cannot know the day or the hour: we cannot
say that it must be after Antichrist arises.
There are no signs which the Bible says must happen before the
rapture takes place. It will happen
suddenly and unexpectedly, and it is something that we need to be ready for.
For
these reasons, I believe that the rapture will come before the day of
the Lord, the time of tribulation on earth, i.e. it will be a pre-tribulation
rapture. This viewpoint is consistent
both with the Scriptures and with the Jewish wedding analogy which is used by
both the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul as its parallel. No-one knows the day or hour when the rapture
will take place, and there are no signs which the Bible says must precede
it. It is the next great event in the life of
the global church, and it will happen suddenly and unexpectedly in a time of
relative ‘peace and safety,’ before the period of tribulation. As the bride of Christ, it is this event that
we are encouraged by the apostle Paul to look forward to with anticipation,
inward peace and joy, rather than being fearful and anxious of going through
the tribulation (1 Thess. 4:18, 5:11).
After we have been raptured, we will return to earth with Jesus at his
Second Advent at the end of the tribulation (1 Thess. 4:14).
Remembering
and celebrating the coming rapture annually
Just
as we remember and celebrate Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day (even though he was
actually born sometime around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in
mid-October), we also remember Jesus’ death on Good Friday and celebrate his
resurrection on Easter Sunday (which are normally somewhere around the time of
Passover and the Feast of Firstfruits).
So too, we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost at the time of the Feast of Weeks, often celebrating it in church on
the Sunday closest to that date.
These
spring Hebrew feasts are significant to us because they were fulfilled to the
very day by Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
So they have become permanent markers in our calendar, pinpointing days
which are deeply significant to us in our redemption. No local church worthy of the name should
ever forget these days and what they mean for us as believers, and the truths
they signify should be preached, taught and expounded at those times of the
year in particular, so that we never forget what they mean to us in Christ.
Although
many churches do faithfully remember and teach on the redemptive truths
mentioned above which have to do with the first coming of Christ, and they do
this at those particular and significant times of the year, yet they can
sometimes be weak on remembering scriptural truths which have to do with the
second coming of Christ. In fact, some
churches do not teach at all (or very rarely so) on topics which have to do
with the second coming of Christ. There
are no special days on which we remember them, in contrast with the spring
feast days, so their significance can easily be lost or forgotten. The root problem behind this is of course
replacement theology, which has attempted historically to deny and remove from
the Christian Church the redemptive and prophetic significance of the autumn
Hebrew feasts.
This
is why we need to get back to remembering the autumn Hebrew feasts every year
when they occur in September/October. These
feasts are prophetic of end-time eschatological events, so therefore at
that time of year we can proactively remember and celebrate the rapture and
Second Advent of Christ. Whether or not
we believe that the rapture may happen on the feast of trumpets, we can still
make a point of teaching on the rapture in our church meetings around that time
of year. In this way, we will remind
ourselves of this redemptive truth and refresh our faith in it at least once
every calendar year. We will celebrate
the fact that we know Jesus our heavenly Bridegroom is coming back very soon
for us, and we will thereby refresh our eager anticipation of this event. If we do this annually at this time of year,
we will not lose sight of the fact of the coming rapture and the scriptural
truth of Jesus’ coming, and as a result this will never fade from our mind or
grow stale as a biblical truth. We
are then far more likely to live our daily life in the joyful anticipation of
it, as we should!
[1] See for
example https://www.harpscrossing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Overview-of-The-Seven-Feasts.pdf.
[2] See for example Amir Tsarfati’s
presentation at https://youtu.be/uoE9bR5UxLE?si=T-oa8y-iDSnxKD2U, accessed 27.09.2025.
[3] Readers who wish to learn more
about the rapture and the end-times generally can read my book Apocalypse
Rising, available from www.lulu.com/shop.
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