Copyright © 2024 Michael A Brown
Following
on from Appendix A in which I presented several major reasons why I do not hold
to the post-tribulation view of the rapture, in this appendix I similarly present
reasons why I do not hold to the mid-tribulation or pre-wrath views of the rapture
either. Holding therefore to the pre-tribulation
viewpoint presented in this book, I then also discuss why I believe that the rapture
occurs during the time of the opening of the sixth seal, rather than at Revelation
4:1. Readers who wish to go into more depth
on this latter point can read my much fuller treatment in chapter 16 of my book
Apocalypse Rising.
Reasons
why I do not hold to the mid-tribulation viewpoint
·
Regarding the mid-tribulation viewpoint, there
are two distinct halves in the tribulation period, each lasting 3½ years. So, if we were alive at that time and knew
the Scriptures well, we could 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 (on the day when
Antichrist affirmed the covenant with many, cf. Rev. 11:3, Dan. 9:27), and then
the rapture will occur. A similar
argument also holds for the second half of the tribulation. Again, we could count down the exact number
of days until the Second Advent. It
simply means that the rapture, when it came, would not break into our lives suddenly
and unexpectedly, which is the picture of it given to us in the Scriptures.
·
A faulty understanding of 2 Thessalonians
2:1-8 means that mid-tribulationists believe that the revealing of Antichrist
occurs at the time that he sets himself up in God’s temple at the mid-point of
the tribulation, after the restraint upon him has been removed, and that this is
when the end-times day of the Lord begins.
Appendix B addresses this mistake, explaining that Antichrist is uncovered
and revealed to the world well before he sets himself up in the temple! However, they combine this with the further mistake
of conflating the last of the seven trumpets in the book of Revelation (which happens
at the mid-point of the tribulation period, cf. Rev. 11:15) with the ‘last
trump’ of 1 Corinthians 15:52 (which happens at the time of the rapture). This then enforces their mistaken view that
the rapture (the removal of the restrainer which triggers the day of the Lord)
must happen at the mid-point of the tribulation, just prior to the revealing of
Antichrist.
However,
the trumpet blast of 1 Corinthians 15:52 was the prophetic fulfilment of the ‘last
trump’ of the Feast of Trumpets, and it is certainly prophetic of the rapture,
whereas 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.
Reasons
why I do not hold to the pre-wrath viewpoint
The pre-wrath viewpoint has become increasingly popular in recent times. It identifies the time of God’s wrath with the outpouring of the seven bowls of wrath (cf. Rev. ch.16), which most commentators agree will begin about two-thirds or so of the way through the 3½-year long Great Tribulation. According to this viewpoint, the part of the Great Tribulation before this, is called the time of Satan’s rage. So, because proponents of this view accept that the bride of Christ will not go through the wrath of God, many of them identify the rapture with the first harvest described in Revelation 14:14-16, and they place its timing at just prior to the seven bowls of wrath, as Figure C.1 below shows:
This pre-wrath view of the rapture is faulty on at least three counts:
It fails to understand properly when God’s end-time wrath begins. The words of Revelation 15:1-2 are clear that the seven bowls of wrath bring to a culmination the wrath of God: ‘I saw… seven angels with the last seven plagues – last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.’ So the period of the end-times wrath of God must therefore have begun before this. We are told in Revelation 6:16-17 during the time of the sixth seal that the time of God’s wrath had come. So the pouring out of the wrath of God begins with the seven trumpets, and the bride of Christ must therefore be raptured prior to this, during the time of the sixth seal. This is summed up in Figure C.2 below:
Figure C.2 The pre-tribulation rapture happens during the time of the sixth seal
·
This pre-wrath view is wrong also because
it dichotomizes between Satan’s rage and God’s wrath. It separates them as though they are two
mutually exclusive things: during the Great Tribulation, first is the time of
Satan’s rage, and then is the time of God’s wrath. However, Satan’s rage and God’s wrath are not
mutually exclusive. Satan is a created
being, and therefore his rage in the Great Tribulation is subsumed under, and
therefore a part of, God’s wrath. The
end-times day of the Lord, the period of the outpouring of God’s wrath, begins
with the first four trumpets, and it culminates in the seven bowls of
wrath. So Satan’s rage during the
Great Tribulation is simply a part of the much longer overall period of God’s
wrath. Satan’s rage is allowed
by God to be released on earth during the Great Tribulation. His rage and fury are caused by his own
realisation that his time is short, and so he then tries to do as much damage
as possible to humankind and this world before he is finally thrown into the
Abyss after the Second Advent of Christ (Rev. 12:12, 20:1-3).
·
Furthermore, the pre-wrath view implies mistakenly
that the bride of Christ will have to go through the seven trumpets, to endure
the rise and rule of Antichrist, to face the issues of worshipping or not the
Beast and his image, and receiving or not the mark of the Beast, and also to
experience Satan’s rage on planet earth.
Presumably, according to this view, most if not all of the bride of
Christ would therefore be martyred in the earlier part of the Great Tribulation,
because they would refuse to worship the Beast or his mage, and they would not
receive the mark. So this would leave
precious few if any to get raptured.
This
also implies that it is not the rapture that we would be looking forward to in
the present time with joyful anticipation, but rather that we would probably be
living in fear and anxiety every day about how we will face the reign of
Antichrist with all that that entails. So
then, the first thing we need to look out for is Antichrist, rather than the
return of our Bridegroom. Again, this
contradicts Matthew 24:36 which says that we cannot know the day or the hour:
we cannot say that the rapture must be after Antichrist
arises. There are no signs which the
Bible says must happen before the rapture takes place. It is an impending event: it will happen
suddenly and unexpectedly, at a time unknown to us, and it is something that we
can anticipate and look forward to, and for which we need to be ready. The apostle Paul emphasised that Jesus will rescue
us from the coming wrath, i.e. he will take us away from it before it
begins (1 Thess. 1:10). And again, because
the time of wrath begins with the seven trumpets, we must therefore be raptured
prior to this, during the time of the sixth seal (cf. Rev. 6:16-17).
Does
Revelation 4:1 refer to the rapture?
‘After this I looked, and there before me was a door
standing open in heaven. And the voice I
had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will
show you what must take place after this.”
At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in
heaven…’ (Rev. 4:1)
The
belief that the rapture of the bride of Christ occurs in Revelation 4:1 is one
of the cornerstones of what is known as the Extreme Futurist pre-tribulation
interpretation of Revelation. This viewpoint
is popular among evangelical believers in America in particular, and it is espoused
widely on Christian TV programmes.
Put simply, this interpretation believes that, because the Greek word ἐκκλησία (meaning ‘church’) does not occur in the book of Revelation after the end of chapter 3 (except in verse 22:16), then this must mean that the Church Age closes at the end of chapter 3. So the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2-3 represent prophetic messages which are applicable to the whole of the Church Age, but from chapter 4 onwards the book of Revelation is concerned only with what happens after the end of the Church Age (i.e. after the rapture). This is illustrated below in Figure C.3:
Figure C.3 Outline of the book of Revelation according to the Extreme Futurist viewpoint
This viewpoint, therefore, tries to find
grounds for the rapture at the very beginning of chapter 4, i.e. in verse
4:1. So the words ‘Come up here…’
are said to represent the voice of God speaking to the dead in Christ and to
living believers (rather than simply to the apostle John), telling them to come
up to meet Christ in the air, and the following words ‘and I will show you
what must take place after this’ are said to refer to what will happen
after the rapture (i.e. after the end of the Church Age).
According
to this viewpoint, the following two chapters (chs.4-5) are a vision of what
happens in heaven after the rapture. The
Lord Jesus is seen as the triumphant Lamb-Lion, seated on his Father’s throne,
and the twenty-four elders are said to represent the redeemed, raptured and
rewarded bride of Christ who are then in heaven. After these two chapters, the focus of the
narrative then transfers over to what happens on earth after the rapture, and
so the description of the seven-year tribulation begins in chapter 6 with the
opening of the seven seals. The chapters
which follow in Revelation then describe what happens during the tribulation
period, until Jesus returns to earth at his Second Advent in chapter 19:11f.
So,
according to this viewpoint, the rapture happens in verse 4:1, and the opening
of the seven seals happens after the beginning of the tribulation. In particular, the rider of the white horse
(who is released at the opening of the first seal) is believed to represent the
rise of the spiritual deception associated with Antichrist, at the beginning of
the seven-year tribulation.
Reasons
why I do not agree with this viewpoint
There are several reasons
why many believers do not agree with this viewpoint, and I give just a few of
these below:
·
The apostle John was not raptured in verse
4:1. He described himself ‘as being
in the Spirit’ (4:2) and being taken up to heaven where he was shown the visions
of the book of Revelation. His physical
body remained on earth in Patmos during this whole time. His experience, therefore, cannot be
representative of the rapture of the bride of Christ. However, figures such as Enoch, Elijah and
Jesus himself, together with the Two Witnesses (Gen. 5:23, 2 Ki. 2:11-12, Acts
1:9-10, Rev. 11:12) are indeed examples of being raptured. In each of these cases, as they ascended into
heaven, their bodies were no longer found on earth. They had gone, and permanently so. They could no longer be found. So John’s experience was more akin to that of
Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 in which Paul was ‘caught up’ into heaven and saw
visions, but he certainly returned afterwards, and his body remained here. So John was not raptured in Revelation
4:1.
·
This viewpoint makes Jesus appear to be absent
from heaven in Revelation ch.4 immediately after the ‘rapture’ has apparently
occurred, when John (representing those who have been raptured) has/have supposedly
arrived in heaven together with Jesus (cf. 1 Thess. 4:16-17).
·
Many commentators do not believe that the
twenty-four elders in heaven (4:4f) represent believers who have been
raptured. There are different views among
pre-tribulationists as to who these men are, but they may well be men known to
God who have been chosen by him from among Old and New Testament leaders, and
who therefore represent the old and new covenants. John does not give us their names.
Just as other numbers do, the number 24
has its own significance in Scripture. It
is connected to the priesthood which, in king David’s time, had twenty-four
divisions, according to their appointed order for ministering in the temple (1
Chr. 24:1-19). If the number 12
represents divine government or completeness, and since 24 is double 12, then
it would be natural to interpret these twenty-four men to be believer-priest
elders who represent both the old and new covenants, and who are reigning with
Christ in heaven. This is supported by
the fact that the gates and foundations of the New Jerusalem have the names of
the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Rev.
21:12-14).
·
This viewpoint makes the rider of the
white horse in the first seal to be Antichrist and the spiritual deception
which arises under his rule. However, there
are many people who do not believe this. Rather they see the rider of the white horse
as representing the spread of the gospel throughout the world, conquering the
hearts of those who do not yet believe in Christ.
·
This viewpoint makes the bulk of the book
of Revelation to be irrelevant to ordinary believers today, because only
chapters 2-3 refer to the Church Age. It
means that the events of the book of Revelation after chapter 3 are all still
in the future. Readers can read Appendix
D which relates to this, in which I address John’s use of the Greek phrase μετά
ταῦτα in Revelation and the way it is interpreted in verses 1:19 and 4:1 by
proponents of Extreme Futurism. However, because the book of Revelation
was written towards the end of the first century AD, it must have had specific
relevance to that generation of believers. For example, in John’s time, the first
century believers would have recognised the Roman Empire as a fulfilment of the
first Beast of chapter 13, and the book’s overarching message of Christ’s
ultimate victory over sin and the forces of evil in this world would have
brought strong encouragement to them. Furthermore,
the book of Revelation, or different parts of it after chapter 3, must have had
at least some form of symbolic meaning for all subsequent generations of
believers right down until the present time, simply because the whole of
inspired Scripture is relevant to every generation of believers (cf. 2
Tim. 3:16-17).
·
It is the belief of many commentators
that, rather than the above viewpoint, chapters 4-5 give us a glimpse through
John’s vision into scenes in heaven after the ascension of Christ (rather than
after the rapture). The risen, ascended
and exalted Lord Jesus is seen as seated and ruling on the throne of his Father
as the Lamb-Lion, surrounded by worshipping elders. As the One who triumphed by conquering sin,
death and Satan through the cross and resurrection, he is the only One worthy
to sit on and rule from his Father’s throne and to inherit all things (Heb. 1:2). So to him, and him alone, after his
ascension, is given the scroll which contains the redemptive provisions of
God’s will and purpose for all creation which will then be worked out (cf. Heb.
9:15-18).
The
sixth seal and the rapture
After the opening of the sixth seal, two
groups of people are described (Rev. ch.7).
There is a group of 144,000 Jews who must be sealed before the time of
judgement can begin on earth. They will
evidently remain on earth and go through this time of judgement (7:1-4). And there is also a great innumerable
multitude from every nation, people, tribe and language. These people are therefore predominantly Gentile
believers who are in heaven (7:9-17). If
it is correct to see the great multitude as being mainly Gentile (as they are
clearly described to be), then it must be hermeneutically sound to see the
other group as being literal ethnic Jews (as they too are clearly described to
be).
Many people interpret this passage to
mean that the innumerable crowd represents the bride of Christ which has been
raptured and are therefore in heaven before the tribulation begins, while the
144,000 are Jewish believers who have been converted and anointed for their
ministry during the time of the tribulation (and certainly in the first half of
this period).
According to this viewpoint, the
words ‘seal’ and ‘sealed’ in Revelation 7:3-4 refer to conversion and being
anointed with the Holy Spirit as the seal of God’s ownership, just as they do
elsewhere in the Scriptures (cf. 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30). Having
been sealed by God, these 144,000 Jewish believers will then be protected from
the judgement of God during the coming tribulation period (Rev. 7:3, 9:4), just
as the righteous remnant in Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s time were marked on their
foreheads and escaped the judgement of God which came in the time of the
Babylonians (Ezek. 9:3-6).
However, the Extreme Futurist
interpretation sees the innumerable crowd as being the fruit of the ministry of
the 144,000 during the period of the tribulation, and this is a natural
consequence of their belief that the rapture occurred back in Revelation 4:1.
Furthermore, amillennialists, who do not
believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, and who also do not see any redemptive
significance for Israel and the Jews during the time of the tribulation, deny
that the innumerable crowd represents raptured believers. Instead, they interpret the 144,000 in a metaphorical
way as the body of Christ (which goes through the tribulation), and as being
the same as the innumerable multitude (who are therefore being seen in heaven after
the tribulation). And this is to put it
very simply!
A key to understanding which of these
views is correct lies in giving an accurate rendering of the underlying Greek
phrase οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἐρχόμενοι ἐκ
τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης in Revelation
7:14. The NIV translates this phrase as ‘These are
they who have come out of the great tribulation…’ which therefore suggests
that these people went through the tribulation (or at least part of it).
W.E.
Vine advises us that the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) which is used in this verse can mean
‘out of,’ ‘from the midst of’ or simply ‘away from’ (so being virtually
equivalent to the preposition ἀπò). The way in which this preposition is
understood should be determined by the context in which it is used.[1] It is clearly used in the sense of ‘away from’
in 2 Corinthians 1:10, Acts 12:7 and Colossians 2:14. It is also used in some manuscripts as being
equivalent to ἀπò in 1
Thessalonians 1:10 which says ‘…Jesus, who rescues us from the coming
wrath.’ Here it cannot mean ‘from
the midst of’ or ‘out of’ because the wider context of 1 Thessalonians tells us
clearly that believers will not go through the time of God’s wrath (cf. 1
Thess. 5:9). Jesus rescues us away
from the wrath to come before it begins.
So it is reasonable to
translate the words of Revelation 7:14 as ‘these are they who have come away
from the great tribulation,’ rather than as ‘these are they who have come out
of the great tribulation.’ This
would mean that the great multitude have been taken away from the coming
tribulation before it begins, rather than being taken out of it at some stage
after it has started (or going through it all).
This then makes it clear that these are
two different groups of people in Revelation ch.7. The first group (144,000 ethnic Jews) are
sealed and go through the tribulation, whereas the second group (an innumerable
group of predominantly Gentile believers) are taken into heaven away from the period
of tribulation before it begins.
This can only mean then that the innumerable
crowd are believers who have been raptured before the time of God’s wrath
begins, and this understanding makes it consistent with what 1 Thessalonians teaches,
so supporting a pre-tribulation rapture viewpoint. As the bride of Christ, we come into
heaven through the rapture, which happens during the time of the sixth seal, having
been taken away from the coming period of tribulation before it begins.[2]
It is my belief, therefore, that the opening
of the sixth seal is associated, among other things, with the rapture of the
bride of Christ. It represents several different
events which happen over a period of time, rather than being just a single
event, and the rapture happens during this period of time. However, we do not know how or whether or in
what way the rapture relates to these other events of the sixth seal.
Hence, in the time of the sixth seal there
are particular signs in the heavenly bodies. There is the sign of a great earthquake on
earth (one of several mentioned in the book of Revelation). Heaven is visibly opened, and the inhabitants
of the earth can see this powerful and glorious sight with their own eyes.[3] However, they respond with fear and terror,
by running and hiding, because they intuitively understand that the time of
God’s judgement and wrath on earth is imminent.
God seals and anoints 144,000 ethnic Jewish believers for their ministry
on earth during the coming tribulation period, and the predominantly Gentile
bride of Christ is raptured into heaven away from the time of God’s wrath.
For me, this is to interpret the sixth
seal in a way which is self-consistent with what it describes, and which is
also consistent with all the other teaching about the rapture that has been
presented in this book.
Furthermore, if the rapture happens at the sixth seal, then this means that the wider passage in Revelation chs.4-7 represents the period between Christ’s ascension and the rapture of the bride of Christ, which we often call the Church Age. This is shown in Figure C.4 below:
Figure C.4 The first six seals represent the period
between the ascension of Christ and the rapture
Copyright Notice
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
[1] See Vine, W.E. Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words.
[2] Post-tribulation
amillennialists see the sixth seal as the Second Advent. So even they must accept that the rapture
happens at the sixth seal, because they believe that the rapture is part of the
Second Advent.
[3] There are several references in Scripture to heaven being opened. This does not happen only at the Second Advent (see for example Ex. 24:9-10, Ezek. 1:1, Matt. 3:16 and Rev. 4:1). If Jesus is to step down from heaven to receive his bride at the rapture, then this implies that heaven must be opened at that time.
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