The anti-pre-Trib argument seems to be based heavily on the word “first” in Revelation 20:5-6:

Rev. 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Rev. 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Rev. 20:4  Καὶ εἶδον θρόνους, καὶ ἐκάθισαν ἐπ’ αὐτούς, καὶ κρίμα ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς· καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν πεπελεκισμένων διὰ τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ, καὶ διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ οἵτινες οὐ προσεκύνησαν τῷ θηρίῳ οὔτε, τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔλαβον τὸ χάραγμα ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτῶν· καὶ ἔζησαν, καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν μετὰ Χριστοῦ τὰ χίλια ἔτη.

Rev. 20:5 οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τῶν νεκρῶν οὐκ ἀνέζησαν ἕως τελεσθῇ τὰ χίλια ἔτη. αὕτη ἡ ἀνάστασις ἡ πρώτη.
Rev. 20:6 μακάριος καὶ ἅγιος ὁ ἔχων μέρος ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει τῇ πρώτῃ· ἐπὶ τούτων ὁ θάνατος ὁ δεύτερος οὐκ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν, ἀλλ’ ἔσονται ἱερεῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ βασιλεύσουσι μετ’ αὐτοῦ χίλια ἔτη.

Supposedly the “first resurrection” cannot have several phases to it, but everyone who is in the “first resurrection” must be raised at this one point at the end of the Tribulation period, refuting a pre-Trib Rapture.  This assertion about a lack of phases i the first resurrection, however, is an unwarranted assumption.  Reasons include:

1.) It simply is not stated in the text anywhere.

2.) The text itself requires that the first resurrection has phases. The verbs “they lived and reigned” have the subject “they,” and the “they” is “the souls of them that were beheaded…” in the Tribulation period (vv. 4-5). The text only specifies these people as those who at this point “lived/came to life” (ἔζησαν).  These are contrasted with “the rest of the dead” (20:5) who experience the second resurrection unto eternal damnation.  If there are no phases to the first resurrection, then only people who are beheaded in the Tribulation period are saved, and everyone who dies before the Tribulation period is eternally lost, something contradicted by Revelation elsewhere and by many other passages of Scripture.

3.) The reason only those believers killed in the Tribulation period are raised here is because the other true believers from past ages, including the church age, were raised in Revelation 4:1, for reasons noted below.  The only dead believers left are those who died in the Tribulation, so John in Revelation 20 can indicate that when these are raised “the rest of the dead” are all unsaved people.  So Revelation 20 itself requires that the first resurrection has phases.

4.) The only other passage in the New Testament containing both the Greek words “first” and “resurrection” outside of Revelation 20:5-6 is:

Acts 26:23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

Acts 26:23 εἰ παθητὸς ὁ Χριστός, εἰ πρῶτος ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν φῶς μέλλει καταγγέλλειν τῷ λαῷ καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσι.

Here the words “first” and “resurrection/rise” are used for the resurrection of Christ.  It is highly likely that the Apostle John was familiar with the books of Luke and Acts when he wrote Revelation, and very likely that the churches in Asia Minor who got Revelation had copies of Luke and Acts by the 90s AD when Revelation was written.  So it is very possible that this passage would have been in their minds as they read the book of Revelation.  In any case, the conclusion that the first resurrection has phases which include the resurrection of Christ and encompasses all those who are united by faith to him, including the two witnesses in Revelation, the saints who are “caught up hither” in Revelation 4:1, and the Tribulation saints who are beheaded, is not at all refuted in Revelation 20, but is rather supported by an examination of the only other passage with the words.  An opponent of pre-Trib could ask if there  were any other “massive” resurrections, but note that no such adjective is contained in the text of Revelation 20, so we have no reason to deny that the resurrection of Christ, the raising of the people who came out of their graves after His resurrection as recorded in Matthew, the resurrection of the two witnesses, etc. demonstrate that “first” resurrection is set in contrast to the second resurrection of the unsaved dead rather than being an absolute statement that no other persons or groups of persons, massive or otherwise, have risen earlier.

5.) The rest of the book of Revelation teaches a pre-Trib Rapture, and Revelation 20 will not contradict the other parts of the book.

A.) Revelation 1:19 outlines the book of Revelation:

Rev. 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

Rev. 1:19 γράψον ἃ εἶδες, καὶ ἃ εἰσί, καὶ ἃ μέλλει γίνεσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα·

Revelation chapter 1 is the things which thou hast seen; Revelation chapters 2-3 are the “things which are,” and the final portion, the “things which shall be hereafter,” begins in chapter 4:1.  Revelation 4:1 very explicitly alludes to Revelation 1:19:

Rev. 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

Rev. 4:1 Μετὰ ταῦτα εἶδον, καὶ ἰδού, θύρα ἠνεῳγμένη ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ἡ πρώτη ἣν ἤκουσα ὡς σάλπιγγος λαλούσης μετ’ ἐμοῦ, λέγουσα, Ἀνάβα ὧδε, καὶ δείξω σοι ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα

Note the ginomai + meta tauta in both 1:19 and 4:1.  Now what happens in 4:1? A “voice … as it were of a trumpet” calls out “come up hither” (Ἀνάβα ὧδε).  This is explicit language of being resurrected and caught up to heaven:

Rev. 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Rev. 11:12 καὶ ἤκουσαν φωνὴν μεγάλην ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, λέγουσαν αὐτοῖς, Ἀνάβητε ὧδε. καὶ ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ, καὶ ἐθεώρησαν αὐτοὺς οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτῶν.

What do we see in Revelation 4 after the resurrection/ascension words “come up hither” are heard? We see saints in heaven praising God around His throne.  We go from “the things which are,” the church age now, when the word “church” is repeated many times, to “the things which must be hereafter,” when from 4:1 all the way through the rest of the book of Revelation until the epilogue the word “church” disappears from the book.  Why is this? It is because the saints in the church have been called to “come up hither” in a pre-Trib catching up or Rapture.

Furthermore, the church at Philadelphia is given an explicit pre-Trib Rapture promise, and this promise is something that the Spirit wants all to hearken to:

Rev. 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Rev. 3:10 ὅτι ἐτήρησας τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς μου, κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ, τῆς μελλούσης ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης, πειράσαι τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

Rev. 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev. 3:13 ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ Πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις.

The reason why Revelation 3:10 is a pre-Trib Rapture promise is well stated by Robert Thomas in his commentary on Revelation. I will not reinvent the wheel at this point.  (If you want a really good pre-Tribulational and pre-Millennial commentary on Revelation, Robert Thomas is very work reading. In fact, if I could only own one commentary on Revelation it would be that by Robert Thomas.) Affiliate links to the book on Amazon are here:

In conclusion, Revelation 20 does not disprove a pre-Trib Rapture.  On the contrary, it strongly suggests that the first resurrection has phases.  The earlier part of Revelation contains numbers of texts that teach a pre-Trib Rapture.

–TDR