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Pre or Post Tribulation Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20? Part 2 of 2

August 6, 2021 / 21 Comments on Pre or Post Tribulation Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20? Part 2 of 2

In part one of this series, I mentioned that I was discussing last things–eschatology–with someone who strongly asserted that 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20 refuted the pre-Tribulation Rapture position. He argued that 1 Thessalonians states that the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then the Rapture takes place, but the first resurrection, when the dead in Christ rise, takes place in Revelation 20 at the end of the Tribulation period; a post-Tribulation Rapture. Therefore, he concluded, the pre-Tribulation Rapture position was false. We looked at 1 Thessalonians last week. We will look at Revelation 20 now. Does Revelation 20 teach a post-Tribulation Rapture?

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:

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Amazon smile link

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

Pre or Post Tribulation Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20? Part 1 of 2

July 30, 2021 / Leave a comment

Recently I was discussing last things–eschatology–with someone who strongly asserted that 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20 refuted the pre-Tribulation Rapture position. He argued that 1 Thessalonians states that the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then the Rapture takes place, but the first resurrection, when the dead in Christ rise, takes place in Revelation 20 at the end of the Tribulation period; a post-Tribulation Rapture. Therefore, he concluded, the pre-Tribulation Rapture position was false.

Some reasons 1 Thessalonians teaches a pre-Trib Rapture are covered in part one below. In part 2, next week, Lord willing, we will look at Revelation 20.

1Th. 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th. 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th. 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1Th. 4:16 ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον·
1Th. 4:17 ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες, οἱ περιλειπόμενοι, ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα· καὶ οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα.
1Th. 4:18 ὥστε παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις.

“The dead in Christ shall rise first” according to both pre- and post-Tribulation Rapture views. The dead in Christ rise first, then those who are alive on the earth are caught up or Raptured with the dead in Christ in one event, the alive being “caught up together with them” (σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα).

This does not refute a pre-Trib Rapture at all. However, the anti-pre-Trib argument is that Paul uses the word “first,” which is then linked to the word “first” in Revelation 20, even though the book of Revelation had not yet been revealed when 1 Thessalonians was written, is something which will be considered shortly if we are going to assume the Thessalonians would have made such a link in their minds when they received the letter.

Before looking at Revelation 20, please also note that only two verses after this passage in 1 Thessalonians we have a reference that sure looks like an imminent coming of Christ, one that does not have signs preceding it but is sudden, like a thief in the night (1 Thess 5:2), rather than one that can be easily predicted as it happens at a specific date, as on mid and post Trib positions. Furthermore, only a handful of verses after this passage we read:

1Th. 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th. 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th. 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th. 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

1Th. 5:8 ἡμεῖς δέ, ἡμέρας ὄντες, νήφωμεν, ἐνδυσάμενοι θώρακα πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης, καὶ περικεφαλαίαν, ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας.
1Th. 5:9 ὅτι οὐκ ἔθετο ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς εἰς ὀργήν, ἀλλ’ εἰς περιποίησιν σωτηρίας διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,
1Th. 5:10 τοῦ ἀποθανόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἵνα, εἴτε γρηγορῶμεν εἴτε καθεύδωμεν, ἅμα σὺν αὐτῷ ζήσωμεν.
1Th. 5:11 διὸ παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους, καὶ οἰκοδομεῖτε εἷς τὸν ἕνα, καθὼς καὶ ποιεῖτε.

The believer’s “salvation” includes deliverance from “wrath,” which “wrath” certainly is consummated in the lake of fire, but it also includes the judgments of the Tribulation period. “Wrath” / orge is used in connection with the Tribulation period in:

Luke 21:23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.

Luke 21:23 οὐαὶ δὲ ταῖς ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσαις καὶ ταῖς θηλαζούσαις ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις· ἔσται γὰρ ἀνάγκη μεγάλη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ὀργὴ ἐν τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ.

Rev. 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev. 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Rev. 6:16 καὶ λέγουσι τοῖς ὄρεσι καὶ ταῖς πέτραις, Πέσετε ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς, καὶ κρύψατε ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου·
Rev. 6:17 ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ μεγάλη τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τίς δύναται σταθῆναι;

Rev. 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Rev. 11:18 καὶ τὰ ἔθνη ὠργίσθησαν, καὶ ἦλθεν ἡ ὀργή σου, καὶ ὁ καιρὸς τῶν νεκρῶν κριθῆναι, καὶ δοῦναι τὸν μισθὸν τοῖς δούλοις σου τοῖς προφήταις καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις καὶ τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομά σου, τοῖς μικροῖς καὶ τοῖς μεγάλοις, καὶ διαφθεῖραι τοὺς διαφθείροντας τὴν γῆν.

Rev. 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Rev. 16:19 καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη εἰς τρία μέρη, καὶ αἱ πόλεις τῶν ἐθνῶν ἔπεσον· καὶ Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη ἐμνήσθη ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, δοῦναι αὐτῇ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ.

The natural thing that the Thessalonians who got Paul’s epistle would think is that they are not going to be in this future period of God’s wrath, not that they would be there, getting persecuted, killed, and tortured by the Antichrist in a world full of awful plagues. At least to me the conclusion that they were to comfort one another with these words (1 Thess 5:11) is more natural if they are actually going to escape from this period of God’s wrath rather than comforting one another as they recall that they are going to go through the whole thing.

So 1 Thessalonians, on its own, certainly does not disprove a pre-Tribulation Rapture, but rather contains numbers of passages that support the pre-Trib position.

–TDR

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Pre or Post Tribulation Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20? Part 2 of 2

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