Refuting The Pre-Tribulation Rapture

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1. Many websites promote a "Pre-tribulation Rapture" - meaning a catching away of Christian believers immediately before a seven-year tribulation.

2. Because we are commanded to prove all things; hold fast that which is good, we would like to examine this theory. (I Thess 5:21)

3. The bible nowhere teaches a "seven-year tribulation" period. The seventieth week of Daniel (Dan 9:27), which is often mistaken for a seven-year tribulation period, is the seven year period immediately preceding the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth, and includes the 3 1/2 years of "Great tribulation" as described by Jesus himself (Matt 24:15-21) wherein Satan pours out his wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth (Rev 12:12). So, all references to the "tribulation" period in the bible describe only the 3 1/2 years immediately preceding the Lord's return; not the seven years preceding it. (Dan 7:25; Dan 9:27; Dan 12:7; Matt 24:15-21; Rev 11:2; Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14; and Rev 13:5)

4. Notably, this is a time of Satan's wrath and not of God's wrath. Believers will not be subject to the wrath of God (I Thess 5:9). The wrath of God is poured out at Armageddon, and it is only contained in the seven vials; not in the seals, trumpets or thunders that occur before Armageddon. (Rev 15:7; Rev 16:1)

5. One of the reasons often cited for believing that the 'tribulation' is seven years long, beginning with the rapture, is that "Noah entered the ark seven days before the flood". It is true that the account of Noah's flood is a type and shadow of how judgment will once again come upon a wicked world (Matt 24:37-39). But, it is not true that Noah entered the ark seven days before the flood. In fact, he entered on the very same day that the judgment of the flood began, with the commencement of rain, just as we will be raptured on the very same day that judgment will fall at Armageddon.

6. Consider the specific passage pertaining to Noah's flood in Genesis chapter seven:

1And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

2Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

5And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

6And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

7And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

9There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

10And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

13In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

14They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.

15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

16And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

7. Notice in reading Genesis chapter seven that God told Noah to enter the ark with his family taking all of the animals with him (verses 1-3), that there would be seven days remaining before the rains fell (verse 4), that Noah did according to all that God commanded (verses 5-9), and that the flood waters came after seven days (verse 10).

8. Continued, careful reading reveals that it took those seven days to accomplish what God had just commanded him to do (i.e. to take all of the animals). Verse 10 sets the time frame for the context, "and it came to pass after seven days"…(and the next verse) "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up…and the windows of heaven were opened." (and verse 13) "In the selfsame day entered Noah" and his family into the ark.

9. In the "selfsame day" that the the fountains of the great deep were broken up, Noah and his family entered the ark. That was on the seventh of the final seven days that God granted in his warning (verse 4), just enough time to gather the animals, as he was commanded to do (verses 2-3).

10. God's word is clear and consistent throughout. There is no pre-tribulation rapture. The 'rapture', (or gathering of the elect) will occur "immediately after the tribulation of those days" as specifically taught by Jesus in Matt 24:29-31.