READING TIME: 3-4 MINUTES
October 7, 2019
This post is a continuation of the question asked last Friday about whether the viewpoint that the Rapture will occur halfway through the Tribulation is valid.
In short, this viewpoint is not valid. The Rapture will occur before the future seven-year Tribulation. Below are nine additional arguments against the Mid-Trib Rapture.
Third, midtribbers agree that Christians will be spared from the wrath of God that is poured out on the earth. They hold that the wrath begins at the midpoint of the seven-year Tribulation with the seventh trumpet. The problem here is that Revelation 6:16-17 clearly references God’s wrath, and this occurs long before the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15.
Fourth, midtribulationists don’t even agree among themselves about where the Rapture should be placed in the book of Revelation. Some teachers place it at Revelation 6:12-17, others at Revelation 11:15-17, and still others at Revelation 14:1-4. This inconsistency is a major weakness of this view.
Fifth, the rapture is nowhere mentioned or even alluded to at the midpoint of the tribulation period. It is simply not there. It is fair to say that while the Bible specifies that certain events will transpire at the midpoint of the tribulation, it is deafeningly silent on any rapture taking place at that point.
Sixth, Midtribulationists say Revelation 6-9 refers only to the beginning of sorrows. But Revelation 6:17 says “the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” “Their wrath” specifically refers to the wrath of the Father and the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Christ Himself is the one who opens each of the seven seals, so He initiates each of these judgments. Then, the wrath of God begins falling on humankind in the first half of the tribulation.
Seventh, this viewpoint makes an incorrect distinction between “man’s wrath” in the 1st half of the Tribulation and “God’s wrath” in the 2nd half. Granted, we witness examples of what might be called the wrath of man in the first half of the tribulation period. However, divine wrath can be expressed through human agency. Is this not what we witness throughout biblical history? For example, God showed His displeasure against Israel in Old Testament times by allowing the Assyrians or Babylonians to take them into captivity. God used human beings as His whipping rods against Israel. We may witness examples of man’s wrath in the first half of the tribulation period, but that does not mean God’s wrath is not being expressed.
Eighth, Midtribulationists assert that the resurrection and ascension of the two prophetic witnesses of Revelation 11 represent the rapture of the church. Such an idea, however, appears to be more eisegesis (reading a meaning into the text) than exegesis (deriving the meaning from the text itself). The text of Revelation offers virtually no indication that the two witnesses represent the church. J. Dwight Pentecost observes that “it will be observed that this is entirely argument by analogy, not by exegesis. Such an argument is always weak. It is to be observed that these two witnesses are treated as two individuals in the passage, not as symbolic representatives of the church. The fact that as “two olive trees” they are related to Israel (Zech. 4: 2-3) would prevent them from representing the church.”
Ninth, this viewpoint doesn’t make a distinction between the nontechnical sense of “tribulation” (trials and distress, see John 7:7; 15:18-25; 1 John 3:13, etc.) and the technical sense of it (Daniel’s 70 weeks; the future 7-year Tribulation).
Tenth, this viewpoint breaks up the future Tribulation into two unrelated parts. When this period is anticipated in the Scriptures it is always dealt with as a unit, as far as its character is concerned, even though divided as to the time elements and the degree of the intensity of the wrath poured out.
Eleventh, it is necessary to observe, if the church goes into the first three and a half years of the tribulation, the 144,000 would be saved into the church, since the church is still on the earth. Yet these are seen to be Jewish witnesses during the entire period. If they were saved while God is still adding to the body of Christ, and if, when the translation took place, they were left behind, the body would be dismembered and incomplete.
Sources Used
Hitchcock, Mark. The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days. Tyndale House Publishers, pp. 137-138.
Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology. Zondervan, chapter 12.
Rhodes, Ron. The 8 Great Debates of Bible Prophecy: Understanding the Ongoing Controversies. Harvest House Publishers, pp. 95-101.
