Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."
-- John 14:1-3 --
I love these words - do not let your heart be troubled. Jesus is preparing a place for me in His Father's house. He will come again and take me there so that I can be with Him forever! The apostle Paul penned these words - "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). We are to comfort one another with these words.
These words from the apostle Paul are very comforting to those of us who sincerely believe that we will be raptured (caught up) prior to the start of the seven year tribulation period. But there is another view that is not so comforting. In fact, it is very disturbing. It is called the Pre-wrath Rapture.
"Many of us were told that the church will be “raptured out of here before the Antichrist’s arrival.” The Bible, however, teaches the church will first experience the Antichrist’s great tribulation. Then, at some unknown day and hour, Antichrist’s persecution will be cut short by the return of Christ to resurrect and rapture believers before the day of the Lord’s wrath—hence, Prewrath. - Dr. Alan Kurschner, February 19, 2013.
Dr. Kurschner further stated, "The purpose why the church will suffer greatly just before Christ’s second coming will be for purging and purifying, separating out those who claim to have faith from those who actually possess true faith." He makes this distinction: "Antichrist’s great tribulation will be directed against the church, followed by the day of the Lord’s wrath directed against the ungodly."
(1) Antichrist's great tribulation...
Dr. Kurschner asserts that the church will experience the Antichrist’s great tribulation. He states that the wrath begins at the breaking of the seventh seal (Revelation 8:1), the same day that the rapture occurs. Thus, the church will be present on the earth when each of the first six seals are broken (Revelation 6:1-17). The breaking of the seventh seal begins the day of the Lord's wrath.
My Response...
According to Kurschner's view, the church will not only be persecuted by the Antichrist, she will also experience many of the horrors associated with the "great tribulation" before it is finally raptured!
Is the church Israel? According to Daniel 9:24-27, seventy weeks are decreed for Israel and Jerusalem. A week is a period of seven years (Genesis 29:27-28). The first sixty-nine weeks ended when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. He was crucified a few days later. The seventieth week (Daniel 9:27) is still to come. This week will be kicked off when the Antichrist makes a firm seven year covenant with Israel. He will break it midway through this seven year period, putting a stop to sacrifice and grain offerings. The abomination of desolation (the Antichrist) will take "his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God" (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). The three and a half years that follow is the great tribulation, “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will" (Matthew 24:21). This great tribulation is decreed for Israel and Jerusalem, not the church. This "will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time" for Israel (Daniel 9:12). It will be "the time of Jacob's (Israel's) distress" (Jeremiah 30:7). God will not completely destroy Israel, but will justly chasten His people so that they will "serve the LORD their God and David their king" who He will raise up for them (Jeremiah 30:8-11).
Historic/Classic Premillennialism believes the church fulfills the promises made to Israel in the Old Testament. Dispensational Premillennialism teaches that the church and Israel are separate and distinct entities. Dr. Kurschner seems to be coming from the Historic/Classic Premillennialism view.
(2) The church must suffer greatly...
According to Dr. Kurschner, the church (not Israel) must suffer greatly before Christ's second coming to separate out those who claim to have faith from those who actually possess true faith.
My Response...
God knows those who are His. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me" (John 10:14). Those who possess true faith are (present tense) children of God who have (present tense) eternal life (Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:1-2; 5:13). Conversely, those who do not possess true faith remain under God's wrath no matter what they claim (John 3:36; Ephesians 2:3). God does not know them. A great example of this is found in Matthew 7:22-23. There will be those who will say they prophesied, cast out demons, and performed miracles in His name. He "will declare to them, I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS."
Before the first of the seven seals was broken, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders "sang a new song, saying, Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Revelation 5:8-10).
It is the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only one worthy to break each of the seven seals.
The Lamb purchased (past tense) men with His own blood. Those who possess true faith already belong to God. We are not our own - we have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)!
God made us (past tense) to be a kingdom and priests to our God.
We will reign (future tense) with Him upon the earth.
Why would God put His bride, the church (Ephesians 5:22-27; Revelation 19:7-9), through the Antichrist’s great tribulation instead of rescuing her before the start of this great tribulation? Since "God has not destined us for wrath," Jesus "will rescue us from the wrath to come" because He "died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him" (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9-10). Where did Paul distinguish the wrath of the Antichrist from the wrath of God in these two passages?
(3) The gathering of the elect and the rapture are the same event...
Dr. Kurschner argued that the gathering of the elect by the angels when the Son of Man comes "on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30-31) and the rapture described by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 are the same event. "Christ will then appear in the sky in all his splendid glory and his angels “will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt 24:31). Paul expands on this gathering using explicit resurrection and rapture language (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)."
My Response...
Dr. Kurschner mentioned that the rapture will occur on the same day the seventh seal is broken. This is the beginning of the Lord's wrath - the world is still going through the great tribulation. Matthew 24:30-31 is preceded by Matthew 24:29 - "But immediately after the tribulation of those days..." This leads me to wonder, is the rapture going to occur before or after the end of the tribulation?
In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the dead in Christ will rise first then those who are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. The only angel mentioned is the archangel. Dr. Kurschner stated that Paul expanded on Matthew 24:30-31 in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. But Paul never mentions God's angels gathering His elect. Instead, he tells us a mystery (something not previously revealed) - "we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
The phrase "caught up" in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is the Greek word harpazō - to grab or seize suddenly, to snatch, take away. It is used 19 times in the New Testament. For example, in Acts 8:39, "the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him." Paul mentioned a man who "was caught up to the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2). Thus, believers will be immediately changed and snatched away to meet the Lord in the air.
The phrase "gather together" in Matthew 24:31 is the Greek word episynagō - to gather together at one location. It is found 10 times in the New Testament. When the Son of Man returns in all of His glory, He will send His angels to gather to Himself all believers who are alive when He returns. In the days of Noah, the wicked were taken away by the flood. When the Son of Man comes, the wicked will be taken into judgment and the righteous will be left to enter the kingdom just as Noah entered the ark (Matthew 24:32-41; 25:31-46).
The gathering together of the elect (Matthew 24:31) and the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) are separate events.
(4) The great multitude (raptured church) comes out of the great tribulation...
Dr. Kurschner cited Matthew 24:22 - “Unless those days (great tribulation - v21) had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short." He contends that the great multitude that comes out of the great tribulation (Revelation 7:9-14) are raptured believers (the elect). "Between the sixth and seventh seal, the book of Revelation depicts the raptured as “a great multitude that no one could number” who were “the ones who have come out of the great tribulation” (Rev 7:9, 14)."
My Response...
The elect is everyone who was chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4) - a period of time that preceded the creation of the heavens and the earth (Job 38:4; Psalm 104:5). The word elect in the Greek is eklektos. In the New Testament eklektos is used to refer to believers (Matthew 24:22, 24, 31; Luke 18:7; Romans 8:33; 2 Timothy 2:10), Christ Jesus (Luke 23:35), and angels (Timothy 5:21).
Believers will be present during the great tribulation but they will be tribulation saints, not raptured believers. The same "gospel of the kingdom" that was proclaimed by Jesus (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; Luke 16:16) "shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). Based on the timeline of end time events documented in Matthew 24:4-15, the "gospel of the kingdom" will be preached during the first half of Daniel's seventieth week. God's two witnesses will prophesy and give their testimony during this time (Revelation 11:3-7). Their testimony will go out to the entire world. "Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb" (Revelation 11:7-10). Those whose names are written in the book of life will respond to this gospel in faith. The beast will make war against these saints and overcome them (Revelation 13:7). Many of these saints will be beheaded "because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God." Others will be beheaded because they will refuse to worship the beast or his image and take his mark of their hands or foreheads (Revelation 20:4).
Closing Remarks
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I speak from a heart of love and concern. Beware of churches that turn away from their once, long held, pre-tribulation rapture position and take on the pre-wrath rapture position. Some say this is not a big deal - it's just a matter of timing and it should not separate us. Others say that this is not salvific. I disagree with both. Scripture teaches the imminent return of Christ. We should always be ready because the Lord could return at any moment to take His church home (Matthew 24:42-44; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:6; Titus 2:13). Pre-wrath teaches that the Lord will not return to take His church home until we have endured most of the seven year tribulation period. Thus, there is little to no urgency to preach the gospel of Christ.
Comments