Can Jesus Christ return any day, and at a time we aren’t expecting Him to come? The short answer to this is “Yes, He can”, because that’s what He said about His return. The longer answer must consider the claim that He will come only for his Church, before any world-changing events occur, in what’s known as “the pre-Tribulation rapture.”
(This post is part of a series I’ve written on the subject of the rapture, as extracts from my book – see link below. If you search “rapture” in the little search box near the top of this page you can peruse the series. Previously I’ve covered this subject with a video: here’s the readable version).
IS THE RAPTURE IMMINENT?
“Imminence” is a theological term for the doctrine that Jesus Christ could come back at any moment, unannounced. He did, after all, state plainly several times, that His return would be in this manner. In relation to the rapture of the Church, those who subscribe to the pre-Tribulation timing of the rapture will tell you that imminence demands a secret rapture of the Church before any world-changing events occur, leaving unbelievers and nominal believers behind on the earth to suffer the trials of end-times events. This was my conviction for twenty-eight years, and I fervently defended this position. That is, until I began to question some of the relevant scriptures I myself had been using.
NO NOTICE OR WARNING?
I parroted the phrase commonly used by others to this day, “Nothing needs to happen on Gods’ prophetic clock before the rapture occurs”. I documented, or so I thought, the contention that if we as believers were to see any of the Tribulation events happen, such as “the signing of the peace-treaty” involving Israel, its neighbours and the antichrist, we would be able to calculate to the day and hour exactly when Christ would come, so that we could set an alarm which would sound at the exact moment He pierces the sky in power and glory. But we couldn’t know that, according to His own statements. Therefore, the logic goes, there must first be a secret and unexpected rapture before-perhaps years before-any Tribulation events. Christ would come, I thought, as “a thief in the night”.
IS JESUS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT?
Jesus is described by some as a “thief in the night”, coming in secret to take his Church from the world before any Tribulation events. The truth is that the phrase “thief in the night” is not used by Peter to describe the rapture, but to describe the general time of the Tribulation and events following:
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).
Jesus did refer to his coming as being “like a thief” in later chapters of Revelation (16:15). However, in light of Peter’s comment and other passages, which I will cover in this two-part series, Jesus was clearly referring to end times events, and to his victory over antichrist and antichrist’s kingdom: not to a pre-Tribulation rapture. When end times events begin, they will occur quickly. As I show in my book, references to Jesus’ sudden coming speak of judgment, not the rapture.
ORHODOXY AND HERESY
Imminence in relation to the rapture is almost orthodoxy in some evangelical circles. There is a “Question Ye Not!” pressure at work to ensure that the pre-Tribulation rapture theory is not seriously assaulted. As an evangelical, born-again, Bible-believing, dispensationalist, I am not only questioning this faulty application of imminence, I’m saying it’s flat wrong. It’s also dangerous: dangerous to the faith of many, who will find themselves seriously challenged in times to come, for which many ministers have not prepared them. Yes, imminence is Biblical, but no, it does not prove a pre-Tribulation, “Armageddon-out-of-here” event, in which we can all expect to escape trouble.
OLIVET BELIEVERS: LEFT BEHIND?
Dispensational theology sees half of the “Olivet Discourse”, in which Jesus prophesied, as speaking of events yet future for us. Because these events involve end-times conditions Pre-Tribulation believers have to insist that the people Jesus is giving the warnings to in this passage are a Jewish remnant, left behind after the rapture. These verses, they must conclude, are for Jews alive during that time, while the Church will be in heaven having a party.
As an aside, pre-Tribulation people insist that the Church will not be present on the earth for end-times events, because, they say, “God has not appointed us to wrath”, a phrase extricated from 1 Thessalonians 5:9. By doing this they mean to say that the Tribulation is a time of wrath and therefore the Church cannot be around. They don’t seem to realize that they are condemning the Jewish remnant they speak of to having to suffer the wrath of God by being on the earth during the Tribulation. Doesn’t the remnant matter to God? I’ve covered the subject of wrath in my series and in my book.
THE DAY AND THE HOUR
The phrase of Jesus most often used to defend pre-Tribulation imminence is found in several verses in HIs Olivet Discourse:
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42).
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13).
THE PROBLEM
Here’ s the problem with the pre-Tribulation use of these phrases: Jesus is saying “You do not know the day or the hour” to the very people pre-tribulation believers claim will be living through the Tribulation! According to their position, he wasn’t saying these words to the Church at all: He was saying them to the remnant “left behind” to live through the events of the Tribulation! It’s those alive on the earth during end-time events who will still, even then, not know the day or the hour of Christ’s coming. These phrases do not apply to a pre-Tribulation rapture at all.
When Jesus said in Matthew 24 verse 36 that nobody knows the day or hour, he had just been speaking of His visible coming in power and glory for all the world to see. Here’s verse 30:
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”
Clearly It isn’t correct to say that if we were to see any Tribulation events we could calculate the day and the hour of Christ’s coming. The people Jesus was referring to, identified as a Jewish remnant by pre-Tribulation people, will see, according to Jesus, the abomination of desolation. Even then, said He, they will not know the day or the hour that Christ is coming. Presumably they would also “see” the peace treaty, which pre-Tribulation teachers insist is going to be signed seven years before the return of Christ. By their logic the remnant would therefore be able to calculate exactly the day and the hour that Christ will return, but Jesus said they could not.
I’ve documented other passages in my book and videos which show that the timing of His coming in relation to other events is a little fuzzy: it cannot be fixed to a day or a specific schedule. His statements that we cannot know the day or the hour, and that he will “come quickly” (Revelation) refer to His physical appearance for all the world to see.
The people who say, “Nothing else needs to happen on God’s prophetic clock before the rapture” are quick to tell you that the signs of Christ’s coming are all around us, and they proceed to sell books and videos on those signs. This is hypocrisy and manipulation. Jesus gave signs and warnings to the very people who pre-Tribulation believers claim will be “left behind” for the Tribulation. The truth is that we can see the signs, but still not know the day or the hour. Therefore the above phrase about “God’s prophetic clock” is redundant.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 