Pre-Tribulation people tell us that the word “church” isn’t used in Revelation after John is transported to heaven, and that therefore the Church will obviously be taken to heaven before any Tribulation events take place. In this article I will show that according to John’s own commonly used words and phrases, they are wrong.
INTRODUCTION
This is a long post, so if you need to, scroll down to sub-headings. I was a pre-Tribulation proponent for twenty-eight years, but not anymore. I want to be clear that I am not amillennial in my beliefs. I do not subscribe to any replacement theology, but instead I believe God plans to fulfill his promises to the nation of Israel. There will be a rapture, but not as a means of escape from trials: just look at the plight of Christians in the Middle East as an example. The true believer is already exempt from the wrath of God. This is an updated version of earlier posts on the subject. It’s taken from my book, available on Amazon (see link at bottom).
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IS REVELATION DIVIDED INTO TWO SECTIONS, ONE WITH THE CHURCH AND ONE WITHOUT?
The first three chapters of Revelation contain letters to seven churches from the risen, glorified Jesus Christ. They’re initially addressed to seven individual first-century churches, but the message to each of them is also a message to believers of all ages, who are advised to heed warnings and promises contained in the letters. After each letter this phrase is repeated:
“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7).
Some pre-Tribulation teachers and believers take this further and see these letters as referring to successive periods of the “Church Age”. Please see my post “Rapture: The Real End of the Church Age” (link at the end).
PRE-TRIBULATION DOCTRINE:
1 THE CHURCH AGE WILL END AT LEAST SEVEN YEARS BEFORE THE VISIBLE RETURN OF CHRIST TO THE EARTH.
2 GOD HAS NO MORE PURPOSE ON EARTH FOR THE CHURCH AFTER THE END OF THE CHURCH AGE.
3 THEREFORE, THE CHURCH WILL BE RAPTURED BEFORE THE START OF THE TRIBULATION.
Pre-Tribulation teachers insist that while the Church is spoken of in the seven letters of Revelation chapters two and three, the word ‘church” is nowhere to be seen in the following chapters of Revelation which cover Tribulation events. This is taken as evidence that the Church will no longer be on the earth during that time: it will be watching in safety from heaven. After all, why would Jesus Christ speak so openly to the churches in the first three chapters of the Revelation, and then have nothing to say about them or to them?
STRANGELY, THERE’S NO “CHURCH” MENTIONED IN HEAVEN EITHER!
Our first remarkable observation in answer to pre-Tribulation theory as above should be this one: The word “church” is not even used to describe anyone in heaven during Tribulation events! Why not? Are we to put this down to an intended “mystery”? Is the rapture still a secret in John’s day? No, it isn’t. Recall that Paul had already discussed the rapture with the Thessalonian and Corinthian churches, decades before John received the Revelation.
JOHN ALMOST NEVER USED THE WORD “CHURCH” – ANYWHERE
The fact that the word “church” or “churches” is used by Jesus in the first three chapters of Revelation but not by John in successive chapters of Revelation, is explained by studying the terminology that John normally used. Here’s a list of how many times John uses the word “church” in his other writings:
JOHN’S GOSPEL…….. 0
1 JOHN……………….. 0
2 JOHN……………….. 0
3 JOHN…………………2
Remarkably, John never once used the word “Church” in its universal sense. The only time he did use “church”, which was in his third letter, was in reference to local bodies of believers.
WHAT ABOUT THE BRIDE IN CHAPTER NINETEEN?
The Bride of Christ, which is indeed the Church, is mentioned in Revelation chapter 19. You can read my two articles on the Bride of Christ, in which I show that the Bride is not actually in heaven in chapter 19 (see links at the end).
THE ENTIRE BOOK OF REVELATION IS A TESTIMONY TO THE CHURCHES!
Another fact never mentioned is that it’s not just the first three chapters of Revelation which are given to the churches, but all of it. We know this because we’re told so in the Revelation itself – twice. After the prophesies are all given; after the contents of the scrolls and all the major events of the Tribulation are described; after all of the prophecies are laid out, we read this:
I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony FOR THE CHURCHES (Revelation 22:16).
Jesus Christ himself said that the entire book of Revelation – not just the first three chapters – is a “testimony” for the churches! Indeed, what would be the point of studying this amazing prophecy if none of it applies to us?
At this point we should be clear on just what a “testimony” is:
TESTIMONY: Evidence; proof; a formal statement.
We first hear of Jesus Christ’s “testimony to the churches” at the beginning of chapter 1, where Revelation is described as:
The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1-2).
Therefore the testimony which constitutes Revelation includes not just the seven letters but all the following prophesies. The entirety of Revelation is, “…the testimony of Jesus Christ” (verse 2). The churches are provided the same testimony as those believers during the Tribulation are provided with.
Therefore one message is told throughout the book. There are not separate testimonies for the rapture candidates and the failures. The Revelation is a unit, and is not divided in two or three parts. It’s all as relevant to the Church as it is to Jews or anyone converted during the Tribulation. The prophesies, says Christ himself, are for the Church, and not for others who are “left behind”.
WAS JOHN’S TRIP TO HEAVEN A TYPE OF THE RAPTURE?
After Jesus’ seventh letter to the churches the book takes a sharp turn towards a scene in heaven. John, receiving the Revelation, is called up into heaven, and taken there instantly (chapter 4:1-2). Whether it’s a physical transport or merely spiritual we aren’t clearly told, but as it happens before any account of the prophecies are given it’s seen by pre-Tribulation believers as a type of the rapture. It supposedly demonstrates what will happen to the whole Church before any Tribulation events, when Jesus Christ changes us all “in the twinkling of an eye”.
NO STATEMENT
There’s no statement that John’s trip into heaven represents the rapture of the Church – it’s just assumed that it is. True, what happens to John does appear to be so much like what Paul described as the rapture.
HOW COULD JOHN WRITE THE PROPHECY FOR US IF HE DIDN’T SEE IT OR HEAR IT?
This seems a little obvious, but it’s instructive to see that John had to be shown the events of the entire tribulation, otherwise he would not have been able to record them for us. If he didn’t arrive in heaven to see any of the vision until the seven bowls of wrath were being poured out, he would have missed some of the most important prophecies, and we would only have a part of the story. His vision had to begin at the beginning, and so John was taken up into heaven to see the beginning of the account of relevant future events. It may be just as simple as that: John’s trip to heaven at the start of the vision of the Tribulation doesn’t have to forecast a pre-Tribulation rapture for the Church at all.
JOHN CAME BACK TO EARTH AGAIN, TO OLD AGE AND DEATH.
Thinking about John’s calling into heaven, I had to conclude that I would not personally want to see it as a type of the rapture, because John came back to earth as a mortal again! We don’t even know that John went to heaven physically. All we know is that when he was called into heaven he said:
“At once I was in the Spirit” (Revelation 4:2).
Whether John was in heaven in spirit only (which is more likely) or in the flesh, he returned to earth and to his mortal body. If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t have the book of Revelation. John came back to earth as an old man and died. If his calling to heaven was a type of the rapture that the Church will experience, does that mean that after the rapture we will also return to earth as mortals, and die?
JOHN’S TERMS FOR BELIEVERS ARE CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT HIS WRITINGS, INCLUDING THE PROPHECIES OF REVELATION
The prophetic writings of John from Revelation chapter 4 onward are considered to contain different terminology than the earlier chapters which relay letters to seven churches, supposedly showing that the people living in the Church age are different to those living in the Tribulation. However, a careful reading of Revelation shows that there are terms and phrases throughout Revelation which are common to his other New Testament writings.
SAINTS BUT NO AINTS
For example, let’s look at the word “saints”. This word is rendered by the newer NIV as “Gods’ people”, “God’s holy people”, or “People of God”, but most older translations of all stripes use the word “saints”, so I will also use “saints” here.
Here’s the word “saints” in use in two passages of Revelation, speaking of believers alive on the earth during the Tribulation:
“SAINTS” IN TRIBULATION CHAPTERS OF REVELATION
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints (Revelation 13:10 old NIV).
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
However, the word translated “saints” in Revelation isn’t confined to Revelation: it’s used to describe Church- Age believers throughout the New Testament from the beginning of Acts. While John didn’t use the word in his letters, Paul did, as did Luke in the book of Acts:
A SAMPLE OF “SAINTS” REFERENCES BEFORE REVELATION, USING THE SAME GREEK WORD
Acts 9:13; 9:32: 26:19
Romans 1:7; 8:27; 15:25; 15:26; 15:31; 16:2; 16:15
1 Corinthians 6:1; 6:2; 14:33; 16:15
Ephesians 1:1; 1:15; 1:18
So the use and meaning of the word translated “saints” doesn’t change when we move from the epistles to Tribulation saints in Revelation.
TESTIMONY
John used the phrase, “the testimony of Jesus” in Revelation seven times, referring to the testimony of those saints living during the tribulation, as well as using the word “testimony” separately several more times. As we look at the terms John used in both Revelation and his other writings, be aware that the “saints”, or “people of God” found in the apocalyptic chapters of Revelation are called:
“…those who hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 12:17).
We’re tempted to think of this term “testimony” as an old, and perhaps Old Testament phrase, from the time and beliefs of the Law. But the word “testimony” had also been a common theme in John’s gospel:
“…one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true” (John 19:35).
Note that this term is much more common in John’s gospel than in the other gospels. It’s also more common in his letters than in other New Testament letters, and more so than in Luke’s account of the early Church in Acts. John’s term “testimony”, found in Revelation, is also found in two of his epistles to Church age disciples, as is the term, “God’s testimony”:
“Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son…” (see 1 John 5:9-12).
Can it really be coincidence that John used the same terms to describe Tribulation saints as he used to describe saints in his own time?
THE SAINTS OF ALL OF CHURCH HISTORY BORE TESTIMONY TO JESUS
If it’s true that the Church is nowhere to be found on earth in the prophesies of Revelation, just who are “those who hold to the testimony of Jesus”, being persecuted by Satan and Antichrist in those chapters (Revelation 12:12; 14:12; 20:4)? People killed by the Antichrist are identified by John as
“those who bore testimony to Jesus” (Revelation 12:17).
It’s important to see that this phrase is not reserved in Revelation for those being persecuted during the Tribulation. The same term is also applied to the people who are commonly identified by pre – Tribulation experts of today, and others, as the saints of all of Church history who have been persecuted by the Harlot:
“I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus” (Revelation 17:6).
JOHN AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES ARE DESCRIBED WITH THE SAME TERMS AS TRIBULATION BELIEVERS
The same term is even applied to John and his companions-who were first century Church-age Christians-by the angel relaying the Revelation:
JOHN AND HIS BROTHERS:
“I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus” (19:10).
TRIBULATION BELIEVERS:
“…those who bore testimony to Jesus” (Revelation 12:17).
Let that sink in…. Let that sink in because it’s very important. John and his brothers of the Church, alive in the first century, were described in the same words as those who will be living through the Tribulation.
THE CHURCH: BEARING THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS!
John, a first century, Church-age believer, applied the term to himself at the beginning of the Revelation, and related it to the suffering of his own persecution. He was also extending the same terms to his readers – the Church!
“I John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9).
ALL BELIEVERS ARE IN THE SAME CATEGORIES
Here is clear evidence of an undeniable oneness between all believers of the real Church age-including the Tribulation; between all who “hold to the testimony of Jesus”. This includes you and I. There are no second-class believers consigned to be “left behind” for the tribulation. You can hardly miss this term, because it’s even at the start of Revelation:
The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1-2).
THOSE WHO OBEY GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
Do you obey God’s commandments? Yes, as Church-Age believers we are free from the Law. However, the commandments John is speaking of here do apply not only to Tribulation saints, but to us.
John spoke of the Tribulation saints “who obey God’s commandments”
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring – those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus (Revelation 12:17).
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
JOHN APPLIED THE SAME REQUIREMENT TO CHURCH AGE BELIEVERS OF HIS TIME!
It’s no good explaining these verses as references to law-abiding Jews or Messianic Jews as some prophecy teachers want to (though it relates to them also) because in John’s letters-to first century Church-age believers, he wrote:
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person (1 John 2:3-4. See also 1 John 3:22-24; 1 John 5:2-3; 2 John 1:5-6).
Real Christians of the first century were those who obeyed God’s commandments, just as the Tribulation saints will obey God’s commandments, and the same principle applies to us.
WHY ARE THERE NO CHURCHES IN REVELATION 4 ONWARD?
We’re told by pre-Tribulation proponents that the Church is nowhere mentioned in the prophecies of the Tribulation, and therefore it must be absent from the world at that time. Note again, however, that the words “Church” and “churches” are not mentioned in any heavenly scenes in Revelation either, until after the Tribulation, when Jesus uses the word. If the Church is in heaven during the Tribulation, why is it not explicitly mentioned as the “Church”?
THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL CHURCH IN THE SEVEN LETTERS OF REVELATION CHAPTERS 1 TO 3!
In chapters 1 to 3 of Revelation the word “Church” is not used in a universal sense even in those letters addressed to first-century churches-not even in the warning of Christ, at the end of each letter, to hear what the Spirit says. Instead, we believers of all time are referred to in these letters as “those who have ears”. The admonishment of Christ to future believers is not directed to “the Church” or to any church:
“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7).
The word “church” is only used to speak of individual churches-that is, for the gatherings receiving letters from Jesus. This is the normal expression of the word “church” in the New Testament.
The letters in Revelation chapters 1 to 3 were directed to the churches of specific cities. In following chapters even the city of Jerusalem is not named directly. After chapter three, the prophecies speak of a much more general overview of what will happen to the entire world.
NO GATHERINGS IN THE TRIBULATION?
The word “church” in a local sense speaks of organized gatherings of believers – not buildings, businesses or organizations. Strong’s concordance defines the word translated “church” thus:
“…church, congregation, assembly, a group of people gathered”
It’s possible, then, that considering that the prophesies of the tribulation in Revelation speak of a time of persecution of Christians, the word “church” is absent from chapters 4 to 21 because there will be no open gatherings: they will be outlawed. There may be some secret gatherings, but they will be at the risk of discovery by the anti-Christian task forces and world citizens eager to fulfill the will of Antichrist and his media. They may even be outlawed before the Tribulation, considering the direction of the “free” world at this present time.
One evidence of this from scripture is that while there will be “saints who bare testimony to Jesus” during the tribulation and the reign of Antichrist, there’s no mention of any gatherings of those saints! This alone is a significant fact. Since there will be believers, is it not powerful evidence that there is no mention of their gatherings? Whatever reason there is that gatherings of believers in the tribulation are non-existent in Revelation after chapter 3 is the same answer to the question of why churches are absent. Instead there will be individuals, struggling to survive in an increasingly hostile world where they cannot congregate because of persecution and opposition.
THE CHURCH: ABSENT FROM JOHNS LETTERS, AND FROM JOHN’S GOSPEL!
It’s never mentioned by the prophecy “experts” of today that John did not use the word “church” in either its local sense or its universal sense at all in his first or second epistles, or in his gospel, even though these were written to Christians of his day. Paul did not always use the word “churches” either. Sometimes he used the term “saints”, or “holy people” for individual believers, and sometimes he used these terms with the term “churches”. In this way he was making a distinction between gatherings of believers and individuals:
“To the church in Corinth…together with all the saints throughout Achaia” (2 Corinthians 1:1).
There was a “church” in Corinth, but there were individual “saints” throughout all Achaia.
Paul also just used the term “saints” many times for individual believers, which substituted nicely for the word “church”:
“To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1).
He also used the word “believers” at times, in place of “church”:
“…let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the claim that the Church is missing from Revelation chapter four to chapter 22, simply because the word “church” is not use there, is seriously faulty, and is likely no more than wishful thinking.
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