By the very nature of His glorious return, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ must be a triumphant, worldwide, and unmistakable event, a truth too marvelous for any man to miss. Yet, a doctrine has swept through the modern church, one that promises a secret, silent, and pre-emptive evacuation of the saints, a teaching known popularly as the “Pre-Tribulation Rapture.” This article shall assert that this doctrine is a modern invention, a pleasant deception that blunts the biblical call to watchfulness and steadfast endurance, and that the only return of Christ the Scriptures truly describe is the one that follows the full manifestation of the great Tribulation.
The Problem of the Two Comings
The cornerstone of the Pre-Tribulation view is the belief in two distinct future comings of Christ: a secret ‘Rapture’ for the saints, where they meet Him in the air and are whisked away to Heaven, and a public ‘Second Coming’ with the saints seven years later to establish His kingdom on earth.
We must ask ourselves, does the Holy Bible truly speak of two such events?
Consider the words of the Apostle Paul, the very passages often cited to support a secret rapture. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the description is anything but secret:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (KJV)
A “shout,” the “voice of the archangel,” and the “trump of God”—these are not the sounds of a clandestine departure. They are the heralds of a public, global, and cataclysmic conclusion to this present age. The meeting in the air described here is not an escape from coming events, but the glorious conclusion of the full event of Christ’s return, the great resurrection, and the gathering of all His elect.
When the King Returns: The Post-Tribulation Evidence
The clear weight of Scripture consistently places the final gathering of the saints after the earth-shaking, sign-filled events of the Tribulation. Our Lord Himself, speaking of the signs preceding His glorious return, was unambiguous:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29-30, KJV)
The Lord Jesus Christ explicitly links the cosmic signs and His visible coming directly after the Tribulation. There is no scriptural space provided for a seven-year gap between the Tribulation’s end and the King’s arrival. The subsequent verses confirm that the “gathering” is part of this singular event:
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31, KJV)
The great trumpet, the gathering of the elect, and the descent of Christ occur after the Tribulation. To believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is to believe in a scriptural contradiction: it forces the church to look for a secret event that is described with maximum volume, and it separates two prophetic occurrences that Christ Himself bound together with the word “Immediately.”
The Call to Endure, Not Escape
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Pre-Tribulation doctrine is the promise of escape. If true, it removes the necessity for the church to endure and triumph over the final fiery trial that the Bible clearly states will come upon all who dwell on the earth (Revelation 3:10).
The biblical call to the faithful is a call to patient waiting and persevering steadfastness. To believe we will be evacuated before the storm is to misunderstand the very nature of Christ’s suffering Church.
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12, KJV)
The final generation of saints is commended for their patient endurance through the end, not for their pre-emptive escape.
Let us be warned against a doctrine that fosters a spirit of escapism rather than one of endurance. The truth of the King’s glorious and unmistakable return is the true, purifying hope of the believer, a hope that inspires courage to face the world, knowing that our gathering to Him will follow a long season of faithful witness. We are promised not a removal from tribulation, but the preservation through it and the victory after it.