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First things first: what led me to start this thread.
Exegesis the interpretation of a text by drawing ideas out of it.
Eisegesis the interpretation of a text by reading into it one's own ideas.
I would like for someone to explain me how this is not eisegesis. Nothing in the text of
depicts the followers of Christ as being raptured. All that we see here is John, an individual being taken to heaven to be given the Revelation itself. The only way a person could interpret this as the rapture of the church is if they read the idea into the text, which is eisegesis, and a bad method of interpreting the Bible. Meaning, the reader is taking a pre-existing idea that they have and pushing it into the text that they're reading. They are not drawing the idea out of it.
For many years (re: my first 17) I believed in the pre-tribulational rapture. Around this time I decided to devote my life for discerning the truth about Biblical matters, with eschatology being a prime focus. After a few years of my research and devotions, I've come to believe that the Bible depicts a post-tribulation rapture. Now, this is not to say that I believe people who believe in the pre-trib. rapture to be without truth... I'm simply saying that when I finally got to doing research for myself, I decided that a different view was a better fit to the Bible - I say this with the intent of conveying the idea that perhaps things aren't always what we first think they are. With that said, I will present the reasons for why I disagree with a pre-tribulation rapture and why I agree with a post-tribulation rapture.
(Note: Because Matthew 24 is an eschatological prophecy about the "end of the age", and is used as a timeline for end-times events, I will necessarily correlate Christian persecution with the tribulation.)
Christ's chronology
Christ made a number of statements regarding His coming and the events that would take place before it, both through direct speech, through prophecies, and through parables.
Matthew 10
In this chapter, Jesus prophecies that His followers would be persecuted and that they would be hated. He directly says that they would "not finish going through the cities of Israel" before the Coming. He does not say that His followers would be whisked away for protection, but warns them of persecution. Jesus makes absolutely no mention of a pre-persecution rapture.
Matthew 13
In this chapter, Jesus tells two similar parables. In one, He describes how a farmer was growing wheat in a field, and the farmer's enemy caused weeds to also grow in the field. Instead of cutting out the weeds right away, the farmer lets them both grow together until the harvest. In the second parable, Jesus describes how fisherman caught "all kinds of fish", but waited until the net was full to take it to shore to sift through. When they made it to shore, they threw out the bad fish, and kept the good ones. Now, the similarities between the two is obvious. So when Jesus provided an explanation for the first parable, it is necessarily the same explanation for the second parable.
Here is Jesus' summary of the parable in proper terms: "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom [of heaven]. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are the angels."
So...
Farmer = Son of Man (Christ)
Good seeds/wheat = sons of the kingdom (righteous)
Bad seeds/weeds = sons of the evil one (wicked)
Enemy = the devil (Satan)
Now let's go and read part of the actual parable:
"Let both [the wheat and the weeds] grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn."
According to the parable, the weeds are the first ones to be taken away. "Let both grow together until the harvest." Meaning "let the good and bad remain in the world until the end of the age." Christ was directly stating that His followers would remain in the world until the Coming, and that when the Coming finally Came, it would be the evil-doers who were cast out first. No pre-tribulation rapture is depicted. The only thing resembling what we would call the rapture is shown as happening after all of the evil-doers have been taken out of the world, if not at the same time, but most certainly it is not shown as happening before.
Matthew 24/Mark 13/Luke 21
Christ's chronology in the Olivet Discourse is perhaps the clearest of all of His prophecies. He states that things will happen in this order:
First, note that Christ said the persecution of His followers would be after the arrival of false christs, after the wars and rumors of wars, after the nations against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms, and after the famines and earthquakes and pestilences. Look at the first six seals of the Revelation: they're the very same things described in Christ's prophecies here. The quote from the start of this post says that the church is raptured before Christ (as the Lamb) even shows up to open the seals, yet when we compare the seals to the first group of events of Christ's prophecies and see that they're the same things, one should noticed that in the Discourse Christ had not once mentioned a rapture as taking place before the persecution of His followers.
Christ then says that after the persecution "the end will come". He speaks of the destruction of Judea, Jerusalem, and the temple. He says that at the same time of those events that there would be false prophets and false christs going around, deceiving "even the elect". Again, there is no mention of a rapture up to this point. The final event of Christ's Olivet Discourse is the Coming of the Son of Man, and the sending out of His angels to gather the elect. According to Matthew 13, the gathering of the elect takes place after the wicked are removed from the world. In essence, the last event of Christ's prophecies in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) is what we would identify as the rapture. It is not one of the first events, but rather one of the last.
The only events Christ depicts as following the "rapture" is the throne judgment, found in Matthew 25, which He states will happen at the time of the Coming.
Christ consistently taught that the event which we call the rapture would take place at the end of the eschatological timeline, not at the beginning. Whenever He mentioned any sort of event that resembled what we call "the rapture", He directly stated or placed it at the end of events, and that the righteous would either be taken out of the world at the same time of or after the wicked, never before.
Paul's chronology
Paul only gives one solid statement on when the rapture would occur.
1 Corinthians 15:52 ... in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
At the last trumpet. This in itself can be interpreted multiple ways, but let's continue on to see if the Bible tells us when exactly the "last trumpet" would be.
John's chronology
John's Revelation, of course, gives us the seven trumpets. Let's jump ahead to the last one.
Revelation 11:15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."
Okay... So the last trumpet to be sounded off in the Revelation is the one to announce Christ's victory over the world and that His eternal reign has begun. Now, some would claim "this happens in the middle of events" simply by the fact that it's in chapter 11 of 22. Let's continue reading in chapter 11 then...
Revelation 11:18 "The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
Notice what I highlighted in blue. Immediately after the last trumpet has sounded, it is declared that Christ has won, and the elders claims that "the time has come for judging the dead". Well, in all of the Revelation, at what time does this event happen? Revelation 20:11-15. It is the last of the events to happen (prior to the new creation), and yet Revelation 11:18 says that the time for Revelation 20:11-15 "has come". Meaning, what we see in Revelation 20:11-15 takes place right after what we see in Revelation 11.
Summary
So let's take all of the above together:
According to Christ, His followers would be persecuted, they would remain in the world with the wicked, and when the "end of the age" took place and the Son of Man came, the "rapture" would take place, but only at the same time as or after the wicked had been removed from the world. Christ says that when the Son of Man comes with His angels He will sit on the throne and judge the wicked and the righteous, i.e. the throne judgment.
According to Paul, the "rapture" is the event that would take place when the last trumpet sounded.
According to the Revelation, the last trumpet is sounded at the moment Christ has claimed victory and is (chronologically) followed immediately by the throne judgment.
Taking these all in tandem shows the "rapture" as being the last of events, with only the throne judgment and the new creation as taking place after it. This is how I came to believe that the rapture is "post-tribulational".
Exegesis the interpretation of a text by drawing ideas out of it.
Eisegesis the interpretation of a text by reading into it one's own ideas.
Rev 4:1...The Rapture of the Church (Phase I of CHRIST’S 2nd Coming)
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in
heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet
said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."
heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet
said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."
depicts the followers of Christ as being raptured. All that we see here is John, an individual being taken to heaven to be given the Revelation itself. The only way a person could interpret this as the rapture of the church is if they read the idea into the text, which is eisegesis, and a bad method of interpreting the Bible. Meaning, the reader is taking a pre-existing idea that they have and pushing it into the text that they're reading. They are not drawing the idea out of it.
For many years (re: my first 17) I believed in the pre-tribulational rapture. Around this time I decided to devote my life for discerning the truth about Biblical matters, with eschatology being a prime focus. After a few years of my research and devotions, I've come to believe that the Bible depicts a post-tribulation rapture. Now, this is not to say that I believe people who believe in the pre-trib. rapture to be without truth... I'm simply saying that when I finally got to doing research for myself, I decided that a different view was a better fit to the Bible - I say this with the intent of conveying the idea that perhaps things aren't always what we first think they are. With that said, I will present the reasons for why I disagree with a pre-tribulation rapture and why I agree with a post-tribulation rapture.
(Note: Because Matthew 24 is an eschatological prophecy about the "end of the age", and is used as a timeline for end-times events, I will necessarily correlate Christian persecution with the tribulation.)
Christ's chronology
Christ made a number of statements regarding His coming and the events that would take place before it, both through direct speech, through prophecies, and through parables.
Matthew 10
In this chapter, Jesus prophecies that His followers would be persecuted and that they would be hated. He directly says that they would "not finish going through the cities of Israel" before the Coming. He does not say that His followers would be whisked away for protection, but warns them of persecution. Jesus makes absolutely no mention of a pre-persecution rapture.
Matthew 13
In this chapter, Jesus tells two similar parables. In one, He describes how a farmer was growing wheat in a field, and the farmer's enemy caused weeds to also grow in the field. Instead of cutting out the weeds right away, the farmer lets them both grow together until the harvest. In the second parable, Jesus describes how fisherman caught "all kinds of fish", but waited until the net was full to take it to shore to sift through. When they made it to shore, they threw out the bad fish, and kept the good ones. Now, the similarities between the two is obvious. So when Jesus provided an explanation for the first parable, it is necessarily the same explanation for the second parable.
Here is Jesus' summary of the parable in proper terms: "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom [of heaven]. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are the angels."
So...
Farmer = Son of Man (Christ)
Good seeds/wheat = sons of the kingdom (righteous)
Bad seeds/weeds = sons of the evil one (wicked)
Enemy = the devil (Satan)
Now let's go and read part of the actual parable:
"Let both [the wheat and the weeds] grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn."
According to the parable, the weeds are the first ones to be taken away. "Let both grow together until the harvest." Meaning "let the good and bad remain in the world until the end of the age." Christ was directly stating that His followers would remain in the world until the Coming, and that when the Coming finally Came, it would be the evil-doers who were cast out first. No pre-tribulation rapture is depicted. The only thing resembling what we would call the rapture is shown as happening after all of the evil-doers have been taken out of the world, if not at the same time, but most certainly it is not shown as happening before.
Matthew 24/Mark 13/Luke 21
Christ's chronology in the Olivet Discourse is perhaps the clearest of all of His prophecies. He states that things will happen in this order:
- False christs, wars and rumors of wars
- Nations against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms
- Famines, earthquakes, pestilences
- Then persecution of the followers of Christ
- Apostasy, betrayal, false prophets
- The gospel preached to all
- Then the end will come
- Armies siege Jerusalem, in relation to the "abomination that causes desolation"
- The destruction of the city of Jerusalem/the temple
- At that time will be false prophets and false christs to deceive "even the elect"
- After the distresses will be the darkening of the sun and the moon, and the falling of the stars
- At that time will the Son of Man come and send out His angels
First, note that Christ said the persecution of His followers would be after the arrival of false christs, after the wars and rumors of wars, after the nations against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms, and after the famines and earthquakes and pestilences. Look at the first six seals of the Revelation: they're the very same things described in Christ's prophecies here. The quote from the start of this post says that the church is raptured before Christ (as the Lamb) even shows up to open the seals, yet when we compare the seals to the first group of events of Christ's prophecies and see that they're the same things, one should noticed that in the Discourse Christ had not once mentioned a rapture as taking place before the persecution of His followers.
Christ then says that after the persecution "the end will come". He speaks of the destruction of Judea, Jerusalem, and the temple. He says that at the same time of those events that there would be false prophets and false christs going around, deceiving "even the elect". Again, there is no mention of a rapture up to this point. The final event of Christ's Olivet Discourse is the Coming of the Son of Man, and the sending out of His angels to gather the elect. According to Matthew 13, the gathering of the elect takes place after the wicked are removed from the world. In essence, the last event of Christ's prophecies in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) is what we would identify as the rapture. It is not one of the first events, but rather one of the last.
The only events Christ depicts as following the "rapture" is the throne judgment, found in Matthew 25, which He states will happen at the time of the Coming.
Christ consistently taught that the event which we call the rapture would take place at the end of the eschatological timeline, not at the beginning. Whenever He mentioned any sort of event that resembled what we call "the rapture", He directly stated or placed it at the end of events, and that the righteous would either be taken out of the world at the same time of or after the wicked, never before.
Paul's chronology
Paul only gives one solid statement on when the rapture would occur.
1 Corinthians 15:52 ... in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
At the last trumpet. This in itself can be interpreted multiple ways, but let's continue on to see if the Bible tells us when exactly the "last trumpet" would be.
John's chronology
John's Revelation, of course, gives us the seven trumpets. Let's jump ahead to the last one.
Revelation 11:15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."
Okay... So the last trumpet to be sounded off in the Revelation is the one to announce Christ's victory over the world and that His eternal reign has begun. Now, some would claim "this happens in the middle of events" simply by the fact that it's in chapter 11 of 22. Let's continue reading in chapter 11 then...
Revelation 11:18 "The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
Notice what I highlighted in blue. Immediately after the last trumpet has sounded, it is declared that Christ has won, and the elders claims that "the time has come for judging the dead". Well, in all of the Revelation, at what time does this event happen? Revelation 20:11-15. It is the last of the events to happen (prior to the new creation), and yet Revelation 11:18 says that the time for Revelation 20:11-15 "has come". Meaning, what we see in Revelation 20:11-15 takes place right after what we see in Revelation 11.
Summary
So let's take all of the above together:
According to Christ, His followers would be persecuted, they would remain in the world with the wicked, and when the "end of the age" took place and the Son of Man came, the "rapture" would take place, but only at the same time as or after the wicked had been removed from the world. Christ says that when the Son of Man comes with His angels He will sit on the throne and judge the wicked and the righteous, i.e. the throne judgment.
According to Paul, the "rapture" is the event that would take place when the last trumpet sounded.
According to the Revelation, the last trumpet is sounded at the moment Christ has claimed victory and is (chronologically) followed immediately by the throne judgment.
Taking these all in tandem shows the "rapture" as being the last of events, with only the throne judgment and the new creation as taking place after it. This is how I came to believe that the rapture is "post-tribulational".
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