DISPENSATIONAL PREMILLENNIALISM
PART 4 - Rapture and Tribulation

Now let's turn our attention to the Rapture and the Tribulation. Do you remember several years ago when bumper stickers could be seen everywhere with statements like, "In case of the rapture this car will be unoccupied?' Today various premillennial preachers present different scenarios in which someone, perhaps a college professor standing before his class, or a quarterback dropping back to pass, suddenly disappears, the football dropping to the ground and the professors class notes floating to the floor as the students and spectators stand amazed. Few subjects receive as much attention in the theory of Premillennialism as does the rapture.

Turn now to I Thessalonians 4:13-18, the primary "proof- text' for the rapture. It reads as follows, "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and arose again, even so them also which steep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

The word "rapture" comes from the Latin translation of the phrase 'caught up' that is found in verse 17. The Latin is 'rapere' - hence, rapture. Now we have been focusing our attention on the particular brand of premillennialism known as "dispensational premillennialism," and what I am going to try to do is explain what their view of the rapture is and where it comes from.

The Dispensational Premillennialist believes that the church was not part of God's eternal purpose. They believe that the church was a 'stop-gap measure," a "parenthesis" in God's plan that came about only because the Jews rejected Jesus as their king. They believe that the last period of seven years on earth before Jesus returns to establish His earthly 1,000 year kingdom are going to be filled with an outbreak of evil and tribulation such as has never been seen on the earth. God is not going to require those who are members of the church at the start of the tribulation period to go through this, so Jesus is going to come back to "rapture" to "catch up" the saints before any part of the tribulation takes place. Jesus will be coming "for" His saints, the "parousia."

Now let us go back to I Thessalonians 4:13-18, the primary proof-text for the rapture used by the Dispensational Premillennialists. 'They teach that this passage indicates at least two resurrections. First, the resurrection of the saints who died during the church age and second, the resurrection of the wicked at the conclusion of the 1,000 year reign. They base this upon the statement found in verse 16: "The dead in Christ shall rise first." Brethren and friends, I contend that the wicked are not even under consideration in this passage. There are two groups that Paul is talking about, but they are not the righteous dead and the wicked dead. They are those who died in Christ and those who are alive in Christ when Jesus returns. It is not a question of the order of what will happen between the righteous and wicked dead. It is a question of the order of what will happen between the dead and alive which are both in Christ. What Paul was telling the Thessalonian brethren, and us, is not to worry about brothers and sisters who have died, they have not missed anything. When Jesus comes again those who died in Him will be raised, those who are alive in Him will be changed, and together we will be caught up to meet Him in the air.

The Dispensational Premillennialist theory also says that at the conclusion of the seven-year period of tribulation Jesus will return "with" His raptured saints. This will be His 'epiphany," or so they say. But didn't I Thessalonians 4:17 say, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord?" What does that mean? It means that the saints at the Lord's return will meet Him in the air and "in that manner" "ever be with the Lord." Now honestly, where is that going to be? It will be "in the air" not on earth.

Another point to be made is simply this -- the theory of Dispensational Premillennialism says that the "parousia' of Jesus will be silent and mysterious. When He comes back for the saints before the great Tribulation it will be silent, mysterious and secret; hence the car suddenly being driver-less, and the college professor just disappearing. Is that what I Thessalonians 4:16 teaches? NO! It says, "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." Does that sound like it will be silent to you? This is a classic example of taking a verse that in part seems to fit your theory and then ignoring the part of the verse that doesn't.

Another aspect of this theory that is really interesting to consider is that it teaches that the saints raptured will dwell in heaven for seven years and then will return back to the earth with the Lord. Now when they are raptured, their bodies will be changed. The Dispensational Premillennialists recognize that they must be changed for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (I Corinthians 15:50). My question is, what is going to happen to those bodies when they come back? There is going to have to be a mixture of folks with physical bodies and folks with spiritual bodies walking around on the earth. That presents a real problem, and you won't believe how some Dispensational Premillennialists have tried to answer it. In the book Things To Come, by Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost, he simply deals with the problem by saying there will be two Jerusalems. Listen to what He said, 'it would thus be concluded that it is the consistent teaching of Scripture that the Lord will gather unto Himself in the eternal city the unfallen angels, the Old Testament saints, and the New Testament believers, where they, in resurrected glorified bodies, will share in the literal city and its glory, into which place they can only enter by resurrection. It should be noted that this heavenly Jerusalem is not the sphere of the living saved who go into the millennium, for they will look to the rebuilt earthly Jerusalem as their capital city, but is rather the dwelling place of the resurrected saints during the millennium ..... The nature of the millennium, as the period of the test of fallen humanity under the righteous reign of the King, precludes the participation by resurrected individuals in that testing. Thus the millennial age will be concerned only with men who have been saved but are living in their natural bodies. This heavenly city will be brought into a relation to the earth at the beginning of the millennium, and perhaps will be made visible above the earth. It is from this heavenly city that David's greater Son exerts His Messianic rule, in which the Bride reigns, and from which the rewarded Old Testament saints exercise their authority in government."

Now, did you notice how this problem of spiritual and physical bodies existing at the same time was dealt with? Heavenly Jerusalem comes into existence at the beginning of the millennium - it might even be "visible above the earth" we are told. In this heavenly city the raptured saints will dwell and "David's greater Son exerts His Messianic rule." Do you see that?

After arguing for a literal, physical kingdom, in the literal physical city of Jerusalem, with Jesus sitting on the literal, physical throne of David - we are now told that He is actually going to be reigning in Heavenly Jerusalem. Who in the world can believe such?

Friends, the simple truth is that there is only going to be one resurrection, a general resurrection of the dead, righteous and wicked. John 5:28-29 tells us, 'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

In the discussion of the Rapture we mentioned the Great Tribulation rather frequently. This leads to the obvious question, "What is the Great Tribulation?" According to the theory of Dispensational Premillennialism, when the rapture occurs and the last seven year period of time begins before the second coming of the Lord and the establishment of the millennial kingdom on earth, the great tribulation will begin. It will last for the seven years and there will be an outbreak of evil and tribulation such as has never before been seen.

The two primary proof-texts used by those who hold this theory are Daniel 12 and Matthew 24. The, truly interesting thing about this is that both of those chapters, Daniel 12 in its entirety and Matthew 24:4-35, refer to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans. That event would be characterized by great suffering and by much tribulation. Such did occur in 70 A.D., one needs only to read Josephus' Wars of the Jews to see how awful it really was; and there is no reference to a world-wide tribulation of seven years that will occur some time in the future.

Let's see now if we can very briefly examine the main points of the "tribulation" theory. According to this theory the tribulation is meant to accomplish several purposes. First, it is meant to prepare Israel for the Messiah. This shall be accomplished through "the time of Jacob's trouble" mentioned in Jeremiah 30:7. In truth, brethren and friends, Jeremiah 30 is a prophecy related to the return of the Jews from Babylonian Captivity and the rebuilding of Jerusalem; but the Dispensational Premillennialists use it as a cornerstone for the building of their theory.

Another purpose of the tribulation is the turning of the Gentiles to God. Several passages are used to support this view, including Revelation 7:9; but these are all passages that indicate that God's blessings are meant to be available to all through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whether they be Jews or Gentiles.

A third purpose of the tribulation, according to the theory, is to pour out judgment on unbelievers. A passage used by the premillennialists to support this is Revelation 3:10. It is incredible to me that a statement in one of the letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, particularly the church in Philadelphia, would be used to support some Great Tribulation theory almost two thousand years in the future. The verse says, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."

Another interesting aspect of the Great Tribulation Period that you don't hear talked about too much relates to the 144,000 of Revelation 7 & 14. Again, according to the theory, in Revelation 7 we see this group of Jewish people, a literal 144,000, sealed and set apart for a very special ministry before the start of the tribulation. In Revelation 14 we see them at the supposed termination of the tribulation. This is a special group of Jewish people who will preach the approach of the kingdom throughout the tribulation period. They will let the world know that Jesus is coming to do this time what He failed to do the first time. They will teach that He is coming to set up His kingdom.

I must say that of all the different aspects of Dispensational Premillennialism, this theory of the Great Tribulation is the one that, at least in my estimation, is the most fanciful and requires the most creative misapplication of scripture. It has been said that Dispensational Premillennialism is to religion what science fiction is to literature. The theory of the Great Tribulation bears that out.

Dispensational Premillennialism - Part 5