Post-Tribulation Rapture

Supporters of the Post-tribulation rapture believe all Christians will have to endure the 7 years of tribulation before the coming of Christ. If you are not familiar with this period than look at the over view first. You will see the 7 years is not going to be a happy place, even if you are a believer.

I was going to go into all the scriptures that point to a pre-tribulation rapture but quite honestly there is no reason. The main argument I will put forward to the believers of a post-tribulation rapture is simple

Why did Jesus die ?

What did He achieve by dying ?

There is no reason to quote or argue about the meaning of scriptures, whether they are attributed to the pre or post-tribulation rapture, if you understand the answer to the two questions above you can only seriously come to one conclusion - a PRE-TRIBULATION rapture.

Jesus died for our sins that we might have eternal life. That is HE did all the hard work so WE could enter eternity washed clean of guilt and sin. I think I am safe in saying we must all agree with this. He did not intend us to be judged with mankind or endure God's wrath, we are saved by grace and not saved through endurance or works, as those who will be alive in the Great Tribulation.

The only act God asks of us can be found in various verses John 5:24

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

John 3:16-18

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Jesus or Christ as we now know Him is the way as it says in John 14:6 from His own mouth

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

And we know this way is in believing and having faith that Christ will fulfil His word. This simple premise is the foundation of Christianity and Christ's Church. For if we don't believe in Him how can we say He will or can save us

Romans 8:24 tells us a truth that..

24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

In all of these scriptures we are not ordered or told that it is our works that are the deciding factor in our eternal salvation Titus 3:4,5 says

4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

We know why Jesus had to die, that man might live, and He achieved this by the giving of His soul. As he was pure He could enter the realm of the dead which had no right to hold Him, enabling Him to return to His home in heaven. By this, a way was made for all those who believed on Him, to follow into everlasting light.

It is this act that negates the Christian or church from entering the period of tribulation. The PRICE has already been paid, Christ paid it for us. For those that believe they will be spared the punishment and judgement that will befall the unbeliever, and the testing which will be given to the Jew.

The pre-tribulation rapture is inline with scriptural reference to a salvation given freely by Christ for faith and Hope in our saviour.

The Post-Tribulation rapture is a salvation earned by man during the years of tribulation and testifying for Christ, resulting in that persons death or endurance to the end having worked against Satan.

The time of the tribulation as we know it to be the time of JACOBS trouble (the time of the Jew) and as such the Law will be predominant in salvation, and works.

Mark 13:13 tells us of one of the terms salvation can be attained

13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The Bible is also clear about the terms of salvation, and in Revelation you can read the following, (Rev 20:4)

a. beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the Word of God
b. had not worshipped the beast, neither his image,
c. neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands.

We also know after the second Coming when Christ gathers the living nations to gather to judge them, that is all those who are still alive after Armageddon and the Second Coming, we hear again the terms for entry into the millennial kingdom. These terms are not terms associated with grace and faith, nor a belief in the unseen but an acceptance in the law of works and obedience to God through works. (Mark 4:31-36)

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

In closing I would also like to point out the noticeable difference between the Church and the nation Israel, in these passages of scripture. We can clearly see in verse 34 that Christ talks about a promise to a group who are called 'blessed of my father', only the nation Israel can lay claim to this title, and then the clincher, Christ says that the kingdom was prepared from the 'foundation of the world' when God saw the nation Israel and chose it for His own. Christians must look to a time before this, to Ephesians 1:4

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

This also confirms the difference between the church and Israel, the church a spiritual body with a head. Then Israel an earthly body, with a kingdom and King.

To believe in a POST-TRIBULATION rapture is to say Christ died for nothing. For with a POST-TRIBULATION rapture those Christians alive in the end times must gain entry into heaven, by works and endurance and not by the Grace of God. why should they be trated different from any Christians before them. This is not scriptural, and belongs to the future of the Jew. As Christians we are promised to be spared the horrors of God's wrath. 1 Thessalonians 5:9

9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Do not look forward to the tribulation, but look upward for Christ and His appearing, for then will we see our salvation and our Hope realised.