WHY I SUPPORT THE PRE-WRATH RAPTURE VIEW

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.. (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

I am posting the main scriptures that support the post-tribulation pre-wrath rapture view. It is vital that readers of this post study the critical subject of the timing of the rapture in detail for themselves in view of the repeated warnings from both Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul about spiritual deception. (2 Timothy 2:15).

I principally write this for the benefit of my pre-trib rapture friends, since my post-trib friends are not in the same danger of falling away. (2 Thessalonians 2:3). The classic post-trib position is that the rapture and the return of the Lord are one event i.e. the Church will be caught up to meet the Lord as He descends from heaven at his second coming (Parousia). The pre-wrath view is that the rapture occurs after the great tribulation, in between the sixth and seventh seal of Revelation.

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).  

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). 

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. (John 14:2-4).

Matthew 24:29-31

Tribulation/great tribulation. (Matthew 24:9-14;15-28).

29“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The sign of the Son of Man: Luke 21:25-28; Revelation 1:7; 6:12-14; Isaiah 13:9-10; Joel 2:30-31.

verse 31... THE RAPTURE

31And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Revelation 6 describes the same cosmic disturbances:

12When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slaved and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:12-16).

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.. (Revelation 7:9)

Revelation 8:5-13: The wrath of God begins. The seals, trumpets and bowls in the book of Revelation occur chronologically. The seventh seal introduces the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet introduces the seven bowls of wrath. The pre-wrath view is that the sudden appearance of the innumerable multitude in heaven prior to the opening of the seventh seal explains the rapture. (Revelation 7:14).

A very helpful pre-wrath series by Robert Van Kampen is up on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL5hQLCYPXk&list=PLyMohrMoR8bwSTLruRK8PDlDELM_TxL1-

I do not know what Alan Kurschner's views are in other areas, but I do recommend his very thorough treatment of this subject: 

http://www.alankurschner.com/