I have become very confused lately over whether or not there really will be a pre-tribulation rapture. Many if not all “post-trib rapture” sites state that since Jesus didn’t teach it, it’s therefore not so. Can you please explain?
Jesus didn’t teach a post trib or pre-wrath rapture either. In fact, He never taught anything about it at all. People who think He did are misinterpreting what He said. The rapture doctrine was first introduced on Earth in the early 50’s AD about 20 years after the cross. It’s in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians.
Jesus didn’t teach the Rapture because it was part of God’s secret wisdom, part of which was to die for the sins of mankind, rescuing untold billions from Satan’s clutches. 1 Cor. 2:8 tells us that had the demonic powers understood what the Lord was really doing on the cross, they would have tried to prevent the crucifixion. In Colossians 2:15 Paul said Jesus disarmed them and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. It turned what they thought would be their greatest victory into a total defeat.
Twenty years later Paul was commissioned to introduce the doctrine of the rapture to the Church. After seeing his explanations in Romans 5:9, 1 Thes. 1:10 & 4:16-17 and 1 Cor 15:51-53 we can see hints of the rapture in other parts of the Bible, but without these passages we wouldn’t recognize them as pertaining to the rapture. Put together these passages show that the rapture doctrine Paul introduced to the Church was the pre-trib position.