No One Knows the Day or the Hour

A comparison of the Purpose of the Great Tribulation and the Nature of the Church in defense of the Pre-Trib position.

Those who shy away from the study of prophecy are fond of quoting this famous line from Matt 25:13 as their reason for it. But earlier in the same passage, the Lord had admonished all who would read His words of prophecy to understand them (Matt 24:15) and elsewhere the Apostle Paul wrote that the events leading up to the end of the age should not take believers by surprise (1 Thes 5:4) implying that we should be familiar with them.

Since the Bible cannot contradict itself, these passages must have been aimed at different audiences. And sure enough, a closer look reveals that both the implied timing and the intended audience of the two Matthew passages are different. In Matt 25:13 the Lord is only speaking to people remaining on Earth at His Second Coming, while earlier in 24:15 he included everyone who would ever read the passage. Of course in 1 Thes 5:4 Paul is addressing the church.

What both the Lord (Matt.24:15) and Paul (1 Thes. 5:4) are saying is that while we won’t know the exact timing of things, we should understand the sequence of events leading up to the Day of the Lord. And perhaps no event in the sequence is more controversial than the Rapture of the Church, especially as it relates to the Great Tribulation.

It seems to me that the first thing we should do in trying to obey the Lord’s commandment to understand all this is to clarify two things:

One, the purpose of the Great Tribulation, and

Two, the nature of the Church

The Purpose of the Great Tribulation

The phrase Great Tribulation makes reference to a specific event, not a general condition. While the Lord warned the disciples that they would experience tribulation as a general condition (John 16:33), He clearly identified the Great Tribulation as having a specific beginning and ending. It will begin when the abomination that causes desolation predicted by Daniel is erected in the Temple (in the middle of the last 7 years of history) and will end at the Lord’s return, three and one half years later. (Daniel 9:24-27)

Daniel’s prophecy is pointedly Jewish in perspective and so is the Great Tribulation. It was referred to as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble in the Old Testament, until the Lord coined its new name in Matt 24, and the Old Testament is where its purpose is explained.

Let’s ask Jeremiah

In Jeremiah 30:1-11 the event is foretold and in the last verse the purpose explained. “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished. (vs. 11)” The idea is that Israel has to be purified to receive their coming King, and the nations who rejected the King and persecuted His people must be destroyed.

The timing of the passage is also made clear. It will take place after Israel is re-gathered in the land, and will result in David becoming their King again. There have been two re-gatherings since the passage was written, but the first, beginning in 535 BC, didn’t result in David becoming their King. In fact they have had no legitimate King at all since about 600 BC. Neither were all the nations completely destroyed then.

The second re-gathering began in 1948 AD and continues to this day. Though the population of Israel keeps growing, so do the Jewish populations of all the nations to which the Jews have been scattered. In fact there are still more Jews outside Israel than there are in the land. All that will soon change as the Lord calls all His people to return to their Promised Land following His victory in the Battle of Ezekiel 38-39. (Ezek.39:28)

A Two Fold Purpose

So the purpose of the Great Tribulation is twofold; discipline (purify) the people of Israel so they’ll be prepared for the coming Messiah, and completely destroy the nations to which they had been scattered and who have rejected the coming Messiah.

The Nature of the Church

According to Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, the church is nothing less than a new race of mankind, coming from among both Jew and Gentile but sharing a destiny with neither. (Ephe. 2:15-16) The problem had always been that God never could dwell in the midst of His creation. Our sins always eventually drove Him away. At the cross, He reconciled all things to himself, things in heaven and on earth (Col 1:19-20). This meant that He was now at peace with His creation for the first time since the Fall of Man. He accomplished this by paying the price for all the sin of mankind. Now, for anyone who would accept it, a full pardon for behavior past, present and future was available for the first time in history.

You’re a Perfect Example of What I’m Talking About

Accepting this pardon qualified any person, young or old, Jew or Gentile, good or bad to become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). And it permitted God to look upon this person as if he or she was without sin altogether; and in fact as if he or she had never sinned to begin with. It also required for the first time, the division of mankind into three groups: Jew, Gentile and Church. (1 Cor. 10:32)

It’s critical that we understand God’s perspective. To Him the church is without sin, holy and blameless, and has been since the cross. Whatever sins we as individuals have committed (or will commit) have been forgiven and forgotten. It’s as if they never happened (Ephe 1:4-8). At the cross, the church became as pure and holy as God Himself (2 Cor 5:21), so finally God has a people with whom He can live in peace. Because the Man from heaven agreed to become outfitted for earth, men from earth can now be outfitted for heaven.

What’s the Point?

First, not needing purification, no purpose is served by the Church enduring the Great Tribulation. Second, the focus of the Great Tribulation is Jewish and God’s focus seems to be either Israel or the church, never both. (This was explained by James in Acts 15:12-18.) If you take the view that the Battle of Ezekiel 38-39 occurs before the Great Tribulation, and realize that one outcome of that battle is that Israel turns back to God, (Eze 39:28-29) then you know the church’s days on earth are numbered following that event. The very fact that Israel exists again is an important sign. There was a one generation overlap at the birth of the church and there has been a one generation over lap since the rebirth of Israel.

Then there are passages of Scripture that indicate the church won’t be present for the Great Tribulation. Look at these examples:

In 1 Thes 1:10 and 5:9 Paul promised first that the Church will be rescued from God’s wrath and then that the church was not appointed to suffer wrath. In Rev 6 His wrath will have arrived. (The Greek preposition translated from in 1 Thes 1:10, means from the time, place or any relation to the event.)

The entire 2nd letter to Thessalonians is out of context unless Paul had taught them the pre-trib. rapture view. A careful reading shows that they had received a forgery claiming the Day of the Lord had come (2:12). If Paul had taught a post-trib view their response would have been something like, “wow, only 7 more years till the Kingdom.” Instead it was alarm, such as they would feel upon learning they had missed the Rapture. Paul then chronicled the events preceding the Day of the Lord and included a hint of the Rapture (2:7).

Other Hints of a Pre-Trib Rapture

The period of the Great Tribulation is the most thoroughly documented from a time standpoint of any biblical event. From various verses it’s described as 3 and 1/2 years, or 42 months, or 1260 days long and begins the day the anti-christ stands in the Temple in Jerusalem and proclaims himself to be God. How do you have a “secret rapture” at the end of the tribulation when any Biblically literate believer will be able to mark the Day of the Lord’s return on his calendar?

The sheep and goat judgment of Matt 25 clearly portrays events following the tribulation as the Lord establishes His Kingdom. The sheep are symbolic of believers and the goats of non-believers. The judgment concerns people who have survived the tribulation. Sheep go into the Kingdom and Goats to the place prepared for the Devil and his angels. How could there be any Sheep if all believers had just been raptured? As I read 1 Cor. 3:10-15 the judgment of the Church takes place in Heaven and this one takes place on Earth.

In Summary

There are sound theological reasons why God keeps the timing of the Rapture secret. But He has given us plenty of evidence about His character to prevent us from being taken by surprise at the end of the Age. “If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue Godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the Day of Judgment” (2 Ptr. 2:9). He commands us to watch, as if we’re expecting Him, and wait as if we know the time is at hand. Only the pre-trib rapture view fulfills the Doctrine of Imminence; the any moment return of the Lord He told us to expect. (revised 6-01-04)