pre-wrath rapture and imminence |rapture is not yet imminent

The Rapture is NOT Imminent!

September 2023

The Rapture is Biblical

The primary basis for this whole website is that:

There will be a 7-year period of time (Daniel 9:27) before the Messianic Reign of Jesus
There will be a time of Tribulation on earth instigated by Satan and carried out by an Antichrist (Revelation 6:1-11, Revelation 12:17)
There will be a time of God’s Wrath on earth that begins after the Tribulation is in progress (Revelation 8:1-6)
There will be a Rapture that occurs during the Tribulation and before God’s Wrath (Matthew 24:29-31, Matthew 24:40-41).

There are many Christians who do not believe in any Rapture. These Christians believe that when Jesus returns, the resurrection will occur and that will be the end of humans on this current earth. Matthew 24:40-41 shows Christians being taken off the earth while others are left behind. This is the Rapture. Those who choose to argue that point can find the reasoning elsewhere on this website.

The Rapture is Prewrath, not Pre-Trib

Believers in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture will point to Revelation 3:10 as written to the church in Philadelphia, “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” But as stated above the Tribulation and the Wrath of God are two different things. This type of church will enter the Tribulation but will be raptured before the Wrath of God. The Wrath of God, not the Tribulation, is what this church will be protected from. Nowhere in the Bible will you find a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. We will be raptured during the Tribulation but before the Wrath of God.

The Rapture is not Imminent

Most Christians who believe in a Rapture believe that the Rapture is imminent, that is, it might happen at any time today, tomorrow, or next week. The Prewrath Rapture position places the Rapture within the Tribulation and it cannot be imminent until the Tribulation has begun. To believe in the Prewrath position is to believe that certain signs showing us to be in the time of the Tribulation must yet take place before there can be a Rapture.

Jesus tells us, “… keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42). Isn’t this imminence? No! This very verse tells us to keep watch. If Jesus says to watch, there must be something to watch for. Daniel 9:27 tells us what to watch for. Matthew 24 15-21 tells us what to watch for. Matthew 24:32-33 tells us what to watch for. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul tells the Thessalonian church (and us) what to watch for. Revelation 6:1-11 tells us what to watch for. So we must obey Jesus and keep watch for the signs yet to come.

But Doesn’t the Apostle Paul Imply that the Rapture is Imminent?

What about the Apostle Paul; he believed in an imminent Rapture, didn’t he? At no point in Paul’s letters did he ever say that the Rapture was imminent, he never implied that it could happen at any time. He may have believed that the proper signs might happen in his lifetime and that he could at some point be raptured; but he never states that the Coming of Jesus was immediately at hand. He may have prayed for the soon coming of Jesus, but he also knew that certain things had to happen first.

When Paul had the vision of the man of Macedonia asking Paul to come and minister (Acts 16:9-10), do you suppose that he expected the Rapture the next day before he could go into Macedonia and teach?
When Paul was in jail in Jerusalem and Jesus told him that he would have to testify before the Romans (Acts 23:11), do you suppose that he believed in the next two years before he got to Rome that he would be raptured?
When he wrote to the Thessalonians that Jesus would not come until the man of lawlessness was revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3), do you think that he was expecting the Rapture that night?
If the Thessalonians could not be raptured until the man of lawlessness was revealed, do you think he thought that he would himself be raptured before the man of lawlessness (Antichrist) was revealed?
When Paul speaks of “terrible times in the last days,” (2 Timothy 3:1) does he sound like he expect the Rapture tomorrow?
When Paul says, “I am already being poured out like a drink offering” (2 Timothy 4:6), do you think the immediate Rapture was on his mind?
When Paul writes Titus that, "while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us . . .", (Titus 2:13-14), does that mean that all of those who died before the Rapture have missed this 'hope?' Cannot be. Our 'hope' is that Jesus will Appear and the Rapture will take place. All Christians will see this, either in this life or in our after-life. Our 'hope' is for all Christians, not just those still alive when He Appears.
When Paul was with Peter (Galatians 1:18, Galatians 2:11), did he believe that the Rapture was at hand? Paul undoubtedly knew that the Rapture could not happen until Peter had been martyred (John 21:18-19, 2 Peter 1:13-14).

The words 'soon' and 'unexpected' are not the same as imminent. After Antichrist is revealed at the midpoint of Daniel's seven-year period (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 2415), after the attacks on Christians begin (Revelation 6:9, Revelation 12:17), then the Rapture will be imminent and will occur before the end of the seven years (Matthew 24:22). We will not know the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36); but we will know the season (Matthew 24:32-35, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

Paul may have thought that he would live long enough to experience the Rapture, but he never believed that it could happen the next morning.

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