In 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, the Apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth,

“Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

And to the church in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,

“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

The mystery being spoken of here is a truth that had not previously been revealed in the Old Testament but is now being revealed in the New Testament. Although the idea of the resurrection is clearly taught in the Old Testament, the teaching of the Rapture is not. This is the first mention of the Rapture of the Church.

The context of what Paul is talking about is the resurrection and the order of the events taking place at the time of the resurrection. Paul says that before the Rapture, the dead in Christ will rise first. These are those who have died from the time after the death and resurrection of Jesus until today. And then, we who are still alive at the time of the rapture will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. And in that moment our mortal bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and we will receive our new glorified bodies.

Paul makes this very clear. Corruption putting on incorruption is a reference to the saints who have died and decaying and that their bodies are corrupt. Then the mortal putting on immortality is referring to those alive when He comes.

Now, look at the immanency of Christ’s return. Notice how Paul expects to see the Lord in his lifetime. Verse 52 shows the immanency. Notice how he uses the word “we”. He was including himself in the event of the Rapture. He lived his life in the light that Jesus could return and rapture the church at any moment. Paul’s take on it shows that the Rapture was of course a Pre-Tribulation rapture because he felt that it was so immanent.

Now listen to what Jesus tells his disciples in Luke 17:26-30.

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Jesus is making a reference to the Rapture. He is telling the disciples that it will happen much as the days of Noah and Lot were. Taking place as it was in the days of Noah, how they were caught surprised. They were going about their normal day to day business. Then when Noah and his family stepped onto the ark, then the flood came. As with Lot, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were going about their own sinful ways as well and when Lot and his family were removed from the city, then God’s judgment came down upon the cities. Likewise will it be with the Rapture. Once the Lord removes His Church from the sinful world, then the Tribulation will begin.

He mentions that He will come as a thief in the night indicating that he will not be seen by everyone. But when talking about the Second Coming, He says that every eye will see Him. Notice some are sleeping and some are working indicating that it will be night some places and daytime in others. No one will see Jesus at that time except for those who meet Him in the air. Carrying on with life as usual until the Lord comes and disrupts their scene.

God has not appointed His church to wrath. The wrath of God is the Tribulation period. The Bible tells us that we have tribulation now but that comes from the world and Satan. The Tribulation period is the wrath of God, and God is not going to punish His bride.

You’ll notice that the Rapture takes place at the sound of a trumpet. The trumpet sounding is what signals the Rapture. Notice also that it is called the LAST trumpet. Now having said that we know that there are 7 angels that are given 7 trumpets to sound and when they do sound there are 7 judgments that come upon the earth. There are those that say that the last trumpet is the 7th trumpet being spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15:52. That would mean that the Rapture does not take place until the middle of the Tribulation. So in order for the church to hear the last trumpet the church must go through the first half of the Tribulation.

This is just simply not true.

Without a doubt, these are not the same trumpets. First of all the trumpets sounded are sounded by angels. The trumpet that will sound when the Rapture takes place is the trumpet of God. God will blow his trumpet.

This trumpet signals great joy! Only believers will hear this. The 7th trumpet in Revelation is considered a woe. Woe, woe, woe it is said of the last 3 trumpets. The trumpet of God is not a trumpet of judgment but of rejoicing. We are to comfort one another with these words. If the trumpet that sounds at the Rapture is the 7th, then this doesn’t seem like a comforting doctrine to me. We’re going to go through hell on earth before the Rapture even takes place. We’ll go into the Tribulation and there will be suffering and persecution. This is not a comforting doctrine to me. Is this was Paul was speaking of? No, of course not. The Rapture becomes comforting to me when I know that this event removes me from the Tribulation to come.

The church is not going through the Tribulation. Why would God the Father want to punish His bride? The Tribulation is referred to as a time of Jacob’s trouble. It has to do with the Jews. It’s at that time that God wakes up the Jewish people and brings them to salvation. When will the rapture take place? When will the trumpet sound? At the end of the church age. When the last person who needs to get saved, gets saved.

Revelation 2-3 is an overview of church history. Even though they were written to 7 churches existing at that time. Each of these has a secondary application as often does in Scripture, especially prophecy. They actually are a reference to the 7 different stages of church history as God sees them from beginning to end.

Then John says in Revelation 4:1, once he is finished writing about the churches,

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”

After these things (pertaining to the church), after the church ages are over, a door in heaven was opened and a voice that sounded like a trumpet saying come up hither and I will show you things AFTER this. After the church age. I believe this is the Rapture right here.

Does this ring a bell?

When the church ministry on earth is complete a door will open and a trumpet will sound and the church will be caught up. Paul wrote in Romans 11:25,

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. Since the Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah, God is now working among the Gentile nations to bring a bride unto Himself. Once that last Gentile who needs to be saved comes to salvation, God will focus His energy on Israel.

Many claim that the whole concept of a Pre-Tribulation rapture was never even heard of until 1828 when John Darby first began teaching it. Well, these people are wrong who believe this because there is evidence of the Church teaching the Rapture 1100 years before John Darby.

One of the most important evidences for this is an apocalyptic sermon from the 4th century titled “Sermon on the End of the World”. It is said to be from a man named Ephrem the Syrian who lived from 306-373 A.D. He was a Syriac deacon, theologian, and hymnographer of the 4th century. He wrote many hymns, poems, homilies and biblical commentaries. Some suggest it may not have been written until a later date between 565-627 A.D., but for our purposed, the exact date doesn’t matter, allowing the sermon’s composition as late as the 7th century. This is still 1100 years prior to John Darby.

The ancient author wrote this:

“Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time. Or do you not believe unless you see with your eyes? See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: “Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord!” For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.”

There is no mistaking that the author was speaking of the saints being gathered together before the Tribulation.

There were many others who believed this long before John Darby.

In 150 AD, the Rapture idea was preached by the Shepherd of Hermas.
In 270 AD, Victorinus, the Bishop of Pettau, a Catholic ecclesiastical writer preached it.
In 400 AD, Jerome in the Latin vulgate (in the Catholic Bible)

Why then has the Pre-Tribulation doctrine emerged so prominently over the past 200 years?

The Bible, prior to 200 years ago was kept out of the hands of the common people. The bible was effectively locked in museums and monasteries for 1000 years during the period known as the Dark Ages. It wasn’t until the Bible was translated into the language of the common people and that then the hope of the pre-millennial return of Christ was once again established in the Church, the Rapture. Once the Scriptures were made available to everybody the ancient truth of the Rapture before the Tribulation period was once again discovered.

Here are some other teachers of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture beginning around the ending of the Dark Ages.

In 1304 AD, Reverend Dolcino proclaimed the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
In 1400 AD, Bible translations in the native tongues led to a new propagation of the Pre-trib Rapture.
In 1627 AD, Joseph Mede
1627 AD Increase Mather
1687 AD, Peter Jurieu
1700 AD, John Asgill
1738 AD, Philip Doddridge
1748 AD, John Gill
1763 AD, James McKnight
1744 AD, Morgan Edwards
1792 AD, Thomas Scott
And then in 1830 AD, John Darby.

So you’ll see, John Darby was not the originator of this doctrine.

*For more information on the Bible and the Dark Ages, look for an upcoming post titled History of the Bible.*