Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

The lesson below will appear to be extremely long, but please don’t get discouraged. It’s not as long as it seems. I’ve included extended passages from the Bible, as I’ll explain in a moment.

This week we continued the Focus Study we began last week on the timing of the rapture. At the end of this class, those present voted to continue one more week on this topic, so there will be a Part 3 as well.

The single question we are trying to answer is this:

Will the rapture happen before the Great Tribulation or after it?
(aka, pre-trib or post-trib)

Regardless of what you believe about the timing of the rapture, please do not base your belief on an assumption that God wouldn’t allow His children to go through such a horrible time.

Throughout the Bible, God repeatedly allowed His children to suffer terrible tribulation – but He always delivered them through it.

• God didn’t remove Israel from Egypt until after the plagues; He protected them during them.
• Noah went through the flood; God protected him in the ark.
• Rahab went through the destruction of Jericho; God delivered her out of it.
• Daniel went through the lion’s den; but God kept him safe.
• Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego went through the fire of the furnace; God’s angel kept them company and brought them out alive.
• Jesus’ disciples went through the storm; Jesus eventually calmed the waters.

Such examples could be multiplied many times over. So don’t base your belief on a mistaken notion of how God would treat his children during times of tribulation.

God’s history with us suggests He is more likely to carry us through hard times than to lead us around them. And the greater the tribulation, the greater the opportunity for Him to show His deliverance!

We approached our study this week very simply. We studied Matthew 24-25, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4, and 2 Thessalonians 2. Each of those passages clearly provides a timeline for events leading up to the end. We read the texts straight through and noted each chronological event mentioned. We wrote each of those events, in order, as a bullet point on a large white board.

To the right is a thumbnail image of the notes we took as a class while we studied these texts on Sunday. Click the thumbnail to see the larger picture (which is quite readable!). At the end of this lesson, I’ll provide the content of that white board arranged in a chronological table (with a few word changes for clarification).

So, without further ado, here is the lesson just as we studied it. I’ve provided the complete text of each of the passages (from the NIV), with general notes and chronologies.

• General Notes are included in their contexts in a green font.
• Chronological items are included in their contexts in a blue font.

Please keep me faithful in my teaching. Take the time to read through each passage. Avoid the temptation to jump to the bullet points. If it’s too much for one sitting, print it out and read it later. 

I’ll provide the chronological table and make some brief comments at the end.

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Matthew 24:1-35
¹ Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Jesus’ disciples ask Him for the sign of His “coming” and the “end of the age.” Interesting here that they seem to understand that He’ll go and come back again, but at other times they don’t seem to understand that. It may be that to them, the end of the age means the end of the historical period they live in and His “coming” means “coming to power” as a King.

Either way, Jesus knew more and clearly spells out the signs of the end.

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

• Many will come in Jesus’ name and deceive many
• Wars and rumors of wars
• Famines and earthquakes

⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

• Christians persecuted and killed
• Many turn away from the faith
• Many false prophets
• Gospel preached to all the world

Those things will precede the coming of “The End.” He’ll now describe “The End.”

¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸ Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. ²² If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³ At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. ²⁵ See, I have told you ahead of time.

• The Antichrist
• The Great Tribulation

There are several important things to note here:

1. The Antichrist (the “abomination of desolation”) and the Great Tribulation (”great distress…never to be equaled again”) are mentioned in this chronology but the rapture has not yet been mentioned.
2. The Great Tribulation is shortened “for the sake of the elect,” because even the elect would not otherwise be able to survive it. Therefore, there are Christians present in the Great Tribulation.
   • Note: Pre-trib believers think of “the elect” here as people who become Christians after the rapture. I do not know of a single passage in the Bible that says people will become Christians after the rapture. I’m not saying that none will, I’m saying the Bible is silent on that matter as far as I know. Moreover, I think that belief was developed to accommodate a pre-trib rapture! What we can agree on is that there are Christians present during the Tribulation.
3. The most significant observation here is that Jesus — speaking directly to the Disciples who were standing there — said things like “when you see…the abomination that causes desolation;” ”pray that your flight will not take place in winter…;” and “if anyone says to you, ‘here is the Christ….” He wraps it up with “See, I have told you ahead of time.”
   • Do you see it? Jesus is suggesting to His Disciples that they may actually be there during this tribulation period! If you were His disciple when He said that, that is exactly the message you would hear — that you (already a follower of Christ) may have to face the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation period some day. He says it once more in the next verse, “if anyone tells you…”

²⁶ “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days

‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

³⁰ “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

• Jesus will come again - all will see it
• Sun and moon darkened, stars fall from the sky, heavenly bodies shaken
• The Rapture

I think Jesus is clearly describing the rapture here. He says it will come “immediately after the distress of those days,” that is, immediately after the Great Tribulation described in verses 21-22. How much clearer can He be?

OK, to be fair, pre-trib believers generally will see this as describing the resurrection rather than the rapture. And quite frankly, it could be read either way.

So a question remains that we need to pin onto… well… onto whatever it is you pin your questions onto.

To wit:
Do the rapture and resurrection happen at different times or at the same time?

We’ll answer that question from another text later in this lesson. Hang on!

Whatever Jesus described here, He said it will happen “at that time” of the darkened sun and moon, stars falling, and heavenly bodies shaken. If you’ve been following our study of Revelation you’ll recognize this as the breaking of the sixth seal of the scroll. Revelation 6:12-13 says:

“I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like … the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth.”

So the rapture, the resurrection, or both happen around the same time as the breaking of the sixth seal.

³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁴ I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Once again, Jesus implied that the disciples who were standing there could “see all these things” happen and know that the end is near.

Now, there’s admittedly a small problem in verse 34 that we need to grapple with. It is Jesus’ statement that “this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

This is a key verse for Preterists, people who believe that everything in the book of Revelation already happened (in A.D. 70 when the temple was destroyed) and at this point we’re just waiting for the end. I’m not prepared in this lesson to counter the entire Preterist school of thought here — there are very few Preterists left these days. I’ll assume for now that you aren’t a Preterist.

Others believe “generation” here refers to the Jews. In fact, the NIV has a footnote that it could be translated “race.” I find no support for that whatever — the Greek word is never used for “race” anywhere else in the New Testament.

So what did Jesus mean when He said all those things would happen before “this generation” passed away? Well, there is no easy answer, and any explanation I can come up with has its weaknesses. But I’ll try…

The Greek word translated “generation” is genea (γενεα). It typically means “generation” as in “the people living at the moment.” The word occurs 43 times in 37 verses in the New Testament. It is always translated “generation” except for the following cases:

- Acts 8:33 - “Descendents”
- Luke 16:8 - “Kind”
- Acts 14:16 - “Past”
- Acts 15:21 - “Times”

Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich, who wrote the definitive Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, say the word can mean the following:
- People from a common ancestor
- People born at the same time
- People living at the same time
- Age
- Period Of Time
- Family

My suspicion is that Jesus was referring to “the generation of the new covenant ” or “church age,” so-to-speak. That is, that He was saying “I will have disciples until these all things happen.” That might be supported by translating the word as “kind” — the “kind” of people that He was talking to would remain until all those things took place. It might also resemble the translation “family” (think of how we call each other “brothers” and “sisters” and how Jesus is called our “brother” - see Hebrews 2:11; Mark 3:33-35; Romans 8:29).

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Matthew 25:31-46
³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

• Jesus will come in His glory
• He will sit on His throne
• Everyone will be gathered before Him
• He will separate the sheep from the goats

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

• The “goats” will be cast away from Him and into Hell

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

• The unrighteous will go to eternal punishment
• The righteous will go to eternal life

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1 Corinthians 15:20-54
²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Prior to these verses. Paul spent a good bit of time defending the central importance of Christ’s resurrection to our faith. If Jesus wasn’t resurrected, our faith is worthless (verse 14).

Now, Paul describes what will happen at our resurrection (when we are made alive in Christ) in chronological format:

• Jesus resurrected
• Jesus comes again
• Christians resurrected
• The End
• Death destroyed
• Jesus made subject to the Father

In verses 29-49, Paul answers several other questions about death, resurrection, and immortality that are not directly related to our study. We’ll pick up our study again in verse 50.

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Paul now describes a time when death is completely defeated. That is the ultimate goal — to undo Genesis 3. It is the final victory.

He makes it very clear that not all Christians will die (”sleep”), but all of us will be changed.

His simple point is that there can be no final victory over death until these two things happen:

1. People who are alive on the earth (mortal) are made immortal
2. People who are dead become imperishable

When will people who are alive on the earth become immortal? At the rapture.

When will dead people become imperishable? At the resurrection.

Those two things happen at the same time, after the last trumpet. We’ll see that even more clearly below. But it is not until alive people are transformed at the rapture that death has actually “been swallowed up in victory.”

Here’s his simple chronology:

• The last trumpet will sound
• Dead raised and we will all be changed
  • Perishable (dead) Christians made imperishable
  • Mortal (living) Christians made immortal
• Death DEFEATED!

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1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
¹³ Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Remember the question earlier — “Do the rapture and resurrection happen at different times or at the same time?”

This is the clearest passage to answer that question. This passage plainly says that when the last trumpet sounds and Jesus comes down from heaven, there will be Christians who are still alive. Those Christians will be “caught up” with Christ, but not before the dead in Christ are raised. That “caught up” is the rapture. Unless you believe in two raptures (a few people do), this passage clearly says that the resurrection will happen just before the rapture, and that those will both happen at the very end — which would mean after the Antichrist and after the Great Tribulation.

For the few who do believe in two raptures, doesn’t it make sense that that idea is just an accommodation because of other conclusions you’ve already drawn — just like the idea that the Elect in Matthew 24 are people who became Christians after the rapture? Everything I’ve said in these passages is the plainest, clearest, most straightforward meaning. Things get more complicated when you’ve already drawn conclusions that conflict with the clear meaning and have to interpret it differently to accommodate that.

So here is Paul’s chronology in this passage:

• Jesus comes
• Archangel voice and trumpet call
• Dead Christians are resurrected
• Living Christians are raptured

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 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
¹ Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, ² not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. ³ Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Paul now sets out to discuss Jesus’ coming and our being gathered together with Him. He also says that it is very important that we not be deceived about this. Why? Because if you believe Christ could come before certain other things happen, you could be led to believe in a false Christ! That’s what Paul says here.

To be clear, he says that the day of the Lord will not come until:

• The rebellion occurs
• The Antichrist is revealed and sets himself up as God

⁵ Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷ For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Verse 6 describes one who is often referred to as “the Restrainer.” I do not know who that is. All we can do is speculate, and I’m not willing to do that in this lesson. So, I’ll take the easy way out and say “I don’t know right now.” Paul doesn’t explain it. I don’t think it can be God only because verse 7 says he will be taken out of the way. It may be an angel of God, but there I go speculating.

• Jesus will overthrow the Antichrist
• Satan’s work will be displayed in counterfeit miracles
• God will send a delusion so that people who refuse to live the truth will believe him
• All will be condemned who do not believe the truth

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So there you have it. I’ve pulled all of these chronological lists together in the table below. 

Does the rapture occur before or after the Great Tribulation?
Matthew 24:1-35 Many will come in Jesus’ name and deceive many Wars and rumors of wars Famines and earthquakes Christians persecuted and killed Many turn away from the faith Many false prophets Gospel preached to all the world The Antichrist The Great Tribulation Jesus will come again - All will see it Sun and moon darkened, stars fall from the sky, heavenly bodies shaken (the 6th seal) The Rapture Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus will come in His glory Jesus sits on His throne Everyone gathered before Him He will separate the sheep from the goats The “goats” will be cast away from Him and into Hell The unrighteous will go to eternal punishment The righteous will go to eternal life	1 Corinthians 15:20-28 Jesus was resurrected as the first fruits Jesus comes again Christians resurrected The End Death destroyed Jesus made subject to the Father 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 The last trumpet will sound The dead raised and we all will be changed Perishable (dead) Christians made imperishable Mortal (living) Christians made immortal Death DEFEATED!
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Jesus comes Archangel voice and trumpet call Dead Christians are resurrected Living Christians are raptured	2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 The rebellion occurs The Antichrist is revealed and sets himself up as God Jesus overthrows the Antichrist Satan’s work will be displayed in counterfeit miracles God will send a delusion so that people who do not believe the truth will believe the Antichrist All will be condemned who do not believe the truth

I’ve said it numerous times: I believe the post-tribulation rapture position is the simplest position to demonstrate from the scriptures. It doesn’t take much in the way of hoops to jump through and acrobatics to defend. It comes from a plan, clear reading of many scriptures. I believe that to defend any other position requires deviating from this plain teaching. That doesn’t make other positions wrong, but anyone who wants to support them must offer a solid reason for not accepting the plainest reading of the texts.