The Pre-wrath Rapture of the Church

By John H. Fish III [1]

A Review Article [2]

The Debate Over The Rapture

Evangelicals are agreed on the fact of the rapture of the church. Christ will come again to receive us to Himself. The dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air (John 14:3; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; 1 Cor. 15:51–52). This should be the blessed hope of every believer. We will be with Christ. We will be changed to be like Him. This hope should sustain us in trials, encourage us in death, and stir us up to holy living in life. The fact of the rapture cannot be disputed by evangelicals. [3]

What has been a matter of intense debate in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is the time of the rapture in relation to other end time events. Premillennialists who hold to a future interpretation of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Daniel 9:24–27) and a futuristic interpretation of the book of Revelation see the coming of Christ in power and glory preceded by a time of tribulation and judgment here on the earth. The issue is whether the church will go through any, part of, or all of this tribulation. [4]

Pretribulationalists believe the rapture will occur before the tribulation so that the church will escape the entire period. Midtribulationalists see the church on earth during the first 3 1/2 years, but delivered from the last half. Posttribulationalists believe the church will go through the entire period. A fourth view is that of the partial rapturists who hold that the godly and faithful will be raptured and escape the tribulation, but carnal Christians will be left to endure the trials.

A New View

Marvin Rosenthal has come up with a new view of the timing of the rapture. For thirty years this graduate of Dallas Seminary and former executive director of the Friends of Israel believed in pretribulationalism. Now he has changed his viewpoint and adopted a new position which is neither pretribulational, midtribulational, or posttribulational. He feels that Christ will come for the church sometime during the latter half of Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9:24–27) before God’s wrath is poured out on the earth in the Day of the Lord. Thus the church will not endure the wrath of God, but it will suffer the trials and persecutions of the Antichrist. His book, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church, is an exposition and defense of this position.

Rosenthal is a well-known evangelical leader, a popular conference speaker, and an effective writer. The popular style of this book and the reputation of the author will probably secure it a wide reading. The issue that it raises is itself an important one and deserves to be considered. Will the church go through the tribulation at the end of the age? Rosenthal is not the only one who has shifted from pretribulationalism in the last thirty to forty years. Many have given up the dispensationalism and pretribulationalism that were once so popularly represented by the Scofield Reference Bible . More significantly there does not seem to be the same sense of fervency and expectancy in looking for the coming of Christ among pretribulationalists today. Our doctrine does make a difference, and the issue of the rapture does have many practical implications. We need to examine the doctrine of Rosenthal like the Bereans to see if these things are so.

Rosenthal’s Argument

First we will try to understand Rosenthal’s position and the arguments used to support it. The following chart adapted from the book itself may help to understand what is being said.

Rosenthal does not believe that the church will suffer the wrath of God which will be poured out on the earth in the judgments of the end times. If those judgments occur throughout the entire seven years, then he would have to be pretribulational.

He must therefore show that the wrath of God is restricted to a latter portion of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. He argues as follows.

The Great Tribulation

The Great Tribulation And Daniel’s Seventieth Week

First of all Scripture nowhere designates the entire seven years as the Great Tribulation. The phrase great tribulation is used in Matthew 24:21 to describe the persecution and trials which begin with the Abomination of Desolation which takes place in the middle of the seven-year period (Daniel 9:27). The Great Tribulation therefore is at most the second 3 1/2 years. More significantly, the first half of the week is not the Great Tribulation and is not the time of the outpouring of God’s wrath.

The Duration Of The Great Tribulation

Secondly, the Great Tribulation does not last the entire 3 1/2 years. Matthew 24:22 says that “unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short.” What is it that is cut short? Certainly not the seventieth week of Daniel. The length of that has been specifically and precisely predicted. What is shortened is the Great Tribulation. It begins in the middle of the seventieth week, but does not run until its end (p. 109). Here again the key to Rosenthal’s argument is that the Great Tribulation itself is not part of the wrath of God.

The Day Of The Lord

The Day Of The Lord And The Wrath Of God

The wrath of God is connected in Scripture specifically with the Day of the Lord. In a study of each of the 19 passages which speak of the Day of the Lord, Rosenthal shows that this will be a time of destruction and fierce anger when God in His wrath and anger will punish the world for its evil and judge wicked men for their iniquity. Israel will be brought to account for her sins and the nations will suffer the indignation and fury of God. [5]

The Beginning Of The Day Of The Lord

When then does the Day of the Lord begin? Much of the argument hinges on this point. It is commonly assumed that the Day of the Lord commences when the seventieth week of Daniel begins. If the Day of the Lord does not begin until later in the week, the wrath of God does not come until later. The church can endure part of the tribulation and still escape the wrath of God. Rosenthal, in fact, states it more strongly. He says that the rapture of the church begins the Day of the Lord. “The Day of the Lord wrath will commence immediately after the church is raptured” (p. 139). If it can be demonstrated that the Day of the Lord does not start at the beginning of the seventieth week of Daniel, pretribulationalism is fatally flawed (p. 137).

Events Which Precede The Day Of The Lord

There are several things which Scripture says will occur before the day of the Lord. Elijah must come first. “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5). Paul, answering those who were saying that the Day of the Lord was already present, says that two things must come first: “It will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3). The Antichrist must appear before the Day of the Lord. Finally, Joel says that there will be great cosmic disturbances before the day of the Lord. “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Joel 2:30–31). If these things occur first, then the rapture cannot begin the day of the Lord and at the same time be imminent.

Cosmic Disturbances And The Sixth Seal

It is the cosmic disturbances which pinpoint the time of the Day of the Lord for Rosenthal. The sixth seal in Revelation 6:12–14 describes cosmic disturbances like those associated with the Day of the Lord.

And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.

Verses 16–17 describe men crying out for the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from “the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand.” The day of God’s wrath is about to begin. The seventh seal contains the series of seven trumpet judgments and the seventh trumpet contains the seven bowls. It is when this seventh seal is opened that God’s wrath begins and the day of the Lord begins (p. 173).

Cosmic Disturbances And The Olivet Discourse

Rosenthal sees one other passage pinpointing the time of the Day of the Lord. In Matthew 24:29–30 there are cosmic disturbances which follow the Great Tribulation.

But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

This shows that the Day of the Lord follows the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation is cut short, and the last part of Daniel’s Seventieth Week is the Day of the Lord.

The Time Of God’s Wrath

The whole intent of this argument is to try to show that the wrath of God is confined to the final part of the seven years. The day of God’s wrath is only found in the Day of the Lord, and there is no wrath before the seventh seal. Before that there is only the wrath of the Antichrist and the tribulations caused by man. These the church will have to endure, but it will escape the wrath of God.

The Rapture Of The Church

This means that as the Day of the Lord begins with the seventh seal, the rapture of the church also takes place at this time. It is thus pre-wrath, but not pretribulational.

Four arguments are used specifically to place the rapture at this point just before the seventh seal.

The Church And The Wrath Of God

First, the church is not appointed to wrath (1 Thess. 5:9; 1:10). Rosenthal agrees with pretribulationalists as opposed to posttribulationalists that there is a judgment of God upon the earth in which His wrath is poured out and which the blood-bought bride of Christ will not have to endure. The church will be raptured before the Day of the Lord.

The Rapture And The Day Of The Lord

But it is immediately before the Day of the Lord that the Church is raptured (p. 130). 2 Thessalonians 2 connects the rapture and the Day of the Lord, and Rosenthal says that the Bible does not allow any time between the deliverance of the church and the wrath of God. Luke 17:26–27 is cited in connection with verse 24 which is taken as a reference to the day of the Lord. “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” Judgment began on the very day that Noah entered the ark (p. 140, 196).

The Rapture And The Last Trumpet

Rosenthal takes the clearest text for determining the time of the rapture to be 1 Corinthians 15:52 (p. 187). The words at the last trump “reveal in the clearest possible way the precise occasion when the Rapture of the church will occur” (p. 189). The trumpet ties us into passages which mention the sound of the trumpet to signal the Day of the Lord. Joel 2:1, “Blow a trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm on my holy mountain … For the day of the Lord is coming.” Zephaniah 1:14–16, “Near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming very quickly … A day of wrath is that day. .. a day of trumpet and battle cry.” The trumpet signals the final, climactic, eschatological outpouring of the wrath of God (p. 193). Since this begins with the seventh seal, the rapture of the church occurs with the opening of that seal.

The Rapture And The Olivet Discourse

Matthew 24:29–31 gives a sequence of events which is said to confirm this interpretation. There we have cosmic disturbances, the coming of Christ, the trumpet, and the gathering of the elect. This would put the coming of Christ and the rapture of the church at the same place, after the cosmic signs, before the Day of the Lord. It is therefore after the sixth seal. It should be noticed that contrary to most expositors of whatever school Rosenthal takes the coming of Christ in these verses as occurring long before the end of the seventieth week (p. 153). Most take it of the coming of Christ in power and glory at the end of this age.

Critique And Evaluation

The Overall Presentation

I have tried in the preceding pages to present Rosenthal’s argument fairly and adequately. Before looking at the specific arguments, I would like to make some comments about the overall presentation.

First, the book in reality goes beyond the issue of the time of the rapture and deals with the broad subject of prophecy in general. Rosenthal deals with the rapture in the broader context of the history of redemption--the fall, its consequences, the plan of God for redemption, and so on. There is much here that all premillennialists will appreciate. Further, Rosenthal is an excellent communicator who writes in a popular, sermonic style. I would suspect that the book was preached before it was written.

The Emotional Aspect Of The Argument

There is a great deal of autobiographical material, especially at the beginning of the book. This makes for engaging and interesting reading, but the reader needs to beware of an emotional set up. The author taught pretribulationalism for many years. Persistent questions of a friend forced him to reexamine Scripture. Intense study, prayer, discussion, challenge, and counter-challenge led him to finally change his position. The outcome was that this cost him dearly. The missionary organization, The Friends of Israel, of which he was the executive director, has a pretribulational doctrinal statement. His new convictions cost him his position, his ministry, and many of his friends. But he had to follow the teaching of Scripture.

Now I do not want to depreciate this in any way. The courage to follow what one believes God says is sadly lacking in the church today, and Rosenthal is to be commended for his willingness to follow the Scriptures regardless of the cost. All I want to point out is that psychologically this creates a strong emotional appeal for the reader, and many will be carried along by the heart rather than the argument. Emotion is not reasoned exegesis. It is not Scripture, and we should not be swayed by it.

The Rhetorical And Repetitious Aspect Of The Argument

There is a great deal of rhetoric and repetition which does not actually prove anything.

The Seventieth Week And The Tribulation

Why does Rosenthal emphasize the point that Scripture does not call Daniel’s Seventieth Week the tribulation and that only the second half of the seventieth week is called the Great tribulation (Matthew 24:21)? It is apparently suggested that if the Great tribulation does not begin until the middle of the seven years, the foundation of pretribulationalism begins to crumble (p. 107). However, many pretribulationalists themselves admit that this is the Scriptural terminology. [6] He acts as if his observation is of great significance, but he is quibbling over terminology. If, as Rosenthal admits, the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments take place during this period, then the term tribulation is an accurate and appropriate description for the entire seven years. The real issue is the source of the tribulation. Does it come from man or from God? What Rosenthal wants to show is that God’s wrath does not start until later in the period. This, however, is a separate issue.

The Day Of The Lord And The Rapture

Further, he keeps saying that pretribulationalists must begin the Day of the Lord with the Rapture. “The Rapture must precede the Day of the Lord. Therefore, if the Rapture is pretribulational, the Day of the Lord must commence with the beginning of the seventieth week” (p. 139). Since he shows that there are several things which occur in the tribulation that must precede the Day of the Lord, the Rapture must take place later in the tribulation.

But there is a logical fallacy in this argument. To say that one event precedes another does not mean that nothing can come in between. Many pretribulationalists have begun the Day of the Lord in the middle or at the end of the tribulation. [7]

Rosenthal himself refers to Paul Feinberg and Richard Mahue as pretribulationalists who begin the Day of the Lord later (p. 139). Then he simply dismisses them with the assertion that “the Scriptures do not allow that kind of extended gap between the Rapture and the Day of the Lord judgment” (p. 139). But this is simply an assertion. While he repeats it often and a great deal of his argument revolves around this assumption, the statement of a point does not make it so. When pretribulationalists themselves hold different views on when the Day of the Lord begins, it is illegitimate to say that pretribulationalism hangs on only one of them.

Proof-Texts For Pretribulationalism

He challenges pretribulationalists to prove their position exegetically. The timing of the Rapture cannot rest on inference (p. 18). Since pretribulationalists cannot produce one verse that says that the rapture is before the tribulation, it must be a weak position. But there is no verse which pinpoints the time of the rapture. This is true of Rosenthal’s view as well as for pretribulationalists. There is no verse that says that the rapture will take place at the opening of the seventh seal. Rosenthal takes a number of texts together and makes inferences. That is, of course, the way that many of the doctrines of the Bible must be determined. What is wrong is the pretense that he is doing anything different or that he arrives at surer results.

The Weakness Of Key Arguments

The heart of my critique with Rosenthal’s view is that many of his key arguments are weak. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, yet his case is built on the linking together of weak arguments. Some of these will now be considered.

The Wrath Of God And The Seal Judgments

First, it should be apparent that since the Rapture according to Rosenthal begins with the opening of the seventh seal and is before the wrath of God, there can be no wrath before the seventh seal. This is a crucial point, and yet the argument fails to be convincing.

The First Five Seals

First, Rosenthal has to say that the first five seal judgments in Revelation 6 cannot be from God. Why? The first seal which describes the rider on the white horse going out to conquer is a description of the emergence of the Antichrist. But if the seal judgments are from God, this makes God alone directly responsible for a counterfeit religious system and the emergence of the Antichrist (p. 142). This, Rosenthal says, is “obviously preposterous” (p. 142).

But is it really preposterous? Rosenthal’s weak view of the sovereignty of God here is inadequate and unbiblical. For instance in Isaiah 10:5–12 there is a description of how God uses evil human instruments to accomplish His will and yet still holds them responsible for their sin. God is going to use Assyria, the rod of His anger (v. 5), to judge Judah. [8] Judah is a godless nation (v. 6) and is to be trampled on and plundered. Yet while Assyria is the instrument of God, from the human perspective its motives are thoroughly evil and God will judge that boastful and arrogant nation. “So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness’“ (verse 12). We have here the evil instrument of Assyria responsible for its sin and judged for its sin, and yet the instrument of God sent forth by God to accomplish His judgment. 2 Thessalonians says that the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, cannot be manifested until the Restrainer, the one who restrains the mystery of lawlessness, is taken out of the way. While there has been a great deal of debate over the identification of the Restrainer, it is clear that the restraint is under the control of God. When He wills it, the restraint will cease and the Antichrist will appear. The book of Job shows us how even Satan can be allowed to act in his evil to accomplish God’s purposes and bring glory to Him. All of Satan’s activities toward Job were evil, yet all were under God’s control. Paul’s thorn in the flesh was given to him by God to keep him humble because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations given to him. Yet this thorn in the flesh is called “a messenger of Satan” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Rosenthal does not see how God can use sin to accomplish His purposes, but the Bible says that He does. He controls the affairs of sinful men so that while they sin of their own will and are held responsible for it, God uses them to accomplish His greater will. Godless and evil dictators like the Antichrist can be God’s instruments of judgment on a sinful world.

The Meaning Of The Seals

Rosenthal says that the seals in Revelation 6 are the security of the believer. “The seal, in the Roman world and in the Bible, indicates ownership and protection” (p. 143). This explanation of the seal fits Ephesians 1:13 where the Christian is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, but it does not fit the context of Revelation 6. In chapter 5 John sees a scroll sealed with seven seals. As each seal is broken in chapter 6 there is a description of judgment on the earth. This would suggest that the scroll represents a series of judgments. Because it was sealed, it could not be opened unless the seals were broken. But no one was found worthy to open the book and break the seals until the Lion of the tribe of Judah came and did so (Revelation 5:2, 5; 6:1). The Lord Jesus broke the seals and opened the book showing that the judgments came from Him. He is in control, and while the judgments on the human level may contain the wrath, cruelty, and inhumanity of man toward man, they are also the judgments of God Himself.

The Wrath Of God And The Sixth Seal

Rosenthal says that there is no wrath of God in any of the seal judgments before the seventh seal, but it is quite evident from reading the text of Revelation 6:12–17 that the wrath of God is explicitly stated in the sixth seal. In verses 15–17 after the cosmic signs of verses 12–14 men hide themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains and call to the mountains and rocks to “fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand?” The day of God’s wrath has already come and is there present during the sixth seal. This of course does not fit Rosenthal’s system where the rapture occurs at the seventh seal before the wrath of God on the earth. He therefore takes the verb has come as future. “‘For the great day of his wrath is come’ can be demonstrated to have but one meaning: God’s Day of the Lord wrath is impending. It is about to happen; it has not yet occurred” (p. 167). He tries to argue on the basis of Greek grammar that the aorist tense can be past, present, or future. “The aorist tense gives no basis for making that statement refer to a past event” (p. 167). That statement is inaccurate. The aorist tense is normally used in the indicative to indicate a past event. [9] The context also indicates that the wrath of God had already come. Why would men call on the mountains to hide them from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb (6:16) if they had not already had a glimpse of that wrath. Men have become hardened and insensitive to mere prophesies of the wrath of God, but here is a reality which they can no longer ignore. The day of God’s wrath has come.

The Rapture And The Day Of The Lord

Rosenthal says that there cannot be any time between the rapture and the Day of the Lord. What is his proof for that? The example of Noah is cited in Luke 17:26–27. [10] “The Lord teaches that on the very day that Noah entered the ark, God’s judgment fell” (p. 196). “That is, deliverance of the righteous will be immediately followed by God’s Day of the Lord wrath on the wicked. Biblically no extended period of time can separate the two events of rapture and wrath “ (p. 196). This is interesting because the text does not say that the judgment fell on the very day that Noah entered the ark. It says that they were eating, drinking, and marrying until the flood came. In Genesis 7:7 and 10 we see that the flood did not come the very day that Noah entered the ark, but seven days later. There was actually an interval between the entering of the ark and the judgment. This is devastating to Rosenthal since a great deal of his argument is built on the assumption that there can be no interval whatsoever.

The Rapture And The Last Trumpet

The timing of the Rapture according to Rosenthal is found by correlating the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52 with the trumpet of Joel 2:1 which begins the Day of the Lord and with the opening of the seventh seal. The seventh seal itself is taken as the series of seven trumpet judgments. Since the trumpet of Joel 2 signals the outpouring of God’s wrath in the Day of the Lord, Rosenthal thinks that this is sufficient reason to put the Rapture at this time. This, however, is just assuming the point at issue. Why does the trumpet of Joel 2 have to be the same trumpet as the trumpet at the Rapture? Trumpets were blown at a wide variety of occasions in the ancient world. Harris says that trumpets were used as signals in war, in trials, before prayer, by shepherds, in funeral or festal processions, and at athletic contests. [11] In the OT the trumpet was sounded at the time of certain offerings, at feast times, at royal coronations, at dedications, and as a signal in battle. [12] All trumpets are not alike, and it is arbitrary to assume that the trumpet which announces the gathering of the church to the Lord is the same as that which announces the eschatological judgment of the Day of the Lord.

The seventh seal (Revelation 8:1) is not taken by Rosenthal as a separate judgment itself, but as containing the whole series of the seven trumpet judgments and the seven bowl judgments. By taking the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52 at the opening of the seventh seal, Rosenthal is thus saying that the last trumpet is a collective term for a series of seven trumpets. This, of course, is reading into the text what is not there. It does not say that we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpets [and bowls]. Then, too, the last trumpet at the Rapture is not the last trumpet altogether, for the seventh trumpet in this series which is mentioned in Revelation 11:15–17 is given when Christ comes to assume His kingdom (p. 146). In Rosenthal’s scheme this is a different trumpet given at a different time. If there are different trumpets given at different times and the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52 is not the last one altogether, how can Rosenthal insist that it has to be identified with that of Joel 2:1 and specifically placed at the opening of the seventh seal? He is much too arbitrary in presenting one possibility as the only choice.

The Coming Of Christ In Matthew 24

Finally, Rosenthal is forced into a strange interpretation of the coming of Christ in Matthew 24:29–31. Most would take the coming of Christ with power and great glory in verse 30 as His coming at the end of the seven years immediately preceding His kingdom (cf. 25:31, 34). But Rosenthal has identified the cosmic signs of 24:29 with the cosmic signs preceding the Day of the Lord and the cosmic signs of the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12–13). He then takes the coming of Christ in verse 30 as the Rapture which takes place at the opening of the seventh seal “long before the end of the seventieth week” (p. 153). It would thus appear that Rosenthal himself faces the same dilemma which he considers to be a crucial problem for pretribulationalism. He seems to have two comings of Christ. The coming at the Rapture precedes in time the coming at the end of the seventieth week. His answer is that Christ’s Parousia includes both His coming and His subsequent presence to accomplish His purposes. [13] But where is Christ during this time? Where is the church? The answer of pretribulationalists is that they are with Christ in the place in the Father’s house which He has been preparing all these years (John 14:2–3). But Rosenthal has no answer.

Christ and the church do not go to heaven, nor do they immediately return to earth. Are they left floating in the air for this considerable period of time (cf. 248)?

Conclusion

Rosenthal notes that debate on the subject of the Rapture has often been heated and led to divisions. He pleads for brethren to have more tolerance for those with differing views and for issues like this to be examined without rancor or personal attack. Both of these are fair and biblical requests. He is gracious toward those with whom he differs, and this review has attempted to answer him in kind.

Rosenthal agrees with pretribulationalists in two important areas. First, he does see an interval of time between the Rapture and the end of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, or between the Rapture and the beginning of Christ’s kingdom on earth. Secondly, he strongly argues that the church will be raptured before the wrath of God is manifested on earth.

Our differences lie in just when the wrath of God begins. He attempts to confine the wrath of God to the Day of the Lord, and to confine the Day of the Lord to the latter part of the Seventieth Week. Even if the Day of the Lord is the second half of the seven years or only part of that second half, that does not preclude the rest of the Seventieth Week from including the judgment of God on this sinful earth. In particular the wrath of God is recognized by men in the sixth seal. Further, the ultimate source of the first five seals is Christ, the one who was worthy to open the book and loose its seals. The entire seven years is a time of tribulation and the wrath of God, even though a part of it may be designated the Great Tribulation. If this is so, then a pre-wrath rapture must be pretribulational and pre-Daniel’s Seventieth Week.

Notes

1. Jack Fish is a faculty member at Emmaus Bible College.
2. Marvin Rosenthal, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990). Pp. 317. Numbers in the text refer to the page referred to in this work.
3. There are some who are imprecise in their terminology and will say that they no longer believe in the rapture. What is usually meant is that they no longer believe in the pretribulational rapture. But all who believe the Bible must believe that the church will be caught up to meet Christ in the air when He comes again. This is the plain assertion of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The word rapture comes from the Latin of the word which is rendered in English caught up.
4. The debate on this issue is essentially confined to premillennialists. Amillennialists and postmillennialists do not accept a literal seven-year period of tribulation before the second advent of Christ and therefore find this discussion irrelevant.
5. See Joel 1:15; 2:1–2, 10–11, 30–31; 3:14–16; Amos 5:18–20; Isa. 2:12, 19–21; 13: 6–13; Zeph. 1:14–2:3.
6. For example, Walvoord in Matthew: Thy Kingdom Come says, “The great tribulation, accordingly, is a specific period of time beginning with the abomination of desolation and closing with the second coming of Christ. .. . In Revelation 11:2 and 13:5, the great tribulation is a specific three-and-a-half-year period leading up to the second coming and should not be confused with a general time of trouble, such as was predicted earlier in Matthew 24:4–14. John F. Walvoord, Matthew: Thy Kingdom Come (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), 188.
7. Scofield, for example, says that the Day of the Lord begins “with the return of the Lord in glory.” C. I. Scofield, ed., The Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1909), 1349. Contrary to what Rosenthal says (p. 139), Scofield did not change his position in later editions of his study Bible. The New Scofield Reference Bible which begins the Day of the Lord with the Rapture is a revision of Scofield’s notes by E. Schuyler English and other editors. C. I. Scofield, ed., The New Scofield Reference Bible, new edition revised by E. Schuyler English, chairman of the committee, et. al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 1372.
8. The text is not specific as to whether it is the northern kingdom of Israel or the southern kingdom of Judah which will be judged. Leupold holds that it is Israel while Young takes it as Judah. H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968), 1: 200–201; Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1965), 1: 359. The reference to Jerusalem and Mount Zion in verses 11–12 would suggest that it is Judah which is in view.
9. Rosenthal refers to the fact that the aorist tense is often misunderstood and abused. However, the abuse of the aorist comes in thinking that it always refers to a once for all action or an event. This is entirely different from what Rosenthal is trying to do in making the aorist indicative timeless. While the non-indicative moods may emphasize more the kind of action than the time of action, the indicative does indicate past time. In fact past time is specified by the augment. The dramatic aorist or proleptic aorist is more of a rhetorical use of the aorist rather than a meaning of the tense itself.
10. See the parallel passage in Matthew 24:37–39.
11. M. J. Harris, “Trumpet,” Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. by Colin Brown (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978), 3: 873.
12. Ibid.
13. Pretribulationalists would also say that there is only one Parousia presented in the New Testament. They would however distinguish two phases of that one Coming.