NCCG.ORG, FAQ 239: The Rapture Question

No, we do not. Most Pentecostals (and millions of other Evengelicals too) believe that the rapture of all true born-again Christians will take place before the Tribulation (pre-tribulationism). They paint a picture of life going on as usual around the world and then, suddenly, and without warning, millions of Christians will start 'disappearing'. This leaves only the luke-warm believers and unbelievers behind. According to them, Christianity is then blamed for all the chaos this creates in the world, Christianity is made illegal, and then the remaining Christians who do not deny Christ are persecuted and murdered. This, they say, is the reason for the Great Tribulation period. Then, according to them, Christ returns to earth for good. For a full treatment of this position, see The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord (Zondervan, 1979) and our main website on this topic.

Messianic Evangelicals believe that the rapture and second coming take place simultaneously at the end of the æon or age and at the end of the Tribulation. We believe that Christ's return to the Messianic Community (Church) and to the world are a single event (and not two as the pre-tribulationists maintain). We do not exclude the possibility that Yahweh may selectively and very rarely take believers off the earth before this time without tasting death (translation, not resurrection), for you will remember that whilst the resurrection of the dead takes place during the Millennial era, there were, nonetheless, several resurrections in and around Jerusalem at the time of Yah'shua's (Jesus's) crucifixion and resurrection. We know that the servants of Yahweh are translated (or 'raptured') from time to time, and we have as examples Enoch and his entire city, and possibly (though this is disputed) the navi (prophet) Elijah.

As a result of the pre-tribulation doctrine of rapture, millions of evangelical Christians are waiting to be suddenly 'spirited away' and escape the terrible persecutions that are to come. By contrast, Messianic Evangelicals are preparing to actually go through the Great Tribulation and, if blessed to survive, to prepare to meet the returning Christ in the air when He comes to judge the world and inaugurate the Thousand Year Kingdom of Peace. We are accordingly to be prepared.

Many scriptures have been misunderstood by the pre-tribulationists which need explaining clearly. Take 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 which describes how the qodeshim (saints. set-apart ones) are transformed in the "twinking of an eye". This passage has to do with the resurrection at the start of the Millennium, and not the so-called 'rapture'.

Another popularly used scripure is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: "The Master (Lord) Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of Elohim (God). And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Master (Lord) in the air; and so we shall always be with our Master (Lord)" (RSV). This is also a resurrection scene which can only be at the beginning of the Millennium. As Christ returns with the sound of the trumpet, so shall the first resurrections commence. At the same time, those who are still alive (after the Great Tribulation) will be raptured into the air to meet Him as He returns to establish His millennial kingdom on the earth. We are not being taken to another world but are rather going out to meet the Bridegroom as the welcoming committee on a bridal procession whose temporal end is the earth, which is itself to become 'another world'!

Another misunderstood (even misused) scripture is 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 which says: "Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day [of the Master's/Lord's Second Coming] will not come, unless the rebellion ["falling away"/"apostacy"] comes first, and the man of lawlessness (Antichrist) is revealed, the son of perdition" (RSV). This has been twisted by many evangelical scholars to say "except the departure ['from the earth'] come first" which does violence to the Greek text and context and which is supported by no Bible translations that I have been able to find.

The 'rapture doctrine' -- at least, the pre-tribulation version -- is closely connected with the evangelical doctrine of 'grace alone' and their idea of a uniform (ungraded) heaven (see OSAS). There is no doctrine of "refinement by fire" in evangelical thinking. For us Messianic Evangelicals, horrific though the tribulation will be, to be a part of it is a blessing not to be shunned. That is not to say that we are 'martyrdom-seekers' but it is to say that we are prepared for that eventuality. We also believe that there will be cities of refuge during the Tribulation where several thousand remnant believers will dwell safely during this terrible period.

Messianic Evangelicals will not be found sitting around waiting to be whisked into heaven but will continue living out our their faith to their best of our ability in preparation for whatever may come. The Jehovah's Witnesses misunderstood this doctrine too and even prophesied the exact date of the 'rapture'. Their white-clad followers in California were left disappointed on the expected day. Let us not be ashamed as they were by following after unscriptural doctrines of the rapture that have current vogue with evangelical Christians.

Go to the Rapture Website for more detailed studies

This page was created on 9 May 1998 Last updated on 15 September 2025