Hello! Today, let’s unpack an essential topic that has for too long been enshrouded in confusion and debate—the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Let’s dig deep into the Word of God, where all truth is to be found, and see what it tells us about this critical subject.

The Pre-Tribulation Rapture posits that the church—the body of true believers in Christ Jesus—will be removed from the world before a period known as the ‘Great Tribulation.’ This Tribulation is seven years characterized by divine wrath, unparalleled suffering, and the outpouring of judgment. It’s not just any period of trouble; it’s delineated and described in biblical prophecy, specifically in the book of Revelation, as a unique period of divine judgment.

The key passage that introduces us to the Rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Here, the Apostle Paul writes, ‘For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.’ This ‘catching up’ is what we refer to as the Rapture.

You might wonder why I firmly stand on the Pre-Tribulation perspective. The key rationale is this: The Church is not destined for divine wrath. In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Paul makes it abundantly clear when he says, ‘For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The wrath of God is not for His redeemed; it’s for those who have rejected His gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Further, the book of Revelation describes a group of believers who are kept from ‘the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth’ (Revelation 3:10). If the Church were to go through the Tribulation, why would the Lord promise to keep us from this ‘hour of testing’?

So, as we study Scripture, we see that God’s plan is for His Church to be delivered from the impending wrath and judgment. This isn’t escapism; it’s a scripturally grounded hope. Brothers and sisters, let us live in the light of this blessed hope, always being ready for the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The church has been assured that our Lord is coming for us. Let us live our lives in such a way that we are ever watchful and ever faithful, ‘looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:13).