When Will the RAPTURE Happen?

According to the Bible, the Rapture is an event when people are physically taken up by God to heaven. According to First Corinthians 15:51, Paul explains that there will be a group of people who don't die but will be changed and transformed in a quick moment. This Rapture gives many Christians hope because it means that some people will be able to escape death and go straight to heaven.

For those of you who question whether the concept of a Rapture is biblical, it is, in fact, supported by the existence of two people from the Old Testament who never died and went to be with God: Enoch from Genesis 5:24 and Elijah in Second Kings, Chapter 2, verse 11. On top of that, a Rapture is taught in the New Testament, in First Thessalonians Chapter 4, verses 16 to 17: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. " In this passage, Jesus comes down from heaven, and people will be caught up to be with Him in the air.

So, as you can see, there will be a time when Jesus raptures and physically gathers His people and meets them in the air while they're still alive. Thus, the Rapture is a heavily debated topic in the church. The topic of discussion should not be a matter of whether there is a Rapture; rather, it should be a question of when it will happen.

So, in this video, we're going to talk about some of the different positions that many Christians believe concerning the Rapture and when it will happen. In each position, we'll cover what's believed, we'll give a timeline of the key events that each position believes will happen, and the strengths of each position. At the end of the video, I'll share what I personally believe.

Position number one: Dispensational Pre-millennialism. People who hold this position believe either in a pre- or mid-trib Rapture. Here's the timeline of what they believe: Jesus died and rose again, and shortly after, the church age began.

What will mark the end of the church age is a Rapture where God's people are taken up. After this takes place, a literal seven-year tribulation will begin where God judges the world. Once it ends, Jesus comes back and establishes a thousand-year reign.

After these thousand years are up, Satan will have a final rebellion; he'll lose, and then God will have His final judgment where He judges everyone who is unsaved. Following this, God will usher in a new heaven and a new earth. Some Dispensational Pre-millennialists believe in a mid-trib Rapture, so they believe that the Rapture happens at the middle of the tribulation.

Let's dive into what all this means. People who hold this position believe we are currently in the church age, and any time right now, Jesus can come back and rapture His people who are sealed with the Holy Spirit. This will look like people being physically gone from the world because God will take them, as He did with Enoch and Elijah.

The reason why He is going to take up His people is so that they can escape the seven-year tribulation, where God will bring judgment upon the Earth. Mid-trib Rapture proponents believe that the tribulation is divided into two parts: three and a half years of peace and three and a half years of God's judgment. They believe that God's people will be raptured before the three and a half-year Great Tribulation.

Daniel, Chapter 9, and the Book of Revelation go into great detail about the Tribulation. In Revelation, we learn that during the Tribulation, God's judgment will come in the form of seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, and seven bowl judgments. During this time, the Antichrist and the false prophet will lead the final world government, persecuting anyone who doesn't receive their mark.

God will then judge the world by striking the trees, the vegetation, the waters, and the sun. All of this will cause billions upon billions of people to die because Dispensational Pre-millennialists believe the tribulation to be God's wrath upon the earth. They don't believe God's children will be present during this time, allowing them to escape these events because of the Rapture.

The reasoning for this belief is found in First Thessalonians Chapter 5, verse 9: "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. " In this passage, Jesus tells His disciples that they will not know the day or the hour of His coming. Matthew, Chapter 24, verses 42 and 44, reinforces this idea that the hour of Jesus's return will be unknown.

One reason many Christians believe in a pre- or mid-trib Rapture is because this passage states that people won't know the day or the hour of Jesus's return, making the Rapture's timing imminent or surprising. That's the Dispensational Pre-millennialism view in a nutshell. Next, we're going to cover position number two: Historic Pre-millennialism.

People who hold this view believe in a post-trib Rapture, and here's the timeline of what they believe. Their view is incredibly similar to that of those who believe in a pre-trib Rapture; they also believe in a seven-year tribulation filled with events involving the Antichrist and the various seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. But instead of the Rapture occurring before the tribulation, they believe that it won't happen until after the tribulation.

Once Jesus comes back, He'll rule for a thousand years. Again, Satan will have a final rebellion; he'll lose, and then you'll have God's final judgment, followed by the new heaven and the new earth. One key difference between pre-trib and post-trib Rapture proponents is that pre-trib Rapture advocates believe that the Rapture and the second coming of Christ are two separate events.

Whereas post-trip Rapture people believe that they are a single event where Jesus comes back and simultaneously takes up His people to be with Him, and as Jesus steps into the world for a second time, He will reign for 1,000 literal years. One strong reason why people believe in a post-trip rapture is because of Matthew 24:29-31: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. " In this passage, Jesus speaks to His disciples about the signs of His second coming, and He says that after the tribulation, Jesus Himself will send His angels to gather His people around the world. People who hold a post-tribulation rapture position would argue that the only mention of a rapture in this passage occurs after the tribulation is complete and during Christ's second coming.

So, when it comes to enduring the judgments of God during the tribulation, post-trip rapture people would place great emphasis on Christians living faithfully until death so that more people can come to salvation while the mark of the beast is being distributed. Regarding God's children going through the wrath of God, post-tribulation rapture people believe that God's people can be in the midst of God's judgment but still be spared. For example, Noah's family during the flood, Lot and his daughters amidst Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction, and the Israelites in Egypt during the plagues were all divinely protected during God's supernatural judgment.

Thus, it is possible that God can do the same thing during the Great Tribulation. I should note that what both pre- and post-tribulation rapture people have in common is that they both believe that Jesus has a thousand-year reign as a literal thousand years. This leads us to the next position: position number three, Amillennialism.

This position states that the thousand-year reign of Jesus isn't a literal thousand years but is symbolic of the fact that Christ is living within His people right now, which means Christ's kingdom is currently here on Earth. The Amillennial position holds that we are currently living in the church age and that it overlaps with the thousand-year reign and the tribulation. The specific judgments mentioned in the Book of Revelation either happened in the past or will happen later in the future.

They believe that the next key event is the second coming of Christ, who will immediately bring the final judgment and then the new heaven and new earth. All Amillennialists would hold to a similar rapture position as post-trip rapture people. Both groups believe that the Rapture will happen at the same time as the second coming of Christ.

One argument for Amillennialism comes from Revelation 20:1-3: "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up, and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.

But after these things he must be released for a little while. " In this passage, John witnesses an angel with a key and a chain that takes hold of the dragon and binds him for a thousand years so that he won't be able to deceive the nations until the thousand years are finished. Amillennialists argue that this passage, as well as a huge portion of the Book of Revelation, is full of imagery and symbolism and should not be read literally.

When we read this passage about a dragon and an angel with a great chain, the dragon represents the devil, and the chain probably symbolizes the dragon's restriction. So, in the same way that there isn't a literal dragon or a literal beast in the sea or on the earth, the thousand years mentioned here probably wasn't meant to be taken literally as well. Another reason why Amillennialists believe that the thousand-year reign is not literal is because of 2 Peter 3:8, where it talks about how a thousand years is like a day to the Lord.

When it comes to the rapture, like pre-tribulation rapture people, Amillennialists believe that Jesus can come at any time like a thief in the night. The main difference is that Amillennialists believe that when He comes, He will immediately give the final judgment of the earth and then usher in the new heaven and the new earth. Going back to the timeline where the church age, tribulation, and the thousand-year reign overlap, people who hold this view would argue that the reason we are in that thousand-year reign right now is that the millennium symbolizes Christ's reign in our hearts and that the Kingdom of God is something we can experience right here.

We see this in Luke 17:20-21, where Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is within people. Now, to our final position: position number four, Postmillennialism. These people believe that Jesus's second coming will occur after the millennium.

Here's their timeline: They believe that while there is some tribulation right now, our society will slowly get. . .

Better, and that one day we will reach the millennium. And during this time, peace, justice, and Christianity will rule the entire world. And once this millennium has been established for a time, it is then that Jesus will come back, and then he'll have his final judgment and then bring in the new heaven and the new earth.

Supposed millennialists see the tribulation and hardship that's happening right now as a temporary thing that will eventually end. And there will be a time when God's people will continue to preach across the world and that the church will eventually influence our politics, our educational systems, and our economies throughout the entire world. And this will bring a kind of golden age.

And during this time, nearly everyone will be Christian, and there will be no more wars. So this era of peace is what postmillennialists call the millennium, and they believe that once this golden age stands for a time, Jesus will return. So, like all millennialists, postmillennialists believe that the thousand years is symbolic of something else.

And for them, they believe that the millennium is not a literal thousand years but is an extended period of time. One of the reasons why they believe that one day almost everyone will be Christians is due to Matthew 24:14, which says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come.

” And during this time when the gospel is preached to the entire world, an age of peace will come. And it's described in Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 to 4, and it reads, “Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. ’” So as you can see here, the era that will come will be one that is devoid of war and weapons.

And postmillennialists believe that it is God's people that will help usher in this world. Another one of their arguments is found in Matthew 13:31 to 32 when it talks about how the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed. And it grew up to be the greatest of all the herbs and became a tree.

Here, postmillennialists would say that this illustrates the idea of a gradual spread of Christianity. And in the same way that a mustard seed, small but growing into a huge tree, Christianity also started small, and its kingdom will soon grow to be huge and influential, leading to most of the world becoming Christian. So that's all of them in a concise nutshell: dispensational premillennialism, or the belief in a pre- or mid-tribulation rapture; historic premillennialism, or the belief in a post-tribulation rapture; amillennialism, the belief that we are currently in the millennium and that Jesus can come back at any moment; and postmillennialism, the belief that Jesus will come after the millennium is established by His people.

Now, there is one of these beliefs that I lean toward most, but before I tell you my opinion, let me first say that I believe that the timing of the rapture is a side issue and should not cause division in the church. I tend to place greater focus on preaching God's Word and making disciples, as opposed to debating in my mind when the rapture will happen. And on top of that, there are Christians that I respect from all four positions.

I also have two mentors that helped raise me, and they don't hold my position. So please understand that my heart when covering these positions is not to persuade you or convince you which one is right or wrong. Rather, I did my best to be fair and cover all of them equally.

And while I do think that one of these positions is more likely to happen, I do want to say that there are things that all four agree on, and all four agree that Christ is physically coming back and that believers should be ready for His return. Okay, so back to the positions. Out of all four positions, I lean most toward historic premillennialism, or the post-rapture view.

And the reason why is that I feel this position reads the Bible literally the most. For Matthew 24, I feel that a rapture needs to be inserted, and passages that mention a rapture also allude to Christ's second coming. So from what I read in Scripture, I find that the second coming and the rapture are single events as opposed to two.

However, I have a big problem with historic premillennialism, and it's the imminence of Christ's coming. Jesus says He'll come like a thief in the night, and I feel like Jesus can't come in a way that's surprising if there's a post-tribulation rapture. And the reason why is that the Antichrist isn't revealed yet, and the mark is not being distributed.

So Christians could technically, each time Jesus's coming is mentioned, say these things, and Revelation hasn't happened yet, so Jesus isn't coming back yet. And that's a big problem. So I really do like amillennialism and dispensational premillennialism for the fact that Jesus will come, and it will surprise everyone.

Of those two, I would probably lean toward amillennialism because they also see the rapture and the second coming as single events. But the problem that I have with amillennialism is that I see the millennium as being literal. So I really like dispensational premillennialism because it handles the imminence of Christ well with a literal millennium.

But I don't see the rapture and the second coming of Christ as separate events from what I read in Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians. So that's why I say I lean toward historic premillennialism. The reason why is because I think it's closest to being correct when it comes to reading the Bible literally.

But I hold that opinion with a very open hand, and I like hearing what other people have to say. I apologize to my post-millennial best friends. I think that the arguments for this position are the weakest, but I do respect Jonathan Edwards, who held this view, and I'd like to learn more about it.

So, in closing, I hope for a pre-trib rapture, but I mentally prepare for a post-trib rapture just in case. I do all of this while trusting that God will take care of everything. Should you talk to a believer that holds a different position than you, don't fight and divide over it.

Our hope is not in the timing of the rapture; it's in Jesus. So, regardless of our different beliefs, may we all preach God's word so more people can be saved, and may we all stay united so that we can stand against the attacks of the enemy. And while you may or may not be completely sure when the rapture will happen, there is one thing that you can be sure of: Jesus loves you.