When Will The Rapture Occur?

While we know that Christ is coming back one day, we are not to get so caught up in looking for his return that we begin to believe the predictions we hear.   Paul warned us not to allow prophecy to get us all stirred up and upset in II Thessalonians 2:1-3.  Jesus warned about the same thing in Matthew 24:23-28.  “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.  Behold, I have told you before.  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”

He warned that false teachers and prophets would use powerful signs and wonders to convince people they were right, even confusing some who know the truth.  Many of the signs of the times they point at have nothing to do with the return of Christ, showing only that we lived in wicked world that has turned away from God and is experiencing the consequences of their sin.  We have been told repeatedly Christ’s coming will be like a thief in the night, catching people by surprise.   As Jesus explains, when it happens, it will be like a flash of lightening, completely unexpected, but everyone will know when it happens, just as they see the flash and hear the thunder when lightning strikes.  

In II Thessalonians 2:3, Paul wrote, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”  We know from Daniel that the Antichrist will be revealed during the seven years of tribulation.  In Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus describes the sequence of events surrounding his return.  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Jesus was very specific that he would not come for his people until the end of the Tribulation period, and the sequence of events in Revelation 14: 14-20 seems to confirm that statement.  “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 

And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.  And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.  And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”  The Lord will come for his own people just before the forces of evil are destroyed at the battle of Armageddon. 

John Nelson Darby appears to have originated the belief that the Rapture would occur before the tribulation begins, based on interpreting II Thessalonians 2:7 as referring to the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately there is no other scriptures to support such an interpretation, and II Peter 1:20 tells us, “…no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”   If the Tribulation starts before the Rapture, please understand it no way changes what God has promised.  It just means some prophecy teachers have misinterpreted the scriptures, so don’t give up hope.  God’s word is still true.