Biblical Proofs of a Pre-tribulation

Rapture of the Church
There are several proofs that the church will not pass through the tribulation. First, because we are in Christ, we cannot be judged a second time. Our sins were judged at the cross of Calvary, borne by the sinless Saviour. By offering His own body as a sacrifice, He made all who believe in Him justified and perfect before God. The tribulation is a seven-year period of the most dreadful nature that will come to those wicked people who rebelled against God and forsook the path of faith. If the church were to pass through it, we would undergo a second judgement, as if Jesus’ sacrifice was not sufficient to justify us, and that’s impossible. Therefore the Holy Spirit will translate the church before the tribulation. Second, we see a pattern of what will happen in the stories of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah. Let’s look first at the time of Noah (see Gen. 6-8). Following Noah’s repeated cry that God would judge the world, the flood finally came and lasted forty days and forty nights. Just before that, however, He caused the eight members of Noah’s family to enter the ark and escape the flood. Then God judged. Jesus said, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:37).

God let Noah and his family escape the flood by taking refuge in the ark before He judged the world. How much more will He make a way of escape from the tribulation for those whom Jesus Christ bought with the price of His own blood and sealed with the Holy Spirit? It would be contrary to God’s nature for Him to make no distinction between His saints and the rest of the world, judging us the same as He judges them. Consider also Sodom and Gomorrah. Though Lot lived there by his own free will, yet God, knowing him to be a righteous man, spared the lives of Lot and his family when He rained down judgement. Not until angels had led them safely away did He loose the fire and brimstone (see Gen. 19:15-29).

Thus God rescues those whom He has chosen and who have trusted in Him by faith. And so shall we who have been justified by the precious Blood of Jesus escape the Tribulation. Third, the fact that the church is mentioned often in Revelation 1-3, but not once in chapters 4-19, also suggests it will not pass through the tribulation. If we were going to endure it, we would surely find references to the church in those chapters. The word saint is used often, however, in those chapters. It may refer to people who become Christians after the rapture. At least by its silence, then, this portion of Revelation strongly suggests the church will pass through the tribulation. Fourth, Jesus indicated the church would not pass through the tribulation in Luke 21:34-36: And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your heart be overcharged with surfeiting, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Did Jesus say we should make preparations to pass through all the things that will happen to us? No. He said we must watch and pray so that we may escape all the things that will happen and so stand before Him. First Thessalonians 1:10 also tells us to “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” If he delivered us from the wrath to come, how could He also make us go through it? In Revelation 3:10 Jesus also said to the Philadelphian church, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (emphasis added). When we take into account all these scriptures and teachings of Jesus, we can conclude with certainty that Jesus will not bring the tribulation of judgement to this world until He completely translates His church at His first coming in the air. My purpose in writing this, is not to teach you how to pass skilfully through the tribulation, nor is it to teach you with what resolution you should pass through. Rather I want to stimulate you to watch and pray by showing you sure proof that you will be caught up in the air before the tribulation.