By Alan Kurschner
First, an Outline of the Prewrath Rapture
In this article I would like to make a case for the Prewrath Rapture and trust that you, the reader, will consider it thoughtfully and Biblically. I will be making my case by examining what are called the “Cosmic Disturbance” passages, which will be explained below. It is my contention that tracing this pivotal eschatological theme, the student of prophecy should grasp coherence and consistency of the key “end-time” Scriptural texts, as well as the events surrounding the immediate framework of our Lord’s Coming.
But in this first part, I want to say something about the Prewrath Rapture as a whole. The reason why this position is called “prewrath” is to stress the truth that believers are promised deliverance from the eschatological Day of the Lord’s wrath (1Thess 5, 1Thess1:10). But this is not the point of contention. This blessed promise is agreed by all viewpoints.
How is the Prewrath position distinctive vis-à-vis the traditional premillennial views such as pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib?
First, it begins with the fundamental truth that the “Great Tribulation” is initiated at the midpoint of the 7 year period, or what is commonly called the “70th week of Daniel” (Dan. 9:27, Matt. 24:15, 21-22). The Great Tribulation is in no way to be viewed as “God’s wrath,” but rather “Antichrist’s” wrath. The object of persecution during this time of great distress are believers—not unbelievers (Matt. 24:22).
In addition Jesus informs us that the Great Tribulation is “cut short” with his Coming. The “70th week of Daniel” is not cut short, but rather the persecution is cut short. When will this “cutting short” occur? We don’t know. Jesus says that no one knows the day or hour; but Jesus does place it after the midpoint after an unknown duration of time.
So to understand the distinctive position of the Prewrath rapture, it is important to distinguish two events:
1) The “Great Tribulation” which begins at the midpoint (the object of wrath are believers, the persecutor is an “Antichrist” figure); and after an unknown duration of time those days will be ‘cut short” with his Coming (Parousia).
2) The “Day of the Lord’s wrath” which will commence when Christ returns (the object of wrath will be the ungodly). After the Great Tribluation is cut short, the Day of the Lord’s wrath will be poured out for what remains left of the 70th week of Daniel.
One other point should be noted. Most would agree that on the same day when the Lord comes back and raptures the church and resurrects the dead, he immediately begins to pour out his Day of the Lord’s wrath. Just so that we do not make any unwarranted assumptions the following texts demonstrate this truth in which deliverance/judgment occur back-to-back on the same day (Luke 17:22-35, 2 Thess. 1:6-10, 2 Peter 3:12)
To recap, the Prewrath rapture view teaches that at the midpoint of the “70th week of Daniel” the “abomination of desolation” will initiate the Antichrist’s Great Tribulation (this is not God’s wrath; rather the object of persecution during this time will be the church, not the ungodly). Then according to Jesus, at some unknown duration or time (no one knows the day or hour) the Great Tribulation will be cut short (not the 70th week cut short, rather the Great Tribulation is cut short) with the Coming of Christ to deliver the righteous (rapture) and resurrection, then the subsequent Day of the Lord’s wrath against the ungodly will follow for what remains left of the 7 year period. (Click here for a comparison chart)
That is the contour of the Prewrath Rapture. Let us now consider if the Biblical evidence provides us with a strong, viable, defense for this perspective.
The Day of the Lord’s wrath
In most studies on end times and the rapture question, the default or the presupposition is to simply assume a timing of the rapture and then attempt to fit all the events (no matter how awkward) around that presupposed timing.
This is not fair to Jesus’ teaching, and it does not allow a natural reading of the flow of the events–further, it is indicative of someone protecting a traditional view without an openness to challenge one’s own viewpoint.
I will argue that the real question to ask is not the timing of the rapture, but the timing of the “Day of the Lord.” As will be demonstrated below, once the timing of the Day of the Lord is established, the rapture question is naturally answered.
A cursory reading of the Old Testament and the New Testament eschatological passages will reveal that one of the most significant themes or events that stands out is the “Day of the Lord.”
Of course this is not referring to a single 24 hour period, but it is rather an expression to denote an unknown length of time at the end of the age in which the vindication of God’s holiness upon the wicked will be meted out. The key texts which the reader can study are as follows: Zephaniah 1:14-2:3; Isaiah 2:10-21; Isaiah 13:6-13; Amos 5:18-20; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1-2, 10-11; Joel 3:14-16; Zechariah 14:1-4; 1 Thess. 5:1-11; 2 Peter 3:1-14.
From these “Day of the Lord” texts we can learn that the prophets multifariously describe this momentous period of time at the end of the age. A brief summary of their descriptions of the Day of the Lord is given,
It is the Day of the Lord, it is not from any man, but God himself; The Lord alone is exalted.
Object of Wrath: the ungodly–not believers
Purpose: Judgment, Reckoning, Vengeance, Punishment, Justice
It is Fury, Burning Anger, Destruction, Panic, Subjugation, Confusion, Tumult, Doom, Battle, Dark Clouds, Awesome, Unique
“Follow the Money”
The common expression, “follow the money,” is invoked in everyday conversation in order to find a cause, source, or an origin to a problem. But when it comes to the rapture question I have my own expression, “Follow the Cosmic Disturbances.” What do I mean by this?
In the Day of the Lord passages cited above, the recurring theme, or event, are these particular “Cosmic Disturbances.” If we see this pervading theme over and over again, it is incumbent upon the student of prophecy to listen (or read) closely to what these cosmic events are telling us.
Therefore, let us turn to four key Cosmic Disturbance texts that will provide for us information about the Day of the Lord’s wrath, and thus the timing of the rapture.
“Before the Day of the Lord” (Joel 2:30-31)
Here is one text in particular that is highly significant, but frequently overlooked,
I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. Joel 2:30-31
Notice that Joel gives us a central piece of information: “before.” It points as a sign to the Day of the Lord. Keep note of this because it will be important as we examine the following New Testament texts.
“Stand up and life up your heads” (Luke 21:25-28)
Luke is consistent with Joel.
In Luke’s account of Jesus’ teaching on the Second Coming (the Olivet Discourse) we find these Cosmic Disturbances in the context of God’s wrath (actually announcing God’s wrath):
There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Luke 21:25-28
Joel’s “Cosmic Disturbance” text gave us the important piece of information that the Cosmic Disturbances will occur “before” the Day of the Lord, Luke is consistent as well in his account that the Cosmic Disturbances announce God’s wrath, “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world.”
Luke’s “Cosmic Disturbance” text gives us two additional pieces of information, which are two opposite reactions from two different groups of people:
1) The response from the ungodly: terror of the impending wrath of God.
2) The response for believers: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Keep this in mind as we move unto Matthew’s account.
“Cosmic Disturbances” placed between two important events (Matthew 24:29-31)
At the beginning of our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 24, the disciples ask what is the sign of the Coming and the End of the Age, indicating that the two events are closely related.
Again, there is consistency with the former Cosmic Disturbance texts. Matthew’s Cosmic Disturbance indicates an announcement of God’s judgment coupled with a response from the ungodly, “all the nations of the earth will mourn.”
Matthew as well provides us with important additional information. Jesus says,
Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24:29-31
What additional information does Matthew provide for us?
Observe that Jesus highlights the Cosmic Disturbances as a significant event which he places, “immediately after the distress of those days,” and followed with the Coming of Christ, “at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear.”
So the Cosmic Disturbances are placed between the Great Tribulation and the Coming of Christ.
Before we move to our last Cosmic Disturbance text, let me pause for a moment and bring all that we have learned so far together.
1) In Matthew 24:15, Jesus tells us that he cites the prophet Daniel (9:27) to foretell an event in which a particular individual, which he calls an “abomination that causes desolation,” who will initiate a “great tribulation” (Matt 24:21).
2) The object of persecution, which is orchestrated by an “Antichrist” individual, will be believers–not the ungodly. And at some unknown point in time the great tribulation against believers will be “cut short” (Matt. 24:22).
3) When is the great tribulation cut short? “Immediately after the distress of those days [with the Cosmic Disturbances, followed by the Coming of Christ]” (Matt. 24:29).
4) The previous texts above taught that the Cosmic Disturbances announce the Day of the Lord’s wrath.
5) When believers–in the midst of persecution–see these unmistakable Cosmic Disturbances, they are to “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
6) But for the ungodly, their time of judgment is now at hand. Once believers are delivered from the Great Tribulation, the Day of the Lord’s wrath will commence with unspeakable fury upon the ungodly.
“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation” (Rev. 7:14)
We now turn to our last Cosmic Disturbance text of note.
The following Revelation Cosmic Disturbance text is arguably the most descriptive one in the Bible,
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:12-17.
Are you beginning to see the consistency in all these texts?
Before I comment on the sixth seal, notice what the fifth seal reveals,
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed. Revelation 6:9-11
1) The timing and the nature of the fifth and sixth seal agree perfectly with our Lord’s teaching: the persecution and martyrdom of believers will be followed by the Cosmic Disturbances.
2) Observe that in the fifth seal the martyred saints still see the wrath of God as future. In fact, they are told to wait a little longer because more persecution of believers is yet to come.
3) Further, in the sixth seal the response of the ungodly unmistakably indicates that the wrath of God is impending with the precursor of his wrath being the Cosmic Disturbance.
4) Someone may raise the observation, “Though this text has a reference to the persecution of believers and the Cosmic Disturbances, there is no reference to the deliverance or return of Christ.”
Ah! But we must read on. There are seven seals total. Note that in all the seals there is a conspicuous break between the six seal and the seventh seal. If Revelation is consistent with all the previous passages examined, it should have some reference of deliverance of the saints (a result of the Lord’s return).
Before the seventh seal is broken that contains the systematic wrath of God, Revelation seven provides us with an interlude between the sixth and seventh seal being broken. In this interlude there are two groups of people in view: a group of 144,000 Jews who are sealed on earth, and the second group are a multitude of believers in heaven who are from every nation and have come out of the Great Tribulation.
For our purposes, the second group concerns us here. The text says,
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes– who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:9-14
The statement, “these are they who have come out of the great tribulation” is consistent with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24 in which the deliverance of the saints from the Great Tribulation will take place at the Cosmic Disturbances when our Lord returns.
There has been some question to whether the rapture saints are in view here or the resurrected dead in Christ, or both. This does not present a problem given that both the resurrection and the rapture occur back-to-back at his Coming (1Thess. 4:16-17).
The First Six Seals Are Not God’s Wrath
On a related point, many Pretribulationalists have wrongly assumed that the six seals are God’s wrath and thus part of the Day of the Lord. This is simply assumed and necessary for the Pretrib system because they cannot allow any prophesied events to unfold before the rapture because that would undermine their Holy Grail: Imminency.
The seals are not God’s wrath but precursors to the Day of the Lord. The following is not meant to be an exhaustive explanation of this supposition, but an outline of points.
First, the Cosmic Disturbances of the sixth seal announce God’s wrath upon the ungodly, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” (Joel 2:31)
Second, both the responses from the martyrs in the fifth seal and the ungodly in the sixth seal reveal that God’s wrath is soon to come–they have not viewed it already in the past. The fifth seal martyrs are asking when God will pour out his wrath; and the ungodly in the sixth seal are running to the caves and crying out about the impending wrath.
Third, the fact that there are two groups of people, one group being sealed and the other delivered, just before the seventh seal suggests strongly that they are being sealed and delivered from something looming that will come upon the whole world.
Fourth, the nature of the events in the first four seals are “natural” (but intense) catastrophes (wars, famines, etc.) carried out by “horsemen.” This is in contrast to when the seventh seal (supernatural contents) is opened up and the unmistakable wrath of God is mediated directly by angels via the trumpet and bowl judgments against the ungodly. (By the way, a fourth of mankind is not killed in the fourth seal–there is only, “power over a fourth of the earth.”)
Fifth, the first five seals in Revelation chapter six parallel Jesus’ teaching about this being the “beginning of birth pangs” in Matthew 24:5-8.
Sixth, obviously the fifth seal is not God’s wrath because it specifically speaks of the martyrdom of believers. And since believers are promised protection from the Day of the Lord’s wrath, to argue that the fifth seal is God’s wrath is contradictory.
Seventh, when the seventh seal is opened, immediately it says that there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. The most plausible explanation for this silence is for all the members of the heavenly court to observe the grave and profound significance of the event that is to follow: The Eschatological Day of the Lord’s wrath. Immediately after this silence it says,
“Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
This unprecedented dreadful opening act of God’s wrath is then followed by how the Old Testament prophets characterized the Day of the Lord: fire and destruction. And this is realized in the trumpet and bowl judgments.
In Conclusion
The Cosmic Disturbances is a pivotal theme in eschatological texts. Sadly, when believers approach the Scripture with a preconceived view of the timing of the rapture or other obstacles, they may come away from it more entrenched in their tradition, or confused, or just plain frustrated.
As I have suggested, we should not begin with the question, “What is the timing of the rapture,” but rather trace the references of the central event of the Cosmic Disturbances in these key texts to establish the framework of the Day of the Lord in relation to the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of our Lord.
Finally, here is a personal question for you: If God calls you to be in that last generation of the church to encounter this great persecution that precedes the Second Coming, which group will you be in when he comes back? The ungodly or the godly? Will you “faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world?” Or will you, within the persecution to come upon the church, be faithful and confident enough to “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
It is an existential question that Jesus poses to every believer, in which we must set in our hearts with the proper readiness, if he comes in our generation.
