Pretribulationism

S. P. Tregelles on the Sentimentalism of the Pretribulational Rapture

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

Samuel_P_Tregelles.jpg
S. P. Tregelles was one of the most noted 19th century Greek scholars. His generation was the first to confront what was called back then, “the secret rapture” (a.k.a. the pretribulational rapture).
What he observed about pretribulationists back in the 19th century still holds true today: Many affirm pretribulationism out of sentimentalism.
One of the last books he wrote was on refuting this novel doctrine. In The Hope of Christ’s Second Coming, he poignantly writes,

It is very manifest that the doctrine of a secret coming of Christ, and a secret removal of the Church to be with Him, is peculiarly suited to those who cherish the religion of sentiment. What more cheering (they say) than the thought that the Lord may take His people to Himself at any moment? What more animating than the belief that this may take place this very day? And when any one brings them to Scripture, and tries to point out the revealed hope of the Lord’s coming, it seems as if there were nothing but coldness in the teaching, and as if the Lord were put far off from them. They ask sometimes if such chilling doctrines can be consistent with love to the Lord, and whether love to His person does not exclude the thought of a revealed interval, and of events that will take place first. It is thus that truth is judged by sentiment and emotion, instead of true emotions, which are according to God, being formed by truth in all its definite severity (p. 75).

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HermeneuticsOlivet DiscoursePretribulationism

Matthew 24, The End of the Age, Pretribulationism, “Accusative for Extent of Time” (Always, πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας)

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

Yes, all those topics are related! Let me explain.
I had a Greek professor once who would often cite Greek grammatical categories to rule out particular interpretations of a Biblical text (that is an essential practice for good exegesis). For example, he would say, “This doctrine cannot be true because of the perfect, passive, present, participle.” I enjoyed this because it demonstrated the Protestant spirit that you did not have to learn grammatical categories from a pope or some magisterial teaching authority. The priesthood of believers allows each individual to interpret the Scriptures accordingly. This does not mean that every believer is going to have the learned skills to discern all the subtleties of Greek for example. But it shows that it is available.
For those who know the original languages of Greek and Hebrew, they understand that grammatical categories, most of the time, cannot give you the precise meaning of an interpretation, but it often eliminates dubious meanings and narrows the options. Or said another way: Exegesis has never been about possibility, it is about probability.
That being said…
Pretribulationists assert that the events in Matthew 24 do not apply to the Church, but rather the teaching is for a future generation of “saved Jews” (apparently not part of the Church) who will experience the Second Coming. And often you will hear them qualify this by saying, “But there is some spiritual application in Matthew 24 for the Church.” I find this latter statement quite odd since the spiritual warnings in Matthew 24 depend on the doctrinal teaching. To detach the spiritual application of “watchfulness” found in vv. 36ff., from the doctrinal teaching found in vv. 1-35, is to violate all sorts of interpretative sound principles. This inconsistency is indicative of a tradition.
Pre-wrath literature abounds in argumentation demonstrating that the Church is the primary audience of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24. One particular argument I want to address is that Jesus says that the Church will be here until the end of the age; as well, he promises the Church that he will be with them, through the Holy Spirit, to the end of the age. In the Great Commission passage, it says,

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always [πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας], to the end of the age.” –Matt 28:18-20

It is significant in this verse that the word “always” is found in the accusative case in Greek, not the genitive case. As a general rule, the accusative functions to limit the quantity (extent), and the genitive used to limit quality (kind). And when the accusative is used adverbially, as in this verse, this is particularly significant. Here we have what is called an “accusative for extent of time,” which answers “How long?”
If “always” was placed in the genitive, then Jesus would have been saying that he would be with them during this present Church age, but not necessarily the entire Church age and to the end of the age. But Jesus’ choice of the accusative assures that Jesus will be with believers to the extent of the entire Church age, up to the end of the age. (cf. Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics, Wallace, 201-203.)
The following two concepts are illustrated:

<----------- Genitive ------------>

|——————————- Accusative ——————–|End of Age


This brings me to my main point. In the Olivet Discourse, we have two references to the end of the age. First, the discourse begins with the disciples asking a question of what would be the sign of the end of the age (v. 3). The second reference is Matthew 24:14, which Jesus says,

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

These references to the end of the age are problematic for the pretribulationist who says that Matthew 24 is not a teaching for the Church. Since all pretribulationists would affirm that Matthew 28:18-20 is a teaching for the Church and that Jesus is with his Church to the end of the age, why all of a sudden in Matthew 24:3,14 is the Church no longer found to exist up to the end?
There is no Scriptural basis for this inconsistency. It’s indicative of Tradition. Further, pretribulationists are in direct disobedience to Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:20, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you,” when they teach believers that Jesus’ commands in the Olivet Discourse do not apply to them.
To get around this plain teaching I have even heard some pretribulationists assert that there are two “end of the ages”! That is a desperate attempt at reconciling their pretrib tradition while denying Jesus’ teaching.
Let’s thank the Lord that his particular promise is found in the “Accusative for Extent of Time” and thereby he will not leave his Church during the greatest of all tribulations!

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Post-TribulationismThessalonians 1&2

Where Do Believers Go After They Are United With Christ at the Rapture?
A Response to Post-Tribulationism

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

There are three possibilities:

1) Remain in the Air
2) Enter the Heavenly Abode into the Father’s Presence
3) Immediately Escort Christ downward to Earth

The pre-wrath position is that after the rapture their destination is to enter the heavenly abode of God’s presence. Then after a duration of time during which the Lord metes out eschatological wrath upon the ungodly and their nations, believers will descend to the earth for the millennium and eternity.

There are three important passages that teach that we do not immediately descend to the earth just after the rapture, but rather are brought into the Father’s presence:

“Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, (14) knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” –2 Cor 4:13-14 (cf. 1Th 4:14).

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” –John 14:2-3

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” (14) I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (15) “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.” –Rev 7:13-15

On a similar note, post-tribulationists argue that in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 the Greek noun, “meeting” (ἀπάντησις) requires the technical meaning of an “immediate escort back to the origin of place.” Thus, according to this understanding, the Church will immediately escort Jesus back to earth just after the rapture.

This understanding of that Greek word is simply in error. I devoted an entire lecture on this word at the Orlando Prewrath Conference in 2008. Here are my notes on it.

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Mid-Tribulationism

Douglas Moo on Mid-Tribulationism, a.k.a. Mid-Seventieth Week Rapture

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

The mid-tribulational rapture position is not discussed much here simply for the reason that it has been unconvincing to believers since it’s inception around the mid-20th century. To be sure, this minority view has had its proponents in the past such as Gleason Archer, Norman Harrison, and J. Oliver Buswell. But there is even disagreement between these individuals on important categories, particularly between Archer and Buswell. Today, the mid-tribulational view has mostly become defunct. In fact, I have been informed that the next edition to the popular rapture book by Zondervan, Three Views on the Rapture, the mid-trib view will be jettisoned and replaced by the . . . yes, you guessed it, the pre-wrath view! To be sure, this is not to suggest that the mid-trib and pre-wrath positions are similar or variations of each other&#8212they are not. If anything, it is the pretrib and mid-trib that have affinities with each other; and the pre-wrath and post-trib with each other.
Post-tribulationalist Douglas Moo argues against the mid-trib rapture error that the saints experience persecution during the first half of the 70th week of Daniel,

For Daniel 9:27, the text that most clearly delineates the sequence of events in the seventieth week, explicitly states that it is only at the mid-point of the week that the Antichrist begins his persecution of the saints&#8212during the first half of the week, he is in covenant relationship with Israel. Similarly, Paul indicates that the evil of the Antichrist is restrained at the present time but that restraining will one day be lifted, at which time the Antichrist will exalt himself above God and demand worship in the temple (2 Thess. 2:1-10). A comparison of the texts reveals clearly that this is the same event predicted by Daniel for the mid-point of the seventieth week. With this picture the Revelation is in complete agreement; the thirteenth chapter portrays the Antichrist as the active initiator of persecution against the saints. Even the Olivet Discourse hints at this by commanding the saints to flee from Jerusalem only after “the abomination of desolation” is set up in the temple. The point, then, is that Scripture consistently portrays the first part of Daniel’s seventieth week as a time of relative tranquility for the saints; it is only at the midpoint of the week when the Antichrist asserts his authority that the “wrath of man” against the saints becomes evident. It is this outbreak of satanic activity that makes the midpoint of the seventieth week significant. p. 166

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Pretribulationism

Paul Feinberg’s Faulty Exegesis

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

The following three juxtapositions speak for themselves. Feinberg’s statements are from Three Views on the Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-tribulation (Zondervan, 1996).
Feinberg: “In each of the Rapture passages there is no mention of trial before the event.” p. 81
The Apostle Paul: “Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. (5) This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering– (6) since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, (7) and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels (8) in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (9) They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, (10) when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.” –2 Thess 1:4-10
——————————–
Feinberg: “There is no clear, indisputable reference to the Rapture in any Second Advent passage.” p. 81

The Apostle Paul: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (14) For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (15) For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming (parousia) of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (16) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (18) Therefore encourage one another with these words.” –1 Thess 4:13-18
——————————–
Feinberg: “There is no clear, indisputable mention of the resurrection of the church at the Second Advent.” p. 82
The Apostle Paul: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (21) For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (23) But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming (parousia) those who belong to Christ.” –1 Cor 15:20-23

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