Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 125:499 (Jul 1968)
Article: Biblical Evidence for Pretribulationism
Author: Gordon R. Lewis

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BSac 125:499 (Jul 68) p. 216

Biblical Evidence for Pretribulationism

Gordon R. Lewis

[Gordon R. Lewis, Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Philosophy, Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, Denver, Colorado.]

I. The Time of the Rapture in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

Several things may be established concerning the time of the rapture from the earlier first epistle to Thessalonica. The rapture of the saints living at the coming of the Lord will not precede the resurrection of the living dead (1 Thess 4:15). Rather, “the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds (4:16–17). We cannot determine the times and seasons even though the signs are as evident as birth pangs. The rapture will occur suddenly, as does the birth of a child (5:3). To change the analogy, it will occur as suddenly as a thief. Many will be lulled into a false security, but believers are not to be in a sleepy or drunken stupor, but alert and sober. Thus they will not be unprepared, but full of faith, love, and hope when suddenly raptured (5:8). These characteristics are possible because the believers are not destined to wrath, but salvation. The assurance applies to divine wrath without qualification, whether in the eternal state or in the tribulation (5:9). When problems later arise, it is tribulation which is of concern. Because the rapture is explicitly in the immediate context, it is most normal to understand the deliverance from tribulation wrath by rapture.

If a posttribulationist imports into this context a theory of preservation from divine wrath by some other means during the tribulation, he ought to produce some evidence from the context for his theory. Meanwhile, the section on the rapture and the believer’s readiness for it concludes with the summation that whether we wake or sleep we shall live

BSac 125:499 (Jul 68) p. 217

together with Christ, and so we may comfort one another (5:10–11). We should build one another up, for having turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, we wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come (1:10). The teaching of 1 Thessalonians, then, seems to be that before the outpouring of divine wrath on earth the church may expect to be caught up into the air to be forever with Christ.

As we move to 2 Thessalonians, ...

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