Awaken Bible Prophecy Update 11-8-23 – Rationale for Pre-Tribulation Rapture

A friend of mine, who is a scholar at heart and a new believer, asked me to help him understand the rationale for a pre-Tribulation Rapture. I thought I would take the occasion of his questions to outline my thinking in this regard in this forum. Every Bible prophecy teacher has his quirks and biases that may cause some slight differences in his understanding of the overall pre-Tribulation concept and the timeline for these last days. But there is general agreement on the primary Bible passages that define this seminal event.

Here are Larry’s questions that I’ll take a stab at in this Commentary:

"I understand the Bible today and I never did prior. But I also understand some of it differently than others have explained it to me. I’ve been trying to understand the rapture and the different beliefs of when; it’s brought me to an hypothesis based on scripture, but I still don’t think I am comfortable putting a “pre” “mid” or “post on it.

"Can you point me to the scripture you utilize to outline a pre-trib rapture? I’m also interested in what you think defines the beginning of the tribulation. The problem I have understanding any timeframe for a rapture, is that in order to do that, I feel like a definition of when the tribulation starts must come prior to believing in any timeline. What event do you think begins the tribulation? Or what event do you think occurs immediately after the rapture and what scripture do you rely on for that? I’m seriously interested in learning what scriptures are used to back up any of the timelines for the rapture. Why “pre”? Why somebody else would believe “mid” or “post”? My experience is that many people have a timeline belief of the rapture, but nobody seems to want to share why (based on scripture) they believe the one they do. I can google things just like others, but I’d rather hear from people who have strong beliefs as to why they have them."

These are great questions because he’s exactly right. A lot of people believe one approach or another, but only because someone else told them such and such was the right interpretation of Scripture. Unfortunately, this kind of ignorance has a long pedigree.

Please note that the transcript is available on my website blog under the post with the same title.

Gary Ritter website & blog:
https://garyritter.com/