- So the Rapture happens before the tribulation..
The rapture happens after the trib has ended according to scripture.
Here is the only passage about The Rapture that actually uses the Greek word that means a rapture, Harpazo:
1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him.
(second coming reference)
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto
the coming of the Lord (second coming reference) shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven (second coming reference) with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise first:
(the resurrection of the dead in Christ)
1Th 4:17 Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
(the rapture)
Here we see the second coming mentioned 3 times, then the resurrection and then the rapture. This proves the rapture is connected to the second coming. All that needs to be proven is when the second coming happens to know when the rapture happens.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The second coming happens AFTER the GT is over, so the rapture happens post-Trib. Circumventing these two passages is to ignore the scriptural evidence of WHEN the rapture is going to happen.
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2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
This gathering is another way to speak of the rapture. Christ used this same language:
Mat 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
There is no doubt that both speak of the coming of Christ and the rapture
which is the gathering of the saints. Because pretribbers are so loyal to their doctrine, they are forced to deny the rapture is spoken of in Matthew 24 despite that it clearly is described.
Christ places the Rapture after the GT ends, which is Post-trib. This matches what Paul said about the timing of the Rapture. Never, not a single time, is the rapture placed before the GT.