Rapture Right or Wrong? Are You A Midtribber?

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15 Angel with Small Scroll

this is part two of a three part follow-up series to interpretive articles, “Interpreting the Rules of Revelation” and “The Rapture”. We recommend that you select and read them both if you haven’t already. Then read “Hunting for Key Words the Inductive Way” before continuing with this rapture critique. The hermeneutic principles contained in all three articles will equip you to better understand this and every other study article posted for your interpretive critique.

Anyone who dedicates the time to engage a systematic study of the doctrine of the Rapture will come away from the text mentally challenged by the event. That God would choose to reconstruct a spirit based body like Christ’s for the disembodied spirits of His righteous dead and raise them heavenward, while at the same time snatching and changing immortal His embodied church, is mind-boggling.

Nevertheless, it will happen. Just exactly when and why it will happen has provoked a three-way debate over its timing and theology for years.

Will it happen because of the Great Tribulation’s deliverance? Or as its reward? Who will be here? And, when, and why, will the Rapture trump blow?

In “Interpreting the Rules of Revelation” we examine the basic principles of hermeneutics. In “Hunting for Key Words the Inductive Way” we take a closer look at key word connection and literal intent. If you’ve studied both of these articles, you should be well equipped to take on every rapture position, including this second rapture position through the eyes of God’s observable, literal intent.

Could you be a midtribber? You decide.

Prophecy’s Promise of Deathlessness

RAPTURE: from the Latin word: RAPIO, to “seize or be carried away in one’s spirit.” New Testament Greek: HARPAZO: to be “caught up.”

From Things To Come, p. 218, by Dwight Pentecost
“The Bema (reward seat) of Christ takes place immediately following the translation of the church out of earth’s sphere. According to Luke 14:14 reward is associated with the resurrection. Since, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, the resurrection is an integral part of the translation, reward must be a part of that program. When the Lord returns to the earth with His bride to reign, the bride is seen to be already rewarded.”

1 Corinthians 15:55
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Midtribulationalism
From: The End, by Norman B. Harrison p. 75.
St. Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit, definitely places the Resurrection and the Rapture of the saints through the coming of Christ “at the last trumpet” (1 Cor. 15:51-53). This is a specific locating of the event. Unquestionably the Holy Spirit revealed the fact and inspired the recording of it. How dare any one locate it otherwise?…Can we postulate the Rapture at any other place than that given by and through the Apostle Paul and claim to maintain the integrity of God’s Word?

From: Understanding End Times Prophecy, by Paul Benware p. 216.
One supporter of this view prefers that it be called the “mid-seventieth week theory of the Rapture, noting that his view is popularly known as the midtribulational theory, but such a term gives rise to a possible misunderstanding.” Those who believe that only the second half of Daniel’s seventieth week (3.5 years) is the time of tribulation would see themselves as really advocating a pretribulational rapture of the church.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Revelation 11:15
15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

Where the posttrib position is heavily dependent upon the Messianic eschatology of Jesus and the Revelation of John, the midtrib position depends upon Paul and John. Key words in Pauline eschatology and Revelation have convinced midtrib proponents of the Rapture’s placement three and one half years into the Tribulation, half-way through Revelation’s text.

Connecting Key Words to Determine the Event
So, does the midtribulational rapture position have a last eschatological trumpet? Yes. In fact, the theory in whole is based on this one hermeneutic point.

Included with the Rapture/Resurrection connection, the midtrib position applies the contextual use of the key words, trumpet, mystery, and last, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54; and Revelation 10 and 11 in determining the time of the event.

First of all, the position emphasizes the fact that Paul’s 1 Thessalonians revelation connects the Rapture with a trumpet blast:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God…

Announced as “the trumpet of God” it will at the time of the Rapture accompany the descending Lord’s “shout” (Strong’s 2752, Arnt & Gingrich 427B: keleusma “cry of command”; “voice of the archangel”).

…and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
13 Seven Angels, Seven Trumpets

Next, proponents cite Paul’s 1 Corinthian 15 resurrection discourse that adds to the key word, trumpet, the descriptive timing adjective, last:

1 Corinthians 15:51-53
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Focusing on the key words in this passage and counting trumpets to find the last eschatological trumpet blown in Revelation, the midtrib position connects the Rapture’s prophetic fulfillment in history to the last and seventh trumpet blown midway through Revelation’s text:

Revelation 11:15-19
15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying, “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign.
18 “And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Resurrection/Rapture Rewards for the Saints
Midtrib proponents embellish their position by pointing to the eschatological event of verse 18 (what eschatologians have identified as the Bema [reward] Seat of Christ), which takes place immediately following the blast of Revelation’s last and seventh trumpet (see 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10; 1 Cor. 3:9-15).

Revelation 11:18
18 “And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

05 The Emerald Throne

Midtribulationalists point out two distinct events that John reports at this eschatological juncture following the seventh trumpet’s blast.

1.  Judgments and rewards for the righteous dead v. 18a.

Revelation 11:18a.
18 …and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great…

2.  The coming of the Eschaton’s final series of judgments v. 18b.

Revelation 11:18b.
18 …and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

These two events, according to the position, occur after the church is raptured, and will usher in the last three and one half years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Great Tribulation) through the release of the judgment bowls.

The Finished”Mystery” of God

Another hermeneutic consideration midtrib proponents mix into their theory is the key word, MYSTERY (Strong’s 3466, Arnt & Gingrich 530A: musterion MU [mouth] STERION [guard]: “secret teaching, thoughts, plans, and dispensations of God which are hidden from human reason”).

Recorded twenty-one times in Paul’s New Testament discourses, the word’s use is consistently aligned with those exclusive redemptive insights veiled under the Old Covenant but made known through his ministry. Included among them are the incarnation of Christ and the believer, joint heirship of Jew and Gentile, and among others, that some “would not die”:

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

The word appears again Revelation 10:7:

Revelation 10:7
7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

Positionalists connect these key mysteries of Paul and John, believing their echatological placements could serve as a seventh trumpet rapture roadmap.

Midtrip Critique
The interpretations of this position are the most hermeneutically cohesive of the three major views so far as key word connections are concerned. But criticisms of it must address some free interpretations applied in assigning the Rapture (1 Cor. 15:52), to God’s mystery (Rev. 10:7), and interpreting the actual event (Rev. 11:15-19).

Let’s look first at this position’s connection of the Rapture and “God’s mystery” in Revelation 10:7.

7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

The Greek word for the message preached in this verse (Strong’s 2097, Arnt & Gingrich 317B: euaggelizo “to announce good news, evangelize, the Divine message of salvation, the gospel”) pertains to the glad tidings and good news of the New Testament.

So it is possible that God’s mystery fulfilled in the days of the seventh angel could be some gospel fulfillment totally mysterious and unrelated to the Rapture event. It may even be contained in the mystery message of the seven uttered thunders sounded before the angel’s statement that John was forbidden to reveal.

06c The Mighty Angel Saying

Revelation 10:4
4 And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them.”

So key word connections of mystery and preached make a good case for Paul’s New Testament Rapture mystery (1 Cor. 15:51). But the application of key words and events in such nondescriptive passages must be understood as free interpretations.

Now let’s look at what chapter 11 literally says about the results of the last Revelation trumpet.

Does Revelation 11 Record the Literal Rapture Event?
No, it does not. That’s not true concerning “a” rapture though. Revelation 11 contains the only literally recorded rapture in biblical eschatology. It occurs to the chapter’s two prophets who appear to be God’s earthly agents of the seven trumpet events.

johnangelrev

Revelation 11:3-10
3 “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
5 And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and if anyone would desire to harm them, in this manner he must be killed.
6 These have the power to shut up the sky, in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.
8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
9 And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

They will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days (42 months or 3.5 years) (v.3); be killed (v.7); then three and one half days afterward will be resurrected and raptured from the dead.

Revelation 11:11-13
11 And after the three and a half days the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them.
12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.
13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Two verses later, John views a startling prophetic scene.

Revelation 11:19
19 and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Could this awesome scene be connected to the Rapture? Midtrib proponents believe the hermeneutics of the position could yes because of the roadmap they provide in regard to the seventh (“last”) trumpet in timing the event. The whole of this position’s findings are directed by this trumpet’s key role in defining the time of the Rapture event.

A Hermeneutic Roadmap?
Midtribbers believe key words and timeframes observed in this passage also present the possibility of a shadow and type timing of the Rapture event. Positionists believe the length of the prophet’s ministries (3.5 years, v. 3), and the amount of time that they lay dead after their martyrdom before they are resurrected and raptured (3.5 days vv.11-15), could provide a parabolic timeframe of the event.

But because a literal interpretation is key to any biblical search, the midtribulational rapture position falls short, as do the other three positions of claiming a completely literal confirmation anywhere in any text.

Eschatology Today Conclusions
Like the posttrib and pretrib rapture theories, the midtribulational rapture theory shares a mix of literal and free interpretations in developing its findings. Its attention to key words in interpreting the event, however, is the most logical hermeneutic of the three positions.

Why?

For there to be a last trumpet, there must be a first, and the seven-fold trumpet sequence in Revelation contains a first and a last. Because the doctrine of the Rapture is exclusively New Testament, it is also logical that Paul and John’s eschatology could provide such a hermeneutic roadmap.

Adding to this the fact that the Great Tribulation’s inaugurating Abomination of Desolation doesn’t happen until Revelation 13, the principle of chronological ascent places the Rapture before the Great Tribulation. So we therefore regard it as the “mid-text pretrib” rapture position. But again, because there is no hard literal evidence, it is still just a theory.

Here again, is a review of the position’s possible evidence.

Paul’s Rapture revelation in 1 Thessalonians 4 connects the Resurrection with the Rapture and synchronizes the event with a coming trumpet.

1Thessalonians 4:16-17
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Paul’s eschatology in 1 Corinthians 15:51,52 reveals the mystery of an immortal bodily change that will occur in sync with the Resurrection at the last trumpet.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

Counting trumpets in Bible texts, the midtrib position locates and interprets the last blown trumpet in Revelation as the key word link to Paul’s “last trumpet” timing clue.

Revelation 11:15
15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

There is a possible key word connection between Paul’s mystery of an immortal bodily change and the New Testament mystery of God that is “finished” when the seventh trumpet sounds.

1 Corinthians 15:51
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed?

Revelation 10:7
7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.

The message “preached” to His servants the prophets is a distinctive New Testament mystery. (Strong’s 2097, Arnt & Gingrich 317B: euaggelizo: “to announce good news [evangelize], the divine message of salvation, the gospel”). Of the twelve New Testament mysteries revealed in Scripture, Paul’s eschatological mystery of the Rapture appears a logical choice. Want to know what the other eleven mysteries are? Do a word search!

The two witness’ ministry is literally revealed as spanning three and a half years (Rev. 11:3). The three and one half days they lay dead can be interpreted as a parabolic shadow and type of the timeframe on either side of the Rapture event (Rev. 11:11). They are both resurrected and raptured at the end of that time (Rev. 11:12).

The Bema Seat of Reward occurs after the blowing of the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:18).

But because the midtrib rapture theory isn’t irrefutable, like the other two positions, it can be challenged.

There is no literal church rapture recorded after the seventh trumpet blows.

There is no conclusive proof that the mystery of God fulfilled in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, is the mystery of the Rapture.

The Bema Seat revelation in Revelation 11:18 is debatable because of its general revelation with no exact timing of the event.

Where the Word of God is Bound, So Are We
Where It’s Not, We Are Free

So, what do you think? Could you be a midtribber? Key word connections of Paul’s timing revelation and John’s description of events in this position’s hermeneutics are compelling. You decide.

Take your Bible and look over each of these heremeneutical assertions to divide the literal from the nonliteral. Then when you’re ready, move on to our final position critique, “Rapture Right or Wrong, Are You a Posttribber?”

Make up your own mind.

Study, pray, think.

Eschatology Today Publisher, Mark Norris MA

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