Previously, I began this series with an introduction to the issue, and a look at the differences between the Pre-Tribulational and the Pre-Wrath views of the rapture of the church. “Rapture” is a transliteration of the Latin word rapturo, which means “catching up,” and refers to the gathering of the elect before the Day of the Lord. In this installment, it is my intention to take the reader through the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, in order to show how clear the text really is about the events surrounding the end of the age. In part 1, I asked the reader to read Matthew 24 before proceeding; if you didn't do that, please do so now, before proceeding.
Matthew 24 flows directly from Matthew 23, which consists of the famous woes to the Pharisees, and ends with this passage:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’†Matthew 23:37-39
Then we proceed into Matthew 24, which begins with the disciples commenting on the architecture of the city of Jerusalem:
Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.†Matthew 24:1-2
He's clearly upset, but as long as he brought up His return and the destruction of Jerusalem, the disciples ask privately how we'll know when to expect that:
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?†And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you dare not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom swill be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:3-14
Already we are starting to see Jesus paint us a picture of the last days. In order to maintain the focus on Matthew 24, I won't get into some of the parallel passages, such as Revelation 6, but I will recommend to the reader that you read that chapter to see how well the events parallel what Jesus describes here. Before you do that, let us continue.
We must be careful with our reading here. To begin, keep in mind who the speaker and the audience are. Our Lord is speaking to His disciples. He is talking to the first followers He had among the church. These people are believers, representatives of the Church. They are us. When Jesus answers the questions they ask, He is speaking to all believers. He's not speaking to Jews, or to non-believers. I can't stress this enough, a good expositor of Scripture always has in mind the context of what he's reading, and this passage is as important as any to keep in mind the proper context.
With that said, let's look at the question being asked of the disciples: “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?“. They say “these things.” Just what are “these things?” Well, Jesus has already brought up two things: the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and His return. He has said “For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.‘” (Matthew 23:39) and “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:2). These are the things the disciples are asking about.
Jesus begins answering them by giving them two signs that come before the end: false Christs, and wars & rumors of war. From that, the disciples (and, by extension, all believers) can expect that before we see the Lord again, we should see false Christs, wars, and rumors of wars. This is very important because Pre-Tribbers will tell you over and over, ad nauseum, that there are no signs needed before the return of Christ. We're already running into a problem, and we're just getting started.
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” Again, war. He's adding in famines now too (which often come with major wars, but let's not speculate too much here.) When you finish this, keep this in mind, as it will be among the events described in Revelation 6 that parallels this account.
“All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” Birth pains are an analogy that is often cited by Pre-Millenialists of all stripes to describe the events surrounding the end of the age. Many Pre-Tribbers are famous for reading the Bible and the newspaper at the same time, and trying to fit current events into prophecy. (All the while telling us there are no signs to indicate when the Lord will return, go figure). Birth pains are interesting, because they don't come out of nowhere. A woman may have no idea when the next contraction is coming, but you can be certain she knows they're coming. The first sign that she should prepare for them was when she found out she was pregnant. It's kind of hard to have labor pains without being pregnant. Labor pains end up betraying the Pre-Trib commitment to imminence and lack of signs. (Imminence will be among the first objections that Pre-Tribbers offer that I'll address in subsequent installments of this series.)
Continuing on… “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” This statement is big, in my opinion. In the next installment, I'll get into the distinction between the 70th Week of Daniel, the Tribulation, and the Day of the Lord (a.k.a. the Wrath of God). Pre-Trib sees no distinction between the three, and the lack of distinction causes problems, as seen here. Jesus promises here that His followers, during the period leading up to His return, will be “delivered up to tribulation”. The world “tribulation”, translated “affliction” in other versions (this is from the ESV), is θλιψις (thlipsis) in the Greek. We'll come back to it in a coming installment, but for the sake of this installment, just notice that Jesus isn't promising that we'll be kept from θλιψις, or tribulation, rather he's telling us that we'll be delivered up by our enemies to it. It's something we can anticipate, and we should not expect to escape.
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” What does it mean that ‘many will fall away'? False converts will turn around and deny the faith that they appeared to embrace. Andy why not? If they weren't really converted, hadn't really been brought into the Fold of Christ, why stick around? Christ's people are being hated and killed for His name's sake. If someone isn't really His, they have nothing to gain by continuing the lie that they are believers.
It is also worth noting that if the Pre-Trib view is correct, believers will be gone at this time. Never mind there won't be anyone left to be turned over to tribulation for Christ's name sake, since they're all with Christ in Heaven (according to that view), why would there be any false converts? With true converts out of the picture, there is no reason for false converts to continue falsifying a conversion.
“And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” These two statements are not surprising. The time will be defined by lies. People will believe the lies. Because of those lies, people will be filled with hatred for each other.
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom swill be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” I'm Reformed in my view of salvation, and many of my Pre-Trib friends are also Reformed in their salvation. We would render the passage “But the one who is saved will endure to the end.” This is just another passage illustrating the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. What's important here, and what my Pre-Trib friends would disagree with me on, is that we have believers called upon to endure to the end. They would say that the believers have already been taken out of the equation. They must insert “Tribulation Saints,” people who are saved after the Rapture of the church, for this passage to make any sense at all.
The Gospel is proclaimed. Then the end will come. Notice when the end will come, after the falling away, the church being delivered over to tribulation, the hatred, the falling away, the wars and rumors of wars, etc. Pre-Trib says that the believers are gone, and this is the end, the whole period we've been reading about thus far. The view doesn't fit with the words of Jesus.
“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
We're now at the greatest of the signs. Jesus is telling us that when we see Daniel's prophecy fulfilled, it's time to get out of town. You can go back and read Daniel 9 if you wish, but the prophecy in view here is that the Anti-Christ will sit upon the throne of God in the Temple in Jerusalem, declaring himself to be God, the most blasphemous act ever committed in all of human history. (See also 2 Thessalonians 2:4). Notice that we're still here, the end has not come yet. We're getting closer, but we're not there yet. Pre-Tribbers will tell you that the Church will never see the Anti-Christ, we're gone before he's even revealed. They'll squeeze the Church into 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 and somehow make the Church the force that is restraining the “Man of Lawlessness” and preventing him from being revealed, but Jesus hasn't said the Church is gone yet. He is still giving signs for the Church to look for.
This act of utter blasphemy is so sever, and so defines a major turning point in history that Jesus commands believers in the area to drop everything and leave immediately. They're not even to stop on the way down from the roof to get their things, or go out of their way to get their cloak, they are to leave immediately. I could get into a lot of commentary about what's going on here, but don't want to be sidetracked by the point of this series: to distinguish between Pre-Trib and Pre-Wrath, and show that Pre-Trib has too many problems to be the Biblical view.
Notice also that Jesus commands us to pray that this event doesn't happen in winter or on the Sabbath. Many Pre-Tribbers will point to the Sabbath as proof that this passage is directed at (currently unbelieving) Jews, not Christians. However, I don't think this is necessary. Having been to Jerusalem myself, this understanding isn't required in order to make sense. I've seen Israel on the Sabbath. Everything comes to a grinding halt. Not everyone observes the Jewish sabbath, but everyone is affected by it. It gets hard to move around, especially in big population centers filled with religious Jews like Jerusalem. Trying to flee the city would be much more difficult on a Saturday than it would be Sunday through Friday.
As to winter, I'm not exactly sure. I was there in February, which is winter, but the weather was very nice, ranging between the 60s and 80s. February would be a great time to have to run, it's not terribly hot. Jerusalem does occasionally get snow, and I can imagine that it would be much harder to move around that city with snow on the ground.
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” This passage is one that Pre-Tribbers like to use to distract from the issue of the timing of the rapture. First, I'd like to note that this passage is used by many, especially from the Pre-Trib camp, to define the last half of Daniel's 70th Week as “The Great Tribulation.” This is in contrast to the first half, which is simply “The Tribulation” (no ‘Great' in the title). Again, the Greek word used, whether ‘Great' or not ‘Great', is θλιψις (thlipsis). Pre-Tribbers will point to promises the Lord has made that we are not appointed to wrath, and show that we cannot be here for such promises to stand. I'll save my discussion of that for another installment, but I think this is a terrible confusion of terms. The Lord actually does promise us θλιψις (thlipsis), several times in fact. I'll show in that coming installment that we can go through θλιψις (thlipsis), while still being protected by God's promise to keep us from Wrath. This distinction is actually very important to the Pre-Wrath view, and is what distinguishes us from the Post-Tribulational view.
Pre-Tribbers love to use the “days cut short” portion of that passage as a Red-Herring also, to distract from the discussion. Somehow those days will be cut short, and both Pre-Tribbers and Pre-Wrathers have to deal with it. Both camps must recognize that something is being cut short, whether it be the duration of the days, or the number of days. The point of which is to keep humanity from destroying itself. What is important to our discussion was that the days are cut short “for the sake of the elect.” This is not a problem at all for the Pre-Wrath view, as we believe the elect are still present on the earth. I believe that Pre-Tribbers like to put Pre-Wrathers on the defensive over this passage because it is a big problem for them (the Pre-Tribbers). If it is “for the sake of the elect” and they argue that the elect have been gone from the Earth for more than 3-1/2 years by this point, their view starts to show its problems.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” Jesus reiterates the false christs. However, now he's adding in ‘great signs'. Previously, they were just telling lies, now they are backing up those lies with works that appear to be miraculous. The point is that if it were possible to deceive the elect, this would do it. It's important to note that, it sure implies that the elect are still around. The Saints in Heaven know the truth better than anyone, they are in the presence of the Lord. How would ‘great signs' deceive them? This is another big problem for the Pre-Trib camp, as they have to come up with people who are elect, but somehow missed the Rapture in order for this passage to make any sense at all.
“See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” This is further warning of false christs. Jesus is telling us how he will return, and that it will be impossible to miss Him. He won't be hiding out down the street, or out at the lake, as His coming won't be in secret.
“Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” This verse is confusing to me. Thus far, I have not consulted any commentaries, or read anyone else's views on this passage of Scripture. This verse is one that I'd need theological help on to be of any use to the discussion. I presume that it's referring to dead people (which is Jesus is known to have described unbelievers) attracting wickedness.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31
This is the big passage in the rapture debate. This is Jesus' own description of His gathering of the elect. This is His description of His return. All of the natural light is darkened, the Earth stops. Even the heavens shake. This is when Jesus appears. Everyone, believers and unbelievers, know that this is it, the Day of the Lord has come. The first act of business is to remove the elect. Jesus sends his angels to gather the church from every part of the earth.
This passage is a huge problem for the Pre-Tribulational view. Jesus clearly describes his return as being “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” He clearly describes the gathering of the church, the elect.
In the two previous installments, I referred to my good friend and pastor, Eric Douma, who is Pre-Tribulational in his view of the rapture of the church. He has been teaching through the book of Revelation in his adult Sunday School class. In a session he taught, entitled “Chiastic Structure,” in which he walked through the 24th chapter of Matthew, he explained that he believed that this passage referred to the regathering of the Jews to Israel. While I greatly respect Eric, I just don't see it. Israel has already (in history) been regathered to the Land. Jesus did not shut down natural light and come as lightning appears from the east to the west, and the nations did not mourn. To the contrary, the United Nations was instrumental in the formation of the nation of Israel. If there is any mourning going on, it is over their own involvement in that process.
Just take a look at the Greek work translated “elect.” It's á¼ÎºÎ»ÎµÎºÏ„ός (eklektos). It used in the New Testament to refer to either the Church, or individual believers. While Israel is referred to as a people chosen by God, the New Testament does not used this word to refer to Israel.
Furthermore, such a view does not flow naturally through the progression of the text of Matthew 24. Jesus is describing the signs that harold His return, not the undoing of the Jewish diaspora.
The reasoning behind this explanation, in my opinion, is that the text is so clear. This is how Jesus describes His coming, and the gathering of the Church to Himself. However, it doesn't fit the Pre-Tribulational view. To the contrary, it is a huge problem to that view, in my opinion it's a fatal flaw of the view. Those who hold to the view must deal with the text of Matthew 24:29-31, and so their explanations will leave much to be desired.
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Matthew 24:32-35
This is another passage that is important to the Pre-Wrath view. My good friend Ryan Habbena wrote an entire book centered on these four verses of Scripture. This is another problem for the Pre-Tribulational, “no signs” argument. Jesus is not telling us “the day or the hour” of His return, but he is clearly telling the listener/reader that we can know when His return is near. He has just laid out a host of signs to look for, and told us that when we see those signs begin to come to pass, we can look up, for our redemption is drawing near.
As an aside, Eric and I would agree on the identity of “this generation.” While it's often believed to refer to the people who are living when these signs begin to come to pass (and very well may), there is a better interpretation. Our mutual friend Bob DeWaay has explained well that “this generation” is a derogatory term that refers to the wicked of this age. The generation began with the Fall of mankind, and will end with the return of Christ (see also here). The identity of “this generation” is a good thing to understand, but not relevant to this discussion, as Pre-Tribbers and Pre-Wrathers (at least this Pre-Wrather) agree.
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding oat the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:36-44
This is another portion of Matthew 24 that Pre-Tribbers see as bolstering their view, and causing problems for the Pre-Wrath view. Of course I disagree, and I'll explain why.
To begin, I'd like to point out that Eric Douma appeals to the peri de construction of verse 36. I'm not a formally trained theologian, and have no training at all in the original languages. I learned of this peri de construction of Matthew 24:36 from Eric, who is trained in the languages, and has a strong grasp of the New Testament Greek. I must yield to him in regards to the underlying issue that is at hand. The issue is this: peri de means that the focus of the discussion shifts at this point. In other words, Jesus is not connecting what he said in the verses immediately prior to 36 to verses 36 and beyond. There is a separation here. In the English, we would emphasize the shift with a new paragraph, or perhaps even a new chapter. Those distinctions aren't present in the original Greek, and the distinctions are made in the construction of the linguistics.
I don't see this as presenting a problem to my point of view. Verse 36 doesn't follow directly from verse 35, and they shouldn't be seen as all part of the same thought.
Here's how I see it (again, I haven't consulted the writings of other Pre-Wrathers, or commentaries in general): The progression of Matthew 24 carries the reader through the signs of the end, and the coming of the Lord. Jesus walks us through an abridged account of Daniel's 70th week, from the wars and rumors of wars, false prophets, the revelation of the “man of lawlessness” (or Anti-Christ) via the Abomination of Desolation as spoken of by Daniel, the great tribulation that follows his revelation, and culminating in Christ's return to gather His elect. I believe that what's happening in verse 36 is that Jesus is swinging out to a broad view, He's stepping back to talk about the big picture. Beginning in verse 36, he is describing the fact that we don't know when this is going to begin. My Pre-Trib friends would refer to this as imminence. I would agree with them, but I see the imminence as referring to the 70th Week of Daniel, not the gathering of the elect. All of what we have been reading about can begin to come about at any time. My Pre-Trib friends would say that it can't happen yet because the Church is still here. Nothing else can happen until we're gone, with our Lord in Heaven, watching the events described in Matthew 24 from above.
I have no problem with the peri de construction of verse 36. However, I've been informed that the parallel versions of the account described in Matthew 24 (namely Luke 21 and Mark 13) do not contain this peri de construction. I'll get into more depth on it in a later installment.
As to the discussion of “one being taken, and another left,” I don't believe this refers to believers, and I don't believe this refers to a secret rapture of the church. Just take a look at the context, Jesus is comparing it to the days of Noah. The ones who were taken, or swept away, were the wicked. Noah knew what was coming (of course, he had spent between 55 & 75 years building the ark. Likewise, the end will not come as a surprise to the believers in that day. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that “the master of the house” described in verse 43 is referring to either a specific believer, or believers in general. It's an analogy. To the contrary, Jesus seems to be comparing the thief to Himself, making the master of the house the wicked leadership of this world. He hasn't given these signs for them, he has given the signs for us, the Noah's of the world. The remainder of the chapter reinforces this:
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 24:45-51
It is the wicked that go about their business as if the Master won't be back. The believer is the servant who conducts his Master's work knowing that he will return. During the 70th Week of Daniel, the wicked certainly will not be expecting the return of the Master. They are the ones who will be beating their fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards. It is the wicked who will be completely surprised at the return of the Lord.
The thought behind this entire section, at and after the peri de construction of verse 36 is that believers will need to watch out for the 70th Week of Daniel, but won't know when it is to begin, and the wicked will be taken by complete surprise when their wicked deeds culminate in the return of the Lord in the midst of their persecution of His Church.
Conclusion
Thus we've examined Matthew 24. We've seen that Matthew 24 makes a strong case for the Pre-Wrath view of rapture. Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Pre-Wrath gets its name from the events that fallow what is described in Matthew 24. Jesus' return will harold the gathering of the Church to Himself, but it will also harold the Wrath of God upon the wicked. It is from the return of Christ to the end of Daniel's 70th Week that we see the Wrath that God promised believers we would not endure.
We've seen that the events, as Jesus describes them, require the elect to be present on the Earth for much of Daniel's 70th Week. Jesus' description of the events of that Week present major problems for Pre-Tribulationism, which require them to come up with some rather strange interpretations of the text. Those interpretations, at times, don't even follow the flow of the text. They require the subject be changed, then changed back.
In the next installment, we'll get into more depth on the distinction between the 70th Week of Daniel, the Tribulation period, and the Day of the Lord (a.k.a. the Wrath of God). Don't forget as we close, you can read Revelation 6 to see how well the events Jesus described here parallel John's account of events.
