In light of the embarrassing miscalculations of prominent rapturists, why do people, particularly twenty-first-century American Christians, still find the rapture and its related topics so fascinating? Is the biblical evidence for the rapture really that compelling?

It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that I do not believe that the Bible teaches there will be a rapture distinct from the second coming. What might surprise you is that the leading living theological proponent of the rapturist system seems to agree with me.

For many years, Dr. John Walvoord was president of Dallas Theological Seminary, an institution that has become synonymous with an unwavering allegiance to the rapturist system I described earlier (pretribulationalism). Along with Dr. Charles Feinberg of Talbot Seminary, Walvoord has done more than any other in his generation to provide this system of theology with an intellectual foundation. Both men were family friends, and I have many fond memories of them at our family dinner table.

In the first edition of his 1957 book, The Rapture Question, Walvoord wrote, “The rapture question is determined more by ecclesiology [theology of the Church] than eschatology [theology of future events, specifically the last things]. Neither posttribulationalism nor pretribulationalism is an explicit teaching of Scripture. The Bible does not in so many words state it” (TRQ, foreword; emphasis added). Let me remind you that this is from a theologian whose commitment to sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”: the belief that Scripture alone is the primary and absolute source of authority for all Christian doctrine and practice) is unwavering!

This admission—that the believer’s rapture is not a clear and concise teaching of the Bible—was so explosive that in all future editions of this book it was deleted. Lack of clear biblical support is the elephant in the living room that all educated rapturists know exists, but never discuss. But there it is: nowhere does one passage of the Bible speak of both the rapture and the second coming. Nowhere does one passage of the Bible lay out the time scheme that rapturists must justify by piecing one verse here with another verse there.

If an ardent proponent of a believer’s rapture states that the teaching is nowhere in Scripture, what makes so many people think it is taught there?

Let me try to answer that question by giving a biblical case for the rapture. I will argue as I would have twenty-five years ago, when I was a convinced rapturist trying to justify this system of theology to students in class.

All through history, Christians have believed that the world will see a terrible persecution just before the second coming of Christ. This persecution is tied inextricably to one person, the “antichrist.” He is also known as the “man of sin,” the “son of perdition,” and the “man of lawlessness.”

This man is spoken of repeatedly by the New Testament writers. John the beloved wrote, “You have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.… This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:18, 22; cf. 2 John 7).

The most important passage in this regard, however, is 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12. First, the apostle Paul makes clear that his topic is the moment when Christ comes for His Church by writing, “now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet Him” (2:1). This is speaking of the second coming of Jesus Christ, not the rapture.

Then Paul corrects those Christians who thought the second coming had already occurred, and that they had been forgotten. “We beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind … by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (2:1–2).

The Lord could not already have come, says Paul, because the antichrist must come first. Paul warns not to let anyone “deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition” (2:3).

Moreover, we need not worry about who the victor in the final analysis will be. Later in the same passage, Paul tells us, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by His appearing and His coming” (2:8).

It will not be a long, drawn-out battle once Christ appears. Christ will win. The prophet Daniel likens Christ’s victory to a “stone … cut out by no human hand” that crushes the statue of this world’s governments. They become “like the chaff of the summer threshing floors” (Dan. 2:34–35).

Yet Paul tells us that before this final victory, “the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, [will take] his seat in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:3–4). The antichrist wants to be declared God in God’s Temple. This is the Temple in Jerusalem, the only temple God has ever inhabited.

This scenario described by Paul presupposes two realities. One has come to pass; the other has not—yet. First, the Jews must be in control of Jerusalem. That occurred partially in 1948 and completely in 1967. This is tremendously important for us to understand. We are living in the last days, and the fact that the Jews have come back into control of their land after almost nineteen centuries of exile is nothing short of miraculous. Only God could have made this possible. He is obviously preparing the world for its final trial.

The second reality concerns the Jewish Temple. It must be rebuilt. Otherwise how could the son of perdition proclaim himself to be God from a seat within that Temple? In fact, the prophet Zechariah informs us that “all the nations … shall go up … to worship.… All who sacrifice may come” (Zech. 14:16, 21). The Old Covenant animal sacrifices will be reinstated in the Temple, and it will once again become the center of God’s worship here on earth. This is why the antichrist will choose to desecrate God’s Temple in blasphemy.

Actually, there is one passage in the Bible more important than any other for understanding the end times. It is Daniel’s “vision of the seventy weeks,” found in Daniel 9:24–27. There Daniel also predicts that the antichrist will desecrate the rebuilt Temple.

Daniel relates a vision of future events he has been shown. First, he informs us that within a certain length of time, “seventy weeks,” there will be six blessings bestowed. It is decreed that these seventy weeks will be enough time “to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place” (9:24). Rather than spend a great deal of time determining what the seventy weeks signify, let us draw a simple conclusion. Since sin is still in the world, and everlasting righteousness is not yet realized, these seventy weeks are not yet accomplished. This means that at least some of the seventy weeks must still be future.

All of the early Church understood this passage to be Christological. From his perspective in the sixth century B.C., Daniel saw that the “anointed one,” the Messiah, would come. As Christians, we know that He did. Daniel also understood that Jerusalem and its sanctuary, or Temple, “shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time” (9:25). That, too, occurred. Jerusalem and its Temple were rebuilt, always under the threat or actuality of war. By about 10 B.C., the city and its Temple had finally been rebuilt and were in a state of relative peace under Herod.

Then Daniel’s prophecy, which started out with such hope and promise, turns dour. Sometime after Jerusalem and its Temple are completed, Daniel understood that the Messiah would be “cut off,” or killed. Sometime toward the end of the first sixty-nine weeks, “an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing” (9:26). This is an obvious reference to the Passion of our Lord. This has always been the most common Christian understanding of this vision. The Temple was to be rebuilt, and then the Messiah was to come and be killed. All of these events occurred in the first sixty-nine weeks of Daniel’s prophecy. This left only one week, the seventieth week.

But at this point, the time frame of Daniel’s vision shifts. There is a parenthesis inserted into Daniel’s vision of which Daniel is unaware. It is almost as if he were standing on a mountain, looking at two distant peaks. He sees both peaks clearly, but because of his perspective, he does not understand that there is a tremendous valley of hundreds of miles (thousands of years) between the two peaks. After Daniel sees the Passion of our Lord, he misses the parenthetical “Church age” that stretches between Christ’s first and second advents.

So, after the death of Christ, the next event Daniel sees is more than two thousand years later. He sees a prince who shall come and destroy the Temple, but is unaware that this occurs in the middle of the Great Tribulation, still in the future even to us. “The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed” (9:26). This is a description of the antichrist and his attack on Jerusalem after the rapture.

How do we know? Because Daniel tells us that this prince shall desolate the Temple, “upon the wing of abominations” (9:27). What could be more abominable to the Jews than what Paul has already told us the future antichrist will do? The man of sin will enter the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, sit down, and proclaim himself to be God. To any devout Jew, this would certainly be an abomination and desolation.

Now that we know that Daniel is describing the future antichrist, we can learn other events that will surround this son of perdition. He will make a covenant with the Jewish people at the beginning of the one week. “He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.” The one week is Daniel’s last week, the seventieth week, which is best understood as seven years. This is how we know that the Great Tribulation will be for seven years. Daniel told us almost three millennia ago!

The strong covenant of the antichrist is a Middle East peace treaty (for which anyone who reads the newspaper today can understand the urgent need). He will establish peace between Israel and its neighbors at the beginning of these seven years. He will be internationally acclaimed as a peacemaker, and his power and influence will be unprecedented.

Then halfway through the seven years, the man of sin will break the covenant with the Jews and desecrate the Temple with his blasphemy. “For half of the week [three and a half seasons] he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease” (9:27). This is the same event that is mentioned in Thessalonians. For the remaining three and a half years of the Great Tribulation, the antichrist will seek to destroy the Temple and Jerusalem after his abomination of desolation.

This antichrist will gather all nations together to destroy Jerusalem and its Temple. God predicts in Zechariah, “All nations of the earth will come together against [Jerusalem].… I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered.… Then the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations as when He fights on a day of battle. On that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem.… Then the Lord your God will come, and all the holy ones with Him” (Zech. 12:3; 14:2–5).

Daniel, too, assures us that the antichrist will be defeated in the end. “The decreed end is [to be] poured out on the desolator” (9:27). This refers to the second coming of Christ that we already learned about from Paul. When Christ comes at the end of these seven years, he will utterly defeat the antichrist and all his forces.

This battle in which Christ will defeat the antichrist and his false prophet is called “Armageddon” in The Apocalypse: “I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against Him who sits upon the horse [Christ] and against His army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet.… These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone. And the rest were slain by the sword of Him who sits upon the horse” (Apoc. 19:19–21). Such is the fate of all those who disobey Christ. Every evil person from the Great Tribulation will be killed in this battle with Christ.

Then the first resurrection occurs. This is the resurrection of all the righteous who died under the Old Covenantal system. This system was operational for the centuries before Christ’s first advent and again during the seven-year Great Tribulation. While speaking to the Jews before offering the world His Church, Jesus said, “You will be repaid [for your good deeds] at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). This was in reference to those righteous people who lived under the Old Covenant, and so never made it into His Church.

We see this resurrection described in The Apocalypse: “I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands [during the Great Tribulation]. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection” (Apoc. 20:4–5).

Those raised in the first resurrection are judged along with the Gentiles who survived the Great Tribulation. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). This is called the second future judgment (we will return to the first judgment in a moment). These souls will be judged according to their good deeds, particularly in their treatment of Israel. Jesus taught that those who practiced the corporal works of mercy would be shown mercy at this judgment. “You gave me food.… You gave me drink.… You clothed me.… In prison you came to me” (Matt. 25:31–46). Since people are judged by their works, and not according to their faith in Christ’s finished work on the Cross, it is obvious that no Christian will be judged at this time. I repeat, this is not how or when Christians will be judged.

At this time, Israel will be judged as a nation in regard to its loyalty to the Old Covenant Law. “I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will let you go in by number. I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord” (Ezek. 20:36–38). This third judgment happens at the same time as the second judgment.

The third judgment makes clear the purpose of the Great Tribulation. During this seven-year period of trial, God will return to the Old Covenant. The first time the Jewish Messiah came, He was rejected and crucified. This seven-year period gives Israel a second chance to recognize Jesus as its Messiah. This time, because of the antichrist’s persecution, the Jewish nation will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah and call on Him for help in their need. Zechariah tells us that “the inhabitants of Jerusalem” will finally recognize Jesus as Messiah and repent of their rejection of Him. “When they [Israel] look on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him” (Zech. 12:10). When the Jews call upon Christ at the end of the seven-year Great Tribulation, He will return in the glory of His second advent.

“But wait,” you may ask. “In all this, where is the Church? All of these events relate to ethnic Israel and the Gentiles. Nowhere have you mentioned Christians even once.” There is actually a very good reason for that. During the seven-year Great Tribulation in which the antichrist rules the world, Christians will not be here on earth. They will have been raptured!

Just before the seven years start, all true believers will be taken out of harm’s way by Christ. This rapture is imminent; it can occur at any moment, perhaps even before you finish this paragraph. There is nothing else in history that must occur before it.

Paul writes to the Thessalonian Christians about the end times more than once. They seem to have been quite confused and were concerned that those who had died as Christians might not be raptured with the living Christians. Paul assures them this is not so. In doing so, he gives us the clearest description in the Bible of the secret rapture of believers: “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep [dead].… We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:13–17).

Notice that Christ will not actually touch earth at the rapture. We will meet Him “in the air.” This indicates that this is not a prediction of the second coming, but a promise of the rapture of true Christians. This is the “blessed hope”: the promise of Christ to spare believers from the wrath of God in the Great Tribulation. “[We are] awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Only those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior—true believers; those who have been born again—will be taken. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3, KJV). These believers may attend Baptist, Bible, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic churches, but they are saved because they place their faith in the cross of Christ alone. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). There can be no admixture of dependence on good works or on the spiritual benefits gained for them by others. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9; cf. Rom. 1:16).

No one will expect these believers suddenly to disappear. Jesus told His disciples that when He raptures His believers into Heaven, the world will be in a completely normal situation. “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 did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man” (Matt. 24:37–39).

When the rapture occurs, friends will be separated from each other for all eternity: one will be taken up in the rapture, while the other one will be left behind. “Two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:40–42). The rapture could occur today.

For those believers taken safely to Heaven in the rapture, there will be an immediate judgment of their works. Rewards will be given to each believer based on his faithfulness during his life. This is the first future judgment, and the only judgment of true believers. Some do not even call this a “judgment,” saying that only rewards are involved. But 2 Corinthians 5:10 says that at the judgment, “each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.”

But in the meantime, do not forget what unbelievers will be left behind to experience here on earth: the seven-year Great Tribulation in which the antichrist reigns. The first three and a half years will be a time of peace for the world that will result from the treaty the antichrist initiates in the Middle East. During this time, the world will be at peace, and only those who resist the antichrist’s plans will be persecuted. The persecution of anyone who sides with Christ will be immediate and intense. Only the latter three and a half years will be unbearable for Jews as well. “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 shortened, no human being would be saved.” (Matt. 24:21–22, cf. Dan. 9:27; Apoc. 7:14).

During the present time, the current Church age, Satan is not able to influence events unhindered. However, at the time of the rapture, the restraints will be removed from him: “You know what is restraining him now. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.” (2 Thess. 2:6–7). This restrainer is the Holy Spirit, present in the hearts of true believers. When the rapture occurs, the influence of the Holy Spirit will be removed along with the Church.

With Satan free to work his terror, things will be much worse than we can possibly imagine. The Apocalypse describes this time of trouble. There are seven seals, seven trumpets, three woes, and seven bowls. Their description of the future is enough to make the blood run cold. There will be famine, death, martyrdom, anarchy, a scorpion army, a red dragon, a sea-beast, a land-beast, painful sores, undrinkable water supplies, heavenly disturbances, darkness, frogs, earthquakes, monstrous hail, and destruction. All this awaits those left behind when the rapture occurs.

Jesus gave His disciples a series of signs to be passed down to the unfortunate unbelievers who were left behind to endure the Great Tribulation. These signs, along with the descriptions in The Apocalypse, will enable those left behind to recognize world events for what they were and come to believe that the Messiah will come again at the end of the Great Tribulation. By standing against the antichrist, and refusing to wear his blasphemous sign on their hands and foreheads, they would be spared at the second judgment mentioned above.

These signs that Jesus mentions include “wars and rumors of wars … famines and earthquakes … tribulation.… Many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.… Most men’s love will grow cold.… And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world.… So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place … then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.… Then there will be great tribulation.… 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” (Matt. 24:6–29). Obviously, at no point in history have these signs been fulfilled. These are all signs pointing to the second coming, which will be recognized by those left behind. Remember, the second coming will occur seven years after the rapture.

But beware! The fact that we see the beginnings of these signs already occurring should warn us. The rapture and Great Tribulation cannot be too far away when the signs that were promised to appear after the rapture have already begun to appear.

The generation that sees the beginning of these signs is the “generation of the fig tree.” “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender … 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 till all these things take place” (Matt. 24:32–34).

We are the generation of the fig tree. We have already witnessed the return of God’s chosen people, the Jews, back to Israel. This enables them to rebuild the Temple of God there. As we noted above, all of these passages about the end times presuppose the presence of the Jewish people in Jerusalem. For nineteen centuries, it was impossible even to imagine a Jewish state centered in Jerusalem. In our generation, it has become reality.

As we mentioned, at the end of this seven years of Great Tribulation, Christ will return to earth to save the Jewish people from extinction. This is the second advent, at which He will set foot again on the Mount of Olives. Zechariah tells us that Christ’s “feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two” (14:4). He will defeat the antichrist and throw Satan into the bottomless pit. “An angel … seized … Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him” (Apoc. 20:1–3).

This will be the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. “And the Lord will become king over all the earth” (Zech. 14:9).

Daniel informs us that the setting up of the millennial government will take about seventy-five days. The Bible repeatedly mentions the last three and a half years that make up the last half of the Great Tribulation as a time of 1,260 days. Daniel says, “There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (12:11). Although rapturists understand this differently, most agree that this extra thirty days spoken of by Daniel is the time needed to complete the second and third judgment at the end of the Great Tribulation.

Then Daniel speaks of another forty-five days: “Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days” (12:12). This is a month-and-a-half period that follows immediately upon the judgments, yet precedes the Millennium. Although Daniel does not tell us the purpose of this additional period, it is most logically the time that it will take Christ to set up His government for the thousand-year reign. Governmental positions would be assigned immediately after the judgment to ensure peace on earth for a thousand years. Being “blessed” would signify that you successfully endured the judgment of Christ and would be assigned a role in the government of the Millennium.

The Millennium Kingdom set up by Christ will be a literal kingdom here on earth, centered in Jerusalem. All nations of earth will be subject to the Davidic King, Jesus Christ. Christians who were raptured seven years earlier will reign from Heaven, while those who followed Christ during the Great Tribulation will reign in the earthly Kingdom of Christ. “I saw the souls of those … who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark.… They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Apoc. 20:4).

Finally, God’s promises to Abraham and David will be fulfilled. King David had been promised, “Your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16). Jesus will rule as the child of Abraham and the son of David, and the entire Millennium will be a time of peace.

However, during the Millennium, people will be born, live normal lives, and die. Some of those born during the Millennium will not realize how good Christ’s reign is. At the end of this Millennium, Satan will be loosed one more time to lead one last rebellion against Christ. “When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations … that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle” (Apoc. 20:7–8).

Once again the focus of Satan’s hatred will be the Jews in Jerusalem. Satan’s forces “surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (Apoc. 20:9). All to no avail: this rebellion will also be crushed. “Fire came down from Heaven and consumed them, and the Devil … was thrown into the lake of fire” (Apoc. 20:9–10).

After this final defeat of evil, the “great white throne” commences (Apoc. 20:11). At this time, all unresurrected people of history will be brought for judgment. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened” (Apoc. 20:12).

Since all Old and New Covenant saints have already been resurrected and judged in the first, second, and third judgments, this fourth judgment will deal only with the wicked. “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Apoc. 20:11–15). The severity of their eternal punishment will reflect their opportunities for good and their knowledge of truth. “But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required” (Luke 12:47–48).

After this fourth judgment, time ends and eternity dawns. The Church enjoys God in the new Heaven, while the redeemed of Israel enjoy the eternal kingdom of David’s Son here on the new earth (Apoc. 21:1–22:5).

It is essential that you understand your choice. Do you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior now, and enter eternity by being raptured to Heaven before the Great Tribulation? You will spend those seven years in Heaven, and then return with Christ to defeat Satan and reign during the Millennium. After the Millennium, you will experience the joys of Heaven for all eternity.

Or if you prefer, you could wait. But delay one moment too long, and the rapture will intervene, and you will be left behind. The best you can hope for then is to endure the horrors that will unfold during the Great Tribulation. For the sake of your soul, it will be necessary to stand up to the beast and resist his power. Most people will not be able to endure without succumbing and receiving the mark of the beast. That mark will then condemn you to an eternity in Hell.

It is your choice. Only you can determine your eternal destiny. When the rapture comes, it will be too late. You will have already been left behind.