What does the Bible really say about the end times? Many American evangelicals hold to a dispensational premillenialist viewpoint concerning this topic? But is there really any Biblical evidence to support the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture of the church? In my opinion, no there is not. Of course, many people who do believe in the pre-tribulation rapture (where God takes the church before the Great Tribulation begins) use 1 Thessalonians 5:9, which states, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." However, I would argue that persecution and God's wrath are two different things. Why else would Jesus make the statement in His beatitudes, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Just because we are not destined for God's wrath, which I firmly believe that no true believer will undergo God's wrath, does not mean that we will not go through the Great Tribulation. The two are not the same thing. God's wrath is the ultimate punishment for those who do not believe on the name of God's only Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ became the propitiation for the sins of all who believe on Him, which means that He took upon Himself the wrath of God that belonged to me because of my sin. He satisfied God's wrath. Because He has taken that upon Himself, I no longer have to face God's wrath. However, for those who do not believe are condemned already because of their unbelief. They are under God's wrath and will face it in eternity if they do not place their faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, what Paul is saying to the Thessalonians is that they do not need to worry about their brothers and sisters in Christ who have passed away, because they are covered by the blood of Christ. They are not destined for God's wrath and neither are we when we die. We are not to worry about their eternal security because Christ paid their debt. What Paul says here has nothing to do with having to endure through the Great Tribulation, at least in my humble opinion. I mean, all we have to do is look to the Christians in the Middle East and Asia and look at the persecution they are having to endure over there. If what Paul says about us not being destined for wrath has anything to do with enduring persecution, then he was wrong about those Christians over there.
So what is the answer to the question about the end times? There are many differing views concerning this difficult topic. Of course within the premillenialist (meaning Christ will return to earth before the 1,000 year millennial kingdom spoken of in Revelation 20) viewpoint, you have pretribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation viewpoints, which refers to the point in time God will rapture His church from the earth. Either He will rapture the church before the tribulation, sometime in the middle of the tribulation, or at the end of the tribulation, but all of them occuring sometime before the actual millennial kingdom age begins.
Then you have a post-millennial viewpoint, which means that Christ's return will occur after the 1000 year reign on earth. These people view that the 1,000 year reign of Christ is more of a utopia that is created through the spread of the gospel throughout the earth. Christianity will one day see a remarkable change in attitude and all nations will one day be Christian, and at the end of this time period is when Christ will come back.
Amillennialists on the other hand view the millennial kingdom of Christ to be symbolic of the time period between His resurrection and His second coming at the end of the tribulation when He comes to defeat the Antichrist and his false prophet. People who adhere to this believe that we are currently living in the millennial kingdom because of the role of the church in spreading the gospel to the lost. When the Great Tribulation begins is when Satan will be unleashed to do what he desires until Christ comes to finally defeat him and throw him into the lake of fire for all eternity.
Up until now, I have always considered myself a post-tribulation, premillennialist believer. I look at Revelation chapter 20 to describe a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ upon this earth following the Great Tribulation. However, I am now beginning to question my belief in that as I am reading through Dr. Kim Riddlebarger's book, "A Case of Amillennialism." He is showing the evidence that supports the idea that the 1,000 year reign mentioned in Rev. 20 is actually symbolic of the time period we are currently living in. I'm not sure which way I will decide when I finish reading it, but he is making some very strong points in favor of this particular view point. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the end times and desires to get a different viewpoint from that of Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey. In fact, Dr. Riddlebarger has already given me more Biblical proof for his belief than I have gathered from the other men mentioned above.
Click here to visit Dr. Riddlebarger's blog site. He has other resources that help explain his beliefs. I'm not saying he has the correct view, but I personally think he's closer to it than anyone I've read before on this topic.
