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The Seventh Trumpet
The
book of Revelation describes a series of seven trumpets that will sound in the
last days, each of which will herald a significant event predicted to occur
just before Christ returns.
However,
the Seventh Trumpet, which is the final trumpet, is far different from all
those that come before it.
The
last trumpet is the transition between the kingdom of this world and the
Kingdom of God. It sets in motion the wrath of God, the Return of Christ, and
the rescue of His people.
This
section will investigate exactly when this will occur and what it means for
Christians living in the final generation.
The Rapture Controversy
The
return of Christ will herald one of the greatest transformations of life and
society human beings will ever experience.
The
doom and gloom of the vast nuclear holocaust of World War III will suddenly
give way to the brightness of a new age of prosperity and peace that will be
unparalleled in history.
The
violent ruination of the Great Tribulation that will nearly destroy all
planetary life is going to be abruptly halted by the power of God himself.
According
to the prophets, the entire earth will then be cleansed and restored to the
ecological perfection which existed only in the Garden of Eden.
However, if all life is
really going to be threatened in the coming nuclear war, who will survive, even
among the followers of Christ, to repopulate this great new world?
The answer to this question
involves an event that should be the greatest hope of every believer — the
literal and bodily resurrection of the dead in Christ.
According to the Bible,
having faith in Jesus does not just result in temporal benefits during a
believer’s current lifetime, but also carries with it the tremendous promise of
eternal life in the ages to come.
This vision of immortality is
not the Hollywood version of an ethereal or spiritual existence in heaven that
many people imagine of life after death.
The true Biblical notion of
everlasting life will only be realized at the Second Coming.
The Bible says that when Jesus appears every person who has ever
believed in him, no matter when they may have lived, will be instantly raised
from the dead and given new, immortal bodies.
In addition, any Christians
who may have survived in the world until the Lord comes back will also have their
mortal bodies spectacularly changed.
This means that when the
Bible speaks of salvation it is not merely referring to “going to heaven” when
you die. That view is a common misconception that many people make concerning
the Bible.
Rather than leaving the dead
on a cloud in heaven living some kind of ghostly existence with harps and
wings, the Bible points directly to a literal and physical resurrection that
will involve new super-bodies, which will be incorruptible and never able to
fall away or die again.
The verses that describe this event refer to it variously as the
resurrection, the harvest or reaping of the earth, or simply as the gathering
together of the believers at the end.
In our day, this same event
is commonly known as the “rapture”.
In reality, however, the term
rapture is not even found in the Bible. It became attached to the event through
a description in the New Testament relating to the “catching up” of believers
when Christ returns (1
Thessalonians 4:17).
Regardless of what it is
called, the promise of victory over the grave is the very essence of every
believer’s faith.
However, this one topic also has become a major point of
disagreement among Christians.
There are relatively few
subjects within the scope of end-times prophecy that can generate the same
degree of controversy than a discussion of the rapture.
Indeed, entire books have
been written on just this one subject.
The main point of contention
has not been whether there will ever be a rapture, but exactly when it will
occur in relationship to the other major events of the last days.
At first glance, this extreme emphasis on the chronology of a
single end-time event may appear trivial.
However, when the full
consequence of the relative timing of the rapture is considered, the impact it
will have on a Christian’s life suddenly becomes enormous.
For instance, it is only in
this one prophecy that we find the promise of God to rescue believers from the
terrible events of the end.
With an immediate future
filled with such fearful prospects as the Antichrist’s rise to power, the Mark
of the Beast, persecution, and thermonuclear war, there certainly needs to be
an understanding of the hope the Lord has left for those who decide to follow
him.
Unfortunately, the promise of Christ’s coming to save his people
has been obscured by the constant debate over exactly when this is supposed to
happen.
Over the years there has
developed at least three main camps as to the timing of the rapture — each
group being equally adamant that their view is indeed the correct one.
The first group maintains that Jesus will come before any of the
major events of the end occur.
In this respect, the
followers of Christ will not have to experience the evils to come, but will be
divinely delivered by the Lord himself before they happen.
According to those who hold
to this view, Jesus will suddenly and secretly return in the air to gather all
Christians into the safety of heaven.
Proponents also say that this
momentary visitation by Christ is not the ultimate Second Coming, but is rather
a mysterious prior event.
In fact, most people believe
that this event will occur so rapidly that it will seem as though Christians
throughout the world have simply disappeared from the face of the earth.
Those unfortunate enough to
be left behind will then have to suffer through all the terrible events of the
last days, beginning with the revealing of the Antichrist.
Since this position places the rapture immediately before the
final seven years of Daniel’s 70th Week, it has become known as the
“pre-tribulation rapture”.
[Note: actually this
terminology is a misnomer since only the final 3-1/2 years are properly called
the Great Tribulation, but nevertheless the name stands].
A second major position on the timing of the rapture places the
event sometime in the middle of the last seven years.
Usually those who hold to this
view say that it will occur after the Antichrist rises to power, but just prior
to the destructive fury of the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week.
Some even maintain that it
will occur precisely at the 3-1/2 year mark. For this reason, it has become
known as the “mid-tribulation rapture” theory.
Except for the difference in
the timing of the event, all the other details of how it will occur basically
remain the same as that of the pre-tribulation rapture theory.
The third major belief as to when the rapture will occur places
it immediately after the tribulation period entirely.
People who hold to this
theory say that it will not only happen after the Antichrist comes to power,
but also after the world has experienced all the destruction prophesied to
occur at the end.
Logically, therefore, this
belief has become known as the “post-tribulation rapture”.
Notice, however, that unlike
the previous two positions, this last theory is unique in that it does not
require Christ to come back twice.
Instead of having one secret
coming and then a second visible and dramatic return, the predominant
post-tribulation view merges the rapture and the Second Coming into essentially
one event that will be apparent to everyone.
So which of the three positions is Biblically correct?
All else being equal, most
people would probably hope for the pre-tribulation view to be right simply
because it eliminates the possibility of Christians having to endure the trials
of the final seven years.
With our current prophetic
knowledge of what will occur in the Great Tribulation it’s not too hard to want
to lean toward a divine deliverance before any of the bad things happen.
Even a mid-tribulation
position for the rapture would allow for escape before the wars of the end
begin.
Surprisingly, even though these theories vary widely as to their
timing and consequences and have many strong advocates for each of them, the
Bible actually does provide all the information required to determine precisely
when the rapture will really occur.
So which of these theories is
correct?
To discover the answer, we
need to carefully study all the prophecies which may have a bearing on the
truth. Let’s begin by looking at the teachings given by the Lord himself on
this subject.
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