Lesson 7 Overview

Is the Rapture of Christians Really in the Bible? with Dr. Andy Woods

This lesson finishes the survey of critics of the pre-trib rapture and then begins the positive case, laying out the first of seven cumulative reasons that the church will be removed before the tribulation. Use this overview to review the key points after watching the full video.

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Finishing the Critics

Dr. Woods completes his survey of well-known critics of the pre-trib rapture, which he uses to show why a careful defense is needed. He finishes the quotation from Hank Hanegraaff, who denies that Israel and the church are distinct and holds that the church has replaced Israel (replacement theology or “one people of God” theology). Dr. Woods answers from 1 Corinthians 10:32, where Paul distinguishes the Jews, the Greeks, and the church of God, arguing that God has separate programs and separate comings for Israel and the church.

He adds two more critics. Joel Richardson argues the pre-trib view leaves the church unprepared to face the Antichrist and charges that pastors who teach it are failing as shepherds. Frank (Frankie) Schaeffer, son of Francis Schaeffer, dismisses the doctrine as a nineteenth-century invention of John Nelson Darby and calls the Left Behind books total fiction. Dr. Woods notes that both, like the earlier critics, appeal to church history rather than the text, and confuse the rapture with the second advent. He clarifies that the second advent requires Israel’s restoration, but the rapture is a signless event that has always been possible.

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The Case Can Be Known With Certainty

Dr. Woods acknowledges that seeing so many respected voices disagree can make an average Christian throw up their hands and conclude no one can know. His contention is the opposite: a believer can arrive at real certainty that the church is raptured before the tribulation. He will make the case with seven arguments, noting that no single argument settles the matter, but that taken cumulatively and in harmony they make the case overwhelming. He observes that the other camps (post-trib, mid-trib, and pre-wrath) usually handle these arguments poorly or ignore them.

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Argument One: The Tribulation Concerns Israel, Not the Church

The first reason is that the tribulation is about the nation of Israel, not the church. Its purpose is to bring Israel to faith so God can fulfill His covenant promises to her.

He supports this from several passages. Jeremiah 30:7 calls it “the time of Jacob’s distress,” and since Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32 and 35), the tribulation is Israel’s trouble, from which she will be saved, not the church’s. Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24) says the 490 years are decreed “for your people and your holy city,” meaning Daniel’s people (Israel) and Jerusalem, not any church. Daniel 12:7 describes the second half of the tribulation as a time to “shatter the power of the holy people,” which he identifies as the breaking of Israel’s pride through discipline so a remnant will be saved.

Dr. Woods stresses that the church could not be in view in these passages because the church was still a mystery, not yet revealed (Jesus said “I will build my church,” a future tense). He also argues that God uses Israel and the church on a mutually exclusive basis: when He is working with one, He is not working with the other. Since the tribulation is God working with Israel, the church cannot be present. He grants this argument alone does not settle the question, but it is the first of seven.

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Argument Two Begins: No Reference to the Church on Earth in Revelation

Dr. Woods then begins the second argument, which depends on the structure of Revelation. From Revelation 1:19, John is told to write “the things you have seen” (chapter 1, the vision of the glorified Christ), “the things which are” (chapters 2 and 3, the letters to the seven churches), and “the things which will take place after these things” (chapters 4 onward, the future). The Greek phrase meta tauta (“after these things”) appears at 4:1, marking the shift into the futuristic tribulation section with its seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments.

His striking observation: the Greek word for church, ekklesia, appears 19 times in the first three chapters, but then disappears entirely from the tribulation section (chapters 4 through 18), reappearing only at the very end of the book. He finds it significant that the church is so prominent before the tribulation and completely absent from the earth during it. He says he will develop this argument further next time.