Lesson 10 Overview

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

This lesson answers the objection that Christians clearly suffer today, then adds the fourth and fifth arguments for the pre-trib rapture (imminence and comfort) and begins the sixth argument (the removal of the restrainer). Use this overview to review the key points after watching the full video.

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Suffering Is Not the Same as Divine Wrath

Dr. Woods answers those who point to Christian martyrdom and persecution to dispute the promise of exemption from wrath. His key distinction is that the Bible describes several different forms of wrath, and they are not the same. Believers are candidates for ordinary trials (John 16:33), man’s wrath and persecution (2 Timothy 3:12), Satan’s wrath (Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 2:10, the church at Smyrna cast into prison), and the wrath of the world system (John 15:18-19). But there is one form of wrath the church is exempt from: divine wrath.

He puts it as tribulations (little t) versus the tribulation (capital T), and trials (little t) versus the trial (capital T). As terrible as present suffering is, and he does not minimize it, it is nothing compared to the wrath of the Lamb poured out through the seven-sealed scroll. Critics, he says, wrongly assume all wrath is the same and comes from the same source.

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Argument Four: The Rapture Is Imminent

Dr. Woods returns to imminence (established earlier as one of the ten truths): the rapture is a signless event that could happen at any moment, even today. He recalls that Dallas Seminary’s John Walvoord kept a plaque reading “Perhaps Today.”

He then tests each view against imminence. Can a mid-trib rapture happen today? No, because 42 months must pass first. Post-trib? No, seven years must elapse. Pre-wrath (three-quarters)? No, roughly three-quarters of the tribulation must pass. Only pre-tribulationism allows Christ to come at any moment, so only pre-trib does justice to imminence. He clarifies that the regathering of Israel is a stage-setting sign for the second advent, not a sign that must precede the rapture, correcting critics like Frank Schaeffer who thought pre-trib teaches the Jews must return before the rapture can occur.

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Argument Five: The Rapture Is a Comfort

The fifth argument is that Scripture consistently presents the rapture as a comfort. It is introduced in John 14:1 with “do not let your heart be troubled,” the clearest rapture passage ends “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18), and Titus 2:13 calls it “the blessed hope.”

Dr. Woods argues the other views drain away that comfort: mid-trib has the church endure 42 months of wrath first, post-trib has it endure the whole tribulation, and pre-wrath has it endure roughly three-quarters, none of which fits “comfort one another with these words.” He also corrects the popular “thief in the night” image (from the film A Thief in the Night), noting that phrase in Scripture always describes judgment overtaking unbelievers after the rapture, not the rapture itself, which is a blessing, not a break-in. He observes that an off-balance, fear-driven eschatology produces gloomy, joyless believers, while the pre-trib hope frees Christians to walk in joy.

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Argument Six Begins: Removing the Restrainer

Dr. Woods begins the sixth argument. First he clarifies what starts the tribulation: not the rapture, but the peace treaty the Antichrist confirms with Israel (Daniel 9:27). Then, from 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, he shows the Antichrist cannot appear until “the restrainer” is removed.

He works through the candidates for the restrainer and eliminates them. It cannot be Rome, since Rome is gone but restraint continues and the Antichrist has not come. It cannot be Satan, since the Antichrist is Satan’s own man (2 Thessalonians 2:9) and a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand (Matthew 12). It cannot be human government, since the Antichrist will control government at its highest level to enslave the masses. It cannot be Michael the archangel, since Jude 9 shows Michael avoids direct contests with Satan.

His conclusion is that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. The restrainer must be omnipotent to hold back Satan’s man, which only God can do, and the Holy Spirit is fully deity. He also points to a grammatical clue: the participle for “restrainer” shifts from neuter (verse 6) to masculine (verse 7), which fits the Holy Spirit, since the Greek word for spirit (pneuma) is neuter, yet Jesus used the masculine pronoun “he” for the Spirit (John 14:17).