Recently I was reading a new book on Revelation by an author who subscribes to the pre-wrath rapture position. I don’t recommend this or any other mid-trib, pre-wrath, or post-trib book. I only read them myself because my belief in the pre-trib position is solid enough to not be shaken, and I feel the need to know about the current thinking on other positions in case I’m asked.
When you depart from a literal, contextual interpretation of Scripture, as you have to do when you’re trying to justify the other rapture positions, anything becomes possible. For that reason some of these books, like the one I just read, are so far off the mark as to be ludicrous. But there are two things they all seem to have in common. One is their confusion about the difference between tribulation and the Great Tribulation and the other is the meaning and duration of the phrase “wrath of God.”
Here are some examples of what I mean. In John 16:33 Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart because I have overcome the world.” This verse is often used to refute the pre-trib belief that the church will not be present during the end times judgments. “After all,” they say, “Jesus said we will have tribulation in this world.”
Another is found in 1 Thes. 5:9 where Paul said, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here they say the wrath Paul was taking about is not the end times judgments associated with the Day of the Lord, which is the context of the passage, but the eternal punishment to be endured by non-believers. They say that’s the only wrath our salvation protects us from.
So lets take a closer look at these two words as they pertain to the end times and see what the Bible says about them.
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