by Jeremy Schaber

Created on: May 22, 2008

"Will you be left behind?" a familiar question that so many of us will be familiar with as referring to the popular concept of the Rapture that will occur before the coming of the Great Tribulation that sees the rising of the Anti-Christ with his infamous mark. For those of us who have been faithful to Jesus Christ luckily we will escape that time or will we? For so long we have proclaimed that Scripture clearly points out that the Church will be Raptured out of the world before the time of the Great Tribulation begins. However what does Scripture really say about a rapture of believers and when it will occur? The answer we will find is not very pleasing but it is the truth.

Let's start with the two commonly quoted verses that are said to support a pre-tribulation Rapture: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.
"16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
"51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
Even by itself 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 doesn't clearly point to a pre-tribulation Rapture but simply points to the fact that there will be a catching away/snatching/rapture as translated from rapiemur but the matter of when that event will occur is still up for debate. That fact becomes more clear when the verse is placed within the larger context: "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be

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