Adherents to the Midtribulational view rely on two so-called proofs. First, both Daniel and the book of Revelation portray the last half of the 70th Week of Daniel as being a time of tribulation and terror, with the Antichrist ruling over the world from Jerusalem and the severest judgments poured out upon the earth cf. Dan ; ; , 11; Rev ; , 14; Second, some significant event at the midpoint of the 70th Week has drastic consequences for this planet. This view teaches that the believer must endure the wrath of man but is exempt from the wrath of God.
It is impossible to espouse a midtribulational view of the rapture and hold to the concept of imminency. According to this view, the appearance of the Antichrist, his covenant with Israel, and the destruction caused by the four horsemen must occur before Christ can return. Therefore, the rapture cannot happen today. The last trumpet of 1 Cor 15 and the seventh trumpet are not identical. The seventh trumpet is the last one in a series announcing divine judgment on the earth.
There is even a later trumpet sounded during the tribulation to gather the elect of the Second Advent Mt Similarity does not prove identity. The two witnesses of Revelation 11 could not possibly be the church.
The witnesses are literally killed and lie in the literal streets of literal Jerusalem for three days. The seventh trumpet ushers in not the second half of the tribulation but the messianic kingdom. It is a variation of the mid-tribulational position and has similarities to the post-tribulational position. The basic thesis of this view is that the church will be removed from the earth by the rapture just before the fourth quarter of the 70th Week of Daniel. The church, therefore, would need to go through three-fourths of the tribulation.
However, others who hold to this seven-year period would say that the Bible does not teach that Christians would be raptured or removed before these events. A variant of this argument is that the first three and a half years of the tribulation are the wrath of Satan, while the last three and a half are the wrath of God, so it is at that mark that Christians are removed.
Those who believe Christians would be removed at the middle or the end of the seven year period would note that Revelation does not mean that one has to be removed from the situation. In fact, Jesus prays in John for believers not to be taken out of the world but to be kept from the evil one. Therefore, there is division among those who teach this idea of a rapture and a seven year tribulation period when these events will take place hence the question!
Something else to remember when thinking about this question is that not all Christians believe that these final seven years of Daniel await as discussed a bit in this post last week or that the Book of Revelation offers a timeline of specific events that come in the future see this past post on reading Revelation and the possibility of parallelism.
Thus, not all believe in a seven year tribulation that Christians could be removed from. In fact, a common view through the ages has been that the present time is this period of tribulation, with the Book of Revelation describing the challenges that the church will face throughout time rather than specific events.
There will be an increase in evil at the end as Paul notes in places like 2 Timothy , but with no timeline on the length , with the return of Jesus happening after the man of lawlessness is revealed see 2 Thessalonians 2 , and the church will experience these things.
At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus Christ will return with the hosts of heaven as well as the Church to establish the Messianic Kingdom on earth. The Messianic kingdom will close with apostasy and rebellion. After this judgment there will be a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness is the norm. Moody Bible Institute N. LaSalle Blvd. By submitting this form, you consent to receive promotional and other communications from the Moody Bible Institute.
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