Midtribulationism teaches that the church will be raptured at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation, after the Antichrist is revealed but before the wrath of God is fully poured out. It aligns with pretribulationism in stating that the church will not experience God's wrath, but it also aligns with posttribulationalism in that the wrath of God will be revealed after the Antichrist's rule. The view posits that the rapture occurs at the seventh trumpet, as mentioned in Revelation 11:15, marking the shift from the Antichrist’s wrath to God’s. However, this view has been critiqued because the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17) already reveals God's wrath, which occurs before the seventh trumpet. Despite differences in timing, all rapture views agree that believers will be spared from God's wrath, emphasizing the need to remain faithful and mission-focused as we await Christ’s return.
For centuries biblical scholars have argued about what the rapture is and when it will occur. Those who believe in a literal translation of end-times prophecy agree that there will be a rapture along with a seven-year tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, and the thousand-year reign of Christ. But the timing of the rapture is a topic of long-standing debate.
There are three basic rapture views and one hybrid. All of them attempt to interpret Scripture in as clear a way as possible, specifically the passages that say that believers will not experience God's wrath: "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9). This wrath has been identified as the particular judgment God sends down during the tribulation to punish those who rejected Him and is part of the cleansing of the earth before Christ's millennial kingdom.
Pretribulationalists point out that although some of the seal judgments are man-made (the rise of the Antichrist, war, persecution), many are not (pestilence, beasts, natural disasters). Revelation 5:5 is clear that it is Christ who opens the seals. Therefore, all the judgments are part of the wrath of God, and the church must be raptured before the beginning of the tribulation.
Posttribulationalists hang onto Isaiah 2:21-22, saying it means once God's wrath begins, only He will be magnified (the Antichrist will have lost all power and authority). They also point to Revelation 6:16, which says the wrath of the Lamb starts at the sixth seal. So the rapture occurs right before the wrath of the Lord (which is the same as the day of the Lord) at the very end of the tribulation, after which are the trumpet and bowl judgments. In this view believers are not spirited away and given new, heavenly bodies, but are merely protected from the judgments and the battle of Armageddon before returning and populating the millennial kingdom.
The pre-wrath view is similar to posttribulationism but says the shift from the wrath of the Antichrist to the wrath of God is at some indeterminate point in the second half of the tribulation (allowing more time for the trumpet and bowl judgments) and is heralded by the rapture.
Midtribulationism agrees with pretribulationism in that the church will not experience God's wrath. And it agrees with postribulationism in that the wrath of God will occur when God alone is glorified. But it places that change-over at the mid-point of the tribulation. Scripture makes clear that God's wrath begins with the seal judgments, which affects the entire tribulation, not just the second half, so that means mid-tribulationism does not align with the biblical text.
The end times will occur as God has planned, in spite of our confusion. Midtribulationism is one attempt to translate biblical prophecy, but it does not seem to be the most accurate. Whatever happens, we know the church will not be subject to God's wrath and that in the meantime, our job is to reach others for Christ so that they won't be either.
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