Which is Next –
the Rapture or the Second Coming?
Lesson 38
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When Does the Judgment
Occur?
A pre-trib rapture
mandates a pre-trib judgment before
the rapture can take place because
Jesus has to decide who can be
raptured and who cannot. The fact
that Jesus judges the people of Earth
before the Second Coming is well
supported in the Scriptures, but no
scriptural support exists for a
judgment of the living before the
Great Tribulation begins. In fact, I
find the opposite to be true. One of
the primary purposes of the Great
Tribulation is to judge the living.
(Revelation 3:10) The contest between
obeying God and observing His Ten
Commandments versus obeying the
Antichrist (the devil) and receiving
his mark will separate the people of
Earth into one of two camps. Notice
what Jesus says about the Second
Coming: “When the Son of Man
comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, he will sit on his
throne in heavenly glory. All the
nations will be gathered before him,
and he will separate the people one
from another as a Shepard separates
the sheep from the goats. He will put
the sheep on his right and the goats
on the left. “Then he will say
to those on his left, ‘Depart
from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil
and his angels. For I was hungry and
you gave me nothing to eat, I was
thirsty and you gave me nothing to
drink, I was a stranger and you did
not invite me in, I needed clothes
and you did not clothe me, I was sick
and in prison and you did not look
after me.’ “They also will
answer, ‘Lord, when did we see
you hungry or thirsty or a stranger
or needing clothes or sick or in
prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you
the truth, whatever you did not do
for one of the least of these, you
did not do for me.’ Then they
will go away to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal
life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
Jesus clearly
establishes when the sheep are
separated from the goats. This
happens, Jesus said, “When the
Son of Man comes in his
glory…All the nations will be
gathered before him, and he will
separate the people one from another.
They [the wicked] will go away to
eternal punishment, but the righteous
to eternal life.” In this text,
Jesus describes the scene that occurs
on the last day, the day when the
eternal reward is given. Nothing is
said about gathering up His sheep
before the Second Coming. Nothing is
said about granting eternal life to
millions of people seven years before
the Second Coming.
Notice these verses:
“He [Jesus] answered, ‘The
one who sowed the good seed is the
Son of Man. The field is the world,
and the good seed stands for the sons
of the kingdom. The weeds are the
sons of the evil one, and the enemy
who sows them id the devil. The
harvest is at the end of the age, and
the harvesters are angels. As the
weeds arte pulled up and burned in
the fire, so it will be at the end of
the age. The Son of Man will send out
his angels, and they will weed out of
his kingdom everything that causes
sin and all who do evil. They will
throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous
will shine like the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. He who has
ears, let him hear.’”
(Matthew 13:37-43) These verses
conflict with the notion of a
pre-trib rapture. The harvest is at
the end of the age and we know from
the earlier verse (verse 30) that the
weeds (the wicked) and the good seed
(the righteous) grow together until
the time of the harvest. When the Son
of Man sends his angels, they will
gather up the good seed and throw the
weeds into the fiery furnace. Nothing
is said about sparing the weeds for
seven more years after the good seed
is taken up to Heaven.
[Jesus said] “As
for the person who hears my words but
does not keep them, I do not judge
him. For I did not come [this time]
to judge the world, but to save it.
There is a judge for the one who
rejects me and does not accept my
words; that very word which I spoke
will condemn him at the last
day.” (John 12:47-48, insertion
mine.)
This may sound
strange, but “the last
day” issue rises again. Jesus
makes an interesting point about the
last day in these verses. From
earlier study we know that “the
last day” occurs at the Second
Coming. Therefore, no one actually
knows whether he or she is saved or
condemned until the Second Coming or
the last day. Keep in mind that I am
writing of knowing, not about
believing. A person may believe he or
she is saved or even lost, but faith
is not the same thing as knowledge.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) says, “Now
faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen.” Knowledge, on the other
hand, is a matter of fact. This is
why the tree in Genesis was called
“the knowledge of good and
evil.” Humankind had no
knowledge of sin until sin occurred.
God gave instructions about sin
(Genesis 2:17) and Adam and Eve knew
that sin could occur, but they did
not know what sin was. Once sin was
experienced, it became a matter of
fact. The point in John 12 is timing:
According to Jesus, no one will know
whether he or she is saved or
condemned until the last day which
occurs when the righteous is
resurrected. Righteous people cannot
be ruptured to Heaven (saved), if the
rest of the living has not been
condemned to death yet! According to
the words of Jesus in John 12:47,48,
everyone left behind after rapture
would be condemned to eternal death.
Notice what Jesus said about His
appearing: “Behold, I am coming
soon! My reward is with me, and I
will give to everyone according to
what he has done…Blessed are
those who wash their robes, that they
may have the right to the tree of
life and go through the gates into
the city. Outside are the dogs, those
who practice magic arts, sexually
immoral, the murderers, the idolaters
and everyone who loves and practices
falsehood.” (Revelation
22:12-15)
John 12 and Revelation
22 are in perfect harmony. When Jesus
returns, His reward of salvation or
condemnation is with Him. When He
arrives, all people will have been
judged according to their deeds
(works, KJV) and Jesus Himself will
physically distribute everyone’s
reward at His appearing. Jesus will
execute the condemned (the goats, or
the wicked) by a single command (the
sharp sword that comes out of His
mouth). (2 Thessalonians 2:8;
Revelation 19:21) The righteous dead
will come to life and rise and join
the resurrected saints and “fly
away” to meet the Lord in the
air “at the last day.” (1
Thessalonians 4:16)
The Bible teaches that
the judgment of man takes place
before rewards are handed out at the
last day. “Now all has been
heard: here is the conclusion of the
matter: Fear god and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole
duty of man. For God will bring every
deed into judgment, including every
hidden thing, whether it is good or
evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
This verse confirms
that God will “pass over”
or judge each person that lives on
the face of the Earth. He will review
every deed during the judgment
process and make a determination
regarding each person, whether for
salvation or condemnation. If a
person lives by faith, then his or
her deeds or works will confirm his
or her faith. (James 2:17) This is
why our works judges us. Notice this
confirming verse: “For we must
all appear before the judgment seat
of Christ, that each one may receive
what is due him for the things done
while in the body, whether good or
bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
Did you notice that
Paul uses the inclusive pronoun
again? “For we must all
appear…”Paul knew that he
too must stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. So everyone, good or
bad, including Protestants believing
in a pre-trib rapture, has to stand
before the judgment seat of Christ.
The judgment of the living occurs
during the Great Tribulation. God is
going to test the faith and loyalty
of the living with tribulation!
(Revelation 3:10) In fact, this is
why God permits the worldwide mark of
the beast test to be established-to
see who will obey Him and live by
faith, even to the point of death.
The Church at
Philadelphia
“Since you have
kept my command to endure patiently,
I will also keep you from the hour of
trial that is going to come upon the
whole world to test those who live on
the earth.” (Revelation 3:10)
Pre-trib rapture believers to defend
their escape form the Great
Tribulation often use this text. So,
let us carefully examine this text
and its content. To be fair, if the
Bible had one verse in it, and this
was the only verse, I could be
persuaded that the Bible supported
the idea that the saints will escape
the hour of trial that is coming upon
the whole world. However, when
compared with everything the Bible
has to say about the end-time, this
verse does not actually say what it
is purported to say. This verse was
directed at the church of
Philadelphia. So, we need to ask,
will the church of Philadelphia be
the only church to escape the hour of
trial that is going to come upon the
whole world? I do not believe this to
be true. There are six more churches
in Revelation, and we need to
discover what happens to them during
the Great Tribulation.
Review Revelation 3:10
and observe these two points: First,
Jesus says an hour of trial is going
to come upon the whole world to test
the living. For reasons beyond the
scope of this study, I agree with
pre-trib rapture believers that the
Great tribulation is imminently
before us! I believe this verse
points to a final tribulation that
has no equal in world history.
(Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1,2) When a
person first reads this text it may
appear that the church of
Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7) will be
kept from experiencing the hour of
trial, that is, they will escape this
testing time. Unfortunately, many
Christians have come to regard this
verse as proof that Christians will
escape the suffering that will
overcome the world during the
Tribulation. Actually, this verse
does not teach that Christians will
be taken to Heaven before the
Tribulation begins, but instead
indicates that believers will be
sustained beginning from (Greek work
‘ek) the hour of trial until
Jesus appears. One of the
world’s best lexicons on early
Christian use of the Greek language
is a Greek Lexicon of the New
Testament (Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich,
1952, Fourth Ed.) The word in
question is the Greek preposition
‘ek and it is translated
“from” both in the NIV and
KJV. Therefore, the phrase reads,
“…I will keep you from the
hour of trial…” However,
this tiny preposition is also
translated in a variety of other ways
in both versions of the Bible and has
more than a dozen different English
equivalents in meaning. For example,
‘ek can mean “from, out of,
away from, coming out of, descending
from, by, because of, beginning from,
begins from, for.” On page 452
of this lexicon, the authors indicate
that when the preposition id followed
by a measurement of time-as in
“the hour of trial”
‘ek can convey the meaning
“beginning from.” In other
words, a person is justified in
reading this verse as follows:
“I [Jesus] will keep you
beginning from the hour of trial that
is going to come upon the
world…”
When one word,
especially a preposition, determines
the meaning of a pivotal verse, we
must be very careful in our research.
We can and should turn to additional
lexicons and other word study helps
for insight. Although this effort may
be valuable, it is not the highest
authority regarding the intended
meaning of the verse. Higher and
weightier evidence must come from the
Bible itself. So, here are three
points for your consideration about
why this verse should be understood
as “beginning from the hour of
trial”:
- Jesus told His
disciples,” And surely I
am with you always, to the
very end of the age [world
(KJV].” (Matthew 28:20)
This verse should be taken at
face value. Jesus plainly
said He would be with His
children to the very last day
when He physically and
gloriously appears in the
clouds. This idea concurs
with Revelation 3:10: “I
[Jesus] will keep you
beginning from the hour of
trial that is going to come
upon the whole
world…”
- Several verses
in Revelation indicate that
the saints are on Earth
during the Great Tribulation.
The word “saints”
is mentioned twelve times in
Revelation (NIV and thirteen
times in the KJV. Except for
the 144,000 servants who are
taken to Heaven after the
seven trumpets end and the 24
elders who were taken to
Heaven at the time of
Christ’s ascension,
Revelation does not place the
living saints in Heaven
before the Second Coming. In
fact, Revelation places the
saints of Earth! Notice what
happens to the saints in
these verses: “Then the
dragon was enraged at the
woman and went off to make
war against the rest [the
remnant, (KJV] of her
offspring-those who obey
God’s commandments and
hold to the testimony of
Jesus…He [the beast] was
given power to make war
against the saints and to
conquer them. And he was
given authority over every
tribe, people, language and
nation…If anyone is to
go into captivity, into
captivity he will go. If
anyone is to be killed with
the sword, with the sword he
will be killed. This calls
for patience endurance and
faithfulness on the part of
the saints…”
(Revelation 12:17; 13:7;
13:10) I do not find support
in Scripture for the idea
that some saints are enjoying
the bliss of Heaven while
others are living through a
hellish tribulation on Earth.
Instead, the purpose of the
Great Tribulation is to test
those people who live on
Earth and to expose who the
saints really are! Revelation
14:12 confirm the saints will
suffer because they obey God.
John says, “ This calls
for patient endurance on the
part of the saints who
[suffer because they] obey
God’s commandments and
remain faithful to
Jesus.” The point is
that Revelation clearly puts
the saints on Earth during
the Great Tribulation.
Therefore, Revelation 3:10
should read, “I [Jesus]
will also keep you beginning
from the hour of trial that
is going to come upon the
whole world…”
- Let us review
the comments of Jesus to all
seven churches. The meaning
of Revelation 3:10 will
become clearer when placed
within its larger context.
Does Jesus intend to honor
the people in the church at
Philadelphia with a pre-trib
rapture and punish the other
six churches by putting them
through the Great
tribulation? Besides, who
belongs to the church of
Philadelphia today? How can
we tell? Study the chart to
see what Jesus says to each
church
I regard the seven
messages to the seven churches as
local and timely messages. This means
that when these messages were given
in A. D. 95, they were directed at
the seven churches that existed in
John’s day. Therefore, we have
to understand these messages within
their local situation, their day and
time. (Similarly, we have to treat
the epistles of Paul to the
Thessalonians in the same manner.)
To appreciate the
meaning of these messages, put
John’s sandals and stand where
he stood. I do not find any
justification from Scripture
revealing that the seven churches
represent seven phases of historical
development within the Christian
church over the past 2,000 years as
some people claim. Neither do I find
the message given to the first
century church of Philadelphia
uniquely applicable to those people
who believe in a pre-trib rapture
today. I do find these seven churches
in Asia Minor to be typical of
Christians during all ages.
Therefore, the messages should not be
promoted as apocalyptic prophecy, but
as warning and edifying messages for
all Christian churches. Jesus sent
timely messages to seven Christian
churches that had problems in
John’s day, so that Christians
everywhere could see that Jesus
closely observes those people who
proclaim His Name. (Incidentally,
more than seven Christian churches
existed in John’s day, but Jesus
chose these seven because their
corporate behavior represented
Christian churches everywhere. The
number seven is often used a number
of “completeness” and
therefore, seven messages to seven
churches suggest Jesus’
comprehensive analysis of Christian
behavior.)
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