Texts Appealed to in Support of the “Dispensational, Pre-Tribulation Rapture”

[Source: A Calvinist Dispensationalist]

John 14:2-3

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Argument: “When Christ speaks of ‘my fathers house,’ He is speaking of the new Jerusalem that is in heaven, which is the place that He has been ‘preparing’ for the church. It teaches that Jesus will come again for believers; and this ‘coming’ is a visible physical coming. At this coming, the church will be with Him at that location. In the light of I Thessalonians 4 and I Corinthians 15, it is surely referring to the rapture of the church. That Christ said He will ‘come again,’ means He will do this at the rapture. His first coming was a visible physical coming; so, likewise, His next coming for believers will be visible and physical.”

I Corinthians 15:20-28, 51-53

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all …  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

Argument: “The main point of the passage is that Jesus is the first glorified man, whose body is what our future resurrected bodies will be like. Verses 23-28 speak of a resurrection ‘order.’ Verse 23 speaks of the resurrection of Christians at Jesus’ coming for us—a coming which will be a visible and physical coming. In verse 24, the ‘end’ refers to the ‘end’ of this resurrection ‘order,’ and the ‘end’ takes place after the earthly millennium. Then, in verse 25, debate centers around the start of Christ’s reign. Christ is to reign until all enemies are defeated. Verse 51 tells us of an important New Testament revelation that was not previously taught in the Old Testament. According to this new revelation, there will be a group of believers who will be physically alive at Jesus’ coming, who, while still being alive physically, will be glorified and translated—they will experience a radical change. The Old Testament did teach a resurrection of people, but it did not mention this specific truth of a change in those who will be still living. According to the text, both resurrected Christians and those who are alive and changed will be taken to Jesus in heaven. This event is the same one spoken of in I Thessalonians 4:13-17.”

I Thessalonians 1:10

“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

Argument: “This text speaks of the coming of Jesus, who has been in heaven since His resurrection. The ‘us’ refers to the New Testament church, and it says that the church will be ‘delivered’ from the wrath to come. ‘The wrath to come’  implies that which is yet in the future—i.e., the eschatological wrath which occurs in the period of events recorded in Revelation, chapters 6-19.  This period of time is known as ‘the day’ (or time) ‘of God’s wrath’ (according to Revelation 6:16-17). The start of this period of wrath occurs at the ‘first seal.’ I Thessalonians 1:10 promises the church that she will be spared from this wrath—she will not be present on earth when it comes. This physical deliverance from the wrath to come will be because of the rapture.”

I Thessalonians 4:13-17

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Argument: “The only debated point in this text is in verse 17 where it says, ‘and so shall we ever be with the Lord’—the debate is over the location of what is meant here. If we read it in the light of John 14:2-3, we see that Christians will be in heaven, and not on the earth.”

I Thessalonians 5:9

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”

Argument: “The ‘wrath’ referred to in this text is ‘the day of the Lord’ spoken of in verse 2. The ‘day of the Lord,’ according to dispensationalists, is the name referring to the period of events recorded in Revelation, chapters 6-19, a period of time which will be inaugurated upon the opening of the ‘first seal’ of the book that is in the hands of the Lamb. Thus, the ‘wrath’ mentioned in verse 9 is the time of the eschatological wrath—also spoken of in the context of the chapter. God has not ‘appointed’ the church to this wrath. To ‘appoint’ means ‘to assign to’ or ‘to be placed in respect to’ this wrath.  The ‘salvation’ in the verse is the physical deliverance of the church from the coming ‘wrath,’ through Jesus Christ and His coming to take the church to be with Him in heaven (at the rapture).”

Revelation 3:10-11:

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

Argument: “In Revelation 3:10-11, the debate centers around the meaning of the words ‘keep thee from’—dispensationalists understand it to mean ‘kept outside of,’ or ‘guarded from.’ The ‘hour of temptation,’ spoken of, is understood to be the period of events recorded in Revelation, chapters 6-19, which, incidentally, are also termed, by dispensationalists, ‘The Seventieth Week of Daniel.’ ‘All the world’ refers to all the land masses on planet earth. In verse 11, the word ‘come’ is speaking of Jesus’ visible, physical coming for His people in the rapture. The word ‘quickly’ refers to something that will imminently take place. Taken altogether, we have here a promise made to the church that she won’t be part of the coming tribulation period, due to Christ’s coming to take her up to heaven.”