Those who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture say it is imminent. It can happen any time with no precursor to warn us it is about to happen. There will be no prophetic events that will happen before this event. People going about their everyday lives will vanish from the earth and be raptured to Heaven. No warning, no sign of any kind. Just here one second, and gone the next.
As the pre-tribulation rapture idea goes, there can be no precursors to the rapture. The idea of imminence is that it can happen today at 3pm or in a week’s time at midnight; there is no way to tell, as there will be no warning signs about when God’s elect will be taken up from this world and be gathered to Jesus.
Concerning the coming
What does the Bible say on this matter? First we must understand that the day and the hour are not disclosed to us. The only person in the entire universe who has this knowledge is our eternal Father in Heaven. Listen to what Mark 13:32 tells us.
Mar 13:32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
So, does this mean God’s elect can be raptured at any time. The answer is no, they cannot be. We may not know the day and the hour, but we will certainly know when it is close. Listen to Mat 24:32-33.
Mat 24:32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
Mat 24:33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
Precursors
There are certain events that we will see. Precursors to the time of the gathering of God’s elect to Jesus. The same as when we see the leaves of the fig tree come out, we know summer is near. In the same way, when we see the events recorded for us in the 24th Chapter of Matthew, then we will know that the time for God to gather his elect to Jesus is right at the door.
But before we look at the rest of Matthew 24 to see these precursors, let us look at what Malachi in the Old Testament had to say.
Mal 4:5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
So Elijah comes first. But there is another prophecy from God that we need to take into account, and that is recorded in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verses 1-4.
2Th 2:1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,
2Th 2:2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.
2Th 2:3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
2Th 2:4 he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
It always amazes me how those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture use this chapter to “prove” their theory. But if you listen carefully to what it actually says, it proves the opposite. What does verse one say? “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him. ” How can this mean anything other than the rapture?