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Is
there a Gap between the Rapture and the Tribulation?
By Dr. F. Kenton Beshore
Some
prophecy teachers think there may be a gap between the Rapture and the start of the
Tribulation while others believe there is no gap. The few that I have found who believe
there is a gap are – Clarence Larkin, Earl Radmacher, Chuck Missler, Chuck Smith, Hal
Lindsey, Timothy LaHaye and Jimmy Swaggart. The prophecy teachers who do not believe there
is a gap are - Morgan
Edwards, John Nelson Darby, J. Vernon McGee, John Walvoord, Harold Lindsell, Oliver
Greene, Dave Breese, J. Dwight Pentecost, Jack Van Impe, Salem Kirban, Thomas Ice, Perry
Stone, Dave Hunt, Hilton Sutton, Chuck Smith, Brian Brodersen and Don Stewart. (Chuck
Smith formerly taught no gap, then he taught a gap and now he thinks there is no gap.) Does
the Bible clarify this issue? Let us look at some passages that may give us a better
understanding.
Jesus
told His disciples that they would long to see one of the days of the Son of Man but they
would not see it. Instead He told them not to be fooled by people who will claim that He
has returned. He explained that when He returns it will be in a sudden manner like
lightning striking the ground. He added that before that day comes they would be suffer
many things and be rejected. Then He made a very significant statement concerning His
return:
And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days
of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until
the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank,
they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but in the day that Lot went out from
Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.
(Luke 17.26-30, ASV)
Notice
that Jesus said on the “day” that Noah
entered the ark “the
flood came, and destroyed them all” and
the “day” that “Lot went out from
While the days of Noah
were very wicked, Jesus did not particularly deal with the wickedness of Noah’s time,
but rather with the normalcy of the way people lived in Noah’s day:
And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so
shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they
were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came,
and destroyed them all. (Luke 17.26-27)
Jesus showed that the sin
of Noah’s day was that people lived as though they would never die despite
predictions of coming destruction within 120 years (Genesis 6.3). “Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of
But in the day that Lot went out from
Some Bible scholars put
Luke 17.26 and the following verses at the end of the Tribulation. This cannot be because
Jesus was showing by the days of Noah and the days of
Jesus said that on the very “day that Noah entered into the
ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17.27), and “in the day that Lot went out from
Another passage that gives us some insight
into the relationship of the Rapture and the Tribulation is found in Paul’s first
letter to the Thessalonians:
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye
have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in
no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you
as a thief. (1 Thessalonians 5.1-4)
Just before the start of the “day of the Lord,” (the Tribulation) the
unsaved will believe they have finally achieved worldwide peace. At that time, they say
that they have entered a period of “peace and
safety.” We know it is a period of false “peace and safety,” but the unsaved do not know
that.
Paul
then warns Christians of the Church Age to not let that day (the Tribulation) overtake
them as a “thief.” How can we not be
caught by surprise by the Rapture and the Tribulation? If we know what prophecies must be
fulfilled before the Tribulation starts we can watch them be fulfilled, and know how close
the Tribulation is. I describe each prophecy in detail in my book When?.
If
Christians are not supposed to be caught by surprise by the start of the Tribulation it
seems as though the Rapture will take place on the day the Tribulation starts.
Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His
time for not knowing the time they were living in:
Ye
hypocrites, ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and the heaven; but how is it
that ye know not how to interpret this time? (Luke 12.56)
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not
knowing the time of His First Coming. They failed to analyze the time in which they were
living. They missed the signs of the First Coming of the Messiah. If we do not
“watch” for the signs of the Tribulation we may not be ready when Jesus Christ
returns.
If Jesus meant that the day the Church is
raptured judgment will fall upon the unsaved will the Rapture take place on the day the
Tribulation starts?
If Paul warned Christians not to be caught
by surprise by the start of the Tribulation does that mean the Rapture will take place on
the day the Tribulation starts?
How do Christians keep from being caught
by surprise by the Rapture? There is only one way:
Watch therefore: for ye know not on what
day your Lord cometh. (Matthew
24.42)
Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2.13)
How do we “watch” and
“look” for the return of Jesus Christ? The only way I know is to
“watch” Bible prophecies be fulfilled. We have seen
To read more about this topic please read, When? It is on line at When? When Will the Rapture Take Place?