5. Does the Old Testament Support a Pre-Trib Rapture?

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Does the Old Testament Support a Pre-Trib Rapture?

The most important Old Testament accounts to consider are: (1) Noah and the Flood; (2) Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; (3) the children of Israel and the ten plagues and (4) the inhabitants of Jerusalem when the city was destroyed. After reviewing these accounts, we will examine a key text in the book of Isaiah that is directly relevant to our discussion.

Noah and the Flood

When the LORD saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the LORD said, “I will wipe off from the face of the earth mankind, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.” Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the LORD .

Genesis 6:5–8 HCSB

Because Noah pleased the Lord, and because He wanted to save the human race, the Lord determined to save Noah and his family:

Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.”

Genesis 6:13–14 HCSB

And the Lord continued,

Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.

Genesis 6:17–18 HCSB

We all know how the rest of the story goes. God sends the rains, and the fountains of the deep erupt (see Genesis 7:11), and every human being and animal is destroyed, aside from Noah and his family, along with the animals preserved in the Ark. Jesus draws attention to this event as well, teaching,

As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be: Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one left. Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.

Matthew 24:37–42 HCSB (see also Luke 17:26–27)

(Craig will address Matthew 24 in greater detail later in the book.) Hebrews and Peter also speak of Noah and the Flood: “By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7 HCSB ). And Peter tells us that,

God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:20–21 HCSB

Peter also tells us that God “didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5 HCSB ). We should also point out that both Jesus and Peter reference the flood side by side with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, as we will see when we look at that important passage of Scripture.

Does the account of Noah and the Flood support a pre-Tribulational pattern in which God delivers His people and then pours out His wrath? Or does it support a post-Tribulational pattern in which God protects His people in the midst of His wrath being poured out? To be candid, either position can be argued with equal passion.

Those arguing for a pre-Tribulational pattern would say that Noah and his family were taken out before the flood destroyed the rest of the world. Those arguing for a post-Tribulational pattern would say that Noah and his family were protected by the Lord while remaining in this world and enduring the flood—they did not go anywhere, did they?—noting that Peter uses this very word ( protected ) when writing about this in 2 Peter 2.

In response, pre-Tribbers could say, “But 2 Peter, along with Jesus in Luke 17, connects the rescue of Noah and his family with the rescue of Lot and his daughters, which points to deliverance rather than protection.” But the post-Tribbers could say, “You’re missing the point that Jesus was making. Look in Matthew 24. Jesus is telling us there that the ones taken are being taken in judgment and those left behind are the ones being saved.” And on and on it could go.

In the interest of being as unbiased as possible, I would propose we put this in the category of unclear when it comes to discerning a pre-Trib or post-Trib pattern in the Old Testament. Fair enough?

Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah

“Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place, for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the LORD , that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the L ORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

Genesis 19:12–15 HCSB

It is true, of course, that Lot and his daughters took refuge in a nearby town, but they were clearly taken out of Sodom and Gomorrah before God’s wrath was poured out. As Genesis states, “So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when He demolished the cities where Lot had lived” (Genesis 19:29 HCSB ).

In the New Testament, Jesus spoke of this event as well, and in this context, you could argue that those who are taken are like Lot, rescued from the coming wrath, while those who are left behind are left for judgment. And note that Jesus had just spoken about Noah and the Flood here in Luke 17:

It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife!

Luke 17:28–32 HCSB

Note also that Peter speaks of Lot, immediately after Noah, in the context of God’s ability to deliver the godly from trials:

And if He rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.

2 Peter 2:7–10 HCSB

Does this account, then, support the pre-Trib position more than the post-Trib? Does it point to God taking His people out before pouring out His wrath? I believe pre-Tribbers could easily say that this text supports their position, although there are surely some good, post-Trib responses that could be offered. For example, we could say that Lot was removed from a one-time act of destruction, just as believers will be caught up with the Lord when He descends to bring judgment (see Craig’s treatment of this passage in chapter 7). But once more, in an attempt to be as unbiased as possible, we will put this in the category of potentially supporting the pre-Trib paradigm.

The Children of Israel and the Ten Plagues

The LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. But if you will not let My people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians’ houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live. But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, Yahweh, am in the land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow .”

Exodus 8:20–23 HCSB , emphasis added

So for all the remaining plagues––the plague on the livestock, the boils, the hail, the locusts, the darkness and the death of the firstborn––God poured out His judgments on Egypt but not on the people of Israel. This is drilled home in the verses that follow:

All the Egyptian livestock died, but none among the Israelite livestock died.

Exodus 9:6 HCSB

Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast. The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field. The only place it didn’t hail was in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were.

Exodus 9:25–26 HCSB

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.

Exodus 10:22–23 HCSB

I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:12–13 HCSB

So Moses said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, and every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the millstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock. Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before, or ever will be again. But against all the Israelites, whether man or beast, not even a dog will snarl, so that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’”

Exodus 11:4–7 HCSB

What an extraordinary account! And note especially the Lord’s directives regarding the last plague, the killing of the firstborn: The children of Israel were to slaughter one lamb per family, then put the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes, then eat the lamb with their families inside those doors. Consequently, when the Lord’s destroying angel passed through Egypt, killing all their firstborn, not an Israelite family was touched.

Without a doubt, this account confirms the post-Tribulation position, namely, that God can preserve His people here on the earth while He pours out His wrath on the very same earth . And as He does this, it is a sign and a wonder, as He makes a distinction between His own children and the children of the world.

I imagine a pre-Tribber might have an angle where they could argue that this also supports a Rapture—honestly, I do not know what that argument might be—but again, seeking to be as unbiased as possible, this account clearly supports the post-Trib viewpoint. God can protect us without taking us out, even in times of devastating judgment.

The Inhabitants of Jerusalem When the City Was Destroyed

Then he [meaning, the Lord] cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist.

Verses 1–3 ESV

Talk about getting the prophet’s attention. Almighty God cried in his ears in a loud voice, calling for “the executioners of the city” to come near, each of them armed “with his destroying weapon.” This is an ominous message, even though translators understand the phrase “executioners of the city” in different ways: “you who are to visit destruction on the city” ( NET ); “those who have charge over the city” ( NKJV ); “those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city” ( NIV ); and “the men appointed to punish the city!” ( NLT ). These men (or really, angelic messengers) had the authority to destroy.

The text continues:

Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it .” And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary .” So they began with the elders who were before the house. Then he said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city.

Verses 3–7 ESV , emphasis added

Ezekiel was already a captive in Babylon when this was taking place, since Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had already marched against Jerusalem and taken the first wave of captives about twenty years earlier. But now the city would be destroyed with a horrible slaughter, to the point that Ezekiel cried out to the Lord in prayer, asking Him if He was going to totally wipe out His people. God replied that the guilt of Judah and Israel was too great, and so He would carry out His sentence without pity (see Ezekiel 9:8–11). There was only one exception: God spared those who sighed and groaned over all the abominations that were committed in Jerusalem, putting a mark of protection on them. And when the destroying angels came through the city, smiting without mercy, they did not touch those with the mark.

This text, then, fully supports the idea that God can protect His people as His wrath is poured out, just as He protected the children of Israel in Egypt when His plagues were poured out. Not only so, but in the Old Testament the destruction of Jerusalem is set forth as the ultimate example of God’s wrath, since in this case, He actually destroyed His own house (meaning the temple; see, e.g. 2 Chronicles 36:15–16). Yet even during this season of fiery wrath, God made a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, sparing those who were brokenhearted over the sin of the nation. And although they did go into exile with the rest of the nation (see Jeremiah 24), this was also God’s way of preserving their lives. When so many others were butchered in Jerusalem, by the Lord’s gracious intervention, they were not.

This is reminiscent of what is written in Malachi 3, about a hundred and fifty years after the destruction of Jerusalem, but at a time when, once again, God’s people were in sin:

Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”

Verses 16–18 ESV

God knows how to make a distinction between those who serve Him and those who do not, and with pinpoint precision at that. He can mark us in such a way that no one can touch us outside of His will, right in the middle of the outpouring of His judgment and wrath. He does not need to rapture us out.

Factoring in the Words of Jesus and Paul

Jesus famously said to His disciples shortly before His crucifixion, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation [ thlipsis ]; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NKJV ). And note that this is the same Greek word used elsewhere in the New Testament for “great tribulation” (see Matthew 24:29 and Revelation 7:14). Then, in direct confirmation of the words of Jesus, we read,

And when [Paul and Barnabas] had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations [again, Greek, thlipsis ] enter the kingdom of God.”

Acts 14:21–22 NKJV

In fact, the Greek for tribulation, thlipsis , which can also mean “trouble, pressure,” is found frequently in the New Testament. See Matthew 13:21 (where thlipsis and persecution arise because of the Word); Acts 20:23 ( thlipsis awaits Paul in every city); Romans 5:3 ( thlipsis produces perseverance in our lives; see also Romans 8:25; 12:12); 2 Corinthians 1:4 (God comforts us in our thlipsis ); 2 Corinthians 4:17 (in this world, we have only light thlipsis ; see also 2 Corinthians 6:4; 7:4; Ephesians 3:13; Philippians 1:17; 4:14; Colossians 1:24); 1 Thessalonians 1:6 (the Thessalonians received the Word in much thlipsis ; see also 1 Thessalonians 3:3, 7; 2 Thessalonians 1:4, 6); Hebrews 10:33 (the believers were made a spectacle because of the thlipsis they suffered); James 1:27 (we visit the fatherless and widows in their thlipsis ); Revelation 1:9 (John is our companion in thlipsis ); Revelation 2:9–10 (the believers in Smyrna are suffering thlipsis and will continue to suffer thlipsis ) and Revelation 2:22 (the Lord will afflict Jezebel and her followers with great thlipsis ).

These verses confirm what Jesus and Paul said: We will have lots of thlipsis —tribulation!—in this world. And that leads to an obvious question: Why would we think that at the end of the age, God would spare His people from thlipsis ? Why the final generation alone? That would seem to violate a biblical pattern, would it not? And what about the way that Jesus prayed for His disciples? Could that be the way He prays for us, too? He said, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15 NKJV ).

You might say, “But what about Lot and his family? Did not God call them out of Sodom before destruction came?”

Yes, exactly, He did. It is similar to the call to believers in Revelation 18 to come out of Babylon, as John recounts:

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”

Revelation 18:4–5 NKJV

So we come out of the sins of the world system lest we suffer God’s judgments on a sinning world. But we do not leave the world itself, any more than Lot and his family did. They simply moved from one area to another one nearby. That is hardly a picture of the pre-Trib Rapture of the Church (see Craig’s treatment of these relevant passages in chapter 9).

A Decisive Old Testament Text

Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

At a time in the future, when God’s anger will be poured out on the earth, we are not promised escape. We are told to take refuge. The text is straightforward and clear.

As for the context, this is part of what scholars call the Apocalypse of Isaiah, which refers to Isaiah 24–27. And it has that name because it speaks of cosmic events, of end-time upheaval, of the final coming of God’s Kingdom and the destruction of His enemies. Here is just a sampling of some of the verses. The text speaks of the future destruction of the earth:

See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word.

Isaiah 24:1–3 NIV

Then God will come with power!

The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is violently shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again. In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above . . . they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory.

Isaiah 24:19–23 NIV

At that time, God will abolish death from His people:

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD , we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Isaiah 25:6–9 NIV

And at that time, He will crush the serpent’s head (cf. Romans 16:20): “In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword—his fierce, great and powerful sword—Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea” (Isaiah 27:1 NIV ).

And when the judgment is over, the Lord will gather His people Israel together:

In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 27:12–13 NIV

Clearly, this is speaking in terms of the end of the age, the final conflict and the last great war. And during this time, when God’s wrath is poured out on a rebellious, sinning world, He gives a directive to His people: “Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.”

The Lord will provide a place of refuge for us right in the midst of the storm (as He did for Noah). He will give us a way of escape from His judgments (just as He did for Lot). He will make a distinction between His people and the world (just as He did for the Israelites in Egypt and for the righteous in Jerusalem). Yet we will not escape all tribulation and suffering for the Gospel. In other words, we will not be exempt from the hatred of people and the attacks of Satan. To the contrary, we were promised this as part of our faith. But we will be protected from God’s wrath—right here, in this world. The storm will be great, but our God will be greater, and we will take refuge in Him. “The name of the L ORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10 NKJV ).

Is There Any More Old Testament Support for a Pre-Trib Rapture?

Revelation 20:4 ( HCSB ) tells us what happens after Jesus returns and casts Satan into the abyss for a thousand years (in other words, what happens after the Tribulation):

Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the people who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of God’s word, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with the Messiah for 1,000 years.

Does Zechariah 14 mention this resurrection, one which Revelation speaks of explicitly, and in a post-Tribulational context? Not a word. Yet we know it will happen. (Even if one interprets Revelation 20 differently, the believers who preach during the Tribulation must get resurrected somehow.) The same can be said for the resurrection of all believers, together with the catching up of the living saints: Zechariah 14 does not record it—among many other things we expect to see at that time—but plenty of other Scriptures mention it.

In the same way, Matthew 24:29–31 ––to be referenced several times in this book––tells us that,

Immediately after the tribulation of those days . . . the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Matthew 24:29–31 HCSB

Here, too, we have a specific time frame for this event—after the tribulation—with a detailed description of what will happen. Does Zechariah 14 mention it? Not a word. Yet we know it will come to pass. So much for Zechariah 14 proving a pre-Trib Rapture.

Other pre-Trib teachers have pointed to passages like Jeremiah 30:7, which speak of the time of Jacob’s trouble, arguing that “the Tribulation is for Israel’s redemption.” But this argument is also quite specious.

First, Jeremiah 30:7 initially applied to Judah’s suffering at the hands of the Babylonians in the early sixth century BC. It is secondarily applied to a final Tribulation period. Second, there is not a single verse in the Bible that states that God cannot deal with the Church and Israel at the same time. Nowhere in the Word is it stated (or implied) that there cannot be persecution (and purification) of the followers of Jesus while God simultaneously turns the hearts of Jewish people to Himself. Really now, is the Lord of the universe unable to multitask?

Equally specious is the claim by Nathan Jones that “the Old Testament and Revelation leave the Church out of the Tribulation.” Craig will address the question of Revelation in chapter 8. As for the Old Testament, the very concept of “the Church” (referring to one Body of redeemed Jews and Gentiles) was hidden within the pages of the Hebrew Bible, a “mystery” to be revealed with the first coming of Jesus into the world (see Ephesians 3:1–11; Romans 11:25–26; 16:25–26). Why would we expect to find explicit reference to the Church going through tribulation in the midst of texts speaking to the people of Israel on a national level? We might as well argue that the psalms are not part of the Bible because they are not mentioned in Leviticus.

On the flip side, did Paul not write that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4 ESV )? That means that Christians can take the words of encouragement spoken to the Jewish people in the Old Testament—words of hope in the midst of tribulation and despair—and apply them spiritually to their own lives. And they can do this while recognizing that those words remain eternally relevant to Israel and Judah, the original recipients of the promises.

The simple fact is that the Old Testament provides no evidence for a pre-Tribulational Rapture. But we are just getting started. Let’s continue to dig into God’s Word.