What is posttribulationism?
Question 10026
Posttribulationism is the view that the Church will remain on earth throughout the entire seven-year Tribulation period and be raptured at its conclusion, immediately before or simultaneously with the Second Coming of Christ to establish His kingdom. It is historically the most widely held view in the broader church and is advocated by a number of respected evangelical scholars. Understanding it, and understanding where it falls short, is important for anyone thinking seriously about biblical eschatology.
The Position Stated
Posttribulationism holds that there is no distinction between the Rapture and the Second Coming. The gathering of believers described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is understood as occurring at the very end of the Tribulation, as part of Christ’s visible, glorious return to the earth. Believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air and then immediately return with Him to the earth to participate in the establishment of the millennial kingdom. The “meeting” (apantesis) is compared to the ancient practice of citizens going out to meet a visiting dignitary and then escorting him back into their city, rather than being taken away somewhere else.
Among its most articulate advocates have been George Eldon Ladd, whose The Blessed Hope (1956) presented the case with scholarly rigour, and Robert Gundry, whose The Church and the Tribulation (1973) offered a more technical defence. Douglas Moo and other evangelical scholars have also argued for the position. The posttribulational argument rests on several pillars: that the New Testament presents only one future coming of Christ, that the Church has always been called to endure suffering and persecution, that the Tribulation saints of Revelation appear to be Church-age believers, and that the separation of the Rapture from the Second Coming is an unnecessary doubling of what Scripture describes as a single event.
The Apantesis Argument
The word apantesis in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, translated “to meet,” is used elsewhere in the New Testament in contexts where people go out to meet someone and then return with them. In Matthew 25:6, the virgins go out to meet the bridegroom and then accompany him in. In Acts 28:15, believers from Rome go out to meet Paul and then return with him into the city. Posttribulationists argue that the word itself implies that believers are caught up to meet Christ in the air and then immediately escort Him back to earth. The meeting is not a departure but a welcoming.
The argument has some force, but it does not determine the outcome on its own. The word apantesis describes the act of meeting; it does not specify what happens after the meeting. The context of 1 Thessalonians 4 provides no indication that believers immediately return to earth. Paul’s emphasis is entirely on being gathered to the Lord and being “always with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The destination is not specified as earth. In John 14:1-3, Jesus says He is going to prepare a place for His disciples and will come again to take them to Himself, “that where I am you may be also.” This points toward the Father’s house, not an immediate U-turn back to earth.
The Problem of Imminence
Posttribulationism struggles to account for the New Testament’s consistent presentation of Christ’s return as imminent. If the entire seven-year Tribulation, with its identifiable signs, seal and trumpet and bowl judgements, the abomination of desolation, and the rise and fall of the Antichrist, must occur before the Rapture, then believers can calculate roughly when the Rapture will take place. Once the Tribulation begins, the Rapture is approximately seven years away. Once the abomination of desolation occurs, it is approximately three and a half years away. This is fundamentally incompatible with the New Testament’s repeated insistence that Christ could return at any time and that believers must be constantly ready (Matthew 24:42-44; Luke 12:40; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; James 5:8-9; Revelation 22:20).
Posttribulationists respond by redefining imminence to mean “could happen soon” or “the next major event on the prophetic calendar” rather than “could happen at literally any moment.” This weakens the pastoral force of the New Testament passages considerably. Paul’s comfort to the Thessalonians is not “the Lord will return after you have endured seven years of the worst suffering in human history,” but “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven” and we will be with Him. The tone of expectation and comfort in the Rapture passages does not match a posttribulational scenario.
The Wrath Problem
Posttribulationists generally argue that God will protect the Church within the Tribulation rather than remove it. The analogy of Israel being protected during the Egyptian plagues is frequently cited. The promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:9, “God has not destined us for wrath,” is interpreted as protection from God’s wrath while present in the period, rather than removal from the period itself.
The difficulty is that the Tribulation judgements described in Revelation are global and indiscriminate in their immediate effects. The seals, trumpets, and bowls affect the entire earth. A quarter of the earth’s population dies under the fourth seal alone (Revelation 6:8). A third of the sea becomes blood under the second trumpet (Revelation 8:8-9). The fifth bowl plunges the entire kingdom of the Beast into darkness (Revelation 16:10). It is difficult to see how the Church could be meaningfully “protected” within these judgements while remaining physically present on the earth. The more natural reading of the exemption from wrath is exemption from the period of wrath entirely.
Who Populates the Millennium?
This is perhaps the most intractable problem for the posttribulational position. If all believers are raptured and given glorified bodies at the end of the Tribulation, and all unbelievers are judged at the sheep-and-goats judgement (Matthew 25:31-46), then who enters the Millennium in natural bodies to populate the earth, bear children, and ultimately rebel at the end of the thousand years (Revelation 20:7-9)? The pretribulational position answers this coherently: Tribulation survivors who have come to faith during the seven years enter the Millennium in natural bodies, while the Church, raptured before the Tribulation and already glorified, returns with Christ to reign. Posttribulationism has no satisfying answer to this question without introducing additional categories that the text does not naturally support.
So, now what?
Posttribulationism is a position held by genuine, thoughtful believers, and it should be engaged with respect rather than dismissed. Its strengths include a historical pedigree that predates the systematisation of pretribulationism and a genuine concern to take the reality of Christian suffering seriously. Its weaknesses, however, are substantial. It cannot preserve imminence in any meaningful sense. It struggles with the scope and nature of Tribulation wrath. And it creates an unresolvable problem regarding the millennial population. The pretribulational position remains, in Ian’s view, the most exegetically coherent reading of the full range of relevant texts. But this is a secondary matter on which Christians can and do disagree while remaining united on the essentials of the faith.
“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of testing that is coming on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:10 (ESV)