It is actually saddening just to imagine if Christians have to go through the 7-year tribulation. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people, including Christians who believe so, which is why debunking them with Biblical truth is important.
The Bible clearly shows that we Christians cannot and will not go through the tribulation.
There are two passages that most post-tribulation proponents will use, let’s discuss them.
Matthew 24: 29-31 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
This passage may seem like the rapture only happens after the tribulation.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.”
The post-tribulation proponents claim to say that the day of Christ or rapture ‘is at hand’‘; meaning it can happen at any moment is a lie, hence denying pre-tribulation rapture.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
This is indicating that the Antichrist has to be revealed first.
There are several problems here from these heresies or post-tribulation proponents.
Firstly, the Day of Christ ‘at hand‘ is a lie.
Secondly, the Day of Christ cannot happen before two events, which are falling away, and Antichrist reveals.
We can debunk these two claims with Daniel 9:27 c.f Matthew 24:15
Daniel 9:27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
According to this Biblical timeline, one day is equivalent to one year, which makes up for seven years of tribulation.
This ‘one week‘ mentioned in Daniel 9:27 is called the 70th week because there are 69 other weeks that the Lord gave. The first coming of Christ has fulfilled the 69 weeks. Comparing with Matthew 24:15, we know that this week is also the period of the seven-year tribulation.
Daniel 9:25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”
This is also the supporting verse for the claim above.
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
It takes a total of 70 weeks to clean up the sin of the nation of Israel, this is referring to God’s chosen physical nation, not as Christians. IT is their national salvation, hence all the post-tribulation rapture passages we see above are dispensational for the Jews, not us Christians.
So ‘stand in the holy place‘ as mentioned in Matthew 24:15 is referring to the city of the Jews.
2 Thessalonians 2:1 also shows that ‘the day of Christ‘ is referring to the coming of Christ, not just rapture. That coming of Christ is not during the tribulation, it is actually the Armageddon, which is way after the end of the tribulation, as shown in Revelation 19 and Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:27-28 “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”
Comparing this with the last verse of Revelation 19 also mentions the gathering of eagles at the carcass, which only happens way after the tribulation period.
In short, the day of Christ covers two events, one being the rapture, and the other one being the Armageddon.
Let’s reiterate from Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, that the day of Christ will not happen until the Antichrist being revealed, and it is also during the Armageddon period, which is what the people will be fearful of.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”
Paul talks about the coming of Christ in this passage. The people are troubled because they are afraid of Jesus’ second coming and wiping them out after the reveal of the Antichrist. This is why we Christians are called to be comforted, as mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:18, knowing that we will be raptured before both the tribulation and even the Armageddon period.
One more thing, In 2 Thessalonians 2:2-3, Paul talks about the coming of Christ, but verses 8 to 12 we see that Paul refers to ‘they’, not ‘you’ when he is apparently talking to the Church of Thessalonians. He is actually referring to the Jews.
The following verses show that Christians will already be raptured.
2 Thessalonians 2: 13-14 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.