Q. Is there anything in such Scriptures as Rev. 7:9; 11:15-18 and 20:4, which justify the inference that the Church will not be caught up before the tribulation of the last days? What appears to be the strong, plain, and sure conclusion forced on us by a due consideration of the full corps of the royal and priestly elders seen in heaven from chapter iv. and thenceforward? Are not these twenty-four elders the complete symbol of the heads of the heavenly priesthood glorified above before the tribulation begins? How could this he applied before the rapture, which accordingly is nowhere hinted at afterward? The rapture must have taken place before Rev. 4, for the result of it is then beheld in the full company of the enthroned elders, who represent the saints transfigured and translated to the heavens. Matt. 3:12; John 17:20, 21; and 1 Thess. 1:6, 7, have been similarly pressed: What think you? =============================
A. Undoubtedly, in my judgment these scriptures harmonize with, if they do not even suppose and confirm, the previous removal of the saints to meet the Lord in the air. For 1. Rev. 7:9 distinguishes in the sharpest way between the innumerable crowd of Gentiles and the elders, and restricts these blessed Gentiles to the epoch of the great tribulation. Nor is it by any means certain, to say the least, that they compose a heavenly company; indeed to me the evidence seems to point rather to earthly blessedness in the day of glory. What might be cited to show that they are heavenly is that they are seen in heaven in the prophet's vision. But this of itself no more proves that in the accomplishment of the vision the Gentile multitude are to be glorified in heaven, than the presentation of the woman in the beginning of Rev. 12 proves that her actual place will be there when this prophecy is fulfilled.
As little does the seventh trumpet in Rev. 11 decide the question of rapture before or after the tribulation. In fact, there is not the slightest allusion to that act of grace in the passage, and therefore no warrant for confounding “the last trump” in 1 Cor. 15 with it. The trumpets in Revelation are a symbolic series peculiar to the book, consisting of judgments and the last three of “woes” even, the last of all bringing in the closing scene of divine judgment, and of course, therefore, the reward of the righteous. In 1 Cor. 15, on the other hand, the reference is solely to the saints risen or changed, and the origin is a military allusion drawn from the final signal when the legion sets out on its march from its old encampment. It would be a mistake to confound with either of these the blowing of the great trumpet (Isa. 27) which gathers in the elect of Israel to the land of their inheritance. Each must be interpreted by its own context.
Rev. 20:4 is, to me, strikingly in favor of the view that the rapture of the saints symbolized by the elders is before the tribulation. For we have, first, thrones filled with saints to whom judgment is given; and these are no other than the elders, or those already glorified. Then are seen two distinct classes in the disembodied state, “the souls of those beheaded,” &c., who are then, and not before, caused to live in time for the first resurrection and the reign with Christ. “The first resurrection” is a phrase in no way importing that all who share it are raised at the same moment; but that all who do so are raised a thousand years and more before the rest of the dead, so as to enjoy the millennial reign along with their Savior. These disembodied ones who had suffered unto death under the Beast, are not raised evidently till the Beast and Satan are disposed of; bat who believes that the Church and the Old Testament saints are not changed and caught up before? Rev. 17:14; 19:14, are too plain.
4. As to Matt. 3 it does not refer to the question of the time of the rapture to heaven, any more than John 17 “The floor” seems clearly to denote a Jewish scene; and the sifting of corn is quite as certainly said of Israel as of the heavenly saints. But apart from this, there is nothing here for deciding the question of sphere, time, or way. Again, the view of John 17:20, 21, which supposes, not that it was accomplished at Pentecost or just after, but that it awaits the persecutions of the last Antichrist to drive the frightened sheep all together, and that this is evidence that the Church cannot be translated before those days of trial, appears to me to demand no comment; 2 Thess. 1:6. 7, is a fair question, and so is the answer. For the point revealed is the manner in which the Lord will deal in public retribution. Now, there will be nothing of the sort till the Lord appears in judgment. The previous rapture of the heavenly saints (even if we suppose it now to be ever so sure) is not of any such nature, but a pure and crowning net of grace, altogether outside the world. But “the day of the Lord,” in which, on one side, the changed saints come and appear with Himself in glory, and, on the other side, their persecutors are smitten with His vengeance; “that day,” and none before, is stamped with the character of solemn, righteous award to the glorified saints and to their enemies. Then only will the Lord recompense tribulation to the troubling world, and rest to the troubled Church. The question of the rapture is quite apart from the point discussed in these verses.