Page 168 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

General Posttribulational Arguments
heralded and imminent. Such passages as 1 Thessalonians 5,
discussing the day of the Lord, seemed to be connected with
the translation of the church in the preceding verses (1 Thess.
4:13-18). Posttribulationists were not slow to take advantage
of this area of confusion to drive home their own arguments.
Reese, for instance, devoted a whole chapter to the subject in
which he capitalized on this apparent weakness.42 The argu­
ment of Reese, while quite detailed, is summed up in this: all
references to “the Day” in Scripture refer to the day of the
Lord.43
The problem left unsolved by the early pretribulationists
in their discussion of the day of the Lord has, however, a very
simple solution that at one stroke lays to rest the wordy argu­
ments of posttribulationists on this phase of the subject. The
day of the Lord as presented in the Old and New Testaments
includes rather than follows the tremendous events of the
tribulation period (cf. Isa. 2:12-21; 13:9-16; 34:1-8; Joel 1:15-
2:11; 2:28-32; 3:9-21; Amos 5:18-20; Obad. 15-17; Zeph.
1:7-18). There seems some evidence that the day of the Lord
begins at once at the time of the translation of the church (cf.
1 Thess. 5:1-9). The same event that translates the church be­
gins the day' of the Lord. The events of the day of the Lord
begin thereafter to unfold: first the preparatory period, the
first half of Daniel’s last seven years of Israel’s program pre­
ceding the Second Advent—the revelation of the man of sin,
the formation of the revived Roman Empire, finally reaching
the stage of worldwide government, possibly as the last half of
the period begins. Then there is the outpouring of judgments
from on high, the seals of Revelation 6:1—8:1 are broken, the
trumpets of judgment sound, and the bowls of the wrath of
God are poured out. The climactic event is the second coming
of Christ to establish His kingdom, and the millennial age
continuing the day of the Lord is brought into being (cf. Zech.
14:1-20). In a word, the day of the Lord begins before the
Great Tribulation. When the day of grace ends with the

175