Page 173 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

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THE RAPTURE IN THE GOSPELS

One of the problems that face both pretribulationism and
posttribulationism is the fact that their point of view is an
induction based on scriptural facts rather than an explicit
statement of the Bible. Posttribulationists frequently challenge
pretribulationists to produce one clear Scripture stating the
prctribulational Rapture. In doing so, however, they are at­
tempting to evade their own problem that they do not have an
explicit statement of a posttribulational Rapture. The post-
tribulationist’s problem is much more serious than the pre-
tribulationist’s in his inability to produce an explicit Scrip­
ture.
If the pretribulationists are right, the rapture of the
church is the next event of major importance in prophecy and
will take the church from the earth to heaven. Accordingly,
the church is not involved in the events that follow, that is, the
events of the Tribulation and especially the Great Tribulation
preceding the second coming of Christ. Under these cir­
cumstances it is not necessary to discuss the Rapture in rela­
tion to these events.
By contrast, however, the posttribulationists who assert
that the church must go through the Tribulation face a major
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