Page 184 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition

The point is that if a rapture takes place in the sequence
of the second coming of Christ, it would be the first event and
would automatically separate all the saved from the unsaved
before Christ’s feet ever touched the Mount of Olives and
before His kingdom was instituted. In Matthew 25:31-46,
however, the sheep and the goats representing the saved and
the lost are intermingled and require separation by a special
judgment that follows the second coining of Christ. Such a
judgment would be unnecessary if a posttribulational Rapture
had occurred, although it can be easily harmonized with a
pretribulational rapture. For this reason, even classic post-
tribulationists like Reese do not even mention the judgment of
the nations or make any attempt to solve the problem.
Gundry is to be commended for attempting to solve the
problem, but he did so by extreme methods, namely, moving
the judgment to the end of the Millennium when, indeed,
there will be both saved and unsaved present in the world.
W hile admitting that this is a recent view as far as contempo-
rarv posttribulationism is concerned, he claimed support of
Biederwolf. Alford, and Lang.12
Any attempt, however, to place this judgment at the end
of the Millennium does so with violation of the text. Matthew
25:31 states the judgment occurs “when the Son of Man comes
in his glory, and all the angels with him.” The certain implica­
tion is that it comes immediately after His second coming, not
a thousand years later.
The nature of the good works of the sheep also seems to
forbid its referring to a millennial situation where they are
described as befriending brethren who apparently are unfairly
in prison, who are starved and naked. This is certainly not a
millennial picture of Israel, and yet Gundry was strangely
silent on this contradiction in the text of his point of view. The
writer knows of no recognized contemporary' scholar who
holds Gundry’s position, although it was held by some older
premillenarians whose viewpoints were often quite similar to
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