Page 185 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture in the Gospels
amillcnnialism in their concept of the final judgments.
The judgment of the nations in Matthew 25 refers to
those who have survived the Tribulation and arc still in their
natural bodies. It is noteworthy that there is no mention of
either Rapture or resurrection, and the judgment of those who
are resurrected at the end of the Tribulation (Rev. 20:4) is an
entirely different judgment. If the details of Matthew’s ac­
count of the judgment of the nations is taken literally, it re­
veals that the judgment relates to the question as to who is
worthy to enter the millennial kingdom.
Accordingly, if the text be taken in its plain statement, it
constitutes a major problem for posttribulationists that most
posttribulationists have tended to avoid. Actually, unless the
extreme view of Gundry is taken and the judgment placed at
the end of the Millennium, this judgment contradicts a post-
tribulational Rapture and almost makes it an impossibility.
Taken as a whole, the evidence for the Rapture in Mat­
thew’s Gospel does not stand careful examination. The only
passage clearly' indicating a rapture is in John 14:1-3.
The Rapture in John 14
Although written long after the Pauline revelation of the
Rapture recorded in Paul’s epistles, John’s record of the
statement of Christ in the upper room the night before His
crucifixion is taken by many to be the first clear mention of the
Rapture from a chronological point of view. In John 14:2-3,
Christ said, “There are many rooms in my Father’s house;
otherwise, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come back and take you to be with me that you also may be
where I am.”
The revelation given here is quite in contrast to that given
in Matthew 24:27-30, where the second coming of Christ is
described as a glorious event similar to lightning shining from
east to the west. Here, instead of Christ picturing a coming
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