Page 198 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4
the present age but arc located in the series of events con­
nected with the Second Coming, All this is in harmony with
the prctribulational point of view, but it leaves the post-
tribulationists with no solid facts on which to base their case
for translation of living saints or the resurrection of the
church, the body of Christ, at the time of the Second Coming.
The facts are that there seems to be no translation of any
living saints at the time of the second coming of Christ.
Another problem is the expression the “first resurrec­
tion.” The fact that there are particular resurrections for the
Old Testament saints after the Tribulation and a particular
resurrection for the martyred dead of the Tribulation after the
Tribulation is not an incidental or accidental presentation.
The careful avoidance of any reference to the church as being
resurrected or translated after the Tribulation is in harmony
with the prctribulational Rapture.
Posttribulationists, however, often point to the statement
in Revelation 20:4-6, where the resurrection of the saints is
called “the first resurrection.” Accordingly, Ladd asked the
question, “Does the Word similarly teach that the first resur­
rection will consist of two stages, the first of which will appear
at the beginning of the Tribulation? No such teaching appears
in Scripture.”4
Here a misunderstanding has arisen over the use of the
word first. Obviously the resurrection of the saints is not the
first resurrection to occur in history. While there were numer­
ous restorations of people who had died, including the
memorable case of Lazarus, Christ was the first to rise from
the dead with a resurrection body. A token resurrection also
took place then, according to Matthew 27:52-53, where it
states, “The bodies of many holy people who had died were
raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’
resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared
to many people.” Both the resurrection of Christ and of
these holy people occurred centuries ago. Under these circum-
207