Page 243 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
letting nothing move us, and giving ourselves at all times fully
to the work of the Lord.
Posttribulationists almost universally gloss over the most
obvious fact of this exhortation, that is, that the Corinthians
were in no wise warned that this event can occur only after the
Great Tribulation. The implication of the passage is that the
Rapture is an impending event and that there is nothing inter­
vening. If the pretribulation Rapture is correct, it would be
natural to present the doctrine of the Rapture in this way,
without going into detail about what will happen to people
who arc not raptured. If, on the other hand, the prospect for
the church is to go through the Great Tribulation and other
events of the end-time, it would seem incumbent on Paul to
state clearly that the hope of the Rapture necessarily must be
deferred until preceding events are fulfilled.
It is a singular fact that in all the rapture passages clearly
identified as such, there is no such warning. All the warnings
about impending end-time events relate to the coming of
Christ, which is clearly posttribulational.
Accordingly, while posttribulationists will tend to mag­
nify details and objections to small points, they ignore the
main thrust of the passage, namely, that we have a wonderful
hope of translation if we are living and of resurrection if we
have died. The reason posttribulationists tend to ignore this
passage and give it only brief treatment is that it actually
contributes nothing to their argument.

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