Page 251 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
it would view the church as in heaven during the time of the
Tribulation. However, because of the controversy over the
text, the matter must be left open. In any case, it is no comfort
whatever to the posttribulationists. About the best they can do
is to refute the idea that this represents the church in heaven.
On the other hand, it offers no support whatever for the post-
tribulational position. Although posttribulationists like Gun­
dry give extensive consideration to this argument, about all
they can do is raise questions.2
Problem of Absence of the Church in Revelation 4-18
While individual passages may be debated and their
relative weight in determining pretribulational or post-
tribulational conclusions may not always be clear, the main
problem with the Book of Revelation is that there is no clear
mention of the rapture of the church from Revelation 4
through Revelation 18. Here again, the massive fact that a
book presenting great detail concerning the events leading up
to the second coming of Christ should omit completely any
hope of the rapture of the church for the tribulation saints
must be faced.
Gundry may be taken as an illustration of posttribula-
tional dealing with this problem, and he devoted five pages to
the problem that the church is not mentioned from Revelation
4 through 18. His answer is to deny that “after this” (Rev. 4:1)
means after the church age.3
Although Gundry’s argument may have some force, other
posttribulationists such as George Ladd freely concede that
beginning in chapter 4 the time leading up to the second
coming of Christ is in view. Ladd said, “After the first vision of
the exalted Christ caring for and protecting His churches, the
revelation of‘what must take place after this,’ i.e., the coming
of God’s Kingdom, begins.”4
Gundry also countered the absence of the mention of the
church in Revelation 4—18 as being offset by the fact that it
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