Page 66 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

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THE IMMINENCY OF THE RAPTURE

The question of whether the return of Christ is imminent
in the sense of an any-moment coming has become increas­
ingly acute in contemporary discussion of posttribulation-
ism. While some, like J. Barton Payne, maintain post-
tribulationism and hold that Christ could come at any mo­
ment, most contemporary posttribulationists hold that Christ
could not come any day and that as a matter of fact, there
must be to some extent a literal fulfillment of end-time events
preceding the Second Coming.1 This is in contrast to the point
of view of the Protestant Reformers, such as John Calvin and
Martin Luther, who found in contemporary events of their
day the fulfillment of the Great Tribulation and could, there­
fore, hold to an imminent return of Christ.
The problem of imminency as is taught in relation to the
Rapture is a major consideration in the debate between post-
tribulationism and pretribulationism and will need to be con­
sidered more at length under posttribulational arguments.
However, a preliminary statement of the pretribulation posi-
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