For many years and in many ways, I unknowingly followed practices that worked against the goal that God wanted me to pursue, the goal of making disciples. But gradually, the Holy Spirit graciously opened my eyes to my errors. One thing I’ve learned is this: I should question everything I’ve been taught and believed in light of God’s Word. Our traditions, more than anything else, blind us to what God has said. Worse, we are very proud of our traditions, certain that we stand among an elite group who has a greater grasp of truth than other Christians. As one teacher sarcastically said, “There are 32,000 denominations in the world today. Aren’t you fortunate to be a member of the one that is right?”

As a result of our pride, God resists us, because He resists the proud. If we want to make any progress and be fully ready to stand before Jesus, we must humble ourselves. To those, God gives grace.

If the goal is to obey Jesus and make disciples, wouldn’t we be wise to follow His methods for making disciples? They worked quite well for Him. They also worked quite well for the apostles who followed Him.

And how well are modern methods working to make disciples who obey all of Christ’s commandments? When studies of American Christians, for example, repeatedly show that there is virtually no difference in the lifestyles of most professing Christians when compared to non-Christians, maybe its time to ask some questions and re-examine Scripture.

Here is great question to ask ourselves: How did the early church succeed so well at making disciples without any church buildings, professionally-trained clergy, Bible schools and seminaries, hymnals and overhead projectors, wireless microphones and tape duplicators, Sunday school curriculums and youth ministries, worship teams and choirs, computers and copy machines, Christian radio and TV stations, hundreds of thousands of Christian book titles and even personally-owned Bibles? They didn’t need any of those things to make disciples, and neither did Jesus. And because none of those things were essential then, none are essential now. They could be helpful, but none are essential. In fact, many of those things can and actually do hinder us from making disciples. Let me give you two examples.

Let’s first consider the modern essential of having only Bible school- or seminary-trained pastors lead churches. Such was an unheard of concept to Paul. In some cities, after he planted churches, he departed for a few weeks or months, and then returned to appoint elders to oversee them (see, for example, Acts 13:14-14:23). That means those churches, absent from Paul’s presence, had no formal eldership for some weeks or months, and that most elders were fairly young believers when they were appointed. They had nothing close to a two- or three-year formal education that prepared them for their job.

Thus, the Bible teaches that pastors/elders/overseers do not need two or three years of formal education to be effective in their ministry. No one can intelligently argue against that fact. Yet the modern requirement continually sends a message to every believer: “If you want to be a leader in the church, you need years of formal education.”^[1] This slows the process of creating leaders, thus slowing the making of disciples, thus slowing the expansion of the church. I wonder how well the American companies Avon and Amway would have saturated their targeted markets if they required every salesperson to move his or her family to another city to receive three years of formal training before he or she could be released to sell soap or perfume?

“But pastoring is such a difficult and complex task!” some say. “The Bible says we shouldn’t put a new convert in the position of an overseer” (see 1 Tim. 3:6).

First, it comes down to the definition of a new convert, and clearly Paul’s concept was different than ours, because he assigned people to the office of elder/pastor/overseer who had only been believers for a few months.

Second, one reason modern pastoring is so difficult and complex is because our entire system of church structure and ministry is so far removed from the biblical model. We’ve made it so complex that indeed, only a few super-human people can survive its demands!

“But God forbid that a church might be overseen by someone without a Bible school or seminary education!” others say. “That untrained overseer might lead his flock into false teaching!”

That apparently wasn’t Paul’s concern. The fact is that today we have Bible-school and seminary-trained clergy who don’t believe in the virgin birth, who approve of homosexuality, who teach that God wants everyone to drive a luxury automobile, who claim that God predestines some people to be damned, or who say without flinching that one can gain heaven without obedience to Christ. The modern Bible school and seminary have often served to further false doctrine, and the professional clergy have served to further it more. Church “commoners” are afraid to challenge them, because the professionals have been to seminary and can pull out more “proof texts.” Moreover, those clergy have defined and divided their churches from the rest of the body of Christ by their peculiar doctrines, to the point of even advertising those differences by the very names they place on signs in front of their church buildings, sending a message to the world: “We are not like those other Christians.” To add further injury, they label anyone who disagrees with their unchallengeable and divisive doctrines as “divisive.” The Inquisition is still very much alive and well, led by men with diplomas. Is this the example Jesus wants set by those who are supposed to be making disciples who are known to the world by their love for one another?

Christians now choose churches based upon particular doctrines, and having the right theology has become the most important thing rather than having the right lifestyle, all because a biblical model has been abandoned.

^[1] The modern emphasis on professionally-trained clergy is in many ways a symptom of a larger disease, that of equating the gaining of knowledge with spiritual growth. We think that the person who knows more is more spiritually mature, whereas he may be less so, puffed up with pride from all he has learned. Paul did write, “knowledge makes arrogant” (1 Cor. 8:1). And surely the person who listens to daily boring lectures for two or three years is prepared to give weekly boring lectures!

What about church buildings? They are another modern “essential” that the early church did quite well without. Do they help in the process of disciple-making?

When I was a pastor, I often felt more like a realtor, banker, general contractor, and a professional fundraiser. I’ve dreamed of buildings, searched for buildings, remodeled old buildings, rented buildings, built new buildings and repaired them when God sent rain through their cracks. Buildings consume lots of time and energy. The reason I did so much that revolved around buildings is because I was certain, like most pastors, that there was no way to succeed without a building, a place for the church to gather.

Buildings also consume money, lots of it. (In the United States, some congregations spend tens of millions of dollars on their church buildings.) After my dreams of having buildings were fulfilled, I often dreamed of the day when the mortgages on my buildings would be paid off, so we could use all that money for ministry. It once occurred to me, as I was teaching my congregation about good stewardship and getting out of debt, that I had put the whole of us in debt together! (I was certainly teaching by example.)

Most church buildings are used for a couple of hours once or twice a week. What other organization in the entire world builds buildings that will be used so little? (Answer: only cults and false religions.)

That money-sucking hole causes a lot of problems. A pastor with a building always needs a flow of money, and that affects what he does. He is tempted to cater to the wealthy (who often give without any sacrifice), compromise any teaching that might offend some, and twist Scripture to make it serve his end. His sermons gravitate to subjects that don’t hinder the money flow and encourage its increase. Because of that, Christians sometimes begin to think that the most important aspects of being believers are (1) paying tithes (which, incidentally, Jesus said is a minor commandment) and (2) attending church (where the tithes are collected each Sunday). This is hardly the picture of disciple making. Yet many pastors dream of having congregations where everyone would just do those two things.If a pastor had a congregation where just half of the people would do those two things, he could write books and sell his secrets to millions of other pastors!

The facts reveal this: There is no record of any congregation buying or constructing a building in the book of Acts. For the most part, believers met regularly in homes.^[1] There were never any collections for building funds. There are no instructions in the epistles for church building construction. Additionally, no one thought of building a church building until Christianity was 300 years old, when the church married the world under Constantine’s edict. Three-hundred years! Think of how long that is! And the church flourished and multiplied exponentially, even during times of intense persecution, all without buildings. Such phenomena have been repeated many times in the centuries that followed. It has happened in China rather recently. There are probably more than a million house churches in China.

^[1] See Acts 2:2, 46; 5:42; 8:3; 12:12; 16:40: 20:20; Rom. 16:5: 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 1:2; 2 John 1:10.

Am I advocating taking three-month old believers and giving them oversight over churches (the very thing that Paul did)? Yes, but only if those believers meet the biblical requirements for elders/overseers, and only if they are given oversight of churches that follow a biblical model. That is, those churches must first of all be newly-planted gatherings that are submitted to a mature founding minister, such as an apostle, who can provide some oversight.^[1] That way, newly-appointed elders are not entirely on their own.

Second, the congregations must be small enough to meet in homes, as did the early churches.^[2] That makes churches much more manageable. That is probably why one of the requirements for elders/overseers is that they successfully manage their own households (see 1 Tim. 3:4-5). Managing a small “household of faith” is not much more challenging than managing a family.

Third, the congregation must consist of people who have responded in repentance to a biblical gospel, and who are thus genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. That eliminates all of the challenges that arise from trying to pastor sheep who are actually goats.

And fourth, the pastors/elders/overseers must follow their biblical role rather than a cultural role. That is, they must not hold a central, all-important, spotlight position as they do in most modern churches.^[3] Rather, they must be single parts of the entire body, humble servants who teach by example and precept, and whose goal is to make disciples, not by being Sunday-morning orators, but by following Jesus’ methods.

When that pattern is followed, then some three-month-old believers can oversee churches.

^[1] In Paul’s first letter to Timothy and his letter to Titus he mentions leaving them behind to appoint elders/overseers in the churches. So Timothy and Titus would have provided oversight to those elders/overseers for some time. They would have probably periodically met with the elders/overseers to disciple them, as Paul wrote, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).

^[2] See Acts 2:2, 46; 5:42; 8:3; 12:12; 16:40: 20:20; Rom. 16:5: 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 1:2; 2 John 1:10.

^[3] It is notable that Paul’s letters to the churches are addressed to everyone in the various churches, and not to the elders or overseers. In only two of his letters to the churches does Paul even mention elders/pastors/overseers. In one instance they are included in the salutation, added as if he didn’t want them to think that they were excluded recipients (see Phil. 1:1). In another instance Paul mentions pastors among a list of ministers who equip the saints (see Eph. 4:11-12). It is also especially notable how Paul makes no mention of the role of elders as he gives certain instructions that we would think would involve elders, such as administrating the Lord’s Supper, and the resolution of conflicts between Christians. All of this points to the fact that elders/pastors did not hold the central, all-important role that they hold in most modern churches.

“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you , and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come” (Matt. 24:9-14, emphasis added).

Again, had you asked those who originally heard Jesus that day, “Do you expect that you will be alive to see the fulfillment of these things?” they would have certainly answered in the affirmative. Jesus kept using the personal pronoun you.

As we just read, after the “birth pangs” will come an event that certainly has not yet occurred, a time of unprecedented, worldwide persecution of Christians. We will be hated by “all nations,” or literally, “all ethnic groups and tribes.” Jesus was speaking of a certain specific time when that would occur, not a general time over hundreds of years, because He said in the very next sentence, “And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another.”

His statement obviously speaks of the falling away of Christian believers who will then hate other believers, as non-believers can’t “fall away,” and they already hate one another. Thus, when worldwide persecution begins, the result will be a great apostasy of many who claim to be followers of Christ. Whether they are genuine or false believers, sheep or goats, many will fall away, and they in turn will reveal the identities of the other believers to the persecuting authorities, hating those they once professed to love. The result will be the purification of the church all over the world.

Then there will also be a rise of false prophets, one of whom is prominently featured in the book of Revelation as the antichrist’s accomplice (see Rev. 13:11-18; 19:20; 20:10). Lawlessness will increase to the degree of draining what little love remains in people’s hearts, and sinners will become utterly heartless.

A question that often divides Christians is that of the exact time of the Rapture. Some say that the Rapture will occur just before seven years of tribulation, and can therefore occur at any time. Others say that it will occur right at the middle point of the seven years of tribulation. Still other says it will occur at some point after the middle of the seven years of tribulation. And still others say the Rapture will occur at the time of Jesus’ wrathful return at the end of the Tribulation.

This issue is certainly not worth dividing over, and all four camps should remember that they all agree that the Rapture will occur at some point within or very near that future seven-year time period. That’s a fairly narrow window in thousands of years of history. So rather than divide over our disagreement, we would be better off to rejoice in our agreement! And regardless of what we each may believe, it is not going to change what is actually going to occur.

That being said, I must tell you that, for the first twenty-five years of my Christian life, I believed the Rapture would occur prior to the seven-year Tribulation. I believed that because that is what I had been taught, and I also didn’t want to go through what I read about in the book of Revelation! As I studied Scripture for myself, however, I began to adopt a different view. So let’s take a look together at what the Bible says and see what conclusions can be drawn. Even if I don’t persuade you to join my camp, we must still love each other!

Scripture foretells in other places of the antichrists’ persecution of believers. For example, it was revealed to John, as he recorded it in the book of Revelation:

And there was given to him [the antichrist] a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him (Rev. 13:5-7, emphasis added).

Note that the antichrist will be given “authority to act” for forty-two months, or exactly three-and-a-half years. It is interesting that this is exactly one-half the time of the seven-year Tribulation. It seems reasonable to think that it will be the final forty-two months of the Tribulation that the antichrist will be given his “authority to act,” since his authority will certainly be completely taken away from him when Christ returns to wage war against him and his armies at the close of the Tribulation.

Obviously, this “authority to act” for forty-two months speaks of some special authority, as the antichrist will certainly be given some authority by God during his rise to power. This special “authority to act” could well be a reference to the time he is given to overcome the saints, because we read in the book of Daniel:

I kept looking, and that horn [the antichrist] was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days [God] came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom….And he [the antichrist] will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time (Dan. 7:21-22, 25, emphasis added).

Daniel foretold that the saints will be given into the hand of the antichrist for “a time, times, and half a time.” This cryptic phrase should be interpreted three-and-a-half years , according to a comparison of Revelation 12:6 and 14. We are told in Revelation 12:6 that a certain symbolic woman will be given a place to hide in the wilderness to be “nourished” for 1,260 days, which amounts to three-and-a-half years of 360-day years. Then, just eight verses later, she is spoken of again, and it is said that she will be given a place in the wilderness to be “nourished” for “a time and times and half a time.” Thus “time and times and half a time” is the equivalent of 1,260 days or three-and-a-half years.

So the word “time” in this context means year , “times” means two years , and “half a time” means half a year . This unusual expression found in Revelation 12:14 must mean the same thing as it did in Daniel 7:21. Thus we now know that the saints will be given into the hand of the antichrist for three-and-a-half years, the same time that we were told in Revelation 13:5 that the antichrist would be given “authority to act.”

I think it goes without saying that both of these forty-two month periods will be identical periods of time. If they begin at the antichrist’s declaration of deity at the middle of the seven-year Tribulation, then the saints will be given into his hands for the next three-and-a-half years, and Jesus will deliver them when He appears in the sky and gathers them to himself at or near the close of the seven-year Tribulation. If, however, those forty-two months begin at some other point during the seven-year Tribulation, then we could conclude that the Rapture will occur at some point before the end of the seven-year Tribulation.

The difficulty with the latter of those two possibilities is that it requires that the saints will be given into the hands of the antichrist before they are in danger and need to flee for the mountains at his declaration of deity. That seems illogical.

The difficulty with the former of those two possibilities is that it would seem to mean that the saints will still be on the earth during many of God’s cataclysmic and worldwide judgments of which we read in the book of Revelation. We will consider this difficulty later.

Now let’s return to the Olivet Discourse.

This section of the Olivet Discourse all sounds very familiar to an event of which Paul wrote, one that is undoubtedly the Rapture of the church, yet one which many commentators say occurs before the tribulation period begins. Consider the following scripture that we examined earlier in this chapter:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord , shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (1 Thes. 4:13 – 5:3, emphasis added).

Paul wrote of Jesus coming from heaven with the trumpet of God and of believers being caught up “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” It sounds just like what Jesus was describing in Matthew 24:30-31, what clearly occurs after the rise of the antichrist and tribulation.

Moreover, as Paul continued writing about Christ’s return, he mentioned the subject of when it would occur, “the times and epochs,” and he reminded his readers that they already knew full well that “the day of the Lord [would] come just like a thief in the night.” Paul believed that Christ’s return and the Rapture of believers would occur on “the day of the Lord,” a day when terrible wrath and destruction would fall upon those who were expecting “peace and safety.” As Christ returns to catch away His church, His wrath will fall on the world.

This harmonizes perfectly with what Paul wrote in a later letter to the Thessalonians concerning Christ’s wrathful return:

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed–for our testimony to you was believed (2 Thes. 1:6-10, emphasis added)

Paul stated that when Jesus returned to give relief to the persecuted Thessalonian Christians (see 2 Thes. 1:7), He would appear “with His mighty angels in flaming fire” to afflict those who had afflicted them, dealing out just retribution. This hardly sounds like what so many describe as the pre-tribulation Rapture, when the church is supposedly caught up by Christ before the seven-year tribulation period begins, and what is normally described as a secret appearance of Jesus and a quiet catching away of the church. No, this sounds exactly like what Jesus described in Matthew 24:30-31, His return at or near the end of the tribulation period, when He catches away believers and pours out His wrath on unbelievers.

Let’s spend some time looking a little more closely at what Scripture teaches about the seven-year Tribulation. How do we arrive at a figure of seven years as being the length of the Tribulation? We must study the book of Daniel, which, besides the book of Revelation, is probably the most revealing book of the Bible relative to the end times.

In the ninth chapter of his book, we find that Daniel is a captive in Babylon with his fellow Jews. While studying the book of Jeremiah, Daniel discovered that the length of Jewish captivity in Babylon would be seventy years (see Dan. 9:2; Jer. 25:11-12). Realizing that that seventy-year period was almost completed, Daniel began to pray, confessing the sins of his people and asking for mercy. In response to his prayer, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and revealed Israel’s future right through the time of the Tribulation to the return of Christ. The prophecy contained in Daniel 9:24-27 is one of the most amazing in Scripture. I’ve quoted it below along with my bracketed comments:

Seventy weeks [these are obviously weeks of years, as we will see, or a total of 490 years] have been decreed for your people [Israel] and your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression [ possibly the culminating act of Israel’s sins—the crucifixion of their own Messiah], to make an end of sin [ probably a reference to Christ’s redemptive work on the cross], to make atonement for iniquity [ no doubt a reference to Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross], to bring in everlasting righteousness [the beginning of the earthly reign of Jesus in His kingdom], to seal up vision and prophecy [ perhaps a reference to the end of the writing of Scripture, or to a fulfilling of all pre-millennial prophecy], and to anoint the most holy place [ possibly a reference to the establishing of the millennial temple]. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem [this decree was be made by King Artaxerxes in 445 B.C.], until Messiah the Prince [the Lord Jesus Christ] there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks [a total of 69 weeks, or 483 years]; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress [that is the rebuilding of Jerusalem, previously destroyed by the Babylonians]. Then after the sixty-two weeks [that is, 483 years after the decree of 445 B.C.] the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing [Jesus will be crucified in 32 A.D., if we calculate by the Jewish calendar of 360 days per year], and the people [the Romans] of the prince who is to come [the antichrist] will destroy the city and the sanctuary [a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by Titus and the Roman legions]. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he [the “prince who is to come”—the antichrist] will make a firm covenant with the many [Israel] for one week [or seven years—this is the Tribulation period], but in the middle of the week [at about three and a half years] he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations [when the antichrist sets himself in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, calling himself God; see 2 Thes. 2:1-4] will come one who makes desolate [Jesus will return], even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate [the defeat of the antichrist by Jesus] (Dan. 9:24-27, emphasis added).

Nowhere in the book of Revelation do we read of the Rapture of the church, and neither to we read of any other appearing of Christ besides the one mentioned in Revelation 19, when He comes to slay that antichrist and his armies at the battle of Armageddon. The Rapture is not written as occurring even then. The resurrection of Tribulation martyrs, however, is mentioned as occurring in that same time period (see 20:4). Because Paul wrote that the dead in Christ will rise at Christ’s return, which is the same time the church will also be raptured, this, along with other scriptures we’ve already considered, leads us to believe that the Rapture will not occur until the end of the seven-year Tribulation, depicted in Revelation 19 and 20.

But there are other views.

Some find the Rapture in Revelation 6 and 7. In Revelation 6:12-13, we read of the sun becoming “black as sackcloth” and of stars falling from the sky, two signs that Jesus said would immediately precede His appearing and His gathering of the elect (see Matt. 24:29-31). Then, a little later in chapter 7, we read of a great multitude in heaven from every nation, tribe and tongue who have “come out of the great tribulation” (7:14). They are not mentioned as being martyrs as is another group just one chapter earlier (see 6:9-11), leading us to speculate that they are raptured rather than martyred—believers who are rescued out of the great tribulation.

It is certainly right to assume that the Rapture will occur sometime soon after the cosmic events depicted in Revelation 6:12-13, simply because of what Jesus similarly said in Matthew 24:29-31. We are given no conclusive indication, however, as to when the cosmic events of Revelation 6:12-13 will actually occur during the seven years of the Tribulation. If the events described in Revelation 6:1-13 are sequential, and if the Rapture occurs right after 6:13, it would lead us to believe that the Rapture will not occur until after the revelation of the antichrist (see 6:1-2), worldwide war (see 6:3-4), famine (see 6:5-6), death of one-fourth of the earth by means of war, famine, pestilence and wild beasts (see Rev. 6:7-8), and many martyrs are made (see Rev. 6:9-11). Certainly all of those events described could occur before the end of the seven-year Tribulation, but they could also describe the entire seven-year period, placing the Rapture at the very end.

Adding some weight to the idea of the Rapture occurring before the end of the seven years is the fact that Revelation describes two sets of seven judgments after Revelation 8: the “trumpet judgments” and the “bowl judgments.” The latter of these two are said to finish God’s wrath (see 15:1). Just before the bowl judgments begin, however, John sees “those who had come off victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass” (15:2). These victorious saints could have been raptured. On the other hand, they could have been martyred. Scripture doesn’t tell us which. Moreover, we don’t know if 15:2 bears any chronological relationship to the scenes described near it.

Another fact found in Revelation that may add weight to the idea of the Rapture occurring before the end of the seven years is this: At the occasion of the fifth “trumpet judgment” recorded in Revelation 9:1-12, we are told that the stinging locusts will be permitted to hurt only those who “do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (9:4). The only ones of whom we are told will have that seal are 144,000 descendants of Israel (see Rev. 7:3-8). Thus it seems that all other believers will have to be raptured before that fifth trumpet judgment; otherwise they would not be exempt from the power of the stinging locusts. Additionally, because the locusts will hurt people for five months (9:5, 10), it is thought that the Rapture must occur at least five months before the end of the seven-year Tribulation.

There are, of course, ways around this logic. Perhaps there are others who are sealed who are simply not mentioned in Revelation’s condensed synopsis. In any case, if this does prove that the Rapture occurs prior to the fifth trumpet judgment, it also indicates that there will be one group of believers who will not be raptured before the release of the stinging locusts—the 144,000 specially-marked descendants of Israel. Yet they will thankfully be protected from being harmed by God’s wrath as it is manifested by those stinging locusts.

The conclusion to all of this? I can only conclude that the Rapture occurs either near the end or at the end of the seven-year Tribulation. Believers need not fear suffering God’s wrath, but they should be prepared for severe persecution and possible martyrdom.