‘Come for His Saints . . . Come with His Saints’
While posttribulationism wrongly believes that the rapture and the second coming denote the same event, pretribulationism commits the opposite error by separating the events. Pretribulationism claims that the rapture occurs before Daniel’s seventieth week begins, i.e. the seven-year period, while the second coming occurs after the seven years is completed. The parousia presupposition is based on false premises and ignores contexts. The biblical evidence supports the understanding that the rapture is part of the second coming of Christ. I will begin to frame my critique on the often heard pretribulation slogan that goes something like this: At the rapture, Christ will come for his saints, while at the second coming, he will come with his saints.[1] For example, Edward E. Hindson writes,
Pretribulationists divide the return of Christ in two main phases: the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ. In the first aspect, our Lord comes to take His own (the living and the dead) to be with Him. In the second aspect, He returns with His resurrected and raptured saints to win the battle of Armageddon and to establish His kingdom on earth.[2]
This understanding is the basis for their claim that Jesus’s return will occur in “two stages” or “phases” being separated by seven years, the “rapture coming” and the “second coming.” It is claimed that “the dissimilarities between the rapture passages and the return passages are significant enough to indicate that they are separate events.”[3] And Showers states, “the Rapture will take place at a different time than the coming of Christ . . . (i.e., the Second Coming).”[4] To attempt to support this understanding, they enumerate several purported “contrasts” between these two events. The following table is similar to what you find in pretribulation literature.[5] I have listed five of the most common contrasts.
Table 1. Pretribulation Contrasts
| The Rapture Coming | The Second Coming |
| Jesus will come for his church | Jesus will come with his church |
| Jesus comes in the air | Jesus comes to the earth |
| No signs – imminent | Signs – not imminent |
| Only his own see him | Every eye will see him |
| Tribulation begins | Millennium begins |
This juxtaposition of supposed contrasts may seem persuasive on the surface, but on closer examination it is deeply skewed. I will first demonstrate the flawed nature of these contrasts by illustrating an absurdity of contrasts of my own. Then I will comment on each of the five sets of contrasts.
In the following table, I chose seven selective sets of elements from the Passion narrative of Jesus recorded in all four Gospels and “contrasted” them against each other.
Table 2. Passion Narrative ‘Contrasts’
| Passion A | Passion B |
| Peter defends Jesus (John 18:10) | Peter denies Jesus (John 18:25–27) |
| Jesus silent before his accusers (Mark 14:61) | Jesus speaks before his accusers (Mark 14:62) |
| Jesus carries the cross (John 19:17) | Simon carries the cross (Mat 27:32) |
| Inscription: ‘The king of the Jews’ (Mark 15:26) | Inscription: ‘Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews’ (John 19:19) |
| Jesus ridiculed (Luke 23:35) | Jesus recognized (Luke 23:40–43) |
| Jesus forsaken by God (Matt 27:46) | Jesus fortified by God (Matt 26:53) |
| A soldier pierced Jesus’s side (John 19:34) | A soldier confessed Jesus as Son of God (Mark 15:39) |
If we apply the pretrib pattern of reasoning from Table 1, then it would follow that Table 2 could portray the Gospels narrating two distinct Passion events! This is an oversimplification, but the point is made. I chose selected elements within the same Passion narrative of the Gospels and placed them in contrast to each other, which gives the impression that there are two distinct, separate Passions (Passion A and Passion B). Of course, no one actually believes there were two different Passion events, as if Jesus was crucified twice. If we examine the specific contexts of each of these so-called contrasts in Table 2, we would see that they instead complement each other, depicting a single account of a unified complex-whole narrative.[6] My point in Table 2 is to illustrate that an interpreter can prejudicially—though not necessarily intentionally—select elements apart from their respective biblical contexts, purporting that they represent two distinct, different events.
Likewise, creating two columns of so-called contrasting elements under the labels “the rapture coming” and “the second coming” skews the biblical picture. The obvious point of absurdity in Table 2 is to reveal that Table 1 is based on the same flawed reasoning, resulting in a skewed conclusion. The parousia presupposition takes Scripture out of context and wrongly pits elements against each other that reaches a flawed conclusion. To maintain the theological belief of imminence, it is necessary for pretribulationism to insist on a disconnect of the rapture from the second coming. In the next section, I will critique each of the five pretrib contrasting elements.
Critique of Table 1. Pretribulation Contrasts
Table 3
| The Rapture Coming | The Second Coming |
| Jesus will come for his church | Jesus will come with his church |
The goal of the following critique is to show that the rapture is connected to the second coming.[7] Of the five contrasts, this is the most frequently cited example in pretribulation literature. I agree with the first part that he will come for his church at the rapture, although, only later after the seventieth week of Daniel had begun.[8] I also believe that he is coming for all saints—not just new covenant saints (i.e. the church)—including saints before the time of Christ. Traditional pretribulationists have an absolute temporal separation between Israel and the church. They extend this principle to the future resurrection by dividing up the people of God with two general resurrections, one for New Testament saints at the rapture and the other seven years later for both Old Testament and so-called tribulation saints. By “second coming,” pretribulation interpreters do not use this expression correctly. What they denote by the second coming is the period at the end of the seventieth week when Jesus and the armies of heaven participate in the battle of Armageddon. However, construing the second coming as beginning with the battle of Armageddon is not what the book of Revelation pictures. To be sure, Armageddon belongs to the second coming, but Armageddon will take place at a later development within the second coming.
When theologians speak of the “second coming,” they are speaking of the second arrival of Christ and his continuing presence. To be sure, this is not a technical term for the second coming since parousia is used in non-eschatological contexts.[9] There are many other terms other than parousia that are used to describe Jesus’s return. The term parousia is a particularly important term used by both Jesus and Paul. But more importantly, in their eschatological instruction they both address the inception of the parousia event. In other words, it is not as if Paul addressed the rapture, while Jesus focuses on the later development of the battle of Armageddon. Nor did they teach that there are two separate parousia events. As noted earlier, pretrib interpreters take issue with the charge that they are teaching two future comings of Christ. They rather conceive the parousia as two stages or phases. What they fail to recognize is that both Jesus and Paul are addressing the beginning point of the parousia, not two separate “stages” or “phases.” Paul addresses the beginning point of the parousia, teaching that the resurrection and rapture will happen immediately when Christ returns from heaven to the clouds:
For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming [parousia] of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Thess 4:15, emphasis mine)
Notice that Paul states “until” the coming (parousia) of the Lord, which addresses the beginning of the second return of Christ. Likewise, Jesus addresses the inception of the parousia. He describes,
“For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming [parousia] of the Son of Man will be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt 24:27–31, emphasis mine)
It is clear from this passage that Jesus is also describing the inception of the parousia, not a later transpired stage. Jesus gives the sign to the parousia (v. 27), which is the “lightning,” that is, his glory. He teaches that this bright sign will burst through when the natural light goes dark and the “powers of heaven are shaken” (vv. 30–31). The disciples’ question prompted his discourse: “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming [parousia] and of the end of the age?” (Matt 24:3). Signs are given to announce something. Thus, when the sign occurs, the parousia begins, answering the disciples’ question. Moreover, Jesus’s parables and similitudes (Matt 24:32–51), for example, the Noahic illustration, explicitly addresses the beginning of his return, not the end of the day of the Lord’s wrath. His warnings to be watchful would be unintelligible if he was referring to the end of the day of the Lord’s wrath. The warnings are intended to focus on the period just before the parousia begins, so that believers would not be caught off guard when his coming occurred. Jesus also states that the parousia will begin “immediately after” the great tribulation (v. 29), which is then followed by Christ’s return to deliver his people and execute his day of the Lord’s wrath. This notion therefore that Paul and Jesus are addressing two different, unrelated stages of the parousia is not supported by the biblical evidence. Instead, both are consistent in describing the beginning stage of the parousia. The parallel between Jesus and Paul on the beginning period of the parousia was not the only element in common between their teachings. Paul explicitly states that his source of instruction was the Lord: “For we tell you this by the word of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15). This source is certainly from Jesus’s Olivet Discourse tradition in the early church, where Paul drew at least thirty elements from it for his situation at Thessalonica. To examine these parallels, see Appendix 2 “Comparisons between Jesus and Paul.” Many pretribulationists have argued that the Olivet Discourse is not a “church teaching,” since they claim the rapture will occur before the prophesied events mentioned in the Olivet Discourse. They argue that it is rather instruction for “Jewish tribulation saints.” However, the parallels between Paul and Jesus are too extensive to consider this pretrib claim seriously.
Table 4
| The Rapture Coming | The Second Coming |
| Jesus comes in the air | Jesus comes to the earth |
The same points explained above also apply to this pretrib contrast, but I want to make a few additional comments.[10] The parousia of Christ begins in the air. We know this because Paul says that after the resurrection the rapture of all God’s people takes place, not on the earth, but in the clouds in the air:
“For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming [parousia] of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15–17; cf. 2 Thess 1:4–10).
Similarly, Jesus teaches that his parousia will begin when he returns in the clouds:
“For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming [parousia] of the Son of Man will be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt 24:27–31)
“Then they will see the Son of Man arriving in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:27–28)
Two similar passages in the book of Revelation likewise focus on Jesus in the sky when his return begins:
“Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man! He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, ‘Use your sickle and start to reap, because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!’ So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.” (Rev 14:14–16; Rev 1:7!)
“The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up. . . . They said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,’ . . . . ‘After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.’ . . . . Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These dressed in long white robes—who are they and where have they come from?’ So I said to him, ‘My lord, you know the answer.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!'” (Rev 6:14, 16; 7:9, 13–14)
What these additional passages have in common, other than Christ appearing in the sky, is they are linked to the gathering of God’s people. This cannot be said of the passage in Rev 19 concerning the battle of Armageddon.[11]
A question remains concerning where believers go after they are united with Christ in the sky? Do they remain in the air? Do they go straight to heaven forever? Do they immediately descend to the earth? Or is there another answer? I believe we will be in fullness of fellowship and worship with our Lord eventually on earth. The locus of heaven will be the New Jerusalem, which will descend and establish itself on earth (see Rev 21:1–22:5). But the question remains, where will the people of God dwell between the time of the rapture and the coalescing of the New Jerusalem on earth? There are three passages that give us a clear answer, revealing that the Lord will first escort his people temporarily to the heavenly abode (into the Father’s presence) before we later make our descent to our eternal home on earth. First, Paul wrote, “We do so because we know that the one who raised up Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his [Father’s] presence” (2 Cor 4:14). Second, before his departure Jesus promised, “There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too (John 14:2–3). Third, the book of Revelation says, “Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These dressed in long white robes—who are they and where have they come from?’ So I said to him, ‘My lord, you know the answer.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them'” (Rev 7:13–15). Thus, these passages picture Jesus escorting believers into the presence of the Father. While God’s people are protected in heaven, the Lord will mete out his eschatological wrath via angels from above down upon the ungodly on earth (cf. Isa 26:19–21). However, God’s people will not remain in heaven because the New Jerusalem eventually descends to the earth for the millennium and eternity.
Finally, there is the question concerning the timing of Jesus’s physical return, that is, when his terra firma itinerary begins. This can only be summarized here. After Jesus ushers God’s people before the throne of the Father in heaven, he will likely be involved with directing the angels with the trumpets judgments.[12] His parousia judgments will fulfill his wrathful purposes for the wicked. The salvation of Israel will occur at the seventieth week of Daniel, which fulfills Daniel’s seventieth week prophecy. The OT passages that depict the Messiah leading a Jewish remnant back to Israel/Jerusalem clearly implies he arrived physically on earth before the completion of the seventieth week At the time, the seventh trumpet pronounces the kingdom and Christ is established as King of the world, which at that time he will set up his royal city in Jerusalem. This provokes the Beast’s armies of the nations to go after him to retake the city. During the sixth bowl judgment, the nations encamp at Armageddon and plan on retaking Jerusalem. But before they attack Jerusalem, Jesus preemptively attacks the nations. He retrieves the heavenly armies who accompany him into battle against the beast’s armies of the nations, vanquishing them as a result. After Jesus’s victory, the New Jerusalem will descend to earth at the establishment of the millennial kingdom (some interpreters, argue that it descends after the millennium).[13]
Table 5
| The Rapture Coming | The Second Coming |
| No signs – imminent | Signs – not imminent |
In Table 3 above, I argued that the second coming begins with the rapture. That analysis also applies to this pretrib contrast. But I want to make some further comments on this particular instance.[14] It is used as a key interpretive criterion to interpret biblical prophetic passages.[15] This results in circular reasoning, because it begins with the conclusion and uses it as evidence—it is begging the question. It is essentially saying, “We know a passage is about the rapture if there are no events mentioned before it; while a passage is about the second coming if there are events mentioned before it.” This is an all-too-common practice of how pretrib interpreters argue for imminence. It is not an overstatement to say that imminence as a theological axiom is ingrained so deeply in pretrib literature that they may not be aware that they are reasoning in a circle. The circular reasoning of this criterion reveals that the conclusion of imminence is being assumed, not argued for. It is selective evidence through an a priori exclusion of any passage that mentions signs or events in order to be considered a rapture passage. It is essentially saying, “The rapture is signless, because I have selectively chosen only those passages that do not mention signs.” If pretribulation interpreters want to begin with an unbiased criterion, they should consider all passages regardless of whether they mention signs. For example, Mark 13:28–29 speaks of Christ’s return as near, but it also mentions signs that must precede his coming: “Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, right at the door.” Jesus clearly predicted that the intervening events of branches becoming “tender” and putting out “leaves” must happen before summer arrives. This text is from the Olivet Discourse, but since it mentions signs using the illustration of the fig tree, pretribulation interpreters exclude it out of hand from the very start. The pretrib interpretive method begins with a stacked deck and therefore their theory is impossible to be falsified. Whether you are discussing physics, philosophy, history, or theology, if your theory does not allow the theoretical possibility of being falsifiable with counter evidence, then that is an indication that the theory is invalid. In other words, it is impossible for there ever to be any evidence against that theory! Just so I am not misunderstood, for a theory to be falsifiable, it does not mean that it is necessarily false—it could be true. It just means that a valid theory requires objective criteria that would allow it to be falsified if there were evidence. In fact, all true theories are falsifiable. One of the most common red flags of an unfalsifiable theory is circular reasoning. It operates her as the pretribulational hermeneutic, having been constructed to begin with a preconceived idea that determines in advance the outcome for pretribulation imminence. Interpretive criteria instead should allow the widest range of evidence, lest it results in a prejudicial conclusion. They should not be crafted so narrowly to exclude biblical evidence that might contradict one’s theological system of imminence.
Table 6
| The Rapture Coming | The Second Coming |
| Only his own see him | Every eye will see him |
This contrast does not work either. When Jesus returns, he is not returning secretly, incognito, where only Christians will see his glorious manifestation. This will not be like his first coming, where it was localized to the vicinity of Bethlehem. No, he is coming back in power and glory. After the rapture, the world is not going to be looking around scratching their heads wondering what just happened. The biblical record reveals that it will not be a “dog whistle” return of Jesus, where only believers will be able to hear and see Jesus when he returns. That may be good fantasy for novels but it is not biblical reality. Just the contrary, when Jesus comes back for his people, he will make sure his parousia overture is loud and visible!: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess 4:16; cf. Matt 24:30–31). To be sure, not all pretribulation interpreters believe the rapture will be done in secret. But those who do, make Jesus’s return out to be an anti-climactic, unglorious event. The return of Christ will be glorious because as the world is hating and putting to death God’s saints, our Great Rescuer will blast through the sky and deliver his people! Then Lord will pour out his wrath upon this wicked world—that is a glorious return!
It may be objected that Paul taught that Jesus is coming back as a thief for the wicked and therefore this indicates a secret rapture: “For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2). There are two problems with this. First, in 1 Thess 5, Paul uses the thief simile to indicate the element of suddenness, not stealthiness: “Now when they are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape” (1 Thess 5:3). His return will come upon the wicked suddenly because they are unprepared for Christ, and when it happens, the ungodly is not going to look around and wonder if UFOs beamed up millions of persons. Second, Paul says that Christ’s return will be like a thief, but not for believers in the sense of spiritual preparedness: “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would. For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness” (1 Thess 5:4–5; cf. vv. 6–14). Incidentally, Jesus places his thief-return after the great tribulation (see Matt 24:43). And Paul, in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, makes it clear that on that day Jesus returns to give relief to Christians who are persecuted, the wicked will undoubtedly recognize that Jesus has returned, meting out divine wrath upon them (see 2 Thess 1:1–12). It was discussed above that the second coming begins with the rapture of God’s people when Jesus returns in glory in the clouds. A few other passages convey the universal visibility of Jesus’s return.
“Look! He is returning with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of him. This will certainly come to pass! Amen.” (Rev 1:7)
“Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matt 24:29–30)
“And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth nations will be in distress, anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves. People will be fainting from fear and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man arriving in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25–28)
“Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red; and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken by a fierce wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” (Rev 6:12–17)
These passages clearly indicate that Christ’s second coming will not be limited to believers at that time. Rather, it will be universal in scope, where Jesus will be glorified in both actions of deliverance and judgment. All people undoubtedly will witness this par excellence theophany. The notion therefore that the world will first witness him only seven years after the rapture at the battle of Armageddon is contradictory to the biblical evidence.
Table 7
| The Rapture Coming | The Second Coming |
| Tribulation begins | Millennium begins |
The cumulative comments up to this point are relevant for this last pretrib contrast.[16] It is definitional of pretribulationism to locate the rapture before the “tribulation,” which in their framework, the tribulation is identical to the entire seventieth week of Daniel. I argued previously that the rapture initiates the second coming (parousia) and therefore is located after the great tribulation: “Immediately after the suffering of those days” (Matt 24:29). In addition, Paul in 2 Thess 2:1–4 instructs the Thessalonians that the rapture and second coming will not occur until after the revelation of the man of lawlessness (i.e. the Antichrist). The pretribulation notion that New Testament saints will not have to experience the Antichrist’s great tribulation confuses the period of the great tribulation with the day of the Lord’s wrath. The church is not exempt from the persecution of the Antichrist but is promised protection from God’s wrath during his day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:9). Pretribulationism excludes out of hand any passage applicable to the church that speaks of saints suffering at the hands of the Antichrist’s great tribulation. If a passage mentions saints suffering at the hands of the Antichrist, it is ipso facto precluded from “the rapture coming.” This circular reasoning begins with a preconceived conclusion. The criterion will not allow any evidence against the pretrib viewpoint. This pattern of selective criteria for pretribulationism results once again in an invalid method of interpretation.[17]
Conclusion
This article focused on the parousia presupposition, the mistaken understanding that disconnects the rapture from the second coming (parousia). This dichotomy is fundamental to the pretribulation interpretive framework. I began to critique this presupposition by illustrating their pattern of interpretation with an absurdity from the Gospels. Then I critiqued each set of pretrib contrasts that purportedly teaches an interval between the rapture and the second coming. It was shown that these contrasts are artificial lacking biblical support. Instead, the evidence indicates that the rapture is not disconnected from the second coming.
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[1] E.g. Feinberg, “Case for the Pretribulation Rapture Position,” 80–86; Hitchcock, Could the Rapture Happen Today?, 78–81; Showers, Maranatha, 176–91.
[2] Hindson, “Rapture and the Return,” 157.
[3] Hindson, “Rapture and the Return,” 157 (emphasis his).
[4] Showers, Maranatha, 176.
[5] E.g. Hindson, “Rapture and the Return,” 156–57; Akin, The Return of Christ, 56.
[6] Liberal critical scholars, however, view contradictions among the Gospel accounts. But these attempts have been soundly answered (see Blomberg, Historical Reliability of the Gospels).
[7] Pretribulation interpreter Glenn R. Kreider is one exception who uses the expression second coming to encompass the rapture.
[9] 1 Cor 16:17; 2 Cor 7:6–7; 10:10; Phil 1:26; 2:12.
[10] Feinberg (Case for the Pretribulation Rapture Position, 81) argues for this particular pretrib contrast.
[11] So contra posttribulationism, Christ does not directly descend to earth immediately after the rapture (see Cosby, “Hellenistic Formal Receptions,” 15–34).
[12] The reference in Rev 19:13 of his robe being “dipped in blood” may indicate his involvement of judging his enemies through the series of trumpet and bowl judgments.
[13] A forthcoming volume in the Prewrath Premillennialism Series will be devoted to this topic of the travel itinerary of Jesus. There are, however, at this time a couple of helpful works on the topic of Jesus’s parousia itinerary; see Snow, The Passover King; Richardson, Sinai to Zion).
[14] Pretribulationists especially consider the Antichrist’s great tribulation as a condition for a sign to the second coming; e.g. Feinberg, Case for the Pretribulation Rapture Position, 80–81.
[15] E.g. Brindle, “Biblical Evidence,” 139; Feinberg, “Response,” 157–58.
[16] E.g. Feinberg, Case for the Pretribulation Rapture Position, 83.
[17] For further exegetical reasons why the church will face the Antichrist before the return of Jesus, see Kurschner, Antichrist Before the Day of the Lord.
