The Taken Away/Rapture
Before the Great Tribulation.
The Church Is United With Lord Yeshua First.

In-depth summary

The rapture of the Church takes place before the Great Tribulation. This is not a doctrine that needs to rest on a single Bible verse. When the words of Lord Yeshua, the letters of Paul, the prophecies of Daniel, and the book of Revelation are read together, a clear prophetic sequence emerges:

the Church is united with Lord Yeshua first, then the period of the Great Tribulation begins, and finally Lord Yeshua returns visibly to the earth.

One of the key texts here is 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul speaks there of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together to Him. He then explains that “that day” will not come until the apostasy and the revealing of the man of lawlessness have first taken place. The rapture of the Church must therefore be distinguished from the visible return of Lord Yeshua.

Paul then speaks of the restrainer. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the man of lawlessness cannot yet be fully revealed as long as the one who restrains him is present. This restrainer is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the Church. When the Church is taken up from the earth, this particular restraining work through the Church is removed as well. Only then can the lawless one be revealed.

Revelation confirms this order. In chapters 1–3, Lord Yeshua speaks to the churches. Then, with the word “after this,” a new prophetic phase begins. John sees an open door in heaven and is called up into heaven. There he sees the throne of God, the twenty-four elders, and the Lamb. The Lamb then takes the scroll with the seven seals, and the series of judgments described in chapter 6 begins to fall on the earth.

From chapter 4 through chapter 21, the Church is no longer addressed as a church on earth. At the same time, we see redeemed saints in heaven, and finally the Bride of the Lamb with Christ. In Revelation 19 the Bride has made herself ready and is with the Lamb. When Lord Yeshua then comes to the earth, the armies of heaven follow Him.

1. 1. The Church is raptured first.
  2. The Church is united with Lord Yeshua.
  3. Then the Great Tribulation begins.
  4. And finally Lord Yeshua returns to the earth with His saints.

The rapture is therefore not the same as the second coming. At the rapture, believers are caught up to meet Lord Yeshua in the air. At the second coming, the feet of Lord Yeshua touch down on the earth, and He comes with His saints to establish His Kingdom.

The biblical timeline can therefore be laid out as follows:

The Church on earth
↓

Rapture
↓

Union with Lord Yeshua
↓

The restrainer removed from the midst
↓

Revealing of the lawless one
↓

The Great Tribulation
↓

The Marriage of the Lamb
↓

The visible second coming
↓

Lord Yeshua with His saints on earth
↓

The Kingdom of Christ

The conclusion is therefore clear:

the Church does not go through the Great Tribulation. She is taken from the earth by Lord Yeshua before this period begins.

Key conclusions from this study.

The rapture and the visible second coming of Lord Yeshua are two distinct events.
At the rapture, the Church is caught up to meet Lord Yeshua in the air.
At the second coming, the feet of Lord Yeshua come down on the earth.
2 Thessalonians 2:1 speaks of the coming of Lord Yeshua and of our gathering to Him.
“That day” cannot come until the apostasy and the man of lawlessness have first been revealed.
The man of lawlessness is held back until the restrainer is removed from the midst.
The restrainer is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the Church.
When the Church is raptured, the current restraining work through the Church is taken away.
Revelation 4 begins with John being called up into heaven before the seal judgments begin.
The twenty-four elders are already around God’s throne before the Lamb opens the seals.
From Revelation 4–21, the Church is no longer addressed as a church on earth.
The Bride of the Lamb is with Christ before His visible second coming.
The armies of heaven follow Lord Yeshua when He returns to the earth.
The Church therefore does not wait for the antichrist, but for her Bridegroom.
The rapture takes place before the Great Tribulation.

In-depth explanation

1. The rapture is not the same as the second coming

To rightly understand the end-time prophecies, we must first make the most important distinction: the rapture and the visible second coming are not the same event.

At the rapture, the Church is brought to Lord Yeshua:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.

The believers therefore go to Lord Yeshua in the air.

At His later, visible second coming, the opposite happens: He actually comes down to the earth.

Zechariah 14:4
In that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.

Rapture: Christ meets His Church in the air.
Second coming: Christ’s feet stand on the earth.

2. 2 Thessalonians 2 speaks of our union with Lord Yeshua

Paul opens 2 Thessalonians 2 with a very significant phrase:

2 Thessalonians 2:1
Now we beg you, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him,

Here the coming of Lord Yeshua and our gathering to Him are mentioned together.

Our gathering to Him is exactly what happens at the rapture. The believers are caught up and meet Lord Yeshua in the air.

Paul then continues with “that day.”

2 Thessalonians 2:3
Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction,

Notice the words:

UNLESS FIRST!

Certain events must take place first before “that day” comes. The man of lawlessness must be revealed.

“That day” therefore cannot simply be equated with the rapture. The rapture is the gathering of the Church to Lord Yeshua; “that day” refers to the prophetic events that follow, and to the Day of the Lord.

3. The man of lawlessness cannot yet be revealed

Paul then reveals why the lawless one cannot yet be made known:

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7
Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way.

The mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Satanic opposition to God is therefore not something that only begins in the future.

But there is a power that holds back the full revealing of the lawless one.

The restrainer must first be removed.

After that, the lawless one is revealed:

2 Thessalonians 2:8
Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;

The order is therefore:

Restrainer → removed from the midst → lawless one revealed
→ Christ destroys him at His coming.

4. The Holy Spirit is the restrainer

Who is the power that holds lawlessness back?

The biblical conclusion is that this is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the Church.

1 Corinthians 6:19
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

The Church, then, is not merely a human group. The Holy Spirit dwells within her.

When the Church is raptured, the Holy Spirit is not removed from God’s creation. God continues to work during the Great Tribulation, and people come to faith during that period as well.

What disappears is the current restraining presence of the Spirit through the Church on earth.

That is why, after the rapture, the lawless one can be revealed, and the prophetic period of the Great Tribulation can unfold.

5. Lord Yeshua does not leave His Church as orphans

Lord Yeshua promised His disciples:

John 14:18
I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

The believer, moreover, is one spirit with the Lord:

1 Corinthians 6:17
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

The rapture, then, is the actual union of the Church with her Lord.

He comes to gather His Church.
He does not leave her behind.
He takes her to Himself.

6. The rapture happens in the twinkling of an eye

Paul calls the rapture a mystery:

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

This is no slow process. The Church is changed and caught up in an instant.

That fits the expectation that Lord Yeshua will suddenly come to gather His Church.

7. The Church is kept from the hour of worldwide testing

Lord Yeshua Himself gives the Church a remarkable promise:

Revelation 3:10
Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

This promise was given directly to the church of Philadelphia. Its meaning, however, reaches further than that one local congregation, because the message is addressed to whoever has ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Christ promises to keep His Church from the hour of testing that comes upon the whole world.

Not merely kept in the midst of the hour,
but kept from the hour itself.

8. Daniel 9 and God’s prophetic plan for Israel

Daniel 9 gives us an important framework for end-time prophecy:

Daniel 9:24
Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

Gabriel speaks to Daniel about his people and his holy city: Israel and Jerusalem.

Daniel’s final week therefore belongs to God’s prophetic program for Israel.

The Church holds a different place within God’s plan of salvation. Israel and the Church must not be confused with one another.

Israel is Israel.
The Church is the Church.
God’s plan for each must not be blended together.

9. John is called up into heaven before the seal judgments

The transition from Revelation 3 to Revelation 4 is striking.

Revelation 4:1
After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this.”

The phrase “after these things” marks a new phase in the vision.

John is called up into heaven and sees the throne of God.

Revelation 4:2
Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne.

The twenty-four elders are there as well:

Revelation 4:4
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads.

The Lamb then takes the scroll from the hand of God the Father.

Revelation 5:6-7
I saw in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. Then he came, and he took it out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

Only then does the opening of the seals begin.

10. The first seal brings forth the antichristian rule

When the first seal is opened, the first rider appears:

Revelation 6:1-2
I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, “Come and see!” And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

The prophetic judgments begin only after John has been called up into heaven and the Lamb has received the seals.

The Church is present in the heavenly scene before the seals are opened.
Only then do the judgments on earth begin.

11. The Church is no longer addressed as a church on earth

In Revelation 2 and 3, Lord Yeshua speaks continually to the churches.

But from Revelation 4 onward, the prophetic scene changes completely.

From chapter 4 through chapter 21, the Church is no longer addressed as a church on earth.

That is remarkable, precisely because these chapters describe the heaviest events of the end times.

In these chapters we do see:

- - Israel;
  - the nations;
  - the 144,000;
  - the two witnesses;
  - believers during the Great Tribulation;
  - martyrs;
  - the antichristian power;
  - the judgments of God.

But the Church is no longer shown as a church on earth.

The Church is not present on earth while the Great Tribulation unfolds.

12. People still come to faith during the Great Tribulation

The fact that believers are still on earth during the Great Tribulation is not proof that the Church is still there.

God’s saving work does not stop at the rapture.

When the Church is raptured, the people left on earth will suddenly be confronted with the fact that the Christians have vanished. They will realize that the gospel they had rejected was the truth, and that Lord Yeshua truly is the Messiah. Among the Jewish people especially, this realization will bring about an enormous turnaround. Many will search the Scriptures anew and recognize that Yeshua is the promised Messiah. They will come to faith and receive Him.

At the same time, true Christian faith on earth will be severely persecuted. The testimony of Yeshua will be forbidden, and everything openly identified with Christianity and the gospel will be suppressed. Yet many will keep testifying of Lord Yeshua despite this persecution.

The Bible shows that these believers may have to pay for their faith with their lives. They will refuse to worship the beast and will therefore be killed. Their death, however, does not mean they lost their faith. On the contrary: they remain faithful to God and to the testimony of Yeshua, even when it costs them their lives. This is extremely hard, because without the Holy Spirit, perseverance is not easy.

Revelation 7:14
These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.

Revelation 13:7
It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him.

Revelation 20:4
I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for the thousand years.

These people are therefore genuine believers, but they must not be confused with the Church that was raptured before the Great Tribulation.

There are believers during the Great Tribulation because God’s saving work continues. But the presence of these believers does not mean the Church is still on earth. They form the group that comes to faith during the Tribulation and is then persecuted because of its loyalty to Yeshua.

There are believers during the Great Tribulation.
But that does not mean the Church is still on earth.

The Church is raptured before the Great Tribulation; after that,
many come to faith in Lord Yeshua during the Tribulation.

12.a. Without the Holy Spirit, no one can truly acknowledge Yeshua as Lord

There is another important point to understand here. A person does not come to genuine faith in Lord Yeshua on their own. The natural human heart resists God and cannot independently receive the things of the Spirit. That is why the work of the Holy Spirit is necessary to bring a person to true faith and to a real acknowledgment of Yeshua as Lord.

Paul says this with striking clarity:

1 Corinthians 12:3
Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but by the Holy Spirit.

This goes far beyond simply saying the words “Jesus is Lord.” Paul is speaking of the spiritual recognition of Yeshua as Lord. No one can truly acknowledge, confess, and receive Him without the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit opens the spiritual understanding to the truth of Christ and brings a person to a genuine confession of Yeshua.

This is why Yeshua also says:

John 6:44
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.

A person, then, does not come to Christ by their own strength. God must draw, convict, and spiritually bring to life. The natural person does not, on their own, possess the spiritual capacity to truly receive the truth of God.

1 Corinthians 2:14
Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

This explains why the conversion of people during the Great Tribulation is not proof that the Church is still on earth. Quite the opposite. When people come to faith during the Great Tribulation and receive Yeshua as Lord, God’s gracious work is necessary there as well. The Holy Spirit has not vanished and continues to work for salvation. What changes is the presence of the Church and her current ministry as the body of Christ and as the restraining power against the revealing of the lawless one.

The Bible further makes clear that faith itself is connected to the work of God’s Spirit:

1 Corinthians 12:9
to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit;

We must therefore distinguish two things. The Holy Spirit continues to work during the Great Tribulation to bring people to faith. But the particular restraining presence of the Church is taken away. The earth is not left without any work of the Spirit at all, but the Church that was raptured before the Great Tribulation is no longer present.

No one comes to Yeshua on their own.
No one can truly acknowledge Yeshua as Lord without
the work of the Holy Spirit.

This also makes clear why those who come to faith after the rapture form a distinct group. They come to faith after the Church has been taken away, and will then face a world in which the testimony of Yeshua is hated and persecuted. Many will refuse to worship the beast and will therefore be killed. These believers are explicitly named:

Revelation 7:14
These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.

Their presence on earth does not, therefore, prove that the Church must go through the Great Tribulation. It proves, rather, that God’s saving work continues after the Church has been raptured. God still brings people to faith even during the judgment. They will receive the testimony of Yeshua and remain faithful to Him, even at the cost of their lives.

There are believers during the Great Tribulation.
But that does not mean the Church is still on earth.
The Holy Spirit keeps on saving, while the Church is already with her Lord.

13. The Bride of the Lamb is already with Christ

Revelation 19 then gives us a decisive picture.

Revelation 19:7-8
Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

The Bride is ready and is with the Lamb.

After this, we see Lord Yeshua returning to the earth.

Revelation 19:14
The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen.

The saints, then, are already in heaven when Lord Yeshua returns to the earth.

The Church is raptured first and is already with Christ when He returns.

14. The second coming is Christ’s coming with His saints

This completes the distinction.

At the rapture, the Church is brought to Christ.

At the second coming, Christ comes with His saints to the earth.

These two events must therefore not be merged into one.

Rapture
Church → Christ

Second coming
Christ + His saints → earth

First the Bridegroom fetches His Bride.
Then He returns with His Bride.

15. Noah and Lot show that God keeps the righteous before judgment falls

Lord Yeshua Himself refers to the days of Noah and Lot when speaking of the coming of the Son of Man.

Luke 17:26-27
As it was in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

And of Lot:

Luke 17:28-29
Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all.

The order is always the same:

God keeps His own → then judgment comes.

This principle fits exactly with a rapture before the Great Tribulation.

16. The Church is not appointed to God’s wrath

Paul makes clear what believers are not appointed to:

1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Paul also writes:

1 Thessalonians 1:10
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Christians can certainly suffer, be persecuted, and face tribulation before the rapture. But the Great Tribulation is a unique prophetic period in which God’s judgment is poured out on the world.

The Church is not appointed to that.

17. The prophetic order is clear

When the various biblical lines are brought together, the following order emerges:

The Church on earth
↓

The rapture
↓

The dead in Christ are raised
↓

The living believers are changed
↓

The Church meets Lord Yeshua in the air
↓

The Church is with Christ
↓

The restrainer is removed from the midst
↓

The man of lawlessness is revealed
↓

The Great Tribulation
↓

The Marriage of the Lamb
↓

Lord Yeshua appears visibly
↓

The saints follow Him
↓

Lord Yeshua’s feet touch down on the earth
↓

The enemies are defeated
↓

The Kingdom of Christ

18. The Church does not wait for the antichrist

This, in the end, is the heart of the matter.

The Church has not been given the task of first identifying the antichrist before she may expect her Lord.

The Church awaits Lord Yeshua.

Titus 2:13
looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ;

Our hope is not the coming of the antichrist.

Our hope is the coming of Lord Yeshua.

We are not waiting for the beast.
We are waiting for the Bridegroom.

19. Final conclusion

The Bible gives us a clear prophetic order. First, the Church is united with Lord Yeshua. Then the restraining power can be removed from the midst, and the man of lawlessness can be revealed. After that, the Great Tribulation unfolds. Finally, Lord Yeshua returns visibly to the earth and comes with His saints.

The rapture, therefore, is not the same as the second coming.

At the rapture, the Church goes to Christ in the air.

At the second coming, Christ comes with His saints to the earth.

THE RAPTURE BEFORE THE GREAT TRIBULATION.

THE CHURCH IS UNITED WITH LORD YESHUA FIRST.

THEN THE GREAT TRIBULATION FOLLOWS.

AND AFTER THAT LORD YESHUA RETURNS TO THE EARTH WITH HIS SAINTS.

The Church does not wait for the antichrist.

The Church waits for her Bridegroom.

Shalom.

Summary

A rapture before the Great Tribulation is supported by the combined witness of 1 Thessalonians 4–5, 2 Thessalonians 2, Revelation 3–19, and the prophecies of Daniel.

2 Thessalonians 2 shows that the coming of Lord Yeshua and our gathering to Him must be distinguished from “that day.” First the restrainer must be removed from the midst before the man of lawlessness is revealed.

The Holy Spirit is the restrainer who dwells in the Church. When the Church is raptured, His current restraining work through the Church on earth is taken away. Only then can the lawless one be revealed.

Revelation 4 begins with John in heaven. There he sees the throne of God and the twenty-four elders. The Lamb then receives the scroll, and the seals are opened. The judgments on earth follow after that.

Throughout Revelation 4–21, the Church is no longer addressed as a church on earth. At the end we see the Bride of the Lamb with Christ. When Lord Yeshua returns to the earth, the armies of heaven follow Him.

The order is therefore:

RAPTURE → UNION WITH CHRIST → GREAT TRIBULATION → MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB → SECOND COMING → KINGDOM.

The rapture takes place before the Great Tribulation.

The Church is united with Lord Yeshua first.

Then He returns to the earth with His saints.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is the rapture the same as the second coming?

No. At the rapture, the Church is caught up to meet Lord Yeshua in the air. At the second coming, Lord Yeshua returns visibly to the earth, and His feet stand on the Mount of Olives.

2. Why is 2 Thessalonians 2 so important?

Because Paul speaks of our gathering to Lord Yeshua and then explains that “that day” will not come until the apostasy and the man of lawlessness have first been revealed. He then describes the restrainer, who must first be removed from the midst.

3. Who is the restrainer?

The restrainer is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the Church and, through His presence, holds back the full revealing of the lawless one. At the rapture, the Church is taken away, and with her the current restraining work of the Spirit through the Church on earth.

4. Does the Holy Spirit leave the earth after the rapture?

No. God continues to work during the Great Tribulation, and people still come to faith during that time. What is removed is the current restraining work of the Holy Spirit through the Church as His dwelling place on earth.

5. Why is Revelation 4 important?

Because after the messages to the churches, John is called up into heaven. There he sees the throne of God and the twenty-four elders. The Lamb then takes the scroll and begins opening the seals, after which the judgments on earth follow.

6. Are the believers during the Great Tribulation, then, the Church?

No. People can still come to faith even after the rapture. Revelation indeed shows believers and martyrs during the Great Tribulation. That does not mean the Church, as the body of Christ, is still on earth.

7. Who is the Bride of the Lamb?

The Bride of the Lamb is the Church. In Revelation 19 she is with the Lamb, having made herself ready. After that, we see the armies of heaven come to the earth with Christ.

8. Why doesn’t the Church wait for the antichrist?

Because the biblical hope of the Church is the coming of Lord Yeshua. The Church awaits her Bridegroom. The revealing of the antichrist belongs to the events that follow once the restrainer has been removed from the midst.

9. Is the Great Tribulation the same as ordinary Christian persecution?

No. Christians can be oppressed and persecuted in this world. The Great Tribulation, however, is a unique prophetic period of worldwide tribulation and judgment.

10. What, in the end, is the biblical order?

The rapture comes first. Then the Great Tribulation follows. After that, Lord Yeshua returns visibly with His saints and establishes His Kingdom.

The Church is raptured.
The Bride goes to her Bridegroom.
And then the King returns with His saints.

The end

The Taken Away (“Rapture”) Before the Great Tribulation

The Taken Away/Rapture Before the Great Tribulation. The Church Is United With Lord Yeshua First.