heaven to the earth. The church will be translated, according to I Thessalonians 5, meet the Lord in the air, and then continue with the heavenly throng to the earth to accompany Christ in His establishment of the millen nial kingdom. The post-tribulational view, as held by some premillenarians, is often quite similar to that advocated by the amillenarian, differing from it prin cipally in its concept of the millennial reign of Christ following the rapture. For the amillenarian the eternal age begins immediately. The post-tribulationism of our day in some respects corresponds to the view of the early church fathers and in other aspects is decidedly different and recent. In the church of the second and third century, it was com monly believed that the church was already in the great tribulation predicted by Christ. For this reason, they believed in the imminency of Christ’s return as an event which could happen any day. Their view of the Lord’s return was that it was both post-tribulational and im minent. Most conservative scholarship agrees that the early church fathers were in error in their conclusion that they were already in the great tribulation. The passing of the centuries makes it clear that their persecutions were those which could be normally expected through out the age rather than the particular trials which could be expected in the great tribulation. Modern post- tribulationists, however, believe that the early church fathers were right in their conclusion concerning post- tribulationism even if they were wrong in believing they were already in the great tribulation. In contrast to the early fathers, however, modern post-tribulation- ists do not believe in imminency in the same sense as did the early church, but rather hold that certain events must take place first, namely, the events outlined in the Scriptures as preceding the second coming of Christ to the earth. Modern post-tribulationists, there fore, while affirming post-tribulationism as such, deny imminency in the sense of an any-moment return, and hold a decidedly different point of view from the early church fathers. In contrast to post-tribulationism, the pretribula- tional position holds that the rapture of the church is an event separated from the second coming of Christ to the earth by a period of time usually considered to be at least seven years on the basis of Daniel’s prophecies in Daniel 9:27. Pretribulationists therefore generally accept the doctrine of imminency, that is, that Christ could come at any moment. They deny post-tribulation ism, and hold that there must be a period of time be tween the rapture and the second coming itself during which certain events are viewed as following rather than preceding the rapture, there is nothing hindering the rapture occurring any day. A third view largely promoted in our present gen eration is the so-called midtribulational view which places the rapture three and one-half years before Christ’s second coming to establish His kingdom. There is comparatively no literature on the subject and few scholars have been willing to advocate openly this point of view. Some have adopted it, apparently motivated primarily by the desire to mediate the pretribulational and post-tribulational view and accept some tenets from both views. Though this interpretation has proved attractive to some, it has not as yet assumed any large
dead in Christ relate to end-time events. Their judg ments in these areas are largely determined by their broader eschatological conviction, namely, whether they are premillennial, postmillennial, or amillennial. Generally speaking, amillenarians, such as have fol lowed the traditional view of Augustine, have combined the doctrine of the rapture with the second coming of Christ to the earth at the end of the age. They seldom, therefore, give separate consideration to this truth and regard it merely as an incident in the total program which brings human history to a close. One, therefore, can hardly expect an amillenarian to deal adequately with this doctrine. Usually their writings tend to refute pretribulationism or premillenialism, as the case might be, rather than to set up their own doctrine of the rap ture. I thank Thee, Lord, for quiet hands That keep the sentinel hour of prayer And build an altar out of love To meet Thee there. I thank Thee, too, for busy hands— A sacrifice for others' sake, And those of gentleness that soothe The hearts that break. I thank Thee most for Calvary And Thy forgiving hands, so blest, That brought salvation down from Heaven And offer rest. HANDS by Ruth Gibbs Zwall Practically the same point of view is adopted by the postmillenialist of the conservative type. They, too, tend to combine all end-time events as having their culmina tion in the second coming of Christ, and the rapture becomes a phase of this program. In their writings like wise the rapture is given scant attention. It is only in premillennial discussion that the rapture doctrine has assumed any large proportion. For all practical pur poses, a formal consideration of the rapture of the church, including the debate as to when it will occur in relationship to other events, is a problem within pre- millennialism. If the view of the partial rapture concept be ex cluded, there are three major viewpoints advocated to day, namely, pretribulationism, midtribulationism, and post-tribulationism. Of primary interest and contrast is the post-tribulational view as compared to the pre- tribulational view. Post-tribulationism views the rap ture as occurring in the sequence of events described as the second coming of Christ. They believe the church will be raptured at the time Christ is descending from I bring my hands before Thee now W ith emptiness, to fill and use . . . Lord, make them like Thy loving hands, A s Thou shalt choose.
“ conclusions reveal a system of thought 99
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OCTOBER, 1964
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