Main points:

The rapture will occur before the Tribulation Period
The rapture will occur before the persecutions of the Antichrist
The rapture will occur before the wrath of God falls upon the earth and its people.

Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture:

Popularized by John Darby, the founder of the Plymouth Brethren movement in the late 1800's. Darby in 1827 or Edward Irving in the 1830's probably originated this view of the rapture. Emmanuel Lacunza, a Jesuit Catholic priest, may have also wrote about the pre-tribulation rapture in his 1812 book "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty. Common myth is that Margaret MacDonald while in a vision originated pretribulationism in the 1830's. Her actual sayings as documented in a book by Robert Norton suggest that the church will undergo fiery trials which is post-tribulation thinking.

Outline of supporting arguments for the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

1) No wrath of God on Christians
2) No wrath of Satan on Christians
3) Christ can return at any time
4) The prophecies in the Olivet Discourse apply to Israel only
5) The time of Christ's return is unknown
6) A multitude enter the Millennium
7) Jesus returns with the saints - No mention of going up raptured and then immediately returning

1) WRATH OF GOD - Christians will be saved from wrath

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 ⁹For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

Romans 5:8-9 ⁸But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, [even] Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Luke 21:34-36 ³⁴And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. ³⁵For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

Zephaniah 2:2-3 ²Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you. ³Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.

Luke 17:26-29 ²⁶And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. ²⁷They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. ²⁸Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; ²⁹But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. ³⁰Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

• From these two accounts of Noah and Lot, we see that God removes the righteous prior to his judgment on the wicked.

2) SATAN'S WRATH - Christians will be spared from the hour of testing

Revelation 3:10-11 ¹⁰Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. ¹¹I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your crown.

Isaiah 26:19-21 ¹⁹Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. ²⁰Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. ²¹For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

• The rapture of the dead occurs before the indignation or persecution of God's people followed by the wrath of God upon the Earth.

3) IMMINENCY - Christ can return at any moment

Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Matthew 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Mark 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Mark 13:35-36 ³⁵Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: ³⁶Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

• After the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel, Israel flees into the wilderness for 3 and 1/2 years before the return of the Messiah. In a post-trib rapture the rapture occurs at the second coming. Therefore, would know the day of his return which he clearly states we would not know.

The early church and apostles expected Christ to come at any time as seen in the following verses!

James 5:8-9 ⁸Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. ⁹Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

Romans 13:11-12 ¹¹And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. ¹²The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Revelation 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

4) OLIVET DISCOURSE - Refers to Israel only

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

• Seventy weeks of punishment were given to Israel and Jerusalem for their sins. Scripture never mentions that this period is a time of testing for Christians

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

• The 70th week of Daniel is the final week of punishment on Israel only. After the fall of Jerusalem and Israel in 70 AD, these areas continue barren until the weeks of punishment begin again in the end times.

5) RETURN OF CHRIST - The time of Christ's return is not predictable.

Matthew 24:37-39 ³⁷For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. ³⁸"For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

• The Son of Man will return to the earth when people are going through life as always. If a peace agreement between the Antichrist and Israel was signed, I guarantee that multitudes of Christians would be counting down the days to the end. No surprise if Christ is coming at the midpoint or end of the tribulation.

Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of man is coming.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 ²For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. ³For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

• With the mid or post-tribulation rapture the time of Jesus' return can be predicted.

6) MILLENNIAL PEOPLE - A Multitude of Christians will enter the Millennial Kingdom after the second coming.

1 Corinthians 15:52-53 ⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

• In a post-tribulation rapture all Christians will be changed into imperishable bodies when Christ comes while the wicked are destroyed by God's wrath.

Isaiah 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.

• However, a multitude of mortal unchanged people will enter the millennium. If all Christians are raptured then who is left to populate the land?
• A pre-tribulation rapture solves this problem as a large number of people are saved during the 7-year period of Daniel. Then together with the 144,000 sealed of Israel and the now saved in Christ Jewish people they form the multitude to enter the millennium.

7) SECOND COMING - Jesus returns with the raptured saints

Revelation 19:8,11,14 ⁷Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. ⁸And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

• The Church dressed in righteousness, is the wife of the Lamb.

Revelation 19:11,14 ¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. ¹⁴And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

• When Christ returns he is accompanied by an army in fine white linen. The fine linen stands for the righteousness of the raptured saints.
• The saints of God are returning with Christ from the heavens. No mention of being raptured up into the air and then returning to earth with Christ as in a post-tribulation rapture.

Commentaries/Articles From the Internet

PreTribulation or PreWrath by Ron Graff

Pre-Trib Rapture by Todd Strandberg