A Post-Tribulation rapture fails to answer nine questions. The answers to those nine questions leads us to a belief in a Pre-Trib Rapture.
Question #1: If the rapture occurs at the second coming, who will populate the millennium? According to the post-tribulation rapture theory, at the second coming all Christians will receive resurrected bodies and all lost people go to the lake of fire. Who will be left to repopulate the world during the millennium? Because people in their resurrected bodies can’t reproduce (Matt. 22:30), it will require people in their natural bodies.
(Answer: These are people saved after the rapture.)
Question #2: Why is the rapture missing from Revelation 19:11-23? Rev. 19:11-23 gives a description of the second coming, yet the rapture isn’t mentioned. Zechariah 14:1-7 also describes the second coming, but there is no mention of a rapture or resurrection. Some may call this an argument from silence, yet this silence speaks quite loudly. This is biggest event in the history of the Church, where hundreds of millions of people are resurrected-and it’s not mentioned in Revelation 19 or Zechariah 14. Why?
(Answer: It’s not mentioned because it doesn’t happen at that time.)
Question #3: Who is gathered first, the wicked (Matt. 13:30, 49) or the righteous (1 Thess. 4:16-17)? Both can’t be gathered first.
(Answer: These are two events separated in time.)
Question #4 Since Christians will be rewarded (crowns) at the rapture (2 Tim. 4:8, 1 Pet. 5:4, Luke 14:14), how can the 24 elders in heaven already have their crowns (Rev. 4:4-10) if the rapture hasn’t taken place?
(Answer: The rapture must have taken place)
Question #5: Why do the sheep and goats need to be separated if they are already separated by a rapture at the second coming (Matt. 25:31-33)?
(Answer: The rapture doesn’t occur at the second coming, so the sheep and the goats will need to be separated.)
Question #6: At the end of the millennium, where do the non-Christians come from (Rev. 20:7-10)?
(Answer: These are the people born during the millennium. They are the descendents of those who have entered the millennium in their natural bodies.)
Question #7: How can Jesus return from the wedding if the wedding hasn’t taken place (Luke 12:36)?
(Answer: The wedding, or marriage of Christ to His Church, has already taken place.)
Question #8: Who is the “one who restrains” that must be taken out of the way before the antichrist is revealed (2 Thess. 2:7)?
(Answer: The Church is the biggest hindrance to the Antichrist coming to power.)
Question #9: Jesus promised He would prepare a place for Christians in heaven, then would return to take us there (John 14:2-3). According to the post-tribulation theory, Jesus returns to earth and stays here with the Church. Why would Jesus prepare a place for us in heaven and then not take us there?
(Answer: A post-tribulation rapture cannot explain John 14:2-3.)