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The Phantom Rapture
Pre-tribulationists make a lot of noise about the "literal" method of interpreting prophecy. They claim it is the foundation of their position. The following quote from "Things to Come," by J. Dwight Pentecost, is typical. "Pretribulation rapturism rests essentially on one major premise--the literal method of interpretation of the Scriptures." [Things to Come. pg. 193]. No doubt, the literal method necessarily leads to a pre-millennial understanding of prophecy. However, many pre-millennialists do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. It is not true that literalism leads to pre-tribulationism within the pre-millennial camp. In fact, post-tribbers can far surpass pre-tribbers in interpreting literally and at face value. This is easily demonstrated. Pre-tribbers spiritualize Jesus' words in Matthew 24, by making the disciples "represent" a Jewish remnant in the tribulation, instead of what they actually were, the disciples of Jesus Christ, the elders of the Church. Post-tribbers, on the other hand, interpret that passage in it's most natural, literal sense.
The lapse into "spiritualizing" that characterizes many pre-tribbers becomes even more blatant in Revelation. Their scheme begins in chapters two and three--the seven letters to the seven churches. Literally, they were real letters sent to real churches in Asia Minor. Each letter contained instructions for the local church in it's unique situation, and encouragement to overcome in the hour of trial. Of course, just like Paul's epistles, they have a secondary application to all churches. But many pre-tribbers are not satisfied with literal interpretation here. They resort to "spiritualizing" tactics, making the seven letters symbolic of seven periods of Church history. They cannot produce a single shred of evidence, from the text of the Bible, to validate this leap in logic. Yet, leap they do. What is the reason for their "prophetic view of the Church age?" It lays the foundation for claiming the "Church age" ends before the tribulation begins, implying a pre-tribulation rapture.
Since there is no description of the rapture before the tribulation in Revelation, many pre-tribbers claim John's being caught up to heaven to see the future, in Revelation 4:1-3, is symbolic of the rapture. This view is promoted by the Scofield Bible and many prominent pre-trib authors and teachers. In this view, John's being caught up to heaven to see the future becomes the Church being caught up before the tribulation. Aside from the blatant violation of the grammatical - historical [normal] method of interpretation, there are other reasons to reject this idea. Does not John move back and forth between heaven and earth several times in Revelation, [10:1, 11:1, 12:1, 13:1, etc.]? Does this mean the "Church" will travel back and forth between heaven and earth throughout the tribulation? Or did John suddenly lose his alias identity when he got to heaven? The same people claim the twenty-four elders "represent" the Church in heaven during the tribulation. But Rev. 5:5 & 7:13 indicates the twenty-four elders are individuals. And, it seems highly unlikely that both John and the twenty-four elders "represent" the Church at the same time. In this case the Church would be raptured to heaven to find herself already there. This kind of interpretation makes the first five chapters of Revelation some kind of enigma that must be deciphered. If we simply apply normal methods of interpretation to Revelation, as we have attempted to do with the rest of Scripture, we must reject the notion that the seven letters are prophecy of "seven Church ages." Their intent is clearly stated in the text [Rev. 1:11].
The idea that John's being caught up to heaven represents the rapture, and making the twenty-four elders represent a larger group of saints, must be rejected. None of these can be justified from the text of Revelation. John was simply recording what he saw and heard. Jesus commanded him to write seven letters as He dictated them. And, John alone was caught up to heaven, seeing the twenty-four elders already seated there. We are not denying that Revelation contains symbolism and apocalyptic language. But, when John's narration is clear when taken literally, there is no justification for spiritualizing. There is certainly no basis for making John himself part of the prophetic scenario. He was simply a observer, recording what he saw and heard. In Revelation, John does not interact with the prophetic scenario unfolding before him, except to dialog with an angel or elder making sure he understands what he is seeing [Rev. 5:5, 7:13, 17:1, 19:9,10, 21:5].
In all fairness, I must point out that many pre-tribulationists reject the "seven Church ages" theory, and the idea that John's being caught up to heaven is symbolic of a pre-tribulation rapture. They recognize that using this method to interpret Scripture makes the Word of God subjective to the whim of the interpreter, and invites all kinds of heresy. For this high standard, they are to be commended. However, this stand creates more problems for the pre-trib position in Revelation. Without the supposed rapture in Rev. 4:1, there is no clean break between the seven letters to the churches and the tribulation scenes. There is no apparent distinction between the saints of the seven churches and the saints in the tribulation. In fact, the commands for the churches to overcome seem to anticipate the tremendous persecution lying ahead in the tribulation scenes. Indeed, the remaining chapters picture the saints as overcomers in the time of trial, [Rev. 12:11,17]. And, the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the righteous are found only in a post-tribulation context in Revelation. The final book of the Bible, addressed to the churches, with a last days theme, without even a hint of a pre-tribulation rapture, must be quite disappointing for pre-tribulationists.
Some may scoff at the validity of the argument from silence. Yet, that silence is deafening when it is consistent throughout the entire Bible. If pre-tribulationism is truly Bible doctrine, my question is, where is it introduced in Scripture?