Prophecy Conference 2003
Rapture at The Last Trumpet
This partial transcript is from videotape made during the Bible Prophecy Conference featuring Dr. David Reagan, Senior Evangelist of the Lion and Lamb Ministries in Dallas, Texas. The Hebron Christian Church of Winder, Georgia hosted Dr. Reagan for the Prophecy Conference on October 25-26, 2003. This transcript is taken from the Question and Answer Session, which was held on Sunday evening.
Richard Perry: “I have been studying the Bible for many years regarding the return of Christ and I cannot find support for a Pre-Trib rapture. What is the biblical evidence that there is a Pre-Trib rapture?”
David Reagan: “First of all, let me just say that the reason this is a controversial topic and a controversial question is that there is not any verse in the Bible that tells you point blank when the rapture is going to occur. You can’t turn to any verse that says the rapture is going to occur at the beginning of the tribulation, the middle of the tribulation, the latter part of the tribulation or at the end of the tribulation. There is just not one there. The timing of the rapture is something that the Bible does not clearly reveal.”
Richard Perry: “I am sure you are familiar that most scholars identify 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 as rapture verses. One of the passages that is said to be the number two Pre-Trib rapture verse that is 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.”
David Reagan: “Yes.”
Richard Perry: “As I have studied this particular passage, I find it does not even mention the tribulation in the text itself. It does, however, give some indications to the timing of this event. It says, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep [we will not all die], but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” It goes on to say that when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will come true, “Death has been swallowed up in victory” which is a quote from Isaiah 25:8. Here is my point; Paul is saying that this change in the living and the dead will take place at the last trumpet. Now, I have studied through Scripture and it is pretty easy to find the last trumpet, it is in Revelation 11:15-18.”
“Here is what’s interesting. If this rapture, which occurs at the last trumpet, is before the tribulation, then what is the trumpet that occurs that Jesus talked about in the Olivet Discourse? When He said the Son of Man would come on the clouds of the sky and with a trumpet call He would send His angels. Now this is a trumpet call that will be sounded seven years after the rapture, at the last trumpet which Paul is talking about. And when considering the last trumpet which Jesus mentioned in the Olivet Discourse it seems to connect with Revelation 11:15-18 because in Revelation we see that the saints are judged and rewarded which can only occur after they have been raised.”
David Reagan: “What is the last trumpet? Revelation 11:15 says, “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.’” That point is the mid-point of the tribulation. The two witnesses have appeared, they have been prophesying in Jerusalem for three and a-half years, they have been killed by the Antichrist, they have been raptured to heaven and then the seventh trumpet is blown. There are seven trumpets there. That is the last of the seven trumpets, but there is no particular connection between the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15 and this particular trumpet, I would argue, because these trumpets are blown for the sinners. These are trumpets that are blown to announce judgments that will fall on mankind. When each of these trumpets are blown judgments are poured out on mankind. These are not trumpets for believers. Trumpets for believers, I think, this is a whole different thing. In 1 Corinthians chapter four (I think he meant 1 Thessalonians 4) it says when the rapture occurs the great trumpet of God will be blown. I think these others are trumpets for the unbelievers.”
Richard Perry: “Since the last trumpet is the signal for the rapture, how can there be any trumpet after the last one? In Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament defines the Greek word ‘eschatos’ used for last in 1 Corinthians 15 as ‘the trumpet after which there are no others.’ You say the Bible is very specific, prophecies are precise and there are no contradictions. This appears to be a contradiction. How can this be the last trumpet if there are any trumpets after it?”
David Reagan: “I have already answered that question. I think it’s the last trumpet for believers as opposed to the last trumpets for unbelievers.”
Richard Perry: “It doesn’t say that.”
The session lasted about an hour, however, I was not given an opportunity to ask any additional questions.
