Consider this passage of scripture:
1 Thessalonians 5:8-10 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him."
Is this proof of a pre-wrath rapture?
This is one verse that is not only used to support the pre-tribulation rapture, but is also one that is used in support of the pre-wrath rapture. The difference between the pre-tribulation folks and the pre-wrath folks is in how each of these camps interpret the word "wrath." Those in support of the pre-wrath rapture theory makes a distinction between "tribulation" and "wrath.” According to them, "tribulation" is that which the unbelieving world does to the church, but "wrath" is that which the unbelieving world will receive from God:
1 Thessalonians 5:9 "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"
Acts 14:22 "Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."
Those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture does not make this distinction, because they assume that the church would have been raptured at this point. In fact, the proponents of the pre-tribulation rapture have invented an artificial term known as "tribulation saints" which they use to refer to whose who will repent and glorify God during the period of great tribulation on earth. According to these pre-tribbers, the gentile church will be raptured before the period of the great tribulation. In support of their theory, they invoke 1 Thessalonians 5:9 "For God hath not appointed us to wrath…" In so saying, they teach that the church is not appointed to wrath, but then, they also say there will be people who will be saved during the great tribulation, and to make a distinction between these people and the gentile church, they coined the term "tribulation saints," a term which is not found in the 66 books of the Holy Bible.
Here's the conundrum: Are not these saints also part of the church? How did the all-knowing almighty God carelessly left them out when he raptured the gentile church out of this world? Why has God not included them in the rapture, so much so that they will have to be subjected to his wrath? Isn't God contradicting himself according to his words in 1 Thessalonians 5:9?
In stubborn defense of their position, pre-tribbers invoke hyper-dispensationalism which teaches that the writings of Paul (including 1 Thessalonians 5:9) are only applicable for the period of the “dispensation of Grace,” because Paul is the "apostle of the Gentiles" according to Romans 11:13 and 2 Timothy 1:11. I would not spent too much time in this article to dispute with dispensationalists but it suffice to say that in all of Paul's writings, he called himself "an apostle of the gentiles" twice, but he also referred himself as "an apostle of Jesus Christ" several times, in 1 Corinthians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1; and Titus 1:1.
Anyway, it is not the intention of this post to discuss the application of 1 Thessalonians 5:9 in the pre-tribulation rapture view. The focus of this post is about the pre-wrath rapture view. The question here is "Will there be a pre-wrath rapture according to 1 Thessalonians 5:9?" Let's find out the answer to this question from Scripture and Scripture alone — not opinions of men or doctrines of churches. First and foremost, the context of Paul's writings leading to 1 Thessalonians 5:9 is about a specific day, which Paul refers to as "the day of the Lord:"
1 Thessalonians 5:2 "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."
Then Paul goes on to tell us in the next verse:
1 Thessalonians 5:3 "For 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."
In these two verses, Paul reveals to us that the day of the Lord comes when "they shall say Peace and safety." Paul used the words "sudden destruction" because the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, when the whole world is asleep, so that they shall not escape. Paul continues…
1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."
This goes along with:
Matthew 24:24 "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
God's elect are not in darkness that the day of the Lord should overtake them. The words “if it were possible” means that it is not possible to deceive God's elect, because God will not allow it, but the whole world will be deceived. The children of light knows when the day of the Lord cometh, but the children of darkness continues to remain in darkness.
John 11:9-10 "Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him."
The children of light walk in the day, and they stumbleth not, because they seeth the "light of this world." This phrase "light of this world" is not only a reference to Jesus Christ (John 8:12, 9:5), but it is also a reference to the church of born again believers (Matthew 5:14), as well as the words of the LORD in the 66 books of the Holy Bible:
Proverbs 6:23 "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:"
The word of God in the 66 books of the Holy Bible is the light which born again believers walk in, which is why they stumbleth not.
Matthew 25:3-4 "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps."
They are like the wise virgins who took oil in their vessels with their lamps. The same may not be said of the rest of the world, including those who call themselves Christians but have not believed in the words of the LORD. They are the children of darkness, they walk in the night, and they will stumble (they will be deceived) because they have not the truth to illuminate their paths. They are like the foolish virgins who took their lamps but took no oil with them.
Genesis 1:4-5 "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
The word “light” is a reference to the word of God, and God called it "Day." Darkness is the opposite of the light. God divided it from the light, and he called it "Night." Connect this back to:
1 Thessalonians 5:2 "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."
The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in "the night," when the whole world will be in darkness, in the complete absence of "the light" (the word of God). This goes along with Paul's words in:
2 Thessalonians 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:"
The day will come when the word of God will be taken out of the way, and the "man of sin" (that Wicked) shall be revealed. There will be a "falling away" first, which Paul has told every born again believer to watch out for, so that that day should not overtake them as a thief.
1 Thessalonians 5:6-10 "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him."
The whole world (including fake Christians) will be asleep, and they are drunken with the vine of Sodom. Only truly born again believers will be awake, and we are told to "watch and be sober." We are told to watch for the day of the Lord when it cometh like a thief in the night, when the whole world will be plunged into complete darkness, in the absence of "the light" (the truth — the 66 books of the word of God). There is also a reference to "the day of the Lord" in:
Isaiah 13:9-10 "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine."
The day of the LORD is the day of the LORD's wrath:
Zephaniah 1:18 "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land."
Isaiah 13:9-10 is also a word for word match to the two end time passages in Matthew 24 and Mark 13:
Matthew 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:"
Mark 13:24-25 "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken."
The day of the Lord is cruel with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate. In that day, the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. God shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. The day of the Lord will come "after the tribulation of those days…" It will be marked by signs that everyone dwelling on earth can see: the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. At this point the rapture has yet to occur. Isaiah continues…
Isaiah 13:13-19 "Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger… And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah."
There is a parallel to this passage found in:
Haggai 2:20-22 "I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen…"
But then in the next verse, God said to Zerubbabel:
Haggai 2:23 "In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant… and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee…"
The words "In that day" is a reference to the day of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 5:2. God told Zerubbabel that in the day of the Lord "will I take thee," and that would be the day of the rapture. The day of the rapture is the day of the second coming of the Lord. They are not two separate events. The rapture will come in the day of the LORD, and it will be after the Lord's fierce anger is poured out upon the whole earth, to overthrow the throne of the kingdoms, as he did for Sodom and Gomorrah. There will NOT be a pre-wrath rapture. But then, how do we reconcile this with:
1 Thessalonians 5:9 "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"
The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the NIGHT, and the night must pass before a brand new day begins. Jesus said:
John 11:9 "Are there not twelve hours in the day?..."
There are 12 hours in the day and 12 hours in the night. Evening comes before the morning, and that is a day according to God's order of things:
Genesis 1:5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
The day will begin at darkness, but the path of the just is as the "shining light" (Holy Bible) that shineth more and more unto "the perfect day". The way of the wicked is as darkness, and they shall stumble in that day, the day of the Lord.
Proverbs 4:18-19 "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble."
The Exodus itself is a picture of the day of the Lord. The children of Israel only managed to leave Egypt after God poured out his wrath in 10 successive judgments (Exodus 15:7) but God's wrath did not in anyway affect the children of Israel the way it affected the Egyptians. God had supernaturally protected them while Egypt absorbed every ounce of God's judgment. It was only after the passover that the children of Israel began the Exodus from Egypt. So, in that sense the children of Israel got to witness God's wrath upon their masters the Egyptians.
During the time of Exodus, the children of Israel had Moses. Today, we have the 66 books of the Holy Bible. It took faith for the children of Israel to believe in Moses. In the same way, it will take real faith for born again believers which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD to hold fast unto the words and promises written in the Holy Bible. There are those who will "fall away" (Luke 8:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:3), but there are also some who will endure unto the very end (Matthew 10:22). That's why it is so important to anchor our faith in the real Holy Bible. That's also the reason why the real Holy Bible is constantly under attack.
🙌❤️🙏 Absolutely in agreement with you brother and all our family who are born again and know the truth, praise God for giving us his Spirit who guides us into all Truth and teaches us all things and brings to our remembrance everything that he hath said unto us. Thanks be unto God for his grace in you, very well said, I love this Word and article he gave you, thank you for sharing ! God bless you in Jesus Name ! Amen