The 1 Corinthians passage is especially noteworthy since it was written to a church where carnality carried the day. The believers who are alive at the very end of this age will receive their glorified bodies through transformation, without needing first to experience death. The “mystery” of the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51), then, is the revelation that not every believer of this church age will die. Those who will be resurrected at the rapture will be the “dead in Christ” (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and those who will be translated will be the living who “believe that Jesus died and rose again” (4:14). At the rapture, Christ is coming back to “receive” (John 14:3) those who have believed (14:1). The resurrection of the dead and the transformation (or “translation”) of the living at the rapture (15:42) will impact “all” believers. The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian believers that at the rapture of the church “we shall all be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51). This prediction of an ultimate insurrection proves the existence of many unbelievers during the final days of the millennium.
Satan will then gather a vast number of unbelievers (“as the sand of the sea”) in one final, unsuccessful rebellion (20:7–10). Second, the book of Revelation predicts that at the end of the one thousand years, Satan will be released. Procreation would not be possible during the millenium if all of its inhabitants were people with glorified bodies (for biblical proof, see the section on the rapture). Death would not be possible during the millenium if all of its inhabitants were people with glorified bodies.5 Additionally, citizens of Messiah’s earthly kingdom will beget and bear “offspring” (65:23). In fact, sinners will die prematurely at the relatively young age of one hundred years, much like a child dying without having fulfilled his days (65:20). Isaiah envisions a humanity marked by its longevity (65:22). At least some of the millennial populace will die during the time of Messiah’s earthly kingdom. First, one of Isaiah’s prophecies proves the presence of unglorified people during the kingdom age with two lines of evidence: the occurrence of death and the occurrence of birth in the millennial kingdom. The book of Isaiah and the book of Revelation demonstrate the validity of these two points of concord. Moo, a posttribulational premillennialist, admits that “a premillennial scheme must provide an explanation for the presence of unglorified saints and unbelievers in the Millennium.”4 Second, these theologians agree that large numbers of unbelievers will inhabit the earth at the conclusion of the millennium. Premillennial theologians, whether pretribulational or posttribulational, agree on at least two points concerning the inhabitants of the millennium.3 First, they agree that people with natural, i.e., unglorified, bodies will inhabit the earth throughout the millennium. This article claims that the nature of the inhabitants of the millennium requires a separation of the rapture from the second coming and thereby refutes the posttribulational position. This article attempts to show that the separation of the rapture from the second coming is a biblically required complexity. Posttribulational theologians can appeal to the philosophical principle of Occam’s Razor which states that the best explanation of an event tends to be to the one that is the simplest.2 In response, pretribulational theologians must show from Scripture that the division of Christ’s return into two events is a necessary departure from simplicity. Posttribulationists might contend that pretribulationists unnecessarily complicate the return of Christ by dividing it into two parts (i.e., the rapture and the second coming) separated by the tribulation. They believe that Christ will rapture the church from the earth as He makes His descent to the Mount of Olives. Posttribulational theologians contend that the rapture will take place at the end of the tribulation in conjunction with Christ’s return to the earth. The doctrinal statement of Faith Baptist Theological Seminary is pretribulational.1
Additionally, they affirm that Christ’s return for the church at the rapture will be separated from His second coming to the earth by the tribulation period. Pretribulational theologians also assert that the rapture is imminent, since no prophetic event need take place before the rapture can occur. Pretribulational theologians contend that the rapture of the church is the next event on the eschatological calendar and that it will occur before the tribulation (also known as Daniel’s seventieth week). July-August 2001 The Inhabitants of the Millennium and the Timing of the Rapture, Part 1 John Hartog III, Th.D.
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