Is the Pre-Tribulation Doctrine Scriptural?

By Dennis Edwards

The false Pre-Tribulation doctrine is study I have been wanted to finalize for some time. I recently posted my questioning of the Pre-Tribulation doctrine on a Creation site which had indicated that Jesus could come back any day. Maybe it was not the right place to present a differing opinion, but I did and as a result got blocked. Obviously the Creation site has many Pre-Tribulation followers and supporters so they would not enter into the debate publicly. But here goes my reasoning from Scripture in favor of the unpopular Post-Tribulation doctrine. I say unpopular, because no one likes to believe he will have to go through hard times, especially religious persecution. But sad as it might seem, this is what the Bible warns will happen in the Last days. Let us begin our study.

Origins of the Pre-Tribulation Doctrine

The Pre-tribulation Rapture doctrine originated in the nineteenth century with John Nelson Darby, a member of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Samuel P. Tregelies, also of the Plymouth Brethren, charges that the view originated during a charismatic service conducted by Edward Irving in 1832. Others maintain that it was the product of a prophetic vision given to a young Scottish girl, Margaret MacDonald, in 1830. Impressed by the accounts of a new Pentecost, Darby visited the scene of the revival and met Margaret MacDonald. Darby rejected her claims of a new outpouring of the Spirit, but he accepted her view of the Pre-tribulation Rapture and worked it into his own system. (The doctrine was later incorporated into the widely read Scofield Bible with notes.) The pre-tribulation rapture view has had a worldwide influence ever since. (Walter A. Elwell, ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, 1984, pp. 908-910.)

The Creationist often talk about an honest reading of Genesis chapter one. They say if any normal person would read it, he would come away believing that God had created the universe and everything in it in six literal days. But if one reads the footnotes, he would be in for trouble as they would lead him into thousands or millions of years. Just so, without the footnotes, an honest reading of the scriptures will lead us to a Post-tribulation interpretation of scripture like the church had believed for hundreds of years. Let us look at what the scriptures say and not the footnotes.

I do not believe that God intended that his word be so shrouded in mystery that only the most educated scholars with a line of degrees after their names could understand its truths. I believe God intended for the common man to read and understand. That was the wonder of the Reformation which lead to bringing the Bible into the hands of all men.

Paul warns us in 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-4 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be trouble, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing that he is God." 

So it would seem that Paul is talking about the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto him or what is commonly called the rapture will not happen until first there is a falling away from the faith and the man of sin or what we call today the Antichrist is revealed. The Antichrist will even sit in the temple of God manifesting to the world that he is God. The temple may be a newly built Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The cross reference I have in my Bible to gathering together is to Matthew 24:31. However if we read the passage from verse 29 Jesus says," 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 the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

So here we see Jesus in this his famous dissertation on the time of the end and his second coming saying the gathering together or rapture will not take place until after the tribulation. In verse 15 of this famous chapter of the signs of the end Jesus says, "When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,(whosoever reads, let him understand:)" and as we follow the passage to its logical final in verse 21 Jesus concludes, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." and verse 22 "And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened." So obviously the great tribulation is before the rapture and this is what the early church fathers and Christians believed down through the centuries. Charles Spurgeon the famous 19 century Church leader was definitely post-tribulation and said the pre-tribulation doctrine was unscriptural.

The following is a short excerpt from a Blob by Dennis Michael Swanson.

Charles H. Spurgeon and Eschatology: Did He Have a Discernible Millennial Position? 

Copyright © 1996 by Dennis Swanson. All rights reserved. 

Position of Spurgeon

Spurgeon clearly did not adhere to a pre-tribulational view of the rapture. He stated, "we must regard the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the of Temple as being a kind of rehearsal of what is yet to be."351 In his few discernible comments on the rapture, Spurgeon is most easily identified as post-tribulational. (The rapture will come after the tribulation.)

Spurgeon said little, if anything, about the rapture. He seems to have most likely equated this with the Second Coming. However, he did believe that the church would pass through a tribulation, thus any "rapture" in his thinking would be post-tribulational. He said, "we must regard the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple as being a kind of rehearsal of what is yet to be."347 (Again we see he thought the rapture would occur after the tribulation just as the early church fathers, though they didn't use that term, nor did Spurgeon.)

To examine Spurgeon's millennial views it would be helpful to outline the main features of his beliefs as they have already been delineated in Chapter Two of this thesis and then reiterate Spurgeon's statements on these points.

1. After Pentecost, the church will continue for an undetermined time working in the world to spread the gospel by the power of and under the sovereignty of God.

 
2. In the last days the spiritual condition of the gentile world will grow progressively worse, while Israel as a national and political entity will both return to their land and submit themselves to the Gospel of Christ.

 
3. As a result of the spiritual deterioration, true believers will be increasingly persecuted, led by the "antichrist system" which for Spurgeon was the Papal system of the Roman Catholic Church.

 
4. God will judge the unbelieving world and the Antichrist system with a period of tribulation. During this great tribulation the true church, God's elect (Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ) will be supernaturally protected.

 
5. The personal and visible return of Christ will bring an end to the tribulation, as well as the end of the Antichrist system. His return will apparently also culminate the process of world-wide evangelism. Unbelievers will be swept away, Satan and the demons bound and the dead saints in Christ resurrected. Those Christians living on earth both (Jewish Christians and Gentile), protected during the great tribulation will prosper and reign with Christ during the millennial kingdom on earth.

 
[Dennis Edwards: I disagree here on a few small points. The rapture will occur after the 1,260 days of tribulation, but before the wrath of God which is just before the millennium. The wrath of God is a short period just after the 3 and 1/2 years (1,260 days) of tribulation and may endure some 75 days. 75 and 1,260 add up to the 1,335 days mentioned in Daniel 12:12. Daniel said that those people who managed to live to the 1,335th day would be blessed. Those that accepted the mark of the beast will have their lives ended. However, the people who lived through the wrath and had not accepted the mark of the Beast or worshipped his image will get to live on into the millennium.  Spurgeon mentions the dead saints being resurrected, but doesn't say anything about the rapture of the living saints. His eschatology may not have been well formed as he didn't feel it was necessary to be able to place a name tag on every horn of Daniel.]

 
6. Christ will personally reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem and many or some, if not "all" of the Jews will become true believers in Christ when they see Him returning in the clouds of heaven. Those that accept Christ will enjoy the full blessings of God that the earlier generation at the time of Christ had forsaken. Nowhere in his sermons does Spurgeon say anything about the "rapture," pre-wrath or otherwise. On the contrary, he always indicates that the church will go through the tribulation of those days in total.

Spurgeon and Historic Premillennialism from Dennis Swanson

https://www.sgat.org/pdf/The-Millennial-Position-of-Spurgeon-by-Dennis-Swanson.pdf

Having examined the three other millennial positions and found them inconsistent with Spurgeon's beliefs on eschatological subjects; this thesis comes to the "Historic Premillennial" position. Thus far this thesis has demonstrated that Spurgeon rejected the key features of the amillennial, postmillennial, and dispensational premillennial schemes. At this point only two possible conclusions remain: first, that Spurgeon had a completely unique view of the millennium not consistent with any of the "Contemporary Options" as Erickson called them, or secondly that Spurgeon most closely adhered to what has been defined as the Historic or Covenantal Premillennial position.

There is no evidence for the idea that Spurgeon held to a position on the millennium unique to himself; so the purpose of this section will be to demonstrate the contention of this thesis that Spurgeon did hold a Historic or Covenantal Premillennial view. When examining the "historic premillennial" position it was observed that there were essentially two key features:

(1) The nature of the kingdom being the culmination of the church age. Although Israel will experience a national repentance and salvation through Christ, its place in the kingdom is only in relation to the church; nationally converted Israel is simply a continuation of the "single-people of God"; and

(2) The "rapture" will be after the tribulation, with the church going through the tribulation, but being protected by the power of God.

Ladd also delineates this millennial position when he states: A nondispensational eschatology forms its theology from the explicit teachings of the New Testament. It confesses that it cannot be sure how the Old Testament prophecies of the end are to be fulfilled, for

(a) the first coming of Christ was accomplished in terms not foreseen by a literal interpretation of the Old Testament, and

(b) there are unavoidable indications that the Old Testament promises to Israel are fulfilled in the Christian Church.

To examine Spurgeon's millennial views it would be helpful to outline the main features of his beliefs as they have already been delineated in Chapter Two of this thesis (particularly pp 51- 63) and then reiterate Spurgeon's statements on these points.

1. After Pentecost, the church will continue for an undetermined time working in the world to spread the gospel by the power of and under the sovereignty of God.

2. In the last days the spiritual condition of the gentile world will grow progressively worse, while Israel as a national and political entity will both return to their land and submit themselves to the Gospel of Christ.

3. As a result of the spiritual deterioration, true believers will be increasingly persecuted, led by the "antichrist system" which for Spurgeon was the Papal system of the Roman Catholic Church.

4. God will judge the unbelieving world and the Antichrist system with a period of tribulation. During this great tribulation the true church, God's elect (Jews and Gentiles) will be supernaturally protected and demonstrate a miraculous joy.

5. The personal and visible return of Christ will bring an end to the tribulation, as well as the end of the Antichrist system. His return will apparently also culminate the process of world- wide evangelism. Unbelievers will be swept away, Satan and the demons bound and the dead saints in Christ resurrected. Those Christians living on earth (both Jew and Gentile), protected during the great tribulation will prosper and reign with Christ during the millennial kingdom on earth. Christ will personally reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem and the Jews will enjoy the full blessings of God that the earlier generation at the time of Christ had forsaken.

6. At the end of the 1,000 years the time for judgment of the ungodly will arrive and the second resurrection of the unjust will occur. Satan and the demons as well as all unbelievers from all ages will be cast into the "lake of fire" for all eternity. The New Heavens and New Earth will be revealed and all believers will move into the eternal state of heaven.

Regarding some secondary issues of eschatology Spurgeon says very little. He does apparently hold out a possibility of a rebellion or apostasy of the nations toward the end of the millennial kingdom, but he never, as far as this writer could determine, expounds on that theme. At least one place he seems to acknowledge that certain aspects of Jewish worship may exist in the millennial kingdom; but again, he is less than specific on the issue. On these issues it seems to be unwise to ascribe firm conclusions for Spurgeon on the basis of these two brief statements. It also must be remembered that neither of these points are primary issues to the question at hand, nor are they vital to any millennial scheme. 

In relation to Spurgeon's millennial view it seems conclusive that he fits most consistently into the "Historic or Covenantal Premillennial" scheme. The reasons for this conclusion are based on several factors.

First of all, it has been shown that Spurgeon believed that the church would go through the totality of the tribulation. "So shall it be when, at the last great day, we walk among the sons of men calmly and serenely. They will marvel at us; they will say to us, "How is it that you are so joyous? We are alarmed, our hearts are failing us for fear;" and we shall take up our wedding hymn, our marriage song, "The Lord is come! The Lord is come! Hallelujah!" The burning earth shall be the torch to light up the wedding procession; the quivering of the heavens shall be, as it were, but as a dancing of the feet of angels in those glorious festivities, and the booming and crashing of the elements shall, somehow, only help to swell the outburst of praise unto God the just and terrible, who is to our exceeding joy."

Tom Carter, in one of the few editorial comments in his compilation of Spurgeon quotations, draws this conclusion from quotations on the Second Advent: The above two quotations [in his book, p. 183] state that the first event after Christ's return is the millennial reign. This strongly implies that CHSpurgeon believed that the church would pass through the tribulation before the second coming. This would make him a premillennial post-tribulationalist. The last sentence in the final quotation under this same topic also leads to this conclusion.

Second, Spurgeon believed that the Second Advent would precede the millennial kingdom; that is a premillennial coming:

"If I read the word aright, and it is honest to admit that there is much room for difference of opinion here, the day will come, when the Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout, with the trump of the archangel and the voice of God. Some think this descent of the Lord will be post-millennial —that is, after the thousand years of his reign. I cannot think so. I conceive that the advent will be pre-millennial; that he will come first; and then will come the millennium as the result of his personal reign upon earth."

Third, Spurgeon felt that the millennial kingdom was the culmination of God's program for the church: . ". . you will cry, "Come Lord Jesus. Let antichrist be hurled like a millstone into the flood, never to rise again." The vehemence of your desire for the destruction of evil and the setting up of the kingdom of Christ will drive you to that grand hope of the church, and make you cry out for its fulfillment."

Fourth, Spurgeon believed that there would be two separate resurrections, one of the just and one of the unjust, separated by the 1000 year millennium: "If I read the Scriptures aright, there are to be two resurrections, and the first will be the resurrection of the righteous; for it is written, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrections. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." And: "We anticipate a first and second resurrection; a first resurrection of the righteous, and a second of the ungodly, who shall be condemned, and punished for ever by the sentence of the great King."

Fifth, Spurgeon taught that the Jews, as a national, political and temporal entity would again emerge in their own land, coming to faith in Christ and having Him to reign: "There will be a native government again; there will again be the form of a body politic; a state shall be incorporated, and a king shall reign. . . If there be anything clear and plain, the literal sense and meaning of this passage [Ezekiel 37:1-10] —a meaning not to be spirited or spiritualized away— must be evident that both the two and the ten tribes of Israel are to be restored to their own land, and that a king is to rule over them."

 Finally, Spurgeon taught that while the Jews would return to their land and that Messiah would reign over them, they would come to faith in Christ in the same manner as the church and would be part of the church, as is once again demonstrated:

"Distinctions have been drawn by certain exceedingly wise men (measured by their own estimate of themselves), between the people of God who lived before the coming of Christ, and those who lived afterwards. We have even heard it asserted that those who lived before the coming of Christ do not belong to the church of God! We never know what we shall hear next, and perhaps it is a mercy that these absurdities are revealed at one time, in order that we may be able to endure their stupidity without dying of amazement. Why, every child of God in every place stands on the same footing; the Lord has not some children best beloved, some second-rate offspring, and others whom he hardly cares about. These who saw Christ's day before it came, had a great difference as to what they knew, and perhaps in the same measure a difference as to what they enjoyed whole on earth meditating upon Christ; but they were all washed in the same blood, all redeemed with the same ransom price, and made members of the same body. Israel in the covenant of grace is not natural Israel, but all believers in all ages. Before the first advent, all the types and shadows all pointed one way —they pointed to Christ, and to him all the saints looked with hope. Those who lived before Christ were not saved with a different salvation to that which shall come to us. They exercised faith as we must; that faith struggled as ours struggles, and that faith obtained its reward as ours shall."

Summary Spurgeon was most certainly premillennial, although not dispensational. Though in our own age this has been disputed, during his own lifetime his position was well known and attested to. As Drummond points out, "Nineteenth Century premillennialists loved to get Spurgeon in their camp. The Episcopal Recorder, November 1, 1888, wrote, 'C. H. Spurgeon (is a) . . . pronounced premillennialist.'"

While Spurgeon must be identified as a premillennialist, he is most accurately described as a premillennialist of the "historic" or "covenantal" variety. He adhered to every major point which identifies this position, while certain features of dispensational premillennialism (e.g. the timing of the rapture and the nature of the millennium) were in opposition to his biblical and theological understanding. The thrust of the Premillennial view, as espoused by Charles Spurgeon, is well- summarized by Clouse when he states: 

"

In every age when the return of Christ has been a living reality premillennialism has been the prevailing view. Even today it is among dispensationalists that the second coming is emphasized. Those who adopt other views seldom mention the return of Christ and the fact that history will end one day with the establishment of God's kingdom. Neglecting the second coming is a failure to proclaim the whole counsel of God and deprives Christians of a powerful source of comfort. The Gospel is a message of hope and openness toward the future. Premillennialism constantly reminds the believer that no matter how discouraging the situation is today, millennial glory awaits. Perhaps one's social class is declining or his theological viewpoint is on the wane or some great personal tragedy has befallen him yet he may take heart, for one day assuredly he will rule the world with Christ." 

Conclusion In this study, several things have been observed about Charles H. Spurgeon; specifically his beliefs about eschatology in general and the nature of the millennial kingdom and its relation to the return of Christ in particular. This study was motivated by observing men of vastly different millennial beliefs all attempting to "use" Spurgeon to bolster their own views and/or to help them in influencing others to their particular view. 

When a single individual writes as extensively and divergently as Spurgeon, the sheer volume of material will have the tendency to make proper interpretation or systemization difficult. If only a part of a sermon here and there is examined, devoid from its context, message, occasion, and audience, no doubt Spurgeon could be "proven" to adhere to many theological positions that he clearly would have rejected. 

As stated in the introduction, this writer's hope is that this thesis will serve two distinct purposes: 

(1) the uninformed will come to understand Spurgeon and his millennial views clearly, and 

(2) that the misuse of his stature and the misinterpretation of his works would come to an end, at least on this issue. 

In this thesis the author has attempted to show that Spurgeon did not display a "fundamental uncertainty" in his thinking on issues of eschatology. He held a clear and consistent view of the "major" features of eschatology: namely the second coming of Christ, the eventual restoration of national Israel to their land and their corporate faith in Christ, the resurrections of the just and unjust, the millennial kingdom, the reality of heaven and the certainty of hell. On some other minor issues he either commented little or not at all. But all in all, the evidence is irrefutable that Spurgeon was a premillennialist of the "historic" or "covenantal" school. 

Spurgeon's ministry was built around the exposition of the Scriptures and the declaration of the Gospel. He refused to use prophetical themes in a "sensational" way as a means to attract people to either his church or to the Gospel. In eschatological issues he majored on "personal" eschatology; that is, the final abode of each individual, either heaven or hell. He preached the joys of heaven for the believer and he preached the terrors of hell for those who would reject the salvation which God graciously provided for and offers to all men. He was strongly Calvinistic in his understanding of redemption and God's purposes, but at the same time he called on "all men everywhere to repent," and turn to Christ. 

In relation to the "corporate" eschatology, he discussed those issues when either his text or the situation demanded such attention, but that was admittedly a small percentage of the time. As he stated: "You will bear me witness, my friends, that it is exceedingly seldom I ever intrude into the mysteries of the future with regard either to the second advent, the millennial reign, or the first and second resurrection. As often as we come about it in our expositions, we do not turn aside from the point, but if guilty at all on this point, it is rather in being too silent than saying too much."

It seems that Spurgeon preferred to stay on the "too silent" side of eschatological issues, in the great tradition of the Reformers (e.g. Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, Knox, et al). He lived in an age where speculation on the return of Christ was rampant. The Millerite movement of the United States had crossed the Atlantic; and, again there was a wave of excitement about the setting of dates and speculation on exactly when Jesus would return. This was especially true in the early part of his ministry in the middle and late 1860's. 

Spurgeon took the words of Acts 1:7, "It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority," very seriously. He viewed any prophetic speculation that delved into these areas to be unprofitable at best and dangerously wicked at worst. Even in his own day there were those who attempt to misuse his name and stature to give credence to their views on things eschatological. One false publication, with Spurgeon's name affixed, declared his belief that Jesus would return in 1866. When he heard of this he wasted no time in condemning the action and informing his congregation that, "you will hear of me in Bedlam when you hear such rubbish as that from me." 

It is futile to speculate how Spurgeon would articulate his eschatological beliefs if "he had lived in this century." It is sufficient to say that Spurgeon had a clear and consistent view of all the major areas of systematic theology, including eschatology. Some might have wished he had said more, while others may have wished that he had said less. However, all that he said is internally consistent and there can be no doubt to the conclusion that Spurgeon was, a self proclaimed premillennialist in his eschatology.

This study has been extensive, but perhaps not exhaustive, in its searching out the writings of Charles Haddon Spurgeon in the area of his millennial beliefs. While all may not agree with the conclusions presented, the evidence speaks for itself and seems to be irrefutable. Since 1993, a century after the death of Spurgeon, a renewed interest in the life and ministry of Spurgeon has been seen. Because of the stature of Spurgeon in the evangelical community, the continued study of his works is clearly needed. Inevitably Spurgeon will continue to be quoted and cited in many circles on many issues; both properly and improperly, and perhaps the only thing that will end the irresponsible use of his name is a definitive systematic theology of Spurgeon's works. Should that task ever be undertaken, this study will at least have answered the question on Spurgeon and the millennium. It is also hoped that it will inspire future students to further clarify and further develop Spurgeon's views in this important area.

[End of section by Dennis Swanson]

 
Closing comments by Dennis Edwards:

It seems that Dennis Swanson has done a thorough job of articulating the opinion of Spurgeon, the 19 century evangelical leader.I agree with most of Swanson's conclusions on Spurgeon's eschatology. Though Spurgeon's ideas were not articulated to such a degree as Benjamin Wills Newton who lived during the same time period, they nevertheless are similar. We know that Spurgeon was a friend with George Mueller and Newton who held traditional premillennialist ideas. Spurgeon was not on good terms with Darby who brought in the Dispensantional Pre-millennial system. The church will indeed go through the tribulation as Spurgeon, Mueller and Newton taught. 

There are many more confirmimg scriptures in the New Testament that we could present. However, the main thing that Darby and Scoffield after him did was to divide the elect of God into two groups, the Christians who would get raptured in the first (unscriptural) secret rapture and the Jews who would get saved during the Tribulation and get raptured at the end of it. Like Spurgeon noted, there is very little scriptural bases for this doctrine. 

Though Spurgeon agreed that from prophecy Israel as a nation would be restored again before the coming of Christ, He did not separate the Old Testament prophecies between the Church and the Jewish nation. He grouped converted Israel into the Church and believed those Old Testament prophecies would be fulfilled on a unified Jewish/Gentile Church of believers in Christ.

 
The plain reading of the Bible teaches one rapture immediatedly after the 3 &1/2 years of tribulation, a rapture for both saved Christians and Jews alike. Following the rapture is the 75 day wrath of God which we see in Revelation 15 and 16 ending at the return of Christ to physically take over the earth during the Battle of Armageddon seen in Revelation 19. Christ will actually land in Jerusalem and a great earthquake will take place [Zechariah 14:4; Revelation 16:18].

The Bible clearly teaches that God's children will go through the great tribulation period under His protection. However, we will be saved from His wrath by the rapture event which occurs immediately after the tribulation and just prior to the wrath of God. The wrath of God is a short but more intense period of  God troubling the wicked than the tribulation had been. Compare the trumpets of tribulation in Revelation 7-10 to the Vials or Bowls of the Wrath of God in Revelation 15 and 16.. The peoples on earth who manage to live through the great tribulation and the wrath of God and do not accept the mark of the beast or worship him will have their lives continued on into the millenium period. The millennium is 1,000 years of peace on earth under Christ's direct rule [Revelation 20:6].

Please write if you have any questions: dennismedwards@gmail.com