Chapter 20 of Revelation speaks of “the first resurrection”, and in the context of the surrounding
chapters there is absolutely no mistaking that it is at the end of the tribulation. However these
verses are used with regard to pre-tribulation rapture in some pretty scholarly circles, even though they don’t fit at all. You see, if there was a pre-tribulation rapture as a separate event to the first resurrection, then the first resurrection would not actually be the first resurrection but the second (since the rapture would have preceded it). This would then make the second resurrection (of the
unbelieving dead) the third resurrection, not the second. Now perhaps you are thinking, ‘but wait –
the rapture is of living people off the earth, not dead people from the grave’. Popular culture has emphasized this but the bible actually emphasizes that it is a resurrection of dead people, yet that those Christians who still remain on the earth at the time are also caught up in it. ( “ The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain” . End of II Thessalonians 3: 16.)
The resurrection at the last day
Martha says of Lazurus:
I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day
(John 11:24)
Jesus says in the verse afterwards, “I am the resurrection and the life”. Do you see it yet? When
Jesus returns the graves are opened because he is the resurrection and the life. This is the rapture, albeit our focus has been on the Christians remaining alive that are also caught up in it. It’s
important to understand that the rapture is from an earthly perspective. It’s certainly not from a
heavenly one since Jesus said to the thief on the cross:
…today you will be with Me in paradise.
(Luke 23:43)
Saints who have died are already alive with Christ in heaven and it is their return to the earth with him that is seen from an earthly perspective as the resurrection.
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