This page is part of an overview of all the major end-times views held by faithful Christians. Each view gets the same structure and the same care, with no winner declared. Start with the overview for what every view shares, then read the others alongside this one.
In a sentence: Christ gathers His Church to Himself before the tribulation begins, and then returns visibly with His people at its end to establish His kingdom.
How it reads the story: Holders understand the tribulation as a seven-year period drawn from Daniel’s seventieth week, a time that concerns Israel and the world rather than the Church. Before that week begins, Christ comes for His people in the air, the dead in Christ are raised, and living believers are changed and caught up to be with Him. While the tribulation unfolds on earth, the Church is with Christ, often connected with the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7–9). At the end of the seven years, Christ returns visibly to the earth with His saints (Jude 14; Revelation 19:11–16), judges the nations, and begins His reign. Holders often describe this as one return in two stages: coming for His saints, and later coming with them. Many also note that the word “church,” so frequent in Revelation 2 and 3, doesn’t appear again on the earth in chapters 4 through 19, and they read that silence as a sign the Church is already with Christ.
Key texts: John 14:1–3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13–18, 5:9; Revelation 3:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7; Titus 2:13; Daniel 9:24–27; Revelation 4–19.
What its holders are most careful to protect: Pre-tribulation believers are most careful to guard the tenderness of Christ as Bridegroom, who comes for His bride before the storm, and the promise that God has not destined His children for wrath. They also place great weight on imminence, the belief that no prophesied event has to happen before Christ can gather His people, so believers are always to live expectantly.
Questions others ask: Some believers ask where Scripture clearly describes two separate stages of Christ’s coming. Pre-tribulation holders typically answer that the passages describe two different kinds of events: a meeting in the air where believers go to be with Christ (John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:17), and a coming to the earth in judgment where He brings His people with Him (Revelation 19:14). Others ask about Matthew 24:29–31, where the gathering of the elect comes “after the tribulation.” Many holders answer that Jesus was speaking to His Jewish disciples about Israel’s experience in the seventieth week, so “the elect” there refers to those who come to faith during that period. A third question is historical: if this view was organized in the 1800s, why didn’t the early church teach it plainly? Holders respond that the test of a doctrine is Scripture, not its date of systematic expression, and some point to earlier writers who seem to hint at a gathering before the final trouble, though historians debate how much those hints mean.
Who has held it: The view was organized and taught widely in the 1800s through John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, and it was popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible and later by teachers at schools such as Dallas Theological Seminary. It’s closely tied to dispensational premillennialism and is held by many Baptist, Bible church, Pentecostal, and independent congregations.
Every View Stands on the Same Foundation
Every view described in this overview affirms that Jesus Christ reigns as King right now, that He will return bodily, personally, visibly, and victoriously, that the dead will be raised, that He will judge with perfect justice and make all things new, and that the day and hour of His return are known by the Father alone (Matthew 24:36). These questions don’t decide whether someone who trusts Christ is your brother or sister. Your pastor and your local church are the right people to walk through them with you.
Faithful Christians read this question differently. Here’s how Last Days Living handles questions like this.
Explore the Other Views
Overview: The Major End-Times Views
When are believers gathered to Christ?
What is the thousand years?
A related term