RFC: Tribulation Rapture, 1 Cor 15

1 Corinthians 15

40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. […]

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[f]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[g] bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O Death, where is your sting?[h] O Hades, where is your victory?”[i]

The “twinkling of an eye” wording is more the classic vision of the rapture concept. First thing I looked at were the timing events. “At the last trumpet” may not necessarily mean the seventh trumpet in Revelations, but it’s the only event given for this changing, and the fact that it is given at all at least suggest the possibility that it is a known prophetic event to the people to help them understand when this happens.

“We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed” sounds a lot like 1 Thess 4 so at least on the surface, I would expect this event to probably be the same as in that chapter.

The particulars of this change are of getting a heavenly, glorious, powerful, imperishable, immortal body, after the fashion of Christ’s body.

This is also connected with the “dead will be raised”, which sounds like a major resurrection event.

So, assuming the common view, if the “twinkling of an eye” refers to a pre-Tribulation rapture, then what exactly happens in Rev 20 at the event specifically called the First Resurrection? No mention is made in Revelations about a major resurrection prior to the First, and the First seems treated by the text as if it truly is a First and major resurrection event. Phrases like “the rest of the dead (maybe spurious)” suggest that those covered in the First Resurrection aren’t a small group to be treated as a one-off, exception group, but enough people (i.e. the full complement of the Saints) from the mass of the dead to justify asking the question “what about the rest?”

Too, if there are Saints raptured in the manner of 1 Cor 15 and they also take place in the First Resurrection, how is that a resurrection if they already have real bodies?

If, however, 1 Cor 15 is referring to the First Resurrection of Rev 20, then the twinkling of an eye changing has nothing to do with an earlier rapture event.

Also, the phrase “we shall not all sleep” followed by “we shall all be changed” implies that there are people, not dead, who will live at the moment that this changing event happens. If we believe that Saints are generally spared the Tribulation, this pushes us back to: if this is then a pre-Tribulation rapture, how is the subsequent First Resurrection a proper resurrection when those who are to reign after already have their permanent bodies and are in every sense alive?

Lastly, the inclusion of Isaiah 25:8, “death is swallowed up in victory”, is in the context of wiping away tears from all faces and removing the disgrace of his people from the earth. While this sounds like events at the end of Rev 20 where death and hades are thrown into the Lake of Fire, this scripture doesn’t sound like its fulfilled before the Tribulation, where massive persecutions of people described as God’s people happen (i.e. Great Multitude, Two Witnesses, 144,000).

The simplest conclusion I have to make is that this is in fact a Rev 19-20 reference and there will be believers even up until the First Resurrection.


Objection 1:

1 Cor 15 and Rev 20. There will be two resurrections: the resurrection unto life of believers, and the resurrection unto judgment of unbelievers (John 5:28-29). The difference is first and foremost about who and unto what, and only secondarily about when. As to the when, the first resurrection appears to have two parts (I usually call them 1A and 1B). Since there will be many who get saved during the Tribulation period (see the notes on Rev 7 below), and since some of them die before Christ returns, and since they missed out on the rapture, the resurrection 1B takes place in Revelation 20. At that point, all true believers are either resurrected from the dead (in glorified bodies) or continue alive into the Millennium. Resurrection 1A includes both the Church and OT saints, while resurrection 1B includes just those who get saved and then die during the Tribulation, but all of them are resurrected unto life. Rev. 20:5 makes it clear that the resurrection that takes place at the end of the Tribulation is part of the resurrection unto life, not the resurrection unto judgment, which will take place after the Millennium.

Rev 20 (see below) is clear about two resurrections, consistent with John 5:28-29 and Dan 12:2. Both of these verses speak as if both resurrections occur at the same time – the hour when all in the tombs hear his voice (John) and the time of trouble (Daniel). Dan 12:1-2 probably merits more exploration here. It says the at this time of trouble, saints would be delivered, though it doesn’t say they are necessarily delivered from it or more importantly before it (pre-tribulation rapture). The next verse ties this time in with the timing of the books being opened (Great White Throne judgment books), but the use of the “and” may indicate an allowance of some time gap between the deliverance of the saints (those who are in the book) and the results of the resurrections. We know at least clearly from Rev 20, that there is a 1000 year time gap between the first and second resurrections.

The difficulty I have is proving that there is a two part version of the first resurrection, these parts 1A and 1B. The problem is, although in Rev 20 we know that the two resurrections are separated by 1000 years, we have nothing explicit to indicate throughout the book that any part of the first resurrection happened before. So you’ve got two resurrections mentioned explicitly in Rev 20, and we surmise and then accept as absolute truth a first part of the first resurrection which is nowhere mentioned in the same book with gives the only chronology of resurrections.

I’ve already gone through the reasoning that 1 Cor 15 is talking about the first resurrection mentioned in Rev 20 and that it cannot be a pre-tribulation rapture. So I think we lose here, a description of a pre-tribulation rapture that is used very commonly (twinkling of an eye).