In this short article, we show that the following verses refute the idea of a secret pre-tribulation rapture.
[1 Thessalonians 4:15-17] For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
This is a famous Bible passage about the rapture. These are not just Paul’s inspired words, but a clear prophetic message from the Lord, carrying special authority.
Here, caught up is the passive form of the Greek verb ἁρπάζω (harpazō), which means “to seize” or “to snatch away,” a clear reference to the rapture. This is not at all controversial.
Firstly, let’s talk about the words “who are alive, who are left.” This phrase occurs twice in these verses. Whenever this happens in the Bible, it’s God’s way of saying, “Pay special attention.”
In the original Greek, the expression is “οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι,” where οἱ is the definite article, and ζῶντες and περιλειπόμενοι are present-tense verbal participles, which in Greek behave like adjectives. Specifically, “οἱ ζῶντες” means “those who are alive” or “the living,” while “οἱ περιλειπόμενοι” means “those who are left” or “the remaining ones.”
According to ChatGPT, “in historical texts, the word περιλειπόμενοι can be used to describe survivors of a battle, those who remained in a city after an evacuation, or the remnants of a group after a significant event.” When combined with ζῶντες, we can see that the implied meaning of “οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι” is “those who are left alive” or “the survivors.”
Secondly, it is quite obvious that the rapture described in this passage is anything but secret. If “with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” sounds like something secret to you, we obviously have a very different understanding of the word ‘secret.’
In conclusion, the rapture will happen after a time of destruction and death, and won’t be secret at all. If you think you’ll be raptured before anything bad happens, you’re in for a very rude surprise.