In this article we first show that those who are dead in Christ will be resurrected after the great tribulation. Since the rapture immediately follows this resurrection, it cannot happen before the tribulation. This is one of the most powerful arguments against a pre-trib rapture.

The resurrection of the dead in Christ

Let’s look at two well-known rapture passages.

[1 Corinthians 15:51-52] Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

[1 Thessalonians 4:16-17] 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.

These passages mention that the following events will occur nearly simultaneously:

This is not at all controversial.

The first resurrection

Now read these verses carefully:

[Revelation 20:4-5] I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the FIRST resurrection.

What these verses are saying is that the martyrs who refuse to worship the beast and take its mark come to life in the first resurrection. Therefore, the first resurrection happens after the mark of the beast is introduced.

As we saw above, the rapture happens after the resurrection of the dead in Christ. Putting these two puzzle pieces together, the only possible conclusion is that the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rapture happen after the mark of the beast is introduced. This means the church will be here when the mark is forced on everyone.

If you believe that the rapture is before the tribulation and before the mark of the beast, you must also believe that the resurrection of the dead in Christ also happens before the mark, contradicting the above passage, which says that the first resurrection is after the mark.

The fact that the first resurrection happens after the mark of the beast is one of the clearest arguments against a pre-tribulation rapture.

The Bible is clear that there is only one resurrection of those who belong to Christ.

[1 Corinthians 15:22-24] As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

The last trumpet

For the sake of completeness, we need to mention another aspect included in the first rapture passage quoted previously:

[1 Corinthians 15:51-52] We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

So the rapture happens “at the last trumpet.” For obvious reasons, the pre-tribbers adamantly deny that this “last trumpet” is the last of the seven trumpets mentioned in Revelation, as that trumpet is clearly sounded at the end of the tribulation period.

But the expression “the last trumpet” implies that it’s the last one of a series, and the only series of trumpets associated with the end times is the series of seven trumpets in the Book of Revelation.

Therefore, the most reasonable assumption is that the last trumpet of the rapture is the seventh trumpet of the Revelation.