And to wait for His Son from Heaven, Whom He raised up from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians 1:10
I have some Christian friends, and you probably do to, who are convinced that we as Christians will not experience the Rapture, and will go through the tribulation, if we are still alive when the tribulation begins. They believe that we are misinterpreting or misapplying those portions of the Scripture that describe the Rapture. For them, the next big event on God’s calendar is the unleashing on this world the great judgments and wraths and persecutions described in the book of the Revelation. That’s scary, because, for them, this great and terrible time is rapidly drawing near as they see the world descending into deeper depravity and departure from God. For them, there is the perpetual preparation to resist the despotism of the antichrist and his controls over every aspect of society. For them, there is the increasing likelihood that they will be martyrs, that torture and death for the Name of Christ are almost certain. Some of them even point to today’s text as ‘proof’ that they are right. But they are wrong.
The post-tribulation adherents point to today’s verse and tell us that ‘the wrath to come’ refers to the wrath of God against sinners who are consigned eternally to the lake of fire. They are right in declaring that we – by virtue of our salvation – are delivered from that wrath. That is the mercy of God for which we will forever praise Him, thankful that His Son bore our wrath on the cross. But they are wrong in concluding that the wrath spoken of in our text is eternal damnation. Let us consider what that last phrase in the verse looks like if we translate it word-for-word from the original Greek: ‘Who delivers us from the wrath the coming’. The wording is a bit awkward when translated into English, and that is why the translators rendered it as they did. But note that the definite article ‘the’ appears not only before ‘wrath’ but also before ‘coming’. The expression ‘the coming’ refers to a specific event. And the rest of the book of 1 Thessalonians backs up this fact. Where the post-trib crowd expects to meet the Lord Jesus when He arrives on the earth to defeat his enemies and set up His kingdom, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 declares that we will be caught up together in the clouds to meet Him in the air. And chapter 5, verse 9 assures us that God has not appointed us to wrath.
And so, we wait for His Son from Heaven. We wait, in the full expectation of the trumpet sounding that will mark our call to be caught away to meet our Lord in the air. We wait, knowing that although we may be called upon to bear tribulations and persecution, and even martyrdom, we are spared the horrors of the great tribulation. We wait, under our Lord’s command that we do so while watching for His return and working for His kingdom. We wait in hope. – Jim MacIntosh