The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Revelation Panel: Salvation After the Rapture – Part 1

Tribulation Salvation and Babylon

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Over the next few weeks we will continue to share with you the opinions of 13 Bible prophecy experts concerning various questions related to the book of Revelation. Some of the members of our panel of Bible prophecy experts will now address:

#6. What about those who hear the Gospel before the Rapture and reject it, can they be saved during the Tribulation?

A quick summary of how our experts responded to this question shows answers are varied, in that seven answered “Yes” and four “No.” Two were not sure. Off interview, Dr. David Reagan expressed his own personal answer as “No” because he believes that 2 Thessalonians 2 teaches that such a person will continue to reject the Gospel even during the Tribulation.

Daymond Duck, Prophecy Plus Ministries
This is a tough teaching, but I do believe that those who hear the Gospel before the Rapture and reject it won’t be saved after the Rapture of the Church. Now, I know that many men, women and children will perish if that is true, but I go back and cite the example of the Ark. When God shut the door to Noah’s Ark many men, women and children perished in that instant.

Second Thessalonians 2:10 reveals why people will perish in the future. It says, “The Antichrist will come with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish…” Why? “Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.” Verse 11 reveals what kind of judgment will fall on those who didn’t get saved. It says, “God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.” Verse 12 reveals how many will perish. It says, “that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

There are people who want to water this down. They want to say all won’t perish, just some will perish and some will be saved. Part will perish and part will be saved some say. But, my answer to that God said “all.” If God didn’t mean all, God would have said “some” or “part,” but He said “all.” A-L-L. I don’t believe that God is mentally challenged. I believe God says what He wants to say and He means what He says. He will do what He says.

The strong delusion reminds me of the blinding of the Jews, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, and God giving gays up to a reprobate mind. Remember Jesus talking about the Laodicean Church which I think is the church at the end of the age? He says the lukewarm will be spewed out. He didn’t say “some of them.” He said the lukewarm will be spewed out. And so, I believe all of them will be spewed out. He told us that there is a straight gate and a narrow way, and I believe that and I believe people need to believe exactly what the Bible says, too.

Al Gist, Maranatha Evangelistic Ministries
I know there is a lot of debate about this topic. I’ve heard this question asked a lot of times. In response, I take the time to go back again and read 2 Thessalonians 2 to arrive at a really firm conclusion. My conclusion is that, yes, people who have heard the Gospel prior to the Rapture and rejected the offer of salvation will still be able to be saved after the Rapture of the Church. Now, I know that some people would try to say that is Second Change Theology. Second Change Theology is not that at all. Second Change Theology is trying to say that people can be saved after they die. I don’t believe that, but I am glad that God gave me more than one chance in this life. He gave me many chances to be saved until I finally accepted what He was offering me. So, yes, I do believe that people will have that opportunity even though they may have rejected the Gospel before the Rapture.

After the Rapture God will send a strong delusion. Like I said, I am familiar with that passage in 2 Thessalonians, but a careful study of that for me personally says that everything that is being talked about there has to do with the Antichrist and the things that are going on during the Tribulation. And so, those people who will reject the truth I believe is a reference to people who are living in the Tribulation.

The long answer would take some time to go through it, but in short, yes, I do believe that people will have that opportunity. In fact, I believe immediately after the Rapture people who have heard the Gospel and rejected it will immediately fall on their face before God and cry out for the mercies of God. Our God whose mercies are infinite will hear their cry and they will be saved.

August Rosado, Today in Bible Prophecy Ministries
That’s a real popular question. I get this question a lot during at prophecy conferences that I preach at around the country.

How I interpret 2 Thessalonians 2 is that during the Church Age that we are in right now, because the Rapture hasn’t taken place yet, if someone hears and understands the Gospel and they willfully and outright rejected it, they would probably not have the opportunity during the Tribulation period to get saved. The Bible says that God will send a strong delusion that they would believe the lie of the Antichrist when He comes on the scene, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness.

However, on the flip side of the coin, I believe those during the Church Age who have not heard the Gospel and have not understood it would probably have that opportunity during the Tribulation period to get saved. They’ll simply accept based on the preaching of the 144,000, the Two Witnesses, and the angel preaching the everlasting Gospel.

In the next part of this series on reading and understanding Revelation, some of the remaining members of our panel of Bible prophecy experts will continue to answer the sixth question, “What about those who hear the Gospel before the Rapture and reject it, can they be saved during the Tribulation?”

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

11 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • I'm tossing this out for discussion in hopes of trying to reach a conclusion on this topic.

    "Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

    So, here was Saul actively persecuting Christians and therefore persecuting the Lord (“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”)

    Therefore, if Saul could be a persecuter of Christians, and one could argue he also rejected the Lord, yet he was able to be saved, then why would people who reject the truth now not come to their senses in the Tribulation and be saved.

    Saul went through a personal tribulation which opened his blind eyes (figuatively and literally) to the salvation of Jesus and became Paul.

    Can not a non-believer of today be "tribulatized" out of their blindess as well?

  • One small revision to a sentence:

    …why would people who reject the truth now not HAVE THE POSSIBILITY to come to their senses in the Tribulation and be saved?

  • If none are saved what does the scripture in Revelation 11:14 " And I said unnto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." mean? That seems as plain as the nose on my face that people are saved. And it doesnot say only those who never heard him ever before in their whole life. It says" out of great tribulation". That to me means anyone and everyone. The "all" in other scripture is denial to the very end even through the great tribulation.

  • What about free moral agency, and whosoever will. It makes me cringe that we put grace in a box. Those that say that if someone hears the gospel and rejects it before the rapture can't get saved after the rapture is taking scripture way out of context. What does 2 Thess.2:10-12 really teach. This passage is not talking about people who reject the truth before the Rapture. It is referring to people who reject the truth during the Tribulation. These are people who willfully follow the Antichrist. Look at the context of 2 Thess.2:3-9. These are people who reject the truth and believe the lie that the Antichrist is to be honored as God and be worshiped. These are those who deliberately choose to take the mark of the beast and worship this evel man. According to Revelation 14:9-11, those who take the mark cannot be saved. Their destiny is Hell. Thus, during the Tribulation, those who willfully identify with the Antichrist are damned(2 Thess. 2:12). During this time the issue will be very clear: worship God(Rev. 14:6-7) or worship the Antichrist(Rev. 14:9-11). One's choice will determine one's destiny.

  • How in the world could this be compared to Noah's ark. Doesn't Mr Duck know that all the men, woman, and children died. If we are to look at that analogy, then nobody will get saved after the Rapture.

  • I always wonder, IF, when Christians are gone.. Won't some of the unsaved, realize where they went and come to worship God.. I know I have said it many times to people who aren't saved.. that I intend to be raised up and go to heaven in the Rapture..So if they have heard about it, why not realize exactly where they went. I am sure the unsaved will try to make other excuses, but how can anyone who has been around a saved person not realize what has happened.

  • Certainly, we all know people (even within our own families) who are not yet saved because they still have doubts and questions they are wrestling with. Most believers became so as a result of a process over time. I did not accept Christ the first time I heard the Gospel, but I did not outrightly reject it either. Is it possible that we need to make a distinction between those who reject the truth wholeheartedly (whether it be before or after the Rapture) vs. those that have doubts or questions that might be answered dramatically by a Rapture that leaves them behind with the knowledge that might in fact be a source of witness to the tribulation saints to come?

  • I tell people about the Raputre if they are non-believers so when it happens they will hopefuly remember what I said and consider coming to Jesus.

    At least one Jewish lady I know told me that if all the Christians suddenly disappear off the Earth then yes, she would believe in Jesus now that she knows about the Rapture. Whether or not that will come to pass, I don't know, but I pray it will.

  • Children under the age of accountability would be raptured. Only adults who have heard the word and denied Christ prior to rapture have no hope. There are millions who have never been witnessed to….those can be saved and this is who the 144,000 are witnessing to. The saved then inherit heaven but first must repopulate earth during the millennial reign.

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