We will begin by examining biblical passages that explicitly teach that the rapture happens after the great tribulation. It is important we understand this so we know how to prepare to live victoriously in these last days, rather than hoping to escape what we have been forewarned to adequately prepare for. As Scripture teaches, people perish for lack of knowledge. Knowing the provision God has made for us to live victoriously and unharmed in the days ahead will save us from perishing needlessly.
Resurrection of the Righteous Precedes the Rapture
To begin, let’s look at what Paul wrote in First Thessalonians 4:15–17. There we read, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17). A very important truth from this passage is that the rapture is inseparably connected to the resurrection of the dead in Christ. Without the resurrection of the righteous, there is no rapture. It is when the dead in Christ are resurrected that faithful believers who are still alive are caught up together with them to meet Jesus in the air. Understanding this simple truth is key to knowing when the rapture happens in relation to the great tribulation.
The Great Tribulation Precedes the Resurrection of the Righteous
In Revelation 20:4–6, the Bible also says, “Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and 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 completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” This passage reveals that there will be a resurrection that brings faithful believers to life to reign with Jesus for a thousand years. Scripture calls this the first resurrection. The fact that it is called the first resurrection means that there is no before it, which brings the righteous to life to reign with Christ for a thousand years. The Bible goes on to say that the rest of the dead will not come to life until the thousand years are completed. This makes clear that the first resurrection is the only resurrection in this present church age that will bring the righteous to life to reign with Jesus for a thousand years. The next and only comparable resurrection will not occur until after the Millennium. By this, the Bible affirms that the first resurrection is the same resurrection Paul described in 1 Thessalonians 4. It is the resurrection that brings the dead in Christ to life, after which the resurrected saints and the faithful believers who are still alive are caught up (raptured) to meet Jesus in the air and reign with Him for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4–6 also says that the first resurrection will bring to life those who were beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, as well as those who were beheaded for refusing to worship the antichrist and for refusing to take the mark of the beast. According to Revelation 13 and 14, worshiping the Antichrist and receiving the mark of the beast are demands that occur only during the great tribulation. Therefore, without the great tribulation happening first, there cannot be faithful believers who died during it for refusing the mark of the beast, who must then be raised in the first resurrection, which precedes the rapture. This means the great tribulation is a prerequisite for the first resurrection and the rapture to take place. Put simply, if the great tribulation does not come first, there can be no first resurrection and no rapture, because the first resurrection must include those who die during the great tribulation for refusing the mark of the beast.
By this, the Bible establishes that the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rapture will take place after the great tribulation. In subsequent posts, we will look at additional biblical passages that explicitly teach that the rapture of the church occurs only after the great tribulation.
The First Resurrection Is Not In Stages
The phrase “first resurrection” appears only in Revelation 20:4–6, where it is defined as the resurrection that brings the dead to life to reign with Christ for a thousand years. This definition is not incidental. It is the identifying characteristic that distinguishes the first resurrection from every other resurrection recorded in Scripture. This biblical definition of the first resurrection immediately eliminates Jesus’ resurrection, and those who rose with Him in Matthew 27:52–53, from qualifying as the first resurrection or its first stage. Jesus did not rise in the first century to reign over the earth for a thousand years. Neither did He raise others with glorified bodies to reign with Him for a thousand years on this earth. By the very definition Scripture assigns to the first resurrection, neither Jesus’ resurrection, nor any resurrection in the first century meet the criteria, not even partially.
It is also worth noting that the Bible does not call it the “first resurrections” (plural) but the first resurrection (singular). As mentioned earlier, calling it the first resurrection means no such resurrection precedes it. Revelation 20:5 explicitly states that the rest of the dead do not come to life until the thousand years are completed. This leaves no room for batches or installments of the first resurrection. “The rest of the dead” means all of them (not some of them) remain dead until after the Millennium. This creates an unavoidable implication. If the first resurrection began in the first century with Jesus as some claim, then no other resurrection could occur until after the Millennium. To insist that subsequent resurrections can still occur as part of the first resurrection is to directly contradict Scripture. Furthermore, if the first resurrection has already taken place, as some assert, then it follows that Christ’s return has already happened, the rapture has already occurred, and there is no rapture left to look forward to. The error of the “stages of the first resurrection doctrine” will be addressed in detail in a later post.
Kwadwo Omari, PhD
(c) March 5, 2026