The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1301-A, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 3."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1976. All Rights Reserved.

Question

Will there be an opportunity for salvation after the rapture?

Answer

2 Thessalonians 2:8 is the passage that raises this question, and we could spend a lot of time dealing with it but let me just give you the passage and then another passage or two and an answer.

2 Thessalonians 2:8, “And then shall that wicked one be revealed,” and this seems to be the picture of the tribulation time, clearly it's that, “and then shall that wicked one,” the beast the antichrist if you will, “be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” the antichrist kingdom will be destroyed when Christ returns, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie: That all might be judged who believed not the truth but, had pleasure in unrighteousness." And some people say that proves that if your alive in the tribulation, God will send you a delusion and make you believe a lie and not believe the truth.

Now some people say that once the rapture takes place nobody gets saved after that, and the reason is that we are given a strong delusion that we should believe the lie.

I have a problem with that, I think that is a general statement, I think that will be among the godless in the world, who are already committed to Satan, who are already sold out to the beast, who are already engulfed in his system, there will be a convincing in their minds that Satan is the right ruler. That the beast and the false prophet are the ones to be worshiped. I think God will let that delusion run its course, but at the same time I don’t think that passage is meant to say that their won't be anybody who believes. And the reason is, all you have to do is look at Revelation chapter 7.

Revelation chapter 7, verse 9, here we are in the midst of the tribulation--we know that because there is no question about that--chapter 6 we’ve already seen the first six seals unfolded which is the unfolding of the tribulation, there has been the antichrist, war, terrible famine in verses 5 and 6, death in 7 and 8; we see the martyrs in verses 9 to 11 crying under the altar; the collapse of heaven in verses 12 and following.

So we’re in the middle of the tribulation, sometime, or at the latter part of the tribulation really, the latter part. And it says in verse 9, “After this I beheld,” after what? After the 144,000 of Israel. You say, "Who are the 144,000 of Israel?" They are the witnesses; they are God’s witnesses in the tribulation. During the tribulation, chapter 7 says, there is going to be 144,000 Jews, 12,000 out of each tribe. People say, "Well how are they going to know, they don’t even know what tribe they are in?" Well, God knows that. God is going to organize it--12,000 from every tribe. They’re going to go out to preach, and the result is in verse 9, "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb.' And all the angels stood round about..."

Who is this multitude? Who are these people that have been saved of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues? Who are they? Well that’s the questions of verse 13: Who Are They? And from where did they come? And verse 14, "And I said to him, 'Sir, you know.' And he said to me, 'These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" See, those people are saved during the tribulation, they have to be. That’s clear.

So you got to have people saved in the tribulation. I believe that a man has his lifetime; if he lives 35 years; the rapture takes place; he has got seven more, before the return of Christ, at least, to make a decision--any period time in there he can make that commitment. There is also an indication in chapter 14 where we find that there are those who are redeemed. you don't need to turn to it, we don’t have time at this point.

Now, in addition to this tremendous group of Gentiles, who are the 144,000? Jews. You think that these are unconverted Jews, preaching the gospel? No, can't be, they’re converted. That’s Romans 11:26, "So all Israel shall be saved."

So, there is going to be a great revival. God is going to sprinkle clean water upon Israel, Ezekiel said. "Put a new heart in them, a heart of flesh; take away their stony heart." They are going to be reborn spiritually, they’re going to be the catalyst to reach the world. In addition to that, there are going to be two amazing witnesses in chapter 11, proclaiming the truth about the gospel, and the great story about them is that they are killed by the beast and his system; they let them lie in the street and so forth, and they rise from the dead.

So there is going to be preaching and that means that there's going to be people saved. So every man has his life time. You don’t need to say, "Well, if the Lord comes and you'rr still here--its hopeless! It isn’t hopeless--it's going to be terrible though: Zechariah says two out of three of Israel who are converted in the tribulation will be killed by the beast. They will be chased from one end of the world to the next. The beast is going to chase them right out of the area of Jerusalem, they are going to run to Edom to try to hide in the mountains and the beast and his army going after them, and Revelation says the ground is going to open up and swallow the beast up. It's going to be exciting. Many of them are going to starve, many of they are going to be slaughtered--if they don’t take the mark they will be killed. A tough time. The rest of us who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ will be at the marriage supper of the Lamb enjoying his blessed presence and feasting in heaven. That’s a far better place to be, far wiser to come to Christ before the rapture takes place.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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