I've gone to great trouble to do the leg work for all Believers. I've scoured the ENTIRE Bible, both old and new testaments, letting scripture interpret scripture, using these scriptures in proper context, rightly dividing them according to the descriptions Jesus gave of both the rapture and the second coming. A Pre-Tribulation rapture is the blessed hope we are called to be excited about! There is NO reason for division among the followers of Jesus. He calls us to love each other, comfort each other and build up one another as we reach the lost for the kingdom. 1 Thess. 4:18 and 5:11. There's no reason this study can't be, or shouldn't be, used when speaking to others about Jesus so that they, too, might be spared the horrors 'to come. WE are running out of time, people!! We can use this study as a witnessing tool to reach others, saving them for the kingdom! If we are disobedient with regards to this blessed hope, how does that disobedience differ from any other disobedience to scripture? We can’t be slack about this because we consider it non-essential to salvation! It could very well mean salvation to someone else! 1 Thessalonians 1:10 defined those who are delivered from the 'wrath to come' as those who serve the true and living God! Serving God is the very reason Enoch was changed without death. Let's be about serving the true and living God, so we can be drawn unto Christ and rescued from the punishment which will befall those who serve idols!
What follows is the listing of scriptures which warn against ignoring what Jesus taught. Not all, but most of the warnings are given by Jesus Himself.
1 Peter 1:7-9 tells us the rapture is a salvation event. We learn that we obtain the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls at the appearance of Jesus. Jesus appears at the rapture which means those who leave with Him obtain the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls when they leave with Him. Those rejected by Him will continue to work out their salvation on earth during the tribulation. Phil. 2:12. Sadly, many of those rejected by Him at the rapture will be overcome by rage and feelings of betrayal, comprising the falling away spoken of by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:3.
John 12:48 and 2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 5:10, Hebrews 3:12, Colossians 2:8 are general warnings which tell us what happens to those who disregard what Jesus teaches. His teachings include what He taught about the rapture.
1 Peter 4:17-18 tells us God’s Judgment begins with the church, some leave with Jesus and the rest don’t. This agrees with what Jesus taught in Matt. 24:48-51; that the wicked servants will be separated from the faithful, appointed with the hypocrites where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. More to come on the weeping and gnashing passages.
Matthew 7:21-23: In this passage Jesus has a brief conversation with Believers. We know these people are part of God’s house because they are doing mighty works, which means they have God’s Spirit within them, AND they give Jesus the credit for their works, which is something an unredeemed person would never do. Jesus tells us a house divided against itself will never stand, Matt. 12:22-28, which means Satan is not doing great works while giving Jesus credit for them. Jesus is absolutely speaking to redeemed people in this passage.
We learn in this short passage that these people cried out to Jesus for salvation based upon their works because they bragged about how great those works were. Still, Jesus rejects them stating, “You did not do the will of My Father. I do not know you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.”
If they were doing mighty works in Jesus’ name while giving Him credit for them, how did they fail to do the will of the Father? In 1 John 5:10, we learn the will of the Father is to believe in the Son of God and anyone who doesn’t calls God a liar. This is important, people! So, anyone who does not believe the doctrines taught by Jesus cannot believe in Him. This includes His rapture doctrine. Because their faith was placed in their works, instead of Jesus’ promise to do as He stated in scripture, He did not know them as those who trusted Him for salvation. Because of this, He told them to depart from Himself and called them workers of iniquity. Jesus called them workers of iniquity because they lied to themselves about trusting Him for salvation. Anyone who lies to themselves about what Jesus taught regarding the rapture is probably lying to many others about it, calling His rapture doctrine false, or the doctrine of devils. Yet these people are deceived enough to think Jesus will allow them to leave with Him when He comes to collect those who DO trust Him for salvation. Satan’s deceptions are alive and well.
Liars are workers of iniquity and they do NOT inherit the kingdom of God. John 8:44, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Rev. 21:8, 27, 22:15. For this reason, liars will be cast away from Jesus (Depart from Me). He will return them to earth, the outer darkness spoken of in other scriptures also explained on this page, where they will weep and gnash their teeth in pain and rage.
Matthew 10:32-33: “Then everyone who shall confess (to assent, 3670, an expression of approval or agreement) Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in Heaven. But whoever may deny (to contradict 720) Me before men, I also will deny him before My Father in Heaven.”
So, if you are agree/approve Jesus’ rapture teaching before other people, He will approve of you before God. BUT, if you contradict what Jesus taught about the rapture then He will not approve you before God. How likely is it that you will be permitted to leave with Jesus at the rapture when He has disapproved of you to His Father? Think about that.
People take the rapture for granted. They become convinced the rapture is not a salvation issue, but the warnings given on this page, many of them made by Jesus personally, make it overtly clear to anyone who is sincerely listening to God’s Spirit, that the rapture is an enormously important event. Ignoring it can ONLY work against you.
The Weeping and Gnashing Passages:
There are a total of 7 ‘weeping and gnashing’ passages in the Bible. Two of them are in the context of the furnace of fire and obviously speak of hell. The other five are in the context of ‘outer darkness.’ These do not speak to hell because their description is different; no fire is mentioned. Additionally, any end time judgment, Sheep/Goat or Great White Throne, give only two destinations; life or eternal punishment/damnation/fire. These judgments never list ‘outer darkness’ as a alternate destination. This means ‘outer darkness’ is somewhere other than the Millennial Kingdom (life) or hell. The following passages will demonstrate ‘outer darkness’ is the earth after Jesus raptures those who are ‘in Christ.’ This means ‘outer darkness’ is connected to the rapture and not one of the end time judgments.
Matthew 8:11-13, 22:10-14, 24:48-51, 25:30 and Luke 13:24-30 are the five ‘weeping and gnashing’ passages in the context of outer darkness. I do want to mention that Matthew 24:51 and 25:30 are both included in the Olivet Discourse, the passage where Jesus speaks of the rapture. Understanding this is what led me to find all of the 'weeping' passages and to differentiate those which refer to hell from those which refer to the rapture of the church. I discuss them here sequentially as they are found in scripture.
Matthew 8:11-13 is found in a larger passage which begins in verse 5 and tells the story of the Roman centurion who had enormous faith. Beginning in verse 10, Jesus makes a distinction between those who believe what He says and those who don't. In verse 11, He tells us that 'many will come from the east and the west and will recline with Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; v.12. but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness (ejected into exterior obscurity 1544/1857/4655), there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
BOTH groups of people, those who come from all parts of the earth, reclining with Abraham AND those who are cast into outer darkness, are ALL children of the Kingdom. Both groups belong to Jesus. So, why is one group gathered from the earth (raptured, reclining with Abraham) and the other group ejected into outer obscurity?
In this passage, Jesus was talking about faith, the ability to trust Him. Those who are gathered/raptured from the earth are those who believe His promise to deliver/protect them from God's wrath as 1 Thessalonians 5:9/1 Thessalonians 1:10/John 3:36 states. Those sons of the kingdom who failed to believe Jesus' promise are the ones who are ejected into outer obscurity. In other words, they are separated from the larger group and will experience wailing and the grating of teeth in pain and rage. Won't those who miss the rapture be crying out in disbelief, gritting their teeth in rage at the pain of being left behind?
Matthew 22:10-14 is part of a story which begins in verse 1. It states the kingdom of heaven is like a king who has prepared a wedding feast, but no one is interested in feasting with him, so the king destroyed them all (Personally, I think this represents those destroyed in Noah's flood, but this is my opinion only). Then, in verse 9, the king sends His slaves out to invite 'as many as they can find.' (I believe this references the evangelistic efforts of the church). The slaves invited both good and evil people until the wedding feast (church) was filled with reclining guests. Upon inspection, however, the king comes upon a guest who did not come to the wedding feast in the proper clothing, which is a metaphor for faith in Jesus. Because this guest had no faith, this guest was unprepared to participate in the feast. The king orders the man bound and thrown into 'outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
In this story Jesus makes the same distinction which He made in the parable of the centurion. There are those who are prepared and those who aren't. Since there is no mention of any fiery furnace, only the presence of the outer darkness with weeping and gnashing, this parable also refers to the rapture of the church. Those who do not make the rapture are those who are not dressed in wedding garments of faith in Christ. They are the unprepared servants of Matt. 24:48-51 and will be those wailing and gritting their teeth in pain and rage.
Matthew 24:48-51 is a passage contained within a larger passage which tells two separate parables. The passage begins in Matthew 24:42. One parable speaks to being prepared for a thief, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, the other is about faithful and wise servants versus wicked servants. Notice that both the faithful AND the wicked are servants, as in both groups belong to the Master. However, the wicked servants, the ones who tell themselves that the Master delays His coming are NOT prepared for the Master's return. It is the wicked servant who will be 'cut in two and have his portion appointed with the hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The words 'cut in two' are one word in the Greek language and are defined as 'severely flog/bisect' (1371). In this scripture the wicked servant will be bisected from the faithful servants, separated from the body of Christ. What event will separate the church, blessing some servants withOUT placing the wicked servants in the fires of hell?
The word 'hypocrite' is defined by the Greek language as 'an actor under an assumed character (stage player), dissembler (a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives (5273). God sees the wicked servants, those who did NOT watch for His coming, as actors playing a part. The way I understand the entirety of rapture scriptures is NOT that these wicked servants lose their salvation. It is that they are given a final chance to get right with God during the tribulation, a period during which many will 'fall away' (defect from truth/forsake [God] 646; 2 Thess. 2:3) and the 'love of many will grow cold' Matthew 23:12.
I do want to mention these 9 verses contain 4 warnings about being ready for the coming of Christ to collect the church. As explained in the other article on this site, What the Entire Bible Says About the Rapture, a mid and post tribulation are not worthy of consideration because the days of those events can be calculated, contradicting scripture that NO man knows the DAY or hour of the Lord's coming. The warnings for watchfulness for this unknown day and hour are Matt. 24:36, 42, 44, 50 and Luke 12:40.
If you are one of the servants who is telling everyone that there is no rapture or that the rapture will happen mid or post tribulation, you might want to look at your position in light of these passages which speak to not being prepared. Just saying.
I include Matthew 25:1-13 here, even though it does NOT say anything about weeping and gnashing. It does, however, tell the parable of the ten virgins which is an entire story about being prepared for the coming of Christ to rapture the church. Please remember, these parables are all in the context of the rapture, NOT the second coming. The second coming is preceded by many SPECIFIC events by which one can gauge the passage of time and does not qualify as an event of which no one knows the day or hour. In fact, we know the second coming will occur on day 2,520 of the tribulation at the hour the covenant between the man of sin and the many is confirmed. Rev. 11:3, 13:5, Dan. 9:27 and John 5:25 and 28.
Matthew 25:30: is included in Jesus’ teaching on the rapture which began in Matthew 24:36 and ends here at 25:30. It is Jesus’ single largest rapture teaching and it speaks to being ready for the rapture of the church. The parable of the talents begins in verse 25:14 and ends in verse 30 with "the worthless slave being thrown into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The worthless slave of course, is the one who was not prepared for the Master's return. This just isn't that hard.
Luke 13:22-30: The usage of the phrase 'weeping and gnashing' in Luke is a little different from those found in Matthew because it calls those 'thrust outside' the 'workers of unrighteousness' (toiler of moral wrongfulness 2040/93) instead of servants. Even so, the passage still identifies the unrighteous as part of the church because of what Jesus says in verse 30: "there are last ones who will be first, and there are first ones who will be last." This statement references church hierarchy. Also, this passage describes in verse 29, that those who are gathered from the east to the west are those who will 'weep and gnash their teeth when they SEE Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, along with all the prophets, reclining in the kingdom of God. The 'weeping and gnashing' will take place when the unrighteous are thrust outside where they can see into heaven. This 'outside' is where the 'weeping and gnashing of teeth' will be. The 'unrighteous' would have had no hope of ever being on the 'inside' if they were not people who considered themselves 'believers.' I'll make a side note here to say that 1 Peter 4:17-19 makes a similar distinction when it separates the 'holy' from the 'ungodly' AND 'sinners.' This passage is discussed in greater detail on the page titled What the Entire Bible Says About the Rapture.
So, there remains only one detail which fails to match the other 'non fiery furnace' usages of 'weeping and gnashing.' It is that directly within this passage there is nothing said about being prepared and watchful for the return of the Master. The only thing which references a timing constraint is found in verse 25 where the Master shuts the door to those on the outside where they begin to knock to gain entrance. So, this passage does not mention preparedness and watchfulness for the appearance of the Master from outside the house, but from within the house. This agrees completely with 1 Peter 4:17-19. Jesus says the Master sends the unrighteous away because, even though they were convinced they knew Him, He didn't know them. Sounds a great deal like the hypocrites discussed in Matthew 24:51, those play acting a part, and those unknown by Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23. Here again, what other event separates the church from itself, giving blessing to some and throwing others into the darkness where they will wail and gnash their teeth in pain and rage? The rapture is the only scriptural answer to this question.
Some content taken from The Interlinear Bible by Jay P. Green, Sr. Copyright © 1985. Used by permission of Hendrickson Rose Publishing Group, represented by Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2021 on Commentary by Angie Williams. All rights reserved.
All definitions taken from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D. © 1990 by Thomas Nelson Publishers