Meaning of POST-TRIBULATIONISM

In this view, the Church goes through the tribulation. Its defenders proclaim that it is the historical faith of the Christian Church.

It is further stated that the very fact that the Church was promised tribulation supports this position.

On the other hand, they identify the resurrection of the righteous of Israel, evidently at the end of the Great Tribulation, and surely coinciding with that of the saints who died during it (cf. Dan. 12:1-3, 13; Rev. 20:4 ) with the rapture of the Church (1 Thes. 4:13-18).

It is evident that this position destroys the doctrine of the imminence of the coming of Christ in relation to believers and which appears in passages such as Jn. 14:2-3; 1 Cor. 1:7; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thes. 1:9-10; 4:16-17; 5:5-9; Tit. 2:13; Stg. 5:8-9; Rev. 3:10; 22:17-22).

Furthermore, despite the claim of "historicity" of the post-tribulationists, in the early church the imminence of the Lord's return to collect the church from him was maintained. Among those who support it are Clement of Rome, Cyprian, and Didache herself.