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There is no explicit catching up of believers in Revelation. So, whether a person is pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, or pre-wrath; we can only infer when the rapture occurs by comparing other scriptures on the subject.

Revelation 7:9 & 14 refer to “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb... who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The pre-tribulational rapture position is generally that the 144,000 sealed Jews evangelize the world which results in a massive conversion of the lost which we see here as tribulation saints. However, there is nothing in the passage indicating the sealed Jews won these people to Christ. There were saints killed for the word of God and testimony of Christ BEFORE the 144,000 are sealed (6:9).

So where do they come from? This is a question actually posed to John by the angel, and seems to be somewhat of a riddle. How do what seems to be perhaps billions of believers get from the earth and tribulation to the throne of God? Did they all die from disease, war and famine? Were they all martyred?

Notice that martyrdom is characteristic of what happens during the fifth seal. Yet is says more will be martyred. Already more than a fourth of the world’s population has died during the fourth seal. But if war and disease and famine were the means of them entering God’s presence, why are they mentioned after the fifth and sixth seals? How are these distinct from those who died during the earlier seals? If they died, how did they die?

Some might speculate that these represent saints from ages past, but it is clear that this group specifically came out of THE Great Tribulation. They were alive on the earth during it. And now they have entered Heaven.

So there are two and only two possibilities: either these billions died and they are the souls of dead believers (but not the Church), or they are the Church raptured into Heaven out of the Great Tribulation. If there is any other alternative, I would like to know what it is.

If you take the position they all died, then it is necessary to explain the context. Did they die apart from all the judgments of seals 1 through 6? If so, why was the means of their death omitted? If they represent the cumulative deaths of believers since the rapture, why is their chronology placed here? Why does it come after the sealing of the 144,000?

So, in answer to your question, I am simply narrowing down the possibilities. Either they died during the Great Tribulation or they were raptured out of it. It does not explicitly say they were raptured. But, it also does not explicitly say they died (unlike the souls of those who were “slain” in 6:9).

What support can be provided to indicate they entered Heaven by death?

I will return to my earlier premise that Revelation 6 describes identical events Christ spoke of to His disciples in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Let’s review them.

1) Deception, False Christs, False Peace - Matthew 24:5; Mark 13:5,6; Luke 21:8; Revelation 6:2 (1st Seal)

2) War and rumors of war - Matthew 24:6,7; Mark 13:7,8; Luke 21:9,10; Revelation 6:3,4 (2nd Seal)

3) Famine - Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11; Revelation 6:5,6 (3rd Seal)

4) Disease, troubles and natural disasters - Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11; Revelation 6:7,8 (4th Seal)

NOTE: Numbers 1-4 are called the “beginning of sorrows”.

5) “Tribulation”, persecution and martyrdom of the saints - Matthew 24:9; Mark 13:9; Luke 21:12; Revelation 6:9-11 (5th Seal)

NOTE: Christ taught that “many will be offended” for His name’s sake in Matthew 24:10. This means many who identify as “Christian” and followers of Jesus will deny Christ because of the persecution, tribulation and betrayal by friends (so-called) and family. This incidentally corresponds to one of the two things that Paul taught must happen prior to the Day of the Lord (and thus the return of the Lord which is chronologically synonymous). That is the “falling away” or apostasy. See 2 Thessalonians 2. This time of tribulation of SAINTS escalates into the Great Tribulation when the abomination of desolation occurs. See Matthew 24:21; Mark 13:19; and Luke 21:22.

6) Signs in the heavens, specifically the darkening of the sun and moon (immediately AFTER the Great Tribulation) - Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24,25; Luke 21:25,26; Revelation 6:12-14 (6th Seal)

7) Return of the Lord / Day of the Lord - Matthew 24:30,31; Mark 13:26,27; Luke 21:27,28; Revelation 6:17 (subsequent to the 6th seal, prior to 7th seal)

Christ taught in Luke 21:28, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” These signs are a unique sequence of events within human history. They have never happened before and will never happen again. They indicate that the return of the Lord is at hand. So, Revelation 6 MUST represent the SAME sequence of events because Christ taught they are the way those alive at the time will know He is about to appear.

Remember that Christ taught the Olivet discourse in answer to His disciples’ questions of when these things would happen and what would be the signs of His return and end of the world. He told them they could not know the time. However, He did give them the signs that would proceed the end of the world and also His return. The signs corresponding to the opening of the seven seals in Heaven thus CANNOT be merely coincidentally the same. These are specific signs of the end of the world and of Christ’s return.

What happens when the world sees the Day of Wrath has arrived? They hide and flee in terror according to Revelation 6:15-18. They attribute their terror to Christ (the Lamb). What did Christ say people will do when He returns at the end of the Great Tribulation? Christ said “all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30)

I am not taking a man made paradigm and trying to force it into these passages. I am taking the actual passages and trying to interpret them by comparing other passages. I have never seen anyone demonstrate a pre-tribulational rapture exegetically. It is always done by postulating the position as true and then using proof texts in the same manner cults do with their false doctrines. I am not trying to be slanderous or call pre-tribbers heretics. I am just pointing out that how we arrive at our doctrinal position is very important.

Christ says that there will be signs in the heavens IMMEDIATELY after the Great Tribulation followed by the sign of His coming in which the elect would be gathered. If this does not happen after Revelation 6, when does it happen?

How can you fit all of the other trumpet and bowl judgments into this same period? While these may not be strictly chronological, it appears these for the most part represent a separate time period which could be described as the Day of Wrath (for the world) or the Day of Christ (for the believer) or the Day of the Lord in general.

When He comes with His saints at the end of this period, in Revelation 19, there is no catching up of believers, but the removal of the wicked before Christ’s kingdom is set up.

So I believe it is well-supported that those who enter Heaven in Revelation 7 are believers who come out of the Great Tribulation by way of rapture rather than death based on a comparative analysis of the Olivet Discourse and the six seals of Revelation 6.

If I am wrong about any of this I hope to be corrected by those who know more than I, and by continued prayerful study of the Bible. I do not claim to know all of the answers, but it does seem clear to me that it is extremely important for believers to understand that we will face extreme persecution before the return of the Lord. We look for His return, not as an escape from tribulation, but as an escape from the wrath God is about to pour out on an unbelieving world. We need to watch and be ready, but we also need to wait patiently if His return is delayed longer than we had anticipated.