No, 2025 Is not the Rapture

There is so much talk out there in the Christian sphere about the Rapture happening in September 2025, specifically on the Feast of Trumpets.

While I agree that the Feast of Trumpets is important for the Second Coming, I must disagree with the timeframe.

All this speculation stems from the idea that the gathering of the saints happens before a terrible time of supernatural disasters for seven years.

However, that is far from true.

There is no such thing as a seven-year tribulation.

It isn’t a thing.

This idea comes from one verse in Daniel 9:27, and nowhere else.

“And He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week He shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9:27 [ESV]).

There are two people being spoken of here. The Messiah is the one who confirms the covenant, seeing as He was the referred-to person earlier in the text.

The one who makes desolate could be a reference to Titus in 70 A.D. or, more unlikely, the future Antichrist King of the North from Daniel 11:21-45.

It’s not clear.

What is clear is this:

“‘For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 26:28 [ESV]).

Notice Jesus is quoting Daniel 9:27 when speaking of the making of the New Covenant. So, the one who is making the covenant is Jesus, not the Antichrist.

Speaking of making a covenant, a covenant can only be ratified by blood. Think of the many covenants God made with the patriarchs. Blood of an animal was always shed, or in the covenant of Abraham’s descendants from Genesis 17, blood of a male human being.

If we are to be logically consistent with how covenants are enforced, the Antichrist would have to shed blood for many. That is the antithesis of a man who will be so obsessed with war he conquers and conquers during the time before the Great Tribulation and during it. He will shed lots of blood, but not on behalf of others.

This silly idea of a seven-year period of trouble and supernatural disasters is ridiculous.

The supernatural events of Revelation happen after the Second Coming at the sixth seal, and while the first four seals are caused by supernatural beings, they play out in earthly fashion, minus the miracles of the Antichrist and False Prophet.

With the sixth seal, we find the Rapture happening. How do we know?

Because the sixth seal mirrors Jesus’s own words about the signs before His Second Coming in Matthew 24. He comes after the sun, moon, and stars darken, creating the stage for the grandest entrance in all history.

If you follow His words from Matthew 24, you’ll see they line up with the Seven Seals of Revelation.

After the Rapture, the seventh seal is opened as a mournful response to the horrible events about to be unleashed.

Then, and only then, supernatural events such as heavenly fire and demonic beings that torment mankind occur.

The trumpets and bowls are supernatural, known as God’s wrath during the Day of the LORD. The Day of the LORD begins with the sun, moon, and stars going dark, as many Old Testament prophets describe.

Otherwise, how could Jesus’s coming be as a thief in the night?

If supernatural events were happening apart from miracles on behalf of the Antichrist—the world would know something weird was up.

The Great Tribulation will involve the greatest persecution and death for Christians in all of history.

But mostly, it will be normal. Life will be as it is now, minus the greatest suffering of mankind in history, especially for those of faith and the Jewish people. There will be miracles occurring to deceive the Antichrist’s followers, but a global Antichrist doesn’t seem to be the case. The Bible uses exaggerative language to describe a person’s power, meaning the Antichrist will not have the entire world under his sway. In fact, he conquers many nations but has nations that fight him (Daniel 11).

The focus of Bible prophecy is always centered on the Middle East and the surrounding nations of Israel.

The wrath of God will be global, but even then, Jesus fights mainly the Islamic nations surrounding Israel as a personal warrior on their behalf.

That will indeed be supernatural.

But the idea of a time of horrible plagues on the scale of the trumpets and bowls being part of the Great Tribulation is simply untrue.

The Antichrist will be in power before the Great Tribulation (Daniel 11:21), and during it (Daniel 12:1), and loses power when the Messiah returns.

The people claiming a Rapture event this September are mistaken.

There are way too many events that need to happen before any of these events occur.

There must be a massive war and generations of fighting between the Kings of the North and South, NEOM, Saudi Arabia must become the great city of Babylon the Great (it won’t be completed until 2080), and the ten-king kingdom of Antichrist must exist before he ever takes it over. That could last for generations.

The Bible gives us the exact location of Mystery Babylon. In the ancient area of Edom within Saudi Arabia next to the Red Sea. Isaiah 21, Isaiah 34, Jeremiah 49, etc. exactly where NEOM is being built. Meaning if this giant megacity isn’t finished soon, then we can’t have the Rapture happening in September of this year. 2080 is a long way away.

The kingdom of the Antichrist originally rises as a confederacy of ten kings. He doesn’t appear on the scene until after this kingdom already exists as an eleventh king (Daniel 7).

I brought up these points because while Christians have well-intentioned discourses and warnings; we aren’t close to these events being fulfilled as written.

If we read our Bibles, we’ll know what to look for and can pick up on the events when they happen.

But what if these events don’t happen until 2400?

Will you remain firm and serve the LORD with all your heart even if He’s not coming in your generation?

I’m not saying it’s impossible for Him to return sooner than later, but let’s realize these events are written in such a way that there are many precursors that haven’t happened and don’t look like they will happen in the next ten years at the least.

Don’t get caught up in the Rapture hype being before the Great Tribulation. It’s a sick thought that Christians have—that they get a free pass while the rest of the world suffers.

On the contrary, we are promised tribulation in this life, so we don’t get a free pass.

Whether that is everyday troubles or the Great Tribulation, we aren’t exempt from it.

Please read your Bible and learn the prophecies, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Don’t fixate overly on the End Times, but understand we can’t possibly be there just yet.

May you be blessed, wise, and understanding of the misinterpretations out there.

Shalom.