Will the Rapture Happen on the Feast of Trumpets? What Scripture Says About the Timing
Updated: Oct 3
The short answer: No. Pastor Chris and Josh teach that the rapture will not come before the tribulation, and it did not come at the Feast of Trumpets or Sukkot in 2025. Paul says the gathering cannot happen until the falling away comes and the man of sin is revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:1–3). Yeshua places the gathering of His elect “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29–31), and Paul places it “at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52). The harpazo, the catching up, is real; the question is its timing. Believers are shielded from God’s wrath, but they are called to endure the tribulation, not escape it.
A bold claim, and hard questions
In 2025 many people were watching the fall feasts with high expectations, convinced Yeshua would return at the Feast of Trumpets or at Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) and take believers away before anything bad happened. Pastor Chris opens this episode with a warning that he knows will shake what many have been taught: the pre-tribulation rapture is not in the Bible, it is a deception, and it is blinding millions.
Josh takes the role of the skeptic for the whole episode, bringing the hardest questions people ask. Pastor Chris answers each one from Scripture.
“Couldn’t Jesus come at any moment?”
The first objection is the most common: Yeshua could come at any moment and take us out before trouble starts. Pastor Chris answers with Paul’s own words to a church that was confused about this very thing:
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–3)
Paul ties the gathering of the saints to two events: the apostasy and the revealing of the Antichrist. Pastor Chris teaches that the man of sin is revealed when he sits in the third temple proclaiming himself God. If the Lord will not come back until that happens, the entire “any day now” doctrine breaks down. The Word gives sequence, not speculation.
“Isn’t the falling away the rapture itself?”
Some preachers argue that the “falling away” (apostasia) means a physical departure of the church. Pastor Chris calls that a corruption of the Greek. Apostasia means revolt, rebellion, a great defection from the faith; it is never used for the gathering of the saints. Paul names the gathering separately in verse 1 with a different word, episynagoge, the full assembling together of the faithful. The Bible is not vague, he says; men made it vague.
“But doesn’t 1 Thessalonians 4 describe the rapture?”
Josh pushes further: even if the early church never used the word rapture, Paul does describe a catching up. Pastor Chris agrees. Paul describes the harpazo, the seizing or catching up of believers to meet the Lord in the air. What Paul never says is that it happens before the tribulation. No one is denying the catching up; it is all about the timing, and the timing must come from Scripture rather than later theology.
Pastor Chris points to history here. The secret pre-tribulation rapture was popularized in the 1830s through John Nelson Darby, and he teaches that before Darby no church father, council or apostle taught it. Josh sums it up: what is preached from many pulpits is less than two hundred years old.
Why does that matter? Because, as Pastor Chris warns, when the real tribulation comes and believers are still here, many will think God failed them. If we ignore Paul’s warning, we may watch whole congregations fall away in despair.
What Yeshua said in red letters
Pastor Chris asks listeners to hear what Scripture says, not what he says:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then 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. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29–31)
“Immediately after.” Josh notes that this verse alone answers the idea of an early rapture. So why do so many insist the gathering comes before the tribulation? Pastor Chris says it is because they confuse two different things.
Tribulation is not wrath
Pastor Chris draws a clear line:
Tribulation is persecution: Satan’s fury against God’s people.
Wrath is judgment: God’s fury poured out on the wicked.
Believers are protected from the wrath of God, but they are called to endurance through the tribulation. He explains the timeline he teaches: the tribulation is seven years, and the great tribulation is the last three and a half years, when Satan makes war on the saints. The wrath of God comes right after those three and a half years, and that, he teaches, is when believers are caught up, the harpazo. As Josh puts it, the church will not face God’s wrath, but it will face the dragon’s.
“It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” (Revelation 13:7)
Who are the saints, Pastor Chris asks? We are. If the church were already gone, who would the beast be at war with? And Revelation 20 shows the first resurrection includes those who lived through that time and refused the mark:
“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4)
Why would God warn us not to take the mark if we were going to be gone before it appears? Pastor Chris calls that illogical spiritually, physically and mentally.
“Why would God let His bride suffer?”
This is the push-back Josh hears most: God loves His bride too much to let her go through tribulation. Pastor Chris calls it a “big boy talk.” His answer: the greatest love is purification. In Revelation 7, one of the elders tells John who the great multitude is:
“And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:14)
Suffering refines them; it does not destroy them. False teachers promise comfort, but true love prepares you for fire. And when people are told the rapture could come at Sukkot 2025, they are set up for devastation: when the trumpet doesn’t sound and persecution comes, they will think God failed them. False hope creates real apostasy.
The abomination of desolation: the marker
Scripture does not just give general warnings; it gives a specific marker. Pastor Chris teaches that until the abomination of desolation takes place, the gathering cannot happen. God will not change His word because multitudes believe something else. Yeshua said:
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” (Matthew 24:15–16)
As Josh points out, Yeshua says “when you see,” because His people will be there. Pastor Chris explains Daniel’s prophecy as he teaches it: the Antichrist enters a covenant for one “week” of seven years. When the third temple is built, sacrifices will resume for three and a half years; then in the middle of the week the Antichrist will stop them, enter the holy place and declare himself God. That desecration at the midpoint opens the great tribulation, and the gathering of the saints comes after it. Anyone claiming a 2025 rapture is ignoring the fact that the Antichrist has not been revealed and the abomination has not happened. Paul, Daniel and Yeshua all agree: three witnesses.
“What about the trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15?”
Josh’s last challenge: if the rapture is at a trumpet, couldn’t it be any Feast of Trumpets? Pastor Chris reads the verse:
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52)
The last trumpet is not a random feast day. The Greek eschatos means final, ultimate. It is the final trumpet announcing the King’s return after the tribulation; there is no trumpet after it.
Why this teaching matters so much
Pastor Chris calls the pre-tribulation promise not just mistaken but deadly, because people are not being prepared. They may lose their faith in the middle of the tribulation when the promised escape doesn’t come. He appeals to popular preachers who teach it, whom he respects and calls anointed, to pray about it in the secret place, because the Spirit is one and cannot reveal contradictory things. This is not about division; it is about lining up with the Word.
“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15)
If the church were gone, why warn it to stay awake? Pastor Chris is candid: if the pre-tribulation rapture were true, he would rather believe it. No one wants to go through seven years of tribulation. But the Word says it will shape us to meet Yeshua dressed in white, and it also says the Lord will protect His faithful supernaturally:
“A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7)
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
So what should someone do who built their faith on escaping early? Do what Yeshua commanded: watch and pray, anchor yourself in truth, repent of false hopes, and prepare to be faithful to the end. “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). This is the hour to keep your garments white, your lamps filled and your hearts steady. It is not a message of fear but of preparation, holiness and hope.
Frequently asked questions
Will the rapture happen before the tribulation?
Pastor Chris teaches no. Yeshua places the gathering of His elect “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29–31).
What must happen before the gathering of the saints?
The falling away and the revealing of the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:1–3), and the abomination of desolation in the holy place (Matthew 24:15).
Does “the falling away” mean the rapture?
No. Apostasia means rebellion or defection from the faith. Paul uses a different word, episynagoge, for “our gathering together to Him” (2 Thessalonians 2:1).
Is the harpazo in the Bible?
Yes. Paul describes believers being caught up to meet the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Pastor Chris teaches the issue is its timing, not whether it happens.
Where did the pre-tribulation rapture teaching come from?
Pastor Chris teaches it was popularized in the 1830s through John Nelson Darby and was not taught by the apostles or the early church.
What is the difference between tribulation and wrath?
Tribulation is Satan’s persecution of God’s people; wrath is God’s judgment on the wicked. Believers are protected from wrath but called to endure tribulation.
What is the “last trumpet” in 1 Corinthians 15:52?
The final trumpet announcing the King’s return after the tribulation. The Greek eschatos means final; it is not just any Feast of Trumpets.
Did the rapture happen at the Feast of Trumpets or Sukkot in 2025?
No, as this episode said in advance. The Antichrist had not been revealed and the abomination of desolation had not taken place.
How should believers prepare?
Watch and pray, stay in the Word, repent of false hope, keep your garments clean and your lamp filled, and trust the Lord’s protection through what is coming.
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