Q: When the tribulation starts, before the Antichrist has risen, the believers will be taking up to Heaven. My Question is this when those people who were believers left behind will they get a second chance to be saved in the Tribulation? This is my question. –Solomon
A: Solomon, it is still ‘day’ for those left behind. Since they are still alive it is not really a ‘second chance’ but still the first and all can be saved who have real saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ during the tribulation period regardless of whether they ‘professed’ to believe before or not. In fact many will come to Christ during the Tribulation including millions of Jews.
The only scriptural qualifier is whether they receive the ‘Mark of the Beast’ or not in which case they would no longer be eligible for salvation according to Rev. 15:9-11.
All of this assumes that the Pre-Tribulation teaching is correct in the first place and believers will be ‘Raptured’ before the Antichrist-the Beast of Revelation is revealed. Solomon, there are many solid Bible scholars who do not believe in the pre-millennial, pre-tribulational approach to eschatology.
Some are ‘Post Trib’, ‘Mid-Trib’, or “Pre-Wrath.’ Some believe that the church will be going through the tribulation, and meet Christ in the air at the end of that period, others see the church being raptured in the middle of the tribulation or just before the ‘wrath of God’ is poured out.
The idea of a Pretribulation Rapture did not even begin to be taught until 1830. Before that all of the church believed that Christians would be going through the tribulation period, including all of the reformers and early Christians. The Pre-Trib Rapture teaching is very popular in America but not so much in other countries; particularly in those where Christians are going through actual persecution.
Personally I believe that God is going to surprise us. Therefore, I believe that it is best for us to be prepared for the coming of Jesus no matter when he comes for us.