Q: I am a pretribulationist believer. Could you please explain what John 6:38–54 means when Jesus says He will raise us up at “the last day”? I’m confused.
— Mindy
A: That’s a great question, Mindy—one that has puzzled many believers who hold to a Pretribulation view of the Rapture. I was curious myself, so I called in to KWVE Radio and asked two respected Bible teachers—Chuck Smith and Chuck Missler—for clarification.
Their response was insightful:
“Be careful not to let one verse cause confusion about the timing of the Rapture. Anyone reading Scripture with a literal interpretation can only conclude that the Rapture occurs before the Tribulation. The ‘Last Day’ referred to in John 6:39 isn’t the last day of the Tribulation—it’s the last day of an era.”
That explanation brought clarity. The “Last Day” Jesus mentions refers to the end of the Church Age, also known as the Church Era—not the final day of the seven-year Tribulation period.
In prophetic terms, we are living in what scholars often call the “parenthesis” between Daniel’s 69th and 70th weeks. The 70th Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24–27) has not yet begun; it will encompass the future seven-year Tribulation. The Rapture of the Church concludes the current era, marking the transition to that final prophetic period.
It’s also fascinating that the Greek word translated as “Last Day” in John 6 is eschatos—the same root from which we get the term Eschatology, meaning the study of the last things or end times.
So, in summary, “the Last Day” in this passage refers not to the end of the Tribulation but to the last day of the Church Era, when Christ calls His Bride home before the outpouring of God’s wrath upon the earth.