Question:

What will happen after the rapture to the people who don’t know Christ as their Savior?

First Thessalonians 4:13-18 tells us about the rapture of all believers. The Lord shall descend to the atmosphere over this earth, and believers (dead and alive) will be “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air and ascend with Him to glory. This is the next event on God’s calendar. And then “the day of the Lord,” which is the time of judgment for this earth will begin. Second Thessalonians 2:1-12 tells us what will happen on this earth after the rapture of believers.

If you have a J. N. Darby translation, you will find it helpful when considering this portion and also others portions of Scripture. You will notice in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 that the correct translation is not “the day of Christ,” but “the day of the Lord.” When you see in Scripture “the day of the Lord” it is speaking of judgment (Joel 2:1-3). Notice also the last part of verse 2. The correct translation for “is at hand” is “present.” Seeing the correct translation of these verses helps us to understand that we are being told in this portion about the time of judgment.

Now considering the verse: Some had written letters to the Thessalonians saying that “the day of the Lord” was going on at that present time when Paul wrote the epistle, but the apostle Paul says that this is not true. He says that before “the day of the Lord” came there would be a “falling away” (or apostasy) first. We see today many who have turned away from the truth they once held. Paul also says that “the man of sin” (the antichrist) would be revealed when the day of the Lord had come. So we know that we are not living in the day of judgment today but the time is soon to come for we see the “falling away,” though the antichrist is not yet revealed.

Now look at verse 7. The KJV reads: “He who now letteth, will let, until He be taken out of the way.” “Letteth is old English word that means to hinder or restrain. Mr. Darby translates this verse: “For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only there is He who restrains now until He be gone.” Who is it that “restrains” or hinders “iniquity”? It is the Spirit of God who indwells every believer today and who has baptized each one into the “one body,” the church (1 Corinthians 12:13). When the Spirit of God, who is in the church, is “taken out of the way” at the rapture, there will be no more hindrance to the evil in this world. And it is at that time that the antichrist will be revealed: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:(2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Now to your question: “What will happen after the rapture to the people who don’t know Christ as their Savior?”

The unsaved people who are living after the rapture will believe that this man (the antichrist) who does wonders by Satan’s power is Christ. And everyone who had heard the gospel of God’s salvation through Christ before the rapture, and did not believe on Christ, will believe this lie that this man is the Christ instead of Jesus who died for our sins. We are told that this lie becomes a strong “delusion”: “That they ALL might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (verse 12). So those who had not believed the truth, will believe this lie and will be damned. They will go through the terrible judgments told us in Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and will eventually die after calling on the mountains and rocks to fall on them (Revelation 6:16). After the thousand-year reign of Christ over this earth, God will give them a fair trial at the great white throne judgment and then they will go to the lake of fire for all eternity (Revelation 20:11-15).