By Jack Kelley
GraceThruFaith.com 
Q. I have been reading your site for years and have learned very much. I am thankful for your time in researching, preparing, and posting as I know it is time consuming. My question is this. At our church they are continuously saying that the Lord will not return until the word is taught in every tongue, meaning for every people group in the world. Some nations have hundreds of people groups. This isn’t required before the rapture is it?
A. In Matt. 24:14 Jesus said,
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”This is where we get the idea that the Gospel has to be preached everywhere before the Lord can return. Note His actual words are “and then the end will come.” From Matt. 24:3 we can see that the context of the passage is the 2nd Coming, not the Rapture.
Also, according to Rev. 14:6 this prophecy will be fulfilled just after the beginning of the Great Tribulation,
“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people”.This will happen several years after the rapture of the Church.
Related Links
Book of Revelation: Revelation 14 - SpiritandTruth.org (Tony Garland) An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25 (Part 12) - Pre-Trib Research Center (Thomas Ice) Must The Church Preach The Gospel In All Nations? - GraceThruFaith.com (Jack Kelley) What is the Great Tribulation? - GotQuestions.org The Global Proclamation Of The Gospel - Pre-Trib Research Center (Thomas Ice) 
