By Frank Paul
I began researching The Rapture just about four months ago now after I heard an online sermon by Pastor David Jeremiah, who is a pastor I reference from time to time and whom I respect, referring to he and his followers will not have to suffer through the tribulation because he and they will be “raptured” up to heaven beforehand. I was dumbfounded that he was preaching this belief to his followers. I never read in Scripture that Jesus said we have some type of “escape route” and we can skip the tribulation. Nor have I ever read that Jesus comes back twice, once partially, kind of; then once at His Second Coming. Quite the opposite, Jesus warns us of the impending disasters and says, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:13. And then He tells us in Matthew 24:29-30, and I’ll paraphrase, that we shall persevere through and then immediately after the tribulation His Second Coming happens; so we will be here for the tribulations. However, since I respect Pastor Jeremiah and was confused, I needed to dive into Scripture and do some in-depth research into his belief of a pre-tribulation or mid-tribulation Rapture. I began to wonder, “Who else believes in this concept?” Well, apparently, a lot of well-known, highly respected pastors do, and I seem to be the one with the contrary view; not exactly a first for me.
“What am I missing?” I asked myself, which is why this article took me four months to write. It could easily be eight pages, but I wanted to distill down the major points and give the reader tangible evidence and let them come to their own decision, not take the easy way out and convey wishful thinking that you as a follower of Jesus will not suffer. I had to shoot straight with this Rapture topic.
My initial thought was not to believe in a Rapture, then after a month or so of digging into it, I was starting to doubt myself and wonder if I’m off base on this subject; but then after months of serious investigative research, including re-reading Scripture a dozen times, tons of articles and online videos on the subject, I have returned wholeheartedly to my original opinion: There is no such “thing” as a pre or mid-tribulation Rapture. Half, if not more, of the Christian world may disagree with me, but I have done the due diligence and feel comfortable in my conclusion.
First off, for the first 1800 years of Christianity there was no such debate. Why, you might ask; well, because there was no such “thing.” The word Rapture does not appear in the Bible, the concept had never been broached; it simply did not exist. Think about that; the New Testament books, including all authors and The Revelations, were written between 33 A.D. and 90 A.D., so these Scriptures have existed all this time; have been read and studied by some of the great Fathers of Christianity: Clement of Rome, Emperor Constantine, Hermas, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Tertullian, Saint Irenaeus, Saint Clement of Alexandra, Origen, Saint Augustine, et cetera, and not one of these inspired men even came close to a concept resembling what is now known as “The Rapture.”
So where did this idea come from? Well, it first appeared on the horizon around 1830 when Margaret MacDonald, a member of the Catholic Apostolic Church born out of Scotland, would somehow put herself into a trance and out would come, what she called, prophetic utterances. Her first such “utterance” was published in 1840, her second in 1861. One sentence out of dozens of pages of text was, “Tis Christ in us that will lift us up – He is the light – tis only those that are alive in Him that will be caught up to meet Him in the air.” Some theologians at that time labeled her a visionary, some a charismatic, and others labeled her as demonic. Family physicians diagnosed her as ill and delusional. Her “utterances” sat idle for 30 or 40 years until in 1877 Pastor John Darby read them and started using the utterances in his sermons and began to label this new theory of being “caught up in the air” as The Rapture. The idea did not gain a lot of traction then, but after another 40 some years went by in 1909 Pastor C.I. Scofield wrote his Scofield Bible Study and used MacDonald’s utterances, and Darby’s labeling of “The Rapture,” in his footnotes, and hence, Christians now saw an easy way out of tribulations and the idea took off from there; 1800 years after the New Testament was complete. And then, of course, the finally fueling of this flame and its major momentum began when Jerry Jenkins wrote his first of many “Left Behind” books, which later were made into movies, and the idea was finally stuck in society’s brains as a real “thing.” Well, as fascinating as the books and movies were, it is just not a real “thing.”
Here's a real twister: in actuality, being “left behind” is just the opposite; it is a good thing. The imagery of being “taken” is not used to refer to salvation but taken away in judgment; and being “left” refers to those spared destruction. Isaiah 3;1-3, 4:2-4; Zephaniah 3:11-12; Matthew 13:41-43; 24:38-39.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 by Paul is one of only two or three verses found in the entirety of Scripture which gives The Rapture a footing to stand on; but as I have written in past articles, one must read Scripture in context, not in isolation. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Paul was addressing the Thessalonians about several issues back then because they were a newer church and had questions; one of which was, and I am paraphrasing, “What happens to the people who have already died, will they ever get to see Jesus?” Paul was putting people’s minds at ease; he was not divulging some “escape route” as the Rapture believers want to embrace. He wanted everyone to know that yes, even those who have died before us will meet Jesus; it’s not too late for them.
Furthermore, as also discussed in past articles, our English words are limited in meaning and scope. If you refer to the original Greek for this verse you will see the word “apantesin” is used, but the English word is just “meeting;” which is used in two other places in the New Testament, Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15. Apantesin in Greek is an encounter, often meaning a deeper spiritual connotation beyond a mere physical meeting. And in all the Scriptures where apantesin appears, it refers to a meeting in which people go out to meet a dignitary and then accompany him into the place from which they came out. So in this sense in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, we rise to meet the dignitary, or in this case the Lord, in the air in the spiritual context, beyond a mere physical meeting, and then welcome him back to our town or village as a King.
Other verses The Rapture believers rely on are Matthew 24:40-41. “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” Again, in context and not in isolation, Jesus was answering his apostles’ questions about when the end times will come; and in the previous verses Jesus begins his answer in the context of comparing His return to the days of Noah. “But as the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:37-39. So the suddenness of the flood and the suddenness of the Second Coming are similar events. Noah, his wife; his sons, their wives, were “left behind” to survive and carry on, and the rest of humanity was “taken away” to face death and judgment. The women in the field and the grinding mill, two of them were “taken away” to face death and judgment; and two of them were “left behind” to be with Jesus. Taken is not a good thing.
Refer to the original Greek once again and not merely the English definition of “taken.” The Greek word used here in the Scripture is harpazo. Harpazo in Greek means to seize, to carry off violently; not a good way to go for the women in the field and at the grinding mill.
Jesus spoke of His Second Coming specifically. Matthew 24:27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Never does Jesus refer to two comings, or one partial coming when He does not really return all the way to earth, and then another coming when He does. This is simply not in the Bible.
Much more recently, I believe because this “Rapture thing” has been more and more scrutinized and challenged by those who arduously study Scripture, and almost as if to appease the Rapture believers, who may now be in doubt; and on top of that, to comingle it with the Second Coming, in the last 30 or 40 years a “post-tribulation” theory has surfaced. Yes, the tribulations have happened, there was not a pre or mid-tribulation Rapture, but these believers profess that “The Rapture” (it’s as if they can’t let go of that phrase) occurs simultaneously with the Second Coming, which is basically the Second Coming anyway, so I don’t quite understand the post-tribulation folks, but I wanted to be complete here.
I could go on and on, but redundancy bores the reader. Suffice it to say, if the topic is important to you, and it may not be, do your own research; there’s tons of reference material out there. The source of your belief should be based on what you read in Scriptures, and your own interpretation of the written Word and how it touches your heart, not necessarily what someone else thinks.
I will close with what Pastor Alan S. Bandy wrote about this topic in 2007, since he does so better than I. “Regardless of what one believes about The Rapture or its timing, it is not a matter of orthodoxy and heresy if believers disagree. A person’s fidelity to Christ and theological orthodoxy does not depend on belief in a two-stage return of Christ or a singular return. When Christ returns and the church is with Him in glory, nobody will be disappointed or argue about how or when it all occurred.”
copyright@theseedsower@2024
Comments