The Rapture Theory..

Part 1 of 7

Church history proves that some doctrines come and go like the wind. If a truth has not been birthed in the heart of God then it will inevitably pass away, even if men choose to stubbornly cling onto it. This seems to be the case with the common "rapture" belief. Over the course of the next few days, I want to examine the evidence for this "doctrine", and discover what the Bible has to say about the coming of the Lord.

What is the Rapture?

For the most part, when believers say the word "rapture", they are referring to an event in the futurist interpretation of Christian eschatology, in which it is suggested that Christians will be gathered together in the air to meet Christ at, or up to seven years prior, to His return. The primary passage used to support this idea is 1st Thessalonians 4:15-17, in which Paul cites "the word of the Lord" about the return of Jesus to gather His saints: "...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". There are many differing viewpoints concerning the coming of the Lord, the millenial reign, and the rapture theory (dispensationalism, amillenialism, premillenialism, postmillenialism, pretribulation, mid-tribulation, post-tribulation, ad infinitum). Time does not permit us to discuss each of these varied interpretations. Instead, we will simply see what the Bible has to say as a whole concerning the rapture.

The word "rapture" is not actually found in the Bible. It is an English word derived from the Latin rapio, "caught up", as found in the Vulgate rendering of 1st Thessalonians 4:17. Concerning the word's etymology, The New English Bible has this footnote: "suddenly caught up. Or "snatched up." The Greek verb ἁρπάζω implies that the action is quick or forceful, so the translation supplied the adverb "suddenly" to make this implicit notion clear.

The Bible does indeed speak of a "catching up" (Rev 12:5; Acts 8:39; 2 Cor 12:2-4; 1 Thess 4:17; Acts 1:9; Heb 11:35; Phil 3:11; etc). However, according to the Scriptures, this catching up will be nothing like that "catching away" which is taught from many pulpits. God is not coming to snatch a weak, poor, half-hearted and down-trodden people out from under the heel of Satan. The very thought goes against the entirety of Scripture! God has a plan for this earth, and His people are a part of it, "God... hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation... and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:18-19).

Doctrinal History..

John Nelson Darby first proposed the pre-tribulation rapture in 1827. This view was accepted among many other Plymouth Brethren in England. Darby and other prominent Brethren were part of the Brethren Movement which impacted American Christianity, primarily through their writings. Influences included the Bible Conference Movement, starting in 1878 with the Niagara Bible Conference. These conferences led to an increasing acceptance of futurist premillennial views and the pre-tribulation rapture especially among Presbyterian, Baptist and Congregational members.

Proponents of a preliminary rapture believe the doctrine of amillennialism originated with Alexandrian scholars such as Clement and Origen, and was later brought wholly into Roman Catholic dogma by Augustine. Thus, the church until then held to premillennial views, which see an impending apocalypse from which the church will be rescued after being raptured by the Lord. Some pre-tribulation proponents further maintain that the earliest known extra-Biblical reference to the pre-tribulation rapture is from a sermon attributed to the fourth-century Church Father Ephraem the Syrian, which says, "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." However, the interpretation of this writing, as supporting a pre-tribulation rapture, is debated.

Its Popularization..

The rise in belief in the pre-tribulation rapture theory is often attributed to a 15-year old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret McDonald. In 1830, she supposedly had a vision of the end times which describes her view of the rapture. It was first published in 1840. There is debate, however, of the veracity of this rumor.

Along with John Darby, further popularization of the term is associated with an evangelist named William Eugene Blackstone, whose book, Jesus is Coming, sold more than one million copies. The first known theological use of the word "rapture" in print occurs with the Scofield Reference Bible of 1909.

In 1957, John Walvoord, a theologian at Dallas Theological Seminary, authored a book, The Rapture Question, that supposedly gave theological support to the pre-tribulation rapture theory; this book eventually sold over 65,000 copies. In 1958, J. Dwight Pentecost authored another book supporting the pre-tribulation rapture, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology, which sold 215,000 copies.

During the 1970s, the rapture theory became popular in wider circles, in part due to the books of Hal Lindsey, including The Late Great Planet Earth, which has reportedly sold between 15 million and 35 million copies, and by the movie A Thief in the Night, which based its title on the scriptural reference 1st Thessalonians 5:2, "...the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night". More modern books and productions, such as the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, have given more and more people access into the major beliefs of the rapture theory.

Its Scriptural Basis?

The following Scriptures are used in support of the rapture theory:

Matthew 24:36-41 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in 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. 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".

Luke 17:28-37 "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together".

John 14:2–3 "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also".

Philippians 3:20-21 "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself".

1 Corinthians 15:49–55 "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

2 Thessalonians 2:1-7 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way".

To Be Continued...