Will There Be a Rapture?

Thanks to Michael for asking the question. I’m biased on this subject, and I could be wrong. A lot of people believe in the rapture, and not all of them are uneducated Left Behind readers. There are scholars who believe it’s found in Scripture. I’m not really a scholar, but I do disagree with the idea. Most of the verses in question either seem to be unclear, or interpreted backwards. What follows are my opinions. It’s important to remember that this is not an essential teaching of the Christian faith.

First, what IS the rapture? It’s generally taught be the event where Jesus comes to take His Bride – the church, which is all believers – to Heaven with Him. Some believe this will happen before the Great Tribulation, some believe it will be in the middle, and some at the end. All of these views consider the rapture to be a separate event from Jesus’ second coming.

However: for virtually all of church history, Christians have considered the two to be actually ONE event. In the rapture, Jesus comes back… but not all the way. He comes back most of the way, but doesn’t touch the earth with His foot. He then pulls all believers into the air with Him, taking us to Heaven. Then, at some point later, He comes all the way back.

I don’t see that in Scripture. I believe the historical, traditional view that the rapture and second coming are one event. Here are a few reasons why I believe this:

• Jesus said that when He comes back, everyone will see it. The rapture is a secret event, where those left behind are left to wonder where we went. Those who rejected the gospel might figure it out, but that’s after… not during the event itself.
• Jesus talked a lot about the separation of the righteous and unrighteous, which is what the rapture is about… and what will happen at His second coming.
  • In Matthew 13, Jesus’ parable about weeds in a wheat field says that the weeds should be removed first. In that sense, the unrighteous are taken.
  • In Matthew 24, Jesus talked about Noah’s flood, and how the unrighteous were ‘swept away.’
  • In Luke 17, Jesus talks about some who are taken, and some left behind. The disciples asked, “Where?” That seems like a strange question. What were they asking? Those left behind would still be right where they were, of course. Their location wasn’t a mystery. So it appears they were asking about where people would be taken TO, and Jesus replied “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” It seems those taken would be the unrighteous, which is the opposite of the rapture.
• In that Luke 17 passage, where Jesus talks about one being taken and one being left, He refers to it as ‘the day the Son of Man is revealed.’ The rapture is supposed to be a secret event, not a revelation to the world that Jesus is back.
• When Jesus warned people about His coming, He spoke as if THEY needed to be concerned… rather than saying that some unknown, future generation should be afraid:
  • Matthew 10:23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
  • Matthew 23:36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
  • Matthew 24:34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
• In Revelation 13, Jesus told John about the Beast, and his mark. Check out verse 18: This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. Now, consider: if this is still a future event, how could John’s original audience – the first-century church – use wisdom to calculate the number of a man who wouldn’t be born for another 2000 years? They wouldn’t use wisdom for that. They would need direct revelation from God. Only the generation that includes the Beast could use wisdom to calculate his identity.

For these reasons, and a few more, I consider myself – somewhat loosely – a Partial Preterist. That is, I believe that some of the prophesied end-time events happened in the first and second centuries. Full Preterism – the idea that it’s all past – is a heresy. We’re definitely not yet living in the New Jerusalem, so there are still many events to come… but it does seem that the most responsible handling of Scripture may lead us to believe that the persecution – the tribulation – has already occurred, and that Jesus and John were warning those alive at that time about its coming. There may be another, even greater tribulation, but I believe this one is in the past.

Finally, we have John’s description of himself in Revelation 1:9. Depending on which version you read, this is what he called himself: 

• your brother and partner in the tribulation (ESV, HCSB)
• your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation (BLB)
• your brother and companion in tribulation (KJV, AMP)
• your brother and fellow participant in the tribulation (NASB)
• your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution (NET)

I hope that answers your question. Keep in mind that much of this is speculation, and that we may not fully understand what’s to come. I’m okay with that. We should cling tightly to the gospel, and hold more loosely those things about which we’re unsure. This is certainly one of those unsure things.

What are your thoughts?

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