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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Rapture “theology” is only about 200 years old and comes from John Darby. Until then, scholars believed what you (and I) believe. I have always considered the belief in the Rapture to be ” the easy way out.” We like the easy way out. My struggle with that is “what about those who are being martyred for their faith now?” In other words if we will be “raptured” before or in the middle of the Great Tribulation, why are there those who are in a great tribulation now, due to their faith?
There are a number of questions that undermine the Rapture idea. One that everybody seems to overlook is Revelation 1:9:
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
The word “suffering” the same word used for “tribulation” elsewhere in the New Testament… including when Jesus refers to the coming judgment. If the “Great Tribulation” is in the future, how could John be their ‘brother and companion’ in the tribulation so long ago?
Thank you for your article on the Rapture. I believe that Paul was speaking of the resurrection of the dead, and not a ‘rapture.’ I don’t see any evidence at all in the Bible for the rapture doctrine, and I think it’s kept a lot of people from getting on with their lives and from doing something for the Lord in this world.
Furthermore, as I read the Bible, the Lord’s plan is to return to the earth to establish his reign and kingdom here, and for men to live on earth with Him for a millennium. After that, who knows?
Does the 1000 year reign have anything to do with the rapture?
Who is the Anti-Christ who will do wonders preceding the return of Christ and how do Christians prepare for that as to not be deceived.
Keith:
Those are good questions. The 1000-year reign and the rapture – if there is a rapture – are separate. They’re both “end time” events, but they’re not connected.
As for the antichrist, we need to be careful to stick with what God has said in the Bible, and avoid adding our own traditional and cultural thoughts to the text. The only mentions of antichrist are in 1 John and 2 John. Here are the verses:
Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well. 1 John 2:18-23
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception. 1 John 4:1-6
Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and do not greet him; for the one who greets him shares in his evil works. 2 John 1:7-10
Now that you’ve read the only Bible verses that mention an antichrist, or antichrists, you can see that what God has revealed on this issue is not a single, future, unknown person. Antichrist is anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ… that is, that Jesus is the Messiah that the Israelites were waiting for. John wrote his letters in the first century… and many antichrists had already come. The people reading his letters knew the antichrists personally. Those who claimed that Jesus did not come from God were part of the churches, and argued that John and the other apostles were wrong. John told them to “watch” themselves by remaining in Christ’s teaching… and to not invite antichrists into their homes.
This is what we KNOW. We know this because that’s what the text tells us. Throughout church history, lots of people have made lots of claim about “the” antichrist, as if there would be only one… but that’s not what God has revealed to us about antichrists. There are many, and they are among us. We have met them, and we can tell that they’re antichrists by what they say about Christ.
Will there be one ‘ultimate’ antichrist? It certainly sounds that way… but we should be on our guard against ANY antichrist, and remain in Christ’s teaching to avoid being deceived. This probably doesn’t look like the world-shaking big, bad Antichrist you may have heard about. Instead, this looks like that guy you talked to on the internet, or maybe you work with him, or he’s in your church, who has gone beyond what Jesus taught and has introduced unbiblical teaching in your Sunday School class. The way to prepare for unbiblical teaching is to study the Bible, so we know the difference between the truth and the lies.
Let me know how I can help, Keith!