The Rapture Eschatology, or a study of the last things, has captured the minds and imaginations of many people, from theologians to the person with only a casual interest in the Bible. Such a cataclysmic event as the return of Christ and the destruction of the world has inevitably caused many questions and much speculation. Scores of books have been written on this subject, many of which are based more on fiction than the word of God. A widespread belief concerning the second coming of Christ is that he will come to the earth to establish his kingdom, over which he will reign for one thousand years. According to this view, Christ will return to Jerusalem and reign over all the earth, at which time all Jews will return to Jerusalem and be converted to Christ. The doctrine of the rapture is a tenet of Premillennialism. Those who teach this doctrine say that those who are faithful to Christ, both living and dead, will be "taken up" secretly before the millennial reign of Christ. Some teach that this "rapture" will precede a seven year period of tribulation while others teach that it will follow the tribulation. This mysterious disappearance of people in an instant evokes images of cars traveling down the highway suddenly left driverless. Planes in flight would be without a pilot. A father or mother would suddenly disappear from the living room couch. This idea is sensational, but unbiblical. The word "rapture" is not found in the Bible, nor is the concept. The word comes from a Latin word which means "to be carried away". Those who teach the rapture use as their primary text 1 Thess. 4:13-14. In this passage Paul says, "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." It is hard to comprehend how one could derive from this passage the idea of a secret gathering of people to Christ. The key phrase in this passage, "even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" does not contrast the believing with the unbelieving but rather those who are alive in Christ with those who have died in Christ. Paul is assuring the Christians at Thessalonica that they need not be concerned whether their deceased loved ones will go to Heaven with Christ when he returns. God will bring those resurrected from the dead with Christ to Heaven even as he will those who are alive at the time of Christ's coming. The idea of the rapture presents at least three comings of Christ in the last days. The first is for his saints, dead and living. The second is seven years later to begin his reign on earth. The third must come at the end of the thousand year reign for Jude says that Christ will come to judge the ungodly (Jude 14-15) which advocates of millennialism teach must come after the thousand year reign. This is not a second coming; this is a second, third, and fourth coming! The rapture does not fit in to the events concerning the second coming of Christ as found in the Bible. Christ will not set foot upon this earth again. The text of 1 Thess. 4:13-18 clearly teaches that when Christ returns it will not be in secret but rather "with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God". The dead in Christ will rise first, and then "we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air". Notice that we will meet the Lord in the air. He will not set foot upon this earth; much less establish an earthly kingdom. All of these events will take place at the same time. When Jesus comes again " every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him" (Rev. 1:7). The second coming of Christ will be seen by all, not just the raptured redeemed. 2 Peter 3:10 states that " the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up". So we see that when Christ comes all will see and hear him, the righteous will meet him in the air, he will not set foot upon this earth because the earth will be destroyed with a fervent heat. The dead in Christ and those living in Christ will be changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:52), not over a period of one thousand seven years as the millennial doctrine teaches. It is of eternal significance that those who are lost realize that they will not have a chance to obey Christ after his second coming. 2 Thess. 1:8-10 teaches us that Jesus will come with his angels, "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ". These will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord at the time that he comes to be glorified in his saints. There is simply no room for the rapture in the second coming of Christ. |