You may have watched the movie This is the End or End of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Perchance you have seen The Rapture from 1991 or one of the many movies with the title Left Behind. All of these movies offer a take on an idea often called The Rapture. None of these movies were any good and the rapture theology behind them, worse.
The word rapture does not appear anywhere in the Bible and was not used by early Christians. In fact, the first time, in the history of ever, that the word rapture appears is in the 1830s in Scotland. There is a more detailed story yet the key figure to know is a woman named Margaret MacDonald (1815-1840). Margaret achieved a place of influence among a tiny community of Christians who believed that the manifestation of charismatic gifts (such as speaking in tongues) was the only way to address the ills of the world. One aspect of what she became known for was to place herself into a trance-like state. After being in that state she would offer up prophetic visions and utterances. Often she would write out her visions and they were eventually published. The majority of her visions involved Christians (and the Church) being transported off the earth soon. According to Margaret, not only were Christians destined to leave Earth (due to rising evils), but there would also be a season of purging among Christians. The purging, which would be caused by the horrible activities of the Devil, would purify Christianity revealing who is or is not a true Christian. Up to the time of Margaret nobody had heard of this thing she called the rapture and her utterances were denounced by the majority of Christians.
A then-obscure Christian minister by the name of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) hears and reads about Margaret’s visions. He takes Margret’s utterances and creates a new theological framework that totally reorients what it means to be a Christian in the world as well as what the story of the Bible is all about. This new concept would eventually be called dispensationalism which is still taught by the likes of John Haggie and others. Darby’s new concepts gained popularity as he traveled extensively across Europe and America. While most Christians in Darby’s day denounced his teaching (Charles Spurgeon published a sharp criticism of Darby) he found influence in America among a small Christian community called the Plymouth Brethren. The Plymouth Brethren spread Darby’s concepts, which gained minor popularity, and eventually gained the attention of Cyrus Scofield (1843-1921).
Scofield would go on to create one of the most popular versions of the Bible in the early 1900s. He created, what in more recent times, is often called a Study Bible. On the top of the page was the Biblical text and underneath that were comments about the text above. The Scofield Bible was the first Bible to include the term rapture which was added in the notes area. This new thought grabbed people's attention and the Scofield Bible soared in popularity along with the idea of the rapture, dispensationalism, and, another new term, the tribulation.
As the popularity of the Scofield Bible grew, so did the popularity of a preacher named Dwight L Moody (1837-1899). Moody would become one of the most popular preachers of the early 20th century. Everywhere he went he talked about the rapture and would establish churches that would teach rapture theology. Moody’s teaching made a major impact on a then-young man named Billy Graham (1918-2018).
Billy Graham became the most well-known Christian preacher in America and around the world. It is estimated that around 2.2 billion people attended Graham’s crusades over the years. Graham carried on in the tradition of Moody with large revivals held in just about every major city in America. Graham also began to use a new medium of ministry called a TV. Graham’s preaching message was also centered around the idea of the rapture. In the 1970s he wrote a book called The Approaching Hoofbeat (a reference to the four horses of the apocalypse in the book of Revelation) where he talked about what the book of Revelation has to say about the rapture. Also in the 1970s, another popular book about the rapture was produced. The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey became so popular around the world that in the 1970s it outsold the Bible. In the 1990s a guy named Tim LaHaye and his friend Jerry Jenkins published a fictional work called The Left Behind Series. The first book in the series sold over 63 million copies.
All of this is a great summary of how, in about 190 years, something as brand new as the rapture became the dominant understanding of most Christians and even non-Christians. Consider the following passages.
Matthew 24:40-42 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
This is a small slice of a large passage that is often used to suggest that the Bible teaches the rapture. The theory goes that when the rapture happens people will just disappear. One moment your kids are playing inside the house and the next they are gone. One moment the highway is full of cars with passengers and the next it is not. One moment people are hanging out at the local park and then a group of them disappear. There are plenty of popular movies and books that have depicted this idea. HBO has a TV series called The Leftovers that is all about the possible implications of a rapture-like event. Everyone is just going about their day like normal and then - poof - a large portion of people are just gone. Let’s read a bit more.
Matthew 24:36-39 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
If there is anything to grasp out of this passage it should be this – stop predicting! Just stop it! Jesus says that nobody knows when the end will come. Only God knows and apparently, he ain’t talking about it. Every time we Christians try to predict the second coming we are, according to this passage, attempting to outdo Jesus. Jesus says that even he doesn’t know and if he doesn’t know then what makes us think that anybody knows. Every prediction about the day, month, or year when the end of the rapture will happen has one thing in common. They have all failed.
May 21, 2011, according to Christian radio evangelist Harold Camping, was to be the day that the rapture would happen. While his following was small his prediction was picked up by local and national news as well as some Christian media outlets. Many came to believe the prediction to be true. Some people went as far as to cash in their 401Ks to pay for billboards and ads that were placed all around the US and in faraway places like Zimbabwe. They thought people needed to be warned. Well, May 21st came and went. Camping stated that he felt that the “spiritual” judgment had occurred and that the rapture itself would happen on October 21, 2011.
Only God knows when the end will be and when Christians make predictions, like that of Mr. Camping, it makes us look like goofballs. Worse than that it adds to reasons people have to be skeptical of the Bible and Christianity in general. There is something else worthy of note in this passage as well. When Jesus tells this story he says that it will be like it was in the days of Noah. In the story of Noah, it is the righteous who get on the boat and the unrighteous who don’t. Noah and his family are considered righteous and are saved. Those who don’t make it onto the boat are swept away. In other words, the good folks stay and the bad folks leave. Evil is removed and good remains. God’s good creation is renewed, not destroyed. This is a reversal of what is often portrayed in popular books such as The Left Behind series. Rapture theology has the wrong people staying and the wrong people going. Keep in mind that the Bible ends with heaven coming down to earth. According to Matthew 24 and Jesus, you don’t want to be the one who disappears. You want to be the one who stays on earth.
1 Thess. 4:13-18 13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
One of the keys to understanding this passage is verse eighteen. It has been said that when you read the word therefore in a passage it is there for a reason. Verse eighteen tells us that whatever is being said it is to be an encouragement to the Thessalonian Christians. Back in verse thirteen, we read that some of the Christians in Thessalonica have died or “sleep in death.” Their death is happening before the return of Jesus and this is causing some of the Christians in Thessalonica to become concerned. If they died before the return of Jesus what does that mean? Will they be left out of the renewal of all things when Jesus returns? What happens to them? Paul basically says to them - I don’t want you to grieve like other people grieve because you have hope. I know that you are worried about your loved ones who have died but they are actually in a better position than you are. Cause when Jesus comes back he will come back with those who have fallen asleep. Paul is saying that you will be reunited with your loved ones. No need to fret over their condition because they are doing better than you. When Jesus returns they will be the first to awaken and there will be a great family reunion on earth. The passage is not about leaving Earth. It is about King Jesus returning to earth and bringing with him those who have fallen asleep. Therefore, Paul says, encourage one another with these words. Paul is attempting to embolden and encourage his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. If you put your life on the line for King Jesus and die, you still win. Not only do you win but there is a great family reunion to come.
There is much more that could be said about the concept of the rapture as well as the Bible passages discussed. This is just a little introduction to a much larger issue.
1 Thess. 5:1-2 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. If the rapture is a prediction of the future then why is the return of Jesus almost always described as a thief coming in the night?
Last time I checked, thieves don’t call and let you know that they are coming. You don’t know when they are coming but you can prepare. This is also true with Matthew 24. Matthew 24 is followed up by four parables. Those parables emphasize that nobody knows when Jesus will return thus it is encouraged that you prepare.
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