The Rapture

I spoke about this subject before but I don't recall if I ever posted information about the Rapture. Many people believe that they will go to heaven when they die. But some think that they will be caught away to heaven that is called the rapture.

The rapture is the sudden disappearance of millions and millions of people without so much as a trace of where they went! Some find it disturbing to think of leaving friends and family members behind to meet Jesus Christ. Yet, many believe that the rapture must occur. Will it take place?

The Bible shows that before the start of Christ’s promised Thousand Year Reign, there will be a period called the “great tribulation.” Said Jesus: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 20:6) Some place the rapture ahead of the great tribulation. Others expect it during that time. Still others think that the rapture will come after that unparalleled distress.

The post tribulation view was predominant until the early 19th century. Then, in England there developed a movement headed by a former Church of Ireland clergyman, John Nelson Darby. He and like-minded Anglicans became known as the Brethren. From his Plymouth base, Darby traveled to preach in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. He asserted that Christ’s return would occur in two stages. It would begin with a secret rapture, in which the “saints” would be caught away before a seven-year period of tribulation devastated the earth. Then Christ would appear visibly, accompanied by these “saints,” and together they would rule on earth for a thousand years.

Darby stressed the need to be separate from the world, and those sharing his views eventually became known as the Exclusive Brethren. B. W. Newton headed a different faction that believed in the rapture but not in a pretribulation one. Post tribulation advocate Alexander Reese maintained that “the Secret-Rapture theories are a menace to the hope of Christ’s Coming.”

Pretribulationists believe that this difference in viewpoint is serious enough to affect “the nature of [their] hope in relation to the coming of Christ.” Others place confidence in a “partial rapture theory,” believing that those who are most loyal to Christ will be raptured first and the more worldly will be taken later.
Many evangelical groups herald an imminent rapture of faithful Christians.

God’s inspired Word, the Bible, is the standard by which we need to measure the truthfulness of all beliefs. (2 Timothy 1:13; 3:16, 17) Therefore, what does it say about the rapture?

The word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible. But those who believe in it cite the apostle Paul’s words at 1 Thessalonians 4:17 as the basis for their belief. Let's look at that scripture

Paul wrote:
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant concerning those who are sleeping in death; that you may not sorrow just as the rest also do who have no hope. For if our faith is that Jesus died and rose again, so, too, those who have fallen asleep in death through Jesus God will bring with him. For this is what we tell you by Jehovah’s word, that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord shall in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death; because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Consequently keep comforting one another with these words.”—1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

The congregation in Thessalonica was relatively new when Paul addressed his first letter to Christians there in about 50 C.E. Members of the congregation were distressed that some of their number were “sleeping in death.” However, what Paul wrote comforted the Thessalonians with the resurrection hope.

As you grow in accurate knowledge and faith, you will discern the outworking of Jehovah God’s purpose to rid the universe of his foes and restore the earth to a paradise. By exercising faith, you may also be among the survivors of the great tribulation, privileged to welcome back the millions who will be resurrected to life on earth.

And what a joy it will be to live under God’s Kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ and his corulers, who will have been ‘caught away to meet the Lord’ by being resurrected to life in the heavenly realm!

For obedient mankind in general, then, what is the true Scriptural hope? It is not a rapture. Instead, it is eternal life on earth under the rule of God’s Kingdom.

So always look to the scriptures for answers.