Rapture

A modern artistic depiction of the "Rapture," in which a person is ascending to Heaven.

The Rapture is a controversial religious belief, held by some (though not all) Christians that claims that at the end of time Jesus Christ will descend from Heaven and the elect will be lifted up from the Earth to meet Christ in the air. This lifting up is called "the rapture" and it derives from a literal reading of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 in the New Testament:

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
(1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)

There is much disagreement over whether (and when) the rapture will occur in relation to the Tribulation, a seven-year period preceding the second coming of Christ to the earth, or indeed, if the duration of the Tribulation will be seven years or only a three and a half year period. Some understand the tribulation of Matthew 24 as having already taken place in 70 C.E. at the destruction of Jerusalem. Three different views predominate. The first is that it will take place sometime prior to the Tribulation. The second is that it will take place mid-way through the Tribulation. The third is that it will take place after the Tribulation, when Christ comes to earth to establish his kingdom, taking over rulership of the world for a thousand years (see Millennialism). A fourth view has recently developed, called the Pre-Wrath view.

Belief in the rapture gained popularity in the 1830s, and more recently in the 1970s, with proponents of the premillenialist, and in particular the dispensationalist, interpretations of scripture. However, proponents of the doctrine have argued that it can be found in the early Church fathers and the New Testament. In 1995, the doctrine of the Pre-Tribulation rapture was further popularized by Tim LaHaye's book series, "Left Behind," which sold tens of millions of copies and was made into several movies. The doctrine of the rapture continues to be an important component in fundamentalist Christian eschatology today. Many fundamentalist Christians continue to feel that world conditions point to the rapture, Tribulation, and return of Christ occurring soon.

Etymology

"Rapture" is an English translation of the Latin word raeptius in the Vulgate, which in turn is a translation of the Koine Greek word harpazo, found in the Greek New Testament manuscripts of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In many modern English translations of the Bible, harpazo is translated "caught up" or "taken away," as in the New International Version (NIV): "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them [i.e., the dead in Christ] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

So, the rapture means that when Christ descends from heaven to come back in the last days, those faithful people who are alive in the church will be caught up from the earth to meet Christ in the air.

Views on the timing of the rapture

There are three main views on the timing of the rapture (i.e., the timing of the return of Christ) relative to the tribulation: pretribulationism, midtribulationism, and posttribulationism. Although they all belong to premillennialism that believes that the return of Christ takes place prior to the millennial kingdom, they differ from one another in regard to the timing of the return of Christ (i.e., the timing of the rapture) relative to the tribulation that immediately precedes the millennial kingdom. The three views hold that the return of Christ happens (i.e., the rapture happens) before, half way through, and after the tribulation, respectively.

In the prophecy of 70 weeks from the book of Daniel (Daniel 9:27), between the 69th and 70th weeks there is a break, lasting an unspecified period of time. Thus, the 70th week of seven years has not yet occurred. This seven-year period will mark the end of the current dispensation, and is referred to as the tribulation. Most views hold that Christian believers will be either removed from, or protected from the judgment of God's wrath.

Comparison of Christian millennial interpretations

Pretribulation rapture

The pretribulation (or "pre-trib") rapture occurs before the beginning of the tribulation period. According to this view, the Christian Church that existed prior to that seven-year period has no vital role during that period, and will therefore be removed. Those people who accept Christ after the rapture will be martyred for their faith during the tribulation. Saint John the Divine, who some believe is the apostle John, is seen in Revelation 4:1 as representing the church caught up to heaven. John hears the Trumpet and a voice that says, "Come up hither," and he is translated in the Spirit to heaven and then sees what will happen for those left on earth. The pretribulational view is the most widely held position among American evangelical Christians. It has become popular in recent years around the world and through the work of dispensationalist preachers such as J. Dwight Pentecost, Tim LaHaye, J. Vernon McGee, Chuck Smith, Chuck Missler, Jack Van Impe, and Grant Jeffrey.

Some who believe in the pretribulational rapture warn that the rapture is imminent, saying that all of the prophecies concerning the latter days have been fulfilled to the extent that the rapture could take place at any moment. Others suggest that certain requirements must first be met before a rapture can occur, such as these:

1. The nations of the world must unify their currency onto a universal standard.
2. There will be peace in Israel (Ezekiel 38).
3. There will be a one-world government, to correspond to the 7th beast of Revelation, prior to the antichrist's 8th beast government.
4. The Jewish temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt in its original place.
5. Observance of Old Testament commandments concerning animal sacrifices must be reinstated.
6. There will be a great falling away and the antichrist will be revealed (Thessalonians 2)

Others state these events will happen after the rapture.

Midtribulation rapture

Another viewpoint is the midtribulational (or "mid-trib") view that the rapture happens half way through the seven-year tribulation. The church will go through the less severe part (i.e., the first half) of the tribulation. This view is supported by chapter 7 of Daniel, where it is stated that the saints will be given over to tribulation for "time, times, and half a time," which is interpreted to mean 3.5 years. Half way through the seven years of the tribulation, the antichrist commits the "abomination of desolation" by desecrating the Jerusalem temple (to be built on what is now called The Temple Mount).

One formulation of this view is the pre-wrath rapture view, according to which the tribulation of the church begins toward the latter part of the seven-year period, being Daniel's 70th week, when the Antichrist is revealed in the temple. The great Tribulation, according to this view, is of the Antichrist against the church at this time. The duration of this tribulation is unknown, except that it begins and ends during the second half of Daniel's 70th week. References from Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are used as evidence that this tribulation will be cut short by the coming of Christ to deliver the righteous by means of rapture, which will occur after the sixth seal is opened and the Sun is darkened and the moon is turned to blood. However, by this point many Christians will have been slaughtered as martyrs by the Antichrist. After the rapture comes God's seventh-seal wrath of trumpets and bowls (a.k.a. "the Day of the Lord"). The Day of the Lord's wrath against the ungodly will follow for the remainder of the seven years.

Posttribulation rapture

The posttribulational (or "post-trib") view places the rapture at the end of the tribulation period, based on passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, seen as quoting the words of "the Lord" as indicated in Matthew 24:29-31. From this perspective, Christian believers will be on the earth as witnesses to Christ during the entire seven years, until the last day of the tribulation period.

Posttribulational advocates find no scriptural support for the so-called "Yo-Yo Theory," which they describe as the first-Second Coming of Christ in the clouds for the rapture and then coming back again for a second-Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Coming in two parts or the Second and Third Coming).

The posttribulational view brings Christ's "appearing" and his "coming" together in one all-encompassing, grand event. Matthew 24:29–31; "Immediately after the tribulation of those days…they shall gather together his elect…," is cited as a foundational scripture for this view. Pat Robertson describes the end times this way in his 1995 novel The End of the Age. Another supporting scripture is John 17:15-16, where Jesus prays that the Father not take his (Jesus') disciples from the earth, but that he (the Father) would nevertheless "keep them from the evil one." This is taken to preclude a pretribulational or a midtribulational rapture to heaven at any time. Prominent authors supporting this view are Walter Ralston Martin, John Piper, George Eldon Ladd, Robert H. Gundry, and Douglas Moo.

Matthew 24:29-31 ASV

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 ASV

Matthew 24:29 But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

History of doctrine

The early church

During the first three centuries of the Christian era, premillennialism, known as chiliasm, was prevalent because Christians expected the imminent return of Christ in face of persecutions in the Roman Empire. Premillennialism during that time was posttribulationism, believing that the return of Christ occurs after the tribulation. It seems, however, that this historic posttribulational premillennialism did not feel the need for the use of the term rapture due to its belief that immediately after the church is caught up to meet Christ, it will come back to the earth with Christ.

After Christianity was legalized as the state religion of the Roman Empire, persecutions toward Christinas ceased to exist. So, premillennialism became less popular, and amillennialism became more popular. Amillennialism, which was developed by Alexandrian scholars such as Clement (c.150-215) and Origen (c.185-c.254) and systematized by Augustine (354-430), did not feel the need for the use of the term rapture, either.

For the above reasons, the idea of rapture was not referred to by any of the early Church Fathers. But, some proponents of the rapture today such as Grant Jeffrey think that the early church espoused pretribulational premillennialism in favor of the rapture. They maintain that the earliest known extra-biblical reference to the pretribulational rapture is from a sermon falsely attributed to the fourth-century Church Father Ephraem the Syrian (306-373), which says: "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." The interpretation of this writing as supporting the pretribulational rapture, however, is debated, and it is usually believed that no Christian believed in the rapture for the first 1,800 years of the Christian era.

Modern times

There exists at least two eighteenth-century pretribulation references: 1) in a book published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1788, and 2) in the book The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty, written around 1791 by Emmanuel Lacunza (1731-1801), a Chilean Jesuit priest, but later published in London in 1827. The book by Lacunza influenced the Scottish Presbyterian Edward Irving (1792-1834), and in 1930 a 15-year-old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret McDonald, one of his followers, made claim of her visions on the pretribulation rapture.

The popularization of the rapture is associated with the teachings of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), prominent among the Plymouth Brethren, who under some influence of Edward Irving championed a new type of pretribulational premillennialism called dispensationalism in English-speaking churches in the nineteenth century. The doctrine of the rapture was further popularized by an evangelist named William Eugene Blackstone (1841-1935), whose 1908 book, Jesus Is Coming, sold more than one million copies. The theological use of the word "rapture" also appeared in the Scofield Reference Bible of 1909.

In 1957, John Walvoord (1910-2002), a theologian at Dallas Theological Seminary, authored a book, The Rapture Question, that gave theological support to the pretribulation rapture; this book eventually sold over 65,000 copies. In 1958, J. Dwight Pentecost authored a book supporting the pretribulation rapture, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology, that sold 215,000 copies.

During the 1970s, the rapture became popular in wider circles, in part due to the books of Hal Lindsey, including The Late Great Planet Earth (1970), which has reportedly sold between 15 million and 35 million copies. Lindsey proclaimed that the rapture was imminent, an idea that he based on world conditions at the time. The Cold War and the European Economic Community figured prominently in his predictions of impending Armageddon. Other aspects of 1970s global politics were seen as having been predicted in the Bible. Lindsey suggested, for example, that the seven-headed beast with ten horns, cited in Revelation, was the European Economic Community, a forebear of the European Union, which at the time aspired to ten nations; it now has 27 member states.

In 1995, the doctrine of the pretribulation rapture was further popularized by Tim LaHaye's book series, "Left Behind," which sold tens of millions of copies and was made into several movies.

The doctrine of the rapture continues to be an important component in fundamentalist Christian eschatology today. Many fundamentalist Christians continue to feel that world conditions point to the rapture, Tribulation, and return of Christ occurring soon.

The origins of the doctrine of the rapture are debated. The Orthodox, Reformed, and Roman Catholic churches have no rapture tradition and reject the doctrine, in part because they cannot find any reference to it among any of the early Church Fathers and because they interpret prophetic scriptures in either an amillennial or postmillenial fashion, as being more spiritual than physical.

Date setting

Generally, believers in the rapture of the church no longer make predictions regarding the exact timing of the event itself. The primary scripture reference cited for this position is Matthew 24:36, where Jesus is quoted saying; "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (NASB). Gary Demar has jokingly challenged "date setters" to sign a contract turning over all their assets to him on the day after they claim the Rapture is to occur (he has written a book, Last Days Madness, endorsing the preterist position and challenges many of the popular ideas of Bible prophecy).

Any individual or religious group that has dogmatically predicted the day of the rapture, referred to as "date setting," has been thoroughly embarrassed and discredited, as the predicted date of fulfillment came and went without event. Some of these individuals and groups have offered excuses and "corrected" target dates, while others have simply released a reinterpretation of the meaning of the scripture to fit their current predicament, and then explained that although the prediction appeared to have not come true, in reality it had been completely accurate and fulfilled, albeit in a different way than many had expected.

Conversely, many of those who believe that the precise date of the rapture cannot be known, do affirm that the specific time frame that immediately precedes the rapture event can be known. This time frame is often referred to as "the season." The primary section of scripture cited for this position is Matthew 24:32-35; where Jesus is quoted teaching the parable of the fig tree, which is proposed as the key that unlocks the understanding of the general timing of the rapture, as well as the surrounding prophecies listed in the sections of scripture that precede and follow this parable.

Some notable rapture predictions include the following:

• 1792 - Shakers calculated this date

• 1844 - William Miller, founder of the Millerites, predicted the return of Christ to occur on October 22, 1844 revised after an initial prediction for the 1843/1844 Hebrew Year. The failure of Jesus to appear on this date after his followers had sold all their possessions was referred to as "The Great Disappointment."

• 1981 - Chuck Smith undogmatically predicted that Jesus would likely return by 1981.

• 1988 - Publication of 88 Reasons why the Rapture is in 1988, by Edgar C. Whisenant.

• 1989 - Publication of The final shout: Rapture report 1989, by Edgar Whisenant. More predictions by this author appeared for 1992, 1995, and other years.

• 1992 - Korean group "Mission for the Coming Days" predicted October 28, 1992 as the date for the rapture.

• 1993 - Seven years before the year 2000. The rapture would have to start to allow for seven years of the Tribulation before the Return in 2000. Multiple predictions.

• 1994 - Pastor John Hinkle of Christ Church in Los Angeles predicted June 9, 1994. Radio evangelist Harold Camping predicted September 27, 1994.

• 1997 - Stan Johnson of the Prophecy Club predicted September 12, 1997.

• 1998 - Marilyn Agee, in The End of the Age, predicted May 31, 1998.

• 2000 - Many "millennial" predictions.

• 2006 - Many predictions for June 06, or 06/06/06, the so-called Number of the Beast.

• 2012 - According to the Mayan Calendar, some come to have believe that the world will end on this date since the calendar went no further than Dec. 21, 2012.

• 2060 - Sir Isaac Newton proposed, based upon his calculations using figures from the book of Daniel, that the rapture could happen no earlier than 2060.

Movies

The Rapture is often the plot of films. In these films, all of the Christians mysteriously disappear. Usually everyone wakes up one morning and to find that millions of people have vanished without explanation. Often there is a news cast where experts debate what has happened. The rest of the film deals with those that that were "left behind" as they realize that the Rapture has happened and the world is consumed by evil forces and heads towards ultimate destruction.

The first fullfledged rapture movie was A Thief in the Night (1972) produced by Russell S. Doughten. That film was followed by three sequels A Distant Thunder (1977), Image of the Beast (1980), The Prodigal Planet (1983), and a novel, and set up the genre of the rapture film. With only a few exceptions the genre died out by the end of the 1970s only to resurface again in the 1990s with such films as Apocalypse, Revelation (2001), The Rapture (1991), Left Behind: The Movie(2000), and The Omega Code (1999) and Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001).

In 2002, Dirk Been and Joel Klug (former "Survivor" cast members) starred in the movie Gone, which is about three lawyers who are left behind in the Philippines. The film was nominated for 'Best Christian Movie of the Year' by Christian Beats magazine and was seen on the Dove Awards on national TV. "Gone" was seen by an estimated 1.2 million people. It was written and directed by Tim Chey.

Books

In 1950, the novel Raptured by Ernest Angley was published. It was a fictional novel based on the accounts foretold in the books of Daniel and Revelation. The story focuses on a man whose mother is raptured along with other Christians, while he is left behind in the tribulation period.

In 1995, Left Behind was published. The rapture is a major component of the premise of the book and its various spin-offs. These books greatly revived public interest in this concept. The plot of the book was used as a basis for a 2006 video game.

In Mark E. Rogers' book, The Dead. published in 2001, those chosen for salvation disappear in a blinding flash of light. It is possible for people who have been left behind to redeem themselves in the eyes of God; those who do are immediately raptured. Sacrificing oneself to help others is one way of being redeemed. Some characters are actually under attack by reanimated corpses, or by Legion himself, at the time of their rapture. The blinding flash of light totally disorients the corpses who witness it, rendering them incapable of any action at all for a short time. The humans are literally "caught up" "in an instant" by God.

Music

At the height of the Jesus Movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the rapture figured prominently in popular songs by secular artists, such as "Are You Ready?" by Pacific Gas & Electric (#14 in August 1970) and "In The Year 2525" by Zager and Evans (#1 in July 1969). Also at that time, the song "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" was written and performed by Larry Norman, one of the founders of the nascent "Jesus Rock" movement in the early 70s. Other songs about the Christian end times include "Goin' by the Book," "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash, and "Tribulation" by Charlie Daniels. Later popular songs based on the Apocalypse, if not explicitly the Rapture, are "1999" by Prince and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" by REM. Norman Greenbaum's song "Spirit in the Sky" is also related to the subject.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Angley, Ernest. 1950. Raptured a novel on the second coming of the Lord. Old Tappan, N.J.: F.H. Revell Co. ISBN 0800781724
• Blackstone, William E. Jesus Is Coming. 1908 ed. Kessinger Publishing, 2008. ISBN 1437221769
• Braaten, Carl E., and Robert W. Jenson (eds.). The Last Things: Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Eschatology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003. ISBN 978-0802848789
• Keeley, Robin. 1982. Eerdmans' handbook to Christian belief. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's. ISBN 0802835775
• Kelly, Anthony. Eschatology And Hope (Theology in Global Perspective). Orbis Books, 2006. ISBN 978-1570756511
• Lindsey, Hal. The Late Great Planet Earth. 25th printing. Zondervan, 1998. ISBN 031027771X
• __________. The Rapture Truth or Consequences. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1983. ISBN 0553014110
• Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology. Zondervan, 1965. ISBN 0310308909
• Relfe, Mary Stewart. 1981. When your money fails the 666 system is here. Montgomery, Ala: Ministries. ISBN 0960798609
• Schwarz, Hans. Eschatology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001. ISBN 978-0802847331
• Walvoord, John F. The Rapture Question. Revised and enlarged ed. Zondervan, 1979. ISBN 0310341515

External links

• Biblecentre. Rapture: Lord's Coming. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
• Assemblies of God. The Rapture of the Church. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
• Essays on Rapture from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Retrieved October 20, 2008.
• Wohlberg, Steve. The Rapture, is anything missing?. Adventist Review. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
• Wright , N. T. Farewell to the Rapture. Bible Review. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
• The Rapture: Hoax or Hope?. Religious Tolerance. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
• Williams, David M. The different views of the rapture in relation to the Great Tribulation. GeoCities. Retrieved October 20, 2008.

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