Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 2): The Rapture Interpretation

The Rapture Interpretation

Last time we began the final locus of our Defenders class – the doctrine of the last things. We began by looking at some of the biblical data concerning the Second Coming of Christ. Today we want to continue our examination of those biblical data.

Look with me at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:8. Paul writes to these Greek believers,

But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

But as to the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape. But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

Here Paul talks about the same event that Jesus discussed in his Olivet Discourse, namely, the return of Christ, the in-gathering of the elect, and the resurrection of the dead. Paul then ends with the same exhortation, “Watch, stay awake, be alert. You don’t know when this is going to happen.”

The final passage I would like to read from the New Testament is 1 John 3:2-3. John writes, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” Here John says that when Christ returns we are going to be made like him. Then he gives the exhortation, “In the meantime, purify yourself in the same way that Christ is pure.”

Let me now say a word about some of the New Testament vocabulary for the return of Christ because there are a variety of words that are used to specify this event. The most common of these is the word parousia. Parousia is often translated as the word “coming” or the “presence” of Christ – his appearing, his becoming present, or simply his coming. For example, in 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8 we have this word used. “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him . . . And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.”

Another word that is used is apokalupsis. The word apokalupsis is translated “revelation” – the revealing or disclosing of something. For example, this word is used in 2 Thessalonians 1:7. He speaks of granting “rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire.” Hence Christ’s Second Coming is often referred to as the Apocalypse or the revealing of Christ when he comes again.

A third word is epiphaneia. This will often be translated by the English word “appearance.” This word is used in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 when Paul says, “the Lord Jesus will slay him [the lawless one] with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.” The coming of Christ is his parousia; the appearing of Christ is epiphaneia.

These are some of the principal words to refer to the Second Coming of Christ: parousia, apokalupsis, and epiphaneia. All are referring to this event when Christ will bodily and physically return to earth to establish decisively his promised Kingdom.

The question that we now want to address is the question: Is there going to be one return of Christ or many? Is Christ going to return simply one time or he is going to return multiple times? There are a variety of views, as you might imagine, on this question among Christians.

Let’s first talk about what I’ll call the rapture view. According to this view there is going to be an invisible return of Christ to snatch away believers before the final visible return of Christ to establish his Kingdom. This invisible return of Christ – or rapture – is to rescue Christians from the Great Tribulation that we saw Jesus predicted in his Olivet Discourse.

This position is, I’m sure, very familiar to most of us, but it must be said that this is not the historic position of the Christian church. In fact, this view is one of relatively recent origin, dating to an Irishman named John Darby in 1827. So this view is sometimes called Darbyism after the originator of this interpretation. This view has been exceedingly influential in the evangelical church because of its endorsement by the famous Scofield Reference Bible. The use of the Scofield Reference Bible in fundamentalist and evangelical churches helped to promote this view of the rapture. Moreover, Dallas Theological Seminary, which is one of the flagship evangelical seminaries, is committed to this interpretation as well. Through the many pastors that it has trained and placed in American evangelical churches this view has become very widespread. Finally, this view has become enormously popular in pop culture through the writings of authors like Hal Lindsey, who's The Late Great Planet Earth some of you will remember, or more recently the series by Tim LaHaye called Left Behind, which was a runaway best seller. Because of the influence of these factors in the evangelical church and in popular culture, many of us never know of any other view than this rapture view. In fact, I would say that for many of us who have been raised in Christian homes or Christian churches we’ve absorbed this view with our mother’s milk and have never really thought to examine the biblical credentials to see if this is actually a biblical view and to assess the question whether the historic Christian church has for eighteen centuries been in error in thinking that there is but one return of Christ that is not preceded by this invisible return in which he snatches believers out of the world.

So let’s examine the biblical basis for this view. Returning to the Olivet Discourse in Mark 13 which we previously read, I think in all candor we have to say that you would never guess from Jesus’ Olivet Discourse on the course of the end times that there is going to be an invisible return of Christ to rapture believers out of the world and extract them prior to the Great Tribulation or at any other time for that matter. Look at Mark 13:19-20, 24-27. Jesus says,

For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not shortened the days, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

There is no suggestion here that the elect are going to be snatched out of the world and spared from this Great Tribulation that Jesus here predicts. Then in verses 24-27 he says,

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Notice that this gathering of the elect that will occur when the Son of Man returns is a visible event. This is not some secret return of Christ invisible to the eye. They will see the Son of Man returning on the clouds with power and great glory and then he will gather the elect. This event is said to take place after the tribulation and is clearly a visible event that people will see and experience.

There is nothing in this Olivet Discourse that would suggest the idea of a secret rapture of the church prior to the visible return of the Son of Man to gather the elect and establish his kingdom.

So you might ask: Where does this idea come from? If it doesn’t come from Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, where does this idea of a rapture of the church come from? Well, it comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. There Paul writes,

For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.

The rapture interpretation holds that Paul is describing a rapture event in which the elect will be snatched out of the world, taken up into the clouds to be with Christ, and so will be with him forever.

But is that in fact what this passage is describing? I don’t see any reason to think that what Paul here describes is a distinct event from the Second Coming of Christ. There is no hint in the Olivet Discourse, you will remember, of any sort of a secret coming of Christ prior to the visible return of the Son of Man and the resurrection of the dead. Paul’s teaching is obviously based on Jesus’ teaching. Jesus’ teaching is reflected in the Thessalonian letters. So why would we see this passage as teaching something different than what Jesus taught about the return of the Son of Man?

You might say then, “What about the expression ‘meeting the Lord in the air?’” The Greek word here is apantēsis. In Greek literature this word is used to describe the going out of the people to meet a returning dignitary to his city and to welcome him back into the city. Apantēsis is the going out and welcoming of this returning hero or figure to his rightful domain. This is what is described in 1 Thessalonians. Christ is returning and the elect will be transformed and rise, taken up to meet him and welcome him when he comes back. Look at Mark 13:27, back in the Olivet Discourse. What Paul describes is, I think, the same event that is described in Mark 13:27: “And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” What Paul is talking about is exactly this – that the Son of Man, when he returns, will gather the elect and, as Paul says, they will rise to meet him and welcome him back on his return to Earth.

Next week, we’ll examine further Paul’s teaching about the Second Coming of Christ in assessment of the rapture view.^[1]