AN EXAMINATION OF THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH – PART 1 OF 4
We are going to enter a journey into the understanding of the Rapture. I am wanting to do that because this is such an important subject, and the changes in the world in these past 24 months have been quite dramatic, further pointing to the imminence of the Rapture.
We do fight a battle when we teach on the truth of the Rapture because Satan opposes the truth. The opposition comes from the secular world and also from churches. I want to add this by way of quotations:
Here is a quote from CNN (media) which is an attack on the Rapture teaching - (Name withheld) wrote, “In this, the rapture has become a uniquely American fear, and a uniquely American hope. It’s both a widely known bit of Christian mythology – religious and secular pop culture alike have frequently depicted some manner of supernatural event that would cause many to disappear suddenly from the Earth - and a controversial, often-misunderstood topic of theology. It’s a fairy tale used to frighten children and a lullaby for grown adults, including my own parents. I’m no longer waiting for the rapture, and yet I see it everywhere.”
CNN went on to say that in the Corinthians and Thessalonians passages, Paul was being dramatic and was using metaphorical language, and was writing in poetic form. They used the old chestnut again by declaring this “falsehood” came from J N Darby. CNN found support from some church in Michigan. They added, “The great problems Christians can’t answer are, it was not taught by Jesus and the word does not occur in the bible.”
The article finishes with, “Yet it's amazing how scriptures get misused, and relatively new theological ideas - such as the rapture - get deeply embedded in certain circles. The rapture is really a plot device for popular entertainment and a bizarre theological teaching in fundamentalist circles, where it functions in a variety of ways. But it's bad theology, and Jesus himself would have been astonished to learn that thousands of years after him there were such notions afloat.”
Well, Satan sure has his sources at CNN.
I will use one more quote, this time from an article written by Jay Parini in association with the Illinois Catholic bishops whose spokesman is a Joyce Donahue, and titled “Even Jesus wouldn't buy 'the rapture’” (updated 12:59 PM EDT, Sun July 6, 2014) – “. . . that denounced the Left Behind series as "one of the most attractively marketed recent false prophets" and as being both anti-Catholic and "in conflict with Catholic teaching. The Rapture ideology, the statement said, promotes "an unhealthy and immature belief in a harshly judgmental God."
“The Rapture idea is based on creative but erroneous interpretations of three Bible passages (1 Thess. 4:13-18, Matt. 24:40-41, and John 14:1-2). In a desperate attempt to cling to a supposedly "literal" approach to interpreting the Bible, the proponents of the Rapture engage in an absurd "biblical hopscotch" by isolating and then re-assembling snippets from very different biblical books.”
"Many Catholics have interiorized this," laments Donahue, the associate director of the Religious Education Office in the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois.
Those quotes above are just a small glimpse at the opposition to the Rapture that is most solidly taught by the Bible. We will now examine the Rapture.
INTRODUCTION:
To communicate information with people, one needs to be able to define the terms. If that is not done then words becomes meaningless and all sense is lost. The word “Rapture” must also be defined. We will look at some history of the word’s origin.
ENGLISH ORIGINS ? RAPTURE —> c. 1600, "act of carrying off" as prey or plunder, from “rapt + -ure,” or else from French rapture, from Medieval Latin “rapture” - "seizure, kidnapping," from Latin “raptus” - "a carrying off, abduction, snatching away" (see rapt). The earliest attested use in English is with women as objects, and in 17c. it sometimes meant rape (v), which word is a cognate of this one.
You know the bird of prey called the RAPTOR. Well its origin is this - raptor (n) ? late 14c., raptour, "a plundering bird of prey;" c. 1600, "ravisher, abductor," from Latin raptor "a robber, plunderer, abductor, ravisher," agent noun from past-participle stem of rapere "to seize", or snatch away.
Ryrie’s Basic Theology ? [Our modern understanding of rapture appears to have little or no connection with the eschatological event. However, the word is properly used of that event. Rapture is a state or experience of being carried away. The English word comes from a Latin verb, “rapio”, which means to seize or snatch, in relation to an ecstasy of spirit, or the actual removal from one place to another. In other words, it means to be carried away in spirit or in body. The Rapture of the Church means the carrying away of the Church from earth to heaven.
The Greek word from which this term “rapture” is derived, appears in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, translated “caught up.” The Latin translation (Vulgate) of this verse used the word “rapturo”. The Greek word it translates is “harpazo”, which means to snatch or take away. Elsewhere it is used to describe how the Spirit caught up Philip near Gaza and brought him to Caesarea (Acts 8:39) and to describe Paul’s experience of being caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Thus there can be no doubt that the word is used in 1Thessalonians 4:17 to indicate the actual removal of people from earth to heaven.]
I hope that was not too technical, but the origin of the word is to snatch away or to catch up. That is exactly what the Rapture will be – a snatching away from the world, and a catching up. The Lord will return for you, and all of His redeemed ones, taking you from the world and catching you up.
[A]. A NEW TESTAMENT MYSTERY:
The Rapture is exclusive to the New Testament and was a mystery that God allowed Paul to expound. Before that very time, the idea might have been known in a vague way or not known at all, and we can say that because Paul uses the word “mystery” in revealing this truth. The Greek “µ?st?????” (mysterion) (mystery) meant a fact or truth or concept not previously known but at a certain point in time, God chose to reveal it, and the New Testament mysteries are all unique to the New Testament. There are a number of these mysteries in the New Testament, with two of them termed “great mysteries”. Here is Paul’s declaration of the mystery of the Rapture - 1Corinthians 15:51 “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed . . .” At that point, Paul declares the truth of the Rapture, hidden before that time, but in the Corinthian letter, the Rapture is now revealed for the first time.
[B]. DID THE LORD TEACH THE RAPTURE?
The answer to this is, “No” but I know some will be uncertain about it. Matthew 24 and 25 are NOT the Rapture and I have written on that much earlier back. Matthew 24 and 25 relate to the Second Coming at the end of the 7 years’ Tribulation, and also involve the Jews of the Tribulation period, and in no way can they be applied to the Rapture. I know people do it all the time and love to take the signs like “earthquakes” and then apply it to our time. It creates confusion and I wish it was not done. There must be a clearer delineation between the Rapture and Second Coming but I do not think that is taught by a lot of pastors and even in bible colleges. There is a hint of rapture in {{John 14:3 “and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, there you may be also.”}} This has application to Christ receiving the disciples to Himself after the resurrection, but the coming for the Church, for ALL disciples, can also be included in application. Other New Testament writers make general references with words such as “coming”, “appear/appearing”, but none of them deals with the Rapture as does Paul.
[C]. WHERE IN THE BIBLE IS THE WORD “RAPTURE”?
The word itself is not in our bibles, but the concept is well cemented. Refer to the Introduction above. Jerome used “rapturo” in the translation of the Vulgate some 1600 years ago. I know a few reject the Rapture merely because the word is not a biblical one. Well, the term “appropriated righteousness” is not a biblical term, nor the Trinity but the concepts certainly are, and we use the terms.
[D]. WHAT ARE THE NEW TESTAMENT PASSAGES FOR THE RAPTURE?
The two best known ones are 1Corinthians 15 (must use the entire chapter) and 1Thessalonians 4:13-18. Also there is Revelation 4:1 and {{John 14 v 1-3 – “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, there you may be also.”}} I have already mentioned “I will come again” in Part B earlier. The “I go to prepare a place for you” is an interesting one. A considerable number of people believe the notion that the Lord is preparing heaven for us and building mansions (from the KJV). This is so wrong. The preparation was the cross, for without redemption there would be no hope beyond that point for us. The cross prepared everything.
[D1]. A CLOSER LOOK AT REVELATION 4:1 AND 1 THESSALONIANS 1:10
A quick look at Revelation {{4 v 1 - “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”}} “After these things” is after the prophetic history of Christendom in chapters 2 and 3, (an outline of 7 periods of Church history) which ends with the Rapture, and precedes “what must take place after these things”. Revelation 4 verse 1 is the fulcrum that divides the past with the present, FROM the future. It is the Rapture. Remember the verse from chapter 1:19 “Write therefore the things which you “have seen”, and the things which “are”, and the things which “shall take place” after these things.” Chapter 4 v 1 begins the section “the things which shall take place after these things.”
Here is a poem I wrote with Revelation 4:1 in mind:-
HEAVEN’ S DOOR WILL OPEN TO US
Let the door of heaven open;
Let the Saviour’s voice be heard;
Let the trumpet sound its calling;
We are waiting for the word.
“Come up here!” will be our summons.
“Come up here!” He calls the Bride.
“Come to ME My glorious one,
You for whom I wept and died!”
Who can comprehend those gathered?
Who can contemplate such bliss?
The Lord will snatch up all His own;
Not one redeemed, will He miss.
Hear the voice of the archangel!
Hear that trumpet call for you!
In an instant; in a moment -
There’s no waiting in a queue.
Heaven’ glory bursts upon us;
Heaven’s centre is the Lamb.
Heaven’s beauty centres ‘round Him;
He the Lord, the Great I AM.
Light and truth will be resplendent.
Light and Truth - that my Lord is.
Light illumines ev’ry facet,
Shows the splendour that is His.
Praise resounds from ev’ry quarter.
Praise will rise from the redeemed.
Angels likewise see His glory
In the Church His blood has cleaned.
Evermore rejoice in Jesus;
Evermore to share His love.
O, melt our hearts in gratitude,
And our thoughts transport above.
28 March 2022 Ron Ferguson Metre = 8-7-8-7
Poem is copyright but may be used in Christian ministry with acknowledgement.
In {{1Thessalonians 1:10 we have “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”}} In the early days of the Church, the Rapture was always before the believers’ eyes, but in the second century, as the persecution rolled on, the Church was under distress for 10 periods of its history, and the saints struggled with living and death (martyrdom) and they began to forget about waiting for the Son from heaven. When the persecution ended around AD 312, heresies overtook the churches even more than previously, and the church held its great Councils, and from these, the creeds developed to state the biblical/orthodox position against heresy, especially at that time, Arianism (Jesus was a created person, not divine God – much like the JWs).
The creed that came out to combat Arianism was The Nicene Creed, first adopted in A.D. 325 at the Council of Nicea. At the end it states – “He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.” (no mention of a separate Rapture or glorious hope). We see by 325 A.D. that the understanding of the Rapture had faded and the church was settling now comfortably in the world, and weakened by paganism as its practices entered into its ranks and it became more ecclesiastical, and more and more detached from the honest simplicity of the early church. Once a church becomes worldly and pagan, it thinks only of its “good life” and forgets all about the glorious hope and imminence of the Lord’s return for the saints.
In time the Apostles’ Creed developed over the next 150 years. That creed ends with “. . . the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.” Very sadly the Church had entered the days of “the forgotten Rapture” and just believed in one coming to consummate all things. The Rapture, and the whole of Revelation, and big pieces of the Major and Minor Prophets were rolled into just a few words – “He shall come to judge the living and the dead.” How sad was that, for the Rapture is not only our hope, but the motivation we have for a life lived correctly in expectation of the Lord’s coming. For about 15 to 18 centuries the Rapture remained forgotten, dead and buried! Except for the very odd isolated Christian here and there who understood the scriptures if they could ever hear them, for the church of Rome forbade ordinary people from having any scripture.
This verse in {{1Thessalonians 1:10 - “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come,”}} very explicitly places the time of the Rapture. We know from careful study of Thessalonians that this wrath to come is connected with the coming world leader/Antichrist and the Tribulation/Day of the LORD. The Deliverer who comes is the Lord Jesus Christ who delivers us from that. That delivery is the Rapture. The Church does not enter wrath because Jesus endured that wrath against sin for us.
God bless you till next time when we will consider that thought more carefully.
THAT ENDS PART 1. PART 2 WILL FOLLOW.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
