Was A Pre-Tribulation Rapture Taught Before The 1800's?

Most often, the teaching of a Pre/Mid tribulation ‘Rapture’ re-appears during times of world crisis, social upheaval, pandemics, war, rumors of war, etc., to help bring focus on the soon-coming return of Jesus, who will stop it all and set up His Kingdom on Earth for 1,000 years.

The Second Coming of Jesus is the blessed hope of the Church (Titus 2:3; also Amos 5:18). The first "coming of the Lord" was at His birth. Jesus told the Disciples that He would return in power and "descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel," for His second "coming" immediately after the seventh and final trumpet sound of the Tribulation, which begins the day of His wrath that will be unleashed on those who have rejected Him as Lord and Savior, as He 'gathers' all His people; both the righteous living and those who have died, and take them with Him in spectacular power and glory to Israel to fight and defeat the Antichrist and his armies, and then begins His Millennial reign as "all things are subjected to Him" to establish the "Kingdom of Heaven" (2 Peter 1:16; Matthew 24:29-31, 37-39; John 6:40, 44,54; Romans 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:4:16,13-18,5:1-10; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-11, 2:1-4; Revelation 11:15-19, 19:20; see also 1 Corinthians 15:23,28,51-54; Zechariah 14:2; Jer 6:11).

A majority of early Church Fathers taught either amillennialism or Post-Tribulation/Premillennial return of Jesus. Augustine was a proponent of amillennialism, as were the Reformers in the 16th century.

Over the last 200+- years, two theories emerged known as the Pre-Tribulation and Mid-Tribulation removal of Born-Again Christians from the Earth by Jesus, commonly called the Rapture, before His return. The word 'rapture' does not appear anywhere in the Bible and was chosen to encompass how Jesus would remove the Church (Gk: 'ecclesia') from the Earth prior to the pouring out of God's wrath upon those who reject Jesus as Lord and Savior on the single day of judgment at the end of history where He will judge all (Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:14,15,18,2:2; Matthew 10:15; 11:22,24; 2 Peter 2:9; 3:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:2,4; 2 Peter 2:9, 3:7; 1 Corinthians 1:8, 3:13; 2 Corinthians 1:14; Philippians 1:6,10; Jude 6; Romans 2:5,16; Hebrews 10:25; Revelation 6:17).

This final wrathful judgment begins after the Great Tribulation, also known as 'Jacobs trouble' (Revelation 20:11-15, also Jeremiah 30:7).

HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

There are no legitimate historical documents that mention or discuss a 'Rapture.' In virtually every case throughout history, the writers who are quoted as referring to it in some form or another were living in times of great tribulation and believed the Bible, which says the Church/Bride of Christ would not be on the Earth when the imminent judgment and wrath of God would be poured out on those who rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The majority of the original teachings of the early Church were significantly premillennialist. The Church looked forward to the return of Jesus and the resurrection of the Saints at His return, when He would then rule the Earth for one thousand years, after which the Second (or general) Resurrection would occur, and the judgment would follow from those thousand years.

The church father, Origen (AD 185 -254) was the most important theologian and biblical scholar of the early Church, and openly challenged any teaching other than a amillennial return. His teachings were influential in the Church after Constantine, and by the fifth century, his beliefs had become the dominant view in the Church, which Augustine further developed.

It wasn't until the 1800s that the Pre- and Mid-Rapture doctrines began to gain popularity within the church, largely due to the propagation of dispensationalism and replacement theology. John Nelson Darby was a prominent figure in the Plymouth Brethren, and is considered the father of modern dispensationalism and futurism. He conjured up the ‘rapture’ theory apology in the 1830s.

Here are nine of the major and most often quoted out of context authors/church Fathers by those who propagate anything other than the post-Tribulation return of Jesus. The context and subject of the following referenced quotes do not specifically speak of a Pre or Mid-Tribulation ‘rapture’ but actually discuss a different matter than the position that had been inserted into the text by ‘rapture’ apologists, as the writers used terms that are not the same as those used today.

1. The Shepherd of Hermas (AD 95-150) wrote:

"You have escaped from the Tribulation on account of your faith, and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast. Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds, and say to them that this beast is a type of the great Tribulation that is coming. If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart, and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it, if your heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the days of your life in serving the Lord blamelessly."