Immediately below is the text of a blog post about the Rapture that someone asked me to evaluate. I copied and pasted the text here so you wouldn’t have to visit the actual web page, which had some questionable ads and links. My comments begin after the statement "End Quoted Blog Post."
--Pastor Tim
Nobody Is Getting Left Behind (Because the Rapture Is Never, Ever Going to Happen) I'm sorry Left Behind fans.
But, there is no such thing as the rapture.
Of course, you couldn't tell me this when I was in high school because I was head over heals in love with biblical prophecy. Nothing else mattered. I was utterly convinced that the book of Revelation was a road map to the future and Jack Van Impe was the prophet who could unlock the apocalyptic map for me. I even had the Jack Van Impe Prophecy Bible, leather bound and color coordinated to let me know exactly what each verse prophesied. So sure was I that the rapture would happen at any moment, that I believed it to be my mission from God to scare let everyone around me know that the end was nigh so they would not be left behind.
I was genuinely shocked every morning when I would wake up to find myself still in my bed and not standing at the pearly gates.
Was my math wrong?
Had I missed a color-coded clue in my prophecy bible?
Surely Jack Van Impe hadn't misread a sign in the news. So why hadn't I been raptured already??
This went on for years, until finally I entered college.
A christian college, of course. Where else would a end times expert go to school?
I was a religion major. So, I decided I would clear this rapture matter up once and for all with one of my religion professors as soon as possible and finally get an precise date for the rapture.
After all, isn't that the whole point of being a New Testament scholar? To be able to predict the rapture?
Not long after I arrived at college I had a meeting with my advisor, a professor in New Testament theology. I thought surely, if anyone understands the signs of the times as well as Jack Van Impe it would be him. So, I confidently marched into his office, instantly recognized that his efforts to work through my class schedule were a not so subtle invitation to discuss the apocalypse, and spent the next 20 minutes or so explaining to him why I knew that the end was nigh and why I was so frustrated that this fact wasn't the only thing we talked about in class or the only thing my pastor preached about every Sunday morning.
Fortunately for me, he was a patient man.
It was almost as if he had heard this speech before from some other young end times expert. While I hated his response at the time, his words forever changed my perspective on biblical prophecy and the rapture.
He said, "Here's my problem with Jack Van Impe and guys like him: They are trying to pinpoint places on prophetic map that simply doesn't exist. Are we living in the last days? Absolutely, but we have been ever since Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning."
He said more, but to be honest I don't remember it because I was floored. How dare he say there is no prophetic roadmap?! Had he not read any of the Left Behindbooks?? It was all there in black and white!!
When I finally calmed down about a week later, I decided to investigate his nonsensical claim further and attempt to do so with as open a mind as I possible could. It wasn't an easy process. Or a short one. But once I reached the end of my prophetic investigative journey I reached one clear and indisputable conclusion.
I was wrong.
It hurt to admit it and to be honest it kinda still does. But there was no way around it -- the rapture was never, ever going to happen.
You see, I had made the same mistake that Jack Van Impe makes. He shouts (or at least passionately pleas) the loudest and only hears others like him shouting that the end is nigh. So, over time he becomes convinced that the rapture is imminent, that he has it all (or at least a lot of it) figured out, and that everyone who disagrees will be left behind.
Like my prophetic hero, I was screaming the loudest that the rapture was imminent and I only surrounded myself with voices that agreed with me. Because of this, I was never able to hear a crucial piece of information: No one in the church has ever even believed in the rapture until the last 200 years or so.
You see, the idea of a rapture never even appears on the church's radar until the late 18th and early 19th centuries. You would think that such a pivotal moment in the life of the church would get a least a brief mention by someone like Luther or Calvin or Aquinas or maybe Augustine. But there is only silence.
Why?
Well the first reason is fairly straightforward.
The term "rapture" appears no where in the Bible. Of course, neither does the word "trinity." But the concept of a triune God does appear throughout the New Testament. While the idea of believers being "caught up in the air" is mentioned, it is metaphorically describing the Second Coming. Paul is not claiming, nor even implying that Christians will disappear before all hell breaks loose on earth.
In fact, (and this is probably the second biggest reason the great thinkers of the church don't talk about the rapture) the very idea of the rapture is antithetical to the narrative of scripture.
Why?
Because the Bible is a story about a God who journeys with His people through hard times even when it is God who has unleashed the judgment. He doesn't pluck them out of danger. Whether that danger is slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, exile in Babylon, the travails of Job, oppression under the Romans, or the persecution of the early church, God walks with God's people through the valley of the shadow of death. He doesn't snatch them out of it.
If that is true, then our love for the rapture reveals a lack of love for the very world Jesus came to save. The very idea of the church abandoning the world in its time of need is endemic of an American Christianity that is more focused on the self than the needs of the other, more gnostic (concerned with right ideas) than actually Christian, and hyper-focused on the hereafter to the detriment of the here and now. Yes, the Second Coming is important -- but so is everything that happens before.
But perhaps the most important thing to remember is the book of Revelation is not a road map to the future. It is the declaration that Jesus will return, justice will be granted to the oppressed, and all things will be made new. But it is not attempting to give precise details on how that will happen.
Rather than an apocalyptic road map, Revelation is a book of worship. It exists to declare the glory, power, and grace of God. It is not a guidebook to the apocalypse.
Now, I absolutely believe that Jesus will return one day to wipe away every tear from our eyes and make all things new.
But that is the Second Coming, not the rapture. Those are two very, very different things. One allows us to neglect the present world and let it crumble away while we focus on our own eternal glory. The other beckons us to participate in God's restoration of creation by loving His people and showing them how to live the life God intended until He does return to bring that work of redemption to final completion.
We are absolutely living in the last days, but as my professor said so long ago, we have been ever since Jesus walked about of the tomb on Easter morning.
So, let us live as if these truly are the last days, not by running around telling the world "Good luck, we'll see you later!"But by incarnating the love of God to a world desperately in need of His grace.
By doing that, we affirm the truth and hope of the resurrection while showing the world that the return of our Lord is not something to be feared.
It's something to celebrate.
***End Quoted Blog Post***
Some General Thoughts About the Rapture
Let me simply say up front that I believe there will be a Rapture—an event in which Jesus resurrects deceased Christians, reunites them with living Christians, and takes us all out of this world to live in Heaven with Him. I believe that the Rapture is a different event than the Second Coming. I believe that the Rapture will happen prior to a future time of God’s judgment on this world called the Tribulation.
I don’t hold to my belief in the Rapture as tenaciously as I hold to some of my other beliefs, like my belief that Jesus was God in human flesh. I think there is very little chance that I’m wrong about the deity of Christ, but there is more of a chance that I’m wrong about my belief in the Rapture. I say that for two reasons:
1. When it comes to certain questions about the End Times, we simply have less biblical information to work with. Anytime your conclusion is based on a smaller amount of information, there’s a greater chance that you could be wrong. When it comes to a doctrine like the deity of Christ, we have lots and lots of information to work with, so we can have a very high level of confidence in that doctrine. With a doctrine like the Rapture, however, we simply have fewer passages on which to base our thinking, so there is a relatively greater likelihood that we could be wrong.
2. Bible teachers whom I respect disagree with me about the Rapture. I’ll mention just two, since you may hear them on the radio on any given day: R. C. Sproul and Hank Hanegraaf (the man who hosts the “Bible Answer Man” program). There are others as well, and this fact causes me to approach questions about the Rapture humbly and cautiously.
Why I Believe in the Rapture
To keep from making this into a book, I’m going to offer a brief outline of the argument for the Rapture. If you’d like to dig deeper, you’ll have to do some homework on your own (which is always good, anyway!), and I can also recommend some resources to you if you’re interested.
1. The passages that describe Christ’s return seem to focus on two very different reasons for His coming. One set describes Christ coming to take Christians to a home He has prepared for them in Heaven (John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), and another set describes Christ coming to defeat enemies in this world and establish a kingdom (Zechariah 14, Revelation 19:11-20:6). This difference leads me to believe that these passages are talking about two different events rather than the same event.
2. Some verses seem to teach that God intends to spare His people from a coming time in which He will send judgments upon the Earth. For this, see especially 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10, and Revelation 3:10.
3. God has a track record of sparing His people during times when He has displayed His wrath. The author of the blog post missed a very important distinction when he wrote about some events in biblical history. For example, he mentioned the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites and noted that God did not spare the people from that hard time. We have to remember that that event was discipline for the people’s sins—of course God isn’t going to spare them from that hardship, because the whole point of the discipline is that they would experience that hardship. But we see a very different pattern when God sends His wrath upon other people. During the Exodus, when God sent plagues upon Egypt, He specifically protected His people from those plagues (Exodus 8:20-12:32). When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he spared Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19). When God sent the Flood, he delivered Noah and his family (Genesis 6-9). These precedents suggest that we have to make a distinction between the general sufferings of life (such as persecution, illness), suffering that comes from our sins (like the wilderness wanderings and the Exile), and events in which God displays wrath toward other people (the plagues on Egypt). When God displays wrath toward others, His track record is to spare His people from it.
4. God has done things like this before! Twice in the Old Testament, God took believers out of this world while they were still alive—Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-12). In each of those cases, God only took one person, but the point is that it is not unheard of for God to take believers out of the world before they die—which is a key part of the idea of the Rapture.
If you’re interested in some more information on the Rapture, I would recommend reading the answers to questions about the Rapture at www.gotquestions.org.
Responses to Specific Statements from the Blog Post
Let me interact now with some of the specific claims and statements made in the blog post. Unfortunately, the author uses lots of the sensational and dogmatic language in his post that is far too common on the Internet (such as “never, ever” in his title). That kind of language really stirs up traffic on the Internet, but its not helpful for discussing an issue like this. I’ll insert some of his quotes here and then respond to them.
“I'm sorry Left Behind fans. But, there is no such thing as the rapture.”
Let’s do remember that the Left Behind books and movies are works of fiction. I haven’t read the books or seen any of the movies, but I do believe the books at least are based on a framework of truth. But with that being said, it doesn’t mean that things will play out exactly as they are described in those books.
“I was a religion major. So, I decided I would clear this rapture matter up once and for all with one of my religion professors as soon as possible and finally get an precise date for the rapture.
After all, isn't that the whole point of being a New Testament scholar? To be able to predict the rapture?”
It is simply folly to try to predict a precise date for the Rapture. This statement is a bit of a caricature. Careful scholars and Bible teachers who believe in the Rapture do not attempt to pinpoint a date for it.
“Are we living in the last days? Absolutely, but we have been ever since Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning."”
It is certainly true that the authors of the New Testament stated, even in their time, that we are living in the last days. One historian said that the early Christians spoke about Jesus as if they expected Him to walk through the door at any moment! Christians have anticipated the return of Christ ever since He returned to Heaven, but that fact doesn’t tell us whether there will be a Rapture or not. We simply have to wrestle with Scripture to try to answer that question.
“Like my prophetic hero, I was screaming the loudest that the rapture was imminent and I only surrounded myself with voices that agreed with me.”
The author touches on a legitimate danger here. If we only interact with people who agree with us, it can be easy to overlook flaws in our thinking. People who agree with us don’t want to point out the flaws because they have the same ones! It is important to hear some differing perspectives.
“No one in the church has ever even believed in the rapture until the last 200 years or so.”
Though his language is a bit exaggerated, there is some truth to this statement. A formal doctrine about the Rapture has only appeared in the last 200-300 years. That does not mean that “no one has ever even believed in it,” but it is true, as the author went on to point out, that great Christian teachers like Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin had no formal belief in the Rapture.
While that fact may feel embarrassing to someone who believes in the Rapture, it certainly isn’t a decisive blow against the doctrine. The central question for a doctrine is not, “What have most Christians over the years believed?” but “What does the Bible teach?” People wearing the title of “Christian” have gotten some things wrong—that’s why we had the Protestant Reformation! While historical study is interesting and helpful, ultimately we simply have to ask if a doctrine conforms to Scripture.
“the very idea of the rapture is antithetical to the narrative of scripture. Why? Because the Bible is a story about a God who journeys with His people through hard times even when it is God who has unleashed the judgment.”
I think he’s simply wrong with the claim of that first statement. As I pointed out earlier, God’s track record is to spare His people when He unleashes judgment when that judgment is not directed toward their specific sins. When God has shown His wrath against cities (Sodom), countries (Egypt), and the world (the Flood) in a very broad manner, He has protected His people during those events.
“The very idea of the church abandoning the world in its time of need is endemic of an American Christianity that is more focused on the self than the needs of the other.”
It is important to remember that the doctrine of the Rapture is not about the church choosing to leave the world; it is about God choosing to spare Christians from a time of worldwide anguish and tribulation. If this event is going to happen, it will happen because its part of God’s plan, not any plan that we got to make up on our own. Perhaps the author is saying that we’ve read this idea into Scripture because of a culture of selfishness within American Christianity, but remember—this doctrine pre-dates modern American Christianity with all its ills, and it came from Europe!
Also, I don’t know of anyone who believes in the Rapture who believes that God will be abandoning the world during the Tribulation. He will still accomplish His plans, albeit through a different group, such as the 144,000 servants mentioned in Revelation 7. Many people believe that the Tribulation will be a time of great spiritual revival despite its physical hardships.
“But perhaps the most important thing to remember is the book of Revelation is not a road map to the future. It is the declaration that Jesus will return, justice will be granted to the oppressed, and all things will be made new. But it is not attempting to give precise details on how that will happen.”
I know an author can’t do everything in one blog post, but he needs to offer some support for his conclusion that Revelation is not a “road map to the future”—especially since he wrote that this claim is “perhaps the most important thing to remember.” While I wouldn’t exactly call Revelation a “road map,” I do think that God intended to give us through that book a general outline (at the very least) of future events. That seems to be what John claims in the way he introduces the book: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place (Rev. 1:1).” Also, in Revelation 1:19, John is told to “write the things…that are to take place after this.” Then again, in Revelation 4:1, he is told, “I will show you what must take place after this.” Toward the conclusion of the book, an angel says to John, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place (Revelation 22:6).” All of those statements suggest the Revelation reveals events that were in the future from John’s perspective at least, and I would argue that they are still in the future from our perspective as well.
“Now, I absolutely believe that Jesus will return one day to wipe away every tear from our eyes and make all things new. But that is the Second Coming, not the rapture. Those are two very, very different things. One allows us to neglect the present world and let it crumble away while we focus on our own eternal glory. The other beckons us to participate in God's restoration of creation by loving His people and showing them how to live the life God intended until He does return to bring that work of redemption to final completion.”
The idea that the doctrine of the Rapture “allows us to neglect the present world and let it crumble away while we focus on our own eternal glory” is simply a straw-man argument—that is, a weak stereotype and caricature of the mindset that is actually held by those who believe in the Rapture. This idea is commonly repeated, but it is simply false. If anything, the doctrine of the Rapture gives us the opposite motivation when it is properly understood. This doctrine encourages us to be aware that the Lord could return for us at any time, and anyone who takes Christ’s commands and offers of reward seriously wants to be found hard at work for Him when He comes. Letting the present world crumble away certainly would not reflect faithfulness to the commands of Christ, and being found faithful by Jesus is a primary motivation for everyone who takes the idea of the Rapture to heart.
--Pastor Tim
Nobody Is Getting Left Behind (Because the Rapture Is Never, Ever Going to Happen) I'm sorry Left Behind fans.
But, there is no such thing as the rapture.
Of course, you couldn't tell me this when I was in high school because I was head over heals in love with biblical prophecy. Nothing else mattered. I was utterly convinced that the book of Revelation was a road map to the future and Jack Van Impe was the prophet who could unlock the apocalyptic map for me. I even had the Jack Van Impe Prophecy Bible, leather bound and color coordinated to let me know exactly what each verse prophesied. So sure was I that the rapture would happen at any moment, that I believed it to be my mission from God to scare let everyone around me know that the end was nigh so they would not be left behind.
I was genuinely shocked every morning when I would wake up to find myself still in my bed and not standing at the pearly gates.
Was my math wrong?
Had I missed a color-coded clue in my prophecy bible?
Surely Jack Van Impe hadn't misread a sign in the news. So why hadn't I been raptured already??
This went on for years, until finally I entered college.
A christian college, of course. Where else would a end times expert go to school?
I was a religion major. So, I decided I would clear this rapture matter up once and for all with one of my religion professors as soon as possible and finally get an precise date for the rapture.
After all, isn't that the whole point of being a New Testament scholar? To be able to predict the rapture?
Not long after I arrived at college I had a meeting with my advisor, a professor in New Testament theology. I thought surely, if anyone understands the signs of the times as well as Jack Van Impe it would be him. So, I confidently marched into his office, instantly recognized that his efforts to work through my class schedule were a not so subtle invitation to discuss the apocalypse, and spent the next 20 minutes or so explaining to him why I knew that the end was nigh and why I was so frustrated that this fact wasn't the only thing we talked about in class or the only thing my pastor preached about every Sunday morning.
Fortunately for me, he was a patient man.
It was almost as if he had heard this speech before from some other young end times expert. While I hated his response at the time, his words forever changed my perspective on biblical prophecy and the rapture.
He said, "Here's my problem with Jack Van Impe and guys like him: They are trying to pinpoint places on prophetic map that simply doesn't exist. Are we living in the last days? Absolutely, but we have been ever since Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning."
He said more, but to be honest I don't remember it because I was floored. How dare he say there is no prophetic roadmap?! Had he not read any of the Left Behindbooks?? It was all there in black and white!!
When I finally calmed down about a week later, I decided to investigate his nonsensical claim further and attempt to do so with as open a mind as I possible could. It wasn't an easy process. Or a short one. But once I reached the end of my prophetic investigative journey I reached one clear and indisputable conclusion.
I was wrong.
It hurt to admit it and to be honest it kinda still does. But there was no way around it -- the rapture was never, ever going to happen.
You see, I had made the same mistake that Jack Van Impe makes. He shouts (or at least passionately pleas) the loudest and only hears others like him shouting that the end is nigh. So, over time he becomes convinced that the rapture is imminent, that he has it all (or at least a lot of it) figured out, and that everyone who disagrees will be left behind.
Like my prophetic hero, I was screaming the loudest that the rapture was imminent and I only surrounded myself with voices that agreed with me. Because of this, I was never able to hear a crucial piece of information: No one in the church has ever even believed in the rapture until the last 200 years or so.
You see, the idea of a rapture never even appears on the church's radar until the late 18th and early 19th centuries. You would think that such a pivotal moment in the life of the church would get a least a brief mention by someone like Luther or Calvin or Aquinas or maybe Augustine. But there is only silence.
Why?
Well the first reason is fairly straightforward.
The term "rapture" appears no where in the Bible. Of course, neither does the word "trinity." But the concept of a triune God does appear throughout the New Testament. While the idea of believers being "caught up in the air" is mentioned, it is metaphorically describing the Second Coming. Paul is not claiming, nor even implying that Christians will disappear before all hell breaks loose on earth.
In fact, (and this is probably the second biggest reason the great thinkers of the church don't talk about the rapture) the very idea of the rapture is antithetical to the narrative of scripture.
Why?
Because the Bible is a story about a God who journeys with His people through hard times even when it is God who has unleashed the judgment. He doesn't pluck them out of danger. Whether that danger is slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, exile in Babylon, the travails of Job, oppression under the Romans, or the persecution of the early church, God walks with God's people through the valley of the shadow of death. He doesn't snatch them out of it.
If that is true, then our love for the rapture reveals a lack of love for the very world Jesus came to save. The very idea of the church abandoning the world in its time of need is endemic of an American Christianity that is more focused on the self than the needs of the other, more gnostic (concerned with right ideas) than actually Christian, and hyper-focused on the hereafter to the detriment of the here and now. Yes, the Second Coming is important -- but so is everything that happens before.
But perhaps the most important thing to remember is the book of Revelation is not a road map to the future. It is the declaration that Jesus will return, justice will be granted to the oppressed, and all things will be made new. But it is not attempting to give precise details on how that will happen.
Rather than an apocalyptic road map, Revelation is a book of worship. It exists to declare the glory, power, and grace of God. It is not a guidebook to the apocalypse.
Now, I absolutely believe that Jesus will return one day to wipe away every tear from our eyes and make all things new.
But that is the Second Coming, not the rapture. Those are two very, very different things. One allows us to neglect the present world and let it crumble away while we focus on our own eternal glory. The other beckons us to participate in God's restoration of creation by loving His people and showing them how to live the life God intended until He does return to bring that work of redemption to final completion.
We are absolutely living in the last days, but as my professor said so long ago, we have been ever since Jesus walked about of the tomb on Easter morning.
So, let us live as if these truly are the last days, not by running around telling the world "Good luck, we'll see you later!"But by incarnating the love of God to a world desperately in need of His grace.
By doing that, we affirm the truth and hope of the resurrection while showing the world that the return of our Lord is not something to be feared.
It's something to celebrate.
***End Quoted Blog Post***
Some General Thoughts About the Rapture
Let me simply say up front that I believe there will be a Rapture—an event in which Jesus resurrects deceased Christians, reunites them with living Christians, and takes us all out of this world to live in Heaven with Him. I believe that the Rapture is a different event than the Second Coming. I believe that the Rapture will happen prior to a future time of God’s judgment on this world called the Tribulation.
I don’t hold to my belief in the Rapture as tenaciously as I hold to some of my other beliefs, like my belief that Jesus was God in human flesh. I think there is very little chance that I’m wrong about the deity of Christ, but there is more of a chance that I’m wrong about my belief in the Rapture. I say that for two reasons:
1. When it comes to certain questions about the End Times, we simply have less biblical information to work with. Anytime your conclusion is based on a smaller amount of information, there’s a greater chance that you could be wrong. When it comes to a doctrine like the deity of Christ, we have lots and lots of information to work with, so we can have a very high level of confidence in that doctrine. With a doctrine like the Rapture, however, we simply have fewer passages on which to base our thinking, so there is a relatively greater likelihood that we could be wrong.
2. Bible teachers whom I respect disagree with me about the Rapture. I’ll mention just two, since you may hear them on the radio on any given day: R. C. Sproul and Hank Hanegraaf (the man who hosts the “Bible Answer Man” program). There are others as well, and this fact causes me to approach questions about the Rapture humbly and cautiously.
Why I Believe in the Rapture
To keep from making this into a book, I’m going to offer a brief outline of the argument for the Rapture. If you’d like to dig deeper, you’ll have to do some homework on your own (which is always good, anyway!), and I can also recommend some resources to you if you’re interested.
1. The passages that describe Christ’s return seem to focus on two very different reasons for His coming. One set describes Christ coming to take Christians to a home He has prepared for them in Heaven (John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), and another set describes Christ coming to defeat enemies in this world and establish a kingdom (Zechariah 14, Revelation 19:11-20:6). This difference leads me to believe that these passages are talking about two different events rather than the same event.
2. Some verses seem to teach that God intends to spare His people from a coming time in which He will send judgments upon the Earth. For this, see especially 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10, and Revelation 3:10.
3. God has a track record of sparing His people during times when He has displayed His wrath. The author of the blog post missed a very important distinction when he wrote about some events in biblical history. For example, he mentioned the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites and noted that God did not spare the people from that hard time. We have to remember that that event was discipline for the people’s sins—of course God isn’t going to spare them from that hardship, because the whole point of the discipline is that they would experience that hardship. But we see a very different pattern when God sends His wrath upon other people. During the Exodus, when God sent plagues upon Egypt, He specifically protected His people from those plagues (Exodus 8:20-12:32). When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he spared Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19). When God sent the Flood, he delivered Noah and his family (Genesis 6-9). These precedents suggest that we have to make a distinction between the general sufferings of life (such as persecution, illness), suffering that comes from our sins (like the wilderness wanderings and the Exile), and events in which God displays wrath toward other people (the plagues on Egypt). When God displays wrath toward others, His track record is to spare His people from it.
4. God has done things like this before! Twice in the Old Testament, God took believers out of this world while they were still alive—Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-12). In each of those cases, God only took one person, but the point is that it is not unheard of for God to take believers out of the world before they die—which is a key part of the idea of the Rapture.
If you’re interested in some more information on the Rapture, I would recommend reading the answers to questions about the Rapture at www.gotquestions.org.
Responses to Specific Statements from the Blog Post
Let me interact now with some of the specific claims and statements made in the blog post. Unfortunately, the author uses lots of the sensational and dogmatic language in his post that is far too common on the Internet (such as “never, ever” in his title). That kind of language really stirs up traffic on the Internet, but its not helpful for discussing an issue like this. I’ll insert some of his quotes here and then respond to them.
“I'm sorry Left Behind fans. But, there is no such thing as the rapture.”
Let’s do remember that the Left Behind books and movies are works of fiction. I haven’t read the books or seen any of the movies, but I do believe the books at least are based on a framework of truth. But with that being said, it doesn’t mean that things will play out exactly as they are described in those books.
“I was a religion major. So, I decided I would clear this rapture matter up once and for all with one of my religion professors as soon as possible and finally get an precise date for the rapture.
After all, isn't that the whole point of being a New Testament scholar? To be able to predict the rapture?”
It is simply folly to try to predict a precise date for the Rapture. This statement is a bit of a caricature. Careful scholars and Bible teachers who believe in the Rapture do not attempt to pinpoint a date for it.
“Are we living in the last days? Absolutely, but we have been ever since Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning."”
It is certainly true that the authors of the New Testament stated, even in their time, that we are living in the last days. One historian said that the early Christians spoke about Jesus as if they expected Him to walk through the door at any moment! Christians have anticipated the return of Christ ever since He returned to Heaven, but that fact doesn’t tell us whether there will be a Rapture or not. We simply have to wrestle with Scripture to try to answer that question.
“Like my prophetic hero, I was screaming the loudest that the rapture was imminent and I only surrounded myself with voices that agreed with me.”
The author touches on a legitimate danger here. If we only interact with people who agree with us, it can be easy to overlook flaws in our thinking. People who agree with us don’t want to point out the flaws because they have the same ones! It is important to hear some differing perspectives.
“No one in the church has ever even believed in the rapture until the last 200 years or so.”
Though his language is a bit exaggerated, there is some truth to this statement. A formal doctrine about the Rapture has only appeared in the last 200-300 years. That does not mean that “no one has ever even believed in it,” but it is true, as the author went on to point out, that great Christian teachers like Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin had no formal belief in the Rapture.
While that fact may feel embarrassing to someone who believes in the Rapture, it certainly isn’t a decisive blow against the doctrine. The central question for a doctrine is not, “What have most Christians over the years believed?” but “What does the Bible teach?” People wearing the title of “Christian” have gotten some things wrong—that’s why we had the Protestant Reformation! While historical study is interesting and helpful, ultimately we simply have to ask if a doctrine conforms to Scripture.
“the very idea of the rapture is antithetical to the narrative of scripture. Why? Because the Bible is a story about a God who journeys with His people through hard times even when it is God who has unleashed the judgment.”
I think he’s simply wrong with the claim of that first statement. As I pointed out earlier, God’s track record is to spare His people when He unleashes judgment when that judgment is not directed toward their specific sins. When God has shown His wrath against cities (Sodom), countries (Egypt), and the world (the Flood) in a very broad manner, He has protected His people during those events.
“The very idea of the church abandoning the world in its time of need is endemic of an American Christianity that is more focused on the self than the needs of the other.”
It is important to remember that the doctrine of the Rapture is not about the church choosing to leave the world; it is about God choosing to spare Christians from a time of worldwide anguish and tribulation. If this event is going to happen, it will happen because its part of God’s plan, not any plan that we got to make up on our own. Perhaps the author is saying that we’ve read this idea into Scripture because of a culture of selfishness within American Christianity, but remember—this doctrine pre-dates modern American Christianity with all its ills, and it came from Europe!
Also, I don’t know of anyone who believes in the Rapture who believes that God will be abandoning the world during the Tribulation. He will still accomplish His plans, albeit through a different group, such as the 144,000 servants mentioned in Revelation 7. Many people believe that the Tribulation will be a time of great spiritual revival despite its physical hardships.
“But perhaps the most important thing to remember is the book of Revelation is not a road map to the future. It is the declaration that Jesus will return, justice will be granted to the oppressed, and all things will be made new. But it is not attempting to give precise details on how that will happen.”
I know an author can’t do everything in one blog post, but he needs to offer some support for his conclusion that Revelation is not a “road map to the future”—especially since he wrote that this claim is “perhaps the most important thing to remember.” While I wouldn’t exactly call Revelation a “road map,” I do think that God intended to give us through that book a general outline (at the very least) of future events. That seems to be what John claims in the way he introduces the book: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place (Rev. 1:1).” Also, in Revelation 1:19, John is told to “write the things…that are to take place after this.” Then again, in Revelation 4:1, he is told, “I will show you what must take place after this.” Toward the conclusion of the book, an angel says to John, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place (Revelation 22:6).” All of those statements suggest the Revelation reveals events that were in the future from John’s perspective at least, and I would argue that they are still in the future from our perspective as well.
“Now, I absolutely believe that Jesus will return one day to wipe away every tear from our eyes and make all things new. But that is the Second Coming, not the rapture. Those are two very, very different things. One allows us to neglect the present world and let it crumble away while we focus on our own eternal glory. The other beckons us to participate in God's restoration of creation by loving His people and showing them how to live the life God intended until He does return to bring that work of redemption to final completion.”
The idea that the doctrine of the Rapture “allows us to neglect the present world and let it crumble away while we focus on our own eternal glory” is simply a straw-man argument—that is, a weak stereotype and caricature of the mindset that is actually held by those who believe in the Rapture. This idea is commonly repeated, but it is simply false. If anything, the doctrine of the Rapture gives us the opposite motivation when it is properly understood. This doctrine encourages us to be aware that the Lord could return for us at any time, and anyone who takes Christ’s commands and offers of reward seriously wants to be found hard at work for Him when He comes. Letting the present world crumble away certainly would not reflect faithfulness to the commands of Christ, and being found faithful by Jesus is a primary motivation for everyone who takes the idea of the Rapture to heart.
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