Reasoning About the Rapture
By
Dr. Hal Harless
Foundation Fellowship of Greenville, TX
October 10, 2010
I. Introduction
A. The Great Disappointment
The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening. William Miller, a Baptist preacher, understood by studying the prophecies ... that Jesus Christ would return to the earth during the year 1844. A more specific date, that of October 22, 1844, was preached by Samuel S. Snow. Although thousands of followers, some of whom had given away all of their possessions, awaited expectantly, Jesus did not appear as expected on the appointed day and as a result October 22, 1844, became known as the Great Disappointment....
The sun rose on the morning of October 22 like any other day, and October 22 passed without incident, resulting in feelings of disappointment among many Millerites....
Both Millerite leaders and followers were left generally bewildered and disillusioned. Responses varied: some continued to look daily for Christ’s return, others predicted different dates--among them April, July, and October 1845....
Miller continued to wait for the second coming of Jesus Christ until his death in 1849.[1]
B. What can we know about this mysterious event, the rapture? What can we reason about the rapture?
II. The Rapture
A. What is the rapture?
1. Tribulation
a. It is a seven-year period of trial before the coming of God's kingdom.
1) Daniel predicts:
a) The Heb. word translated "week" (shabu'a) means "seven."
b) "He will confirm a covenant with many for one "seven." In the middle of the "seven" he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him" (Dan 9:27 NIV).
c) "The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him" (Dan 2:27 NLT).
2) John, the apostle, confirms:
a) One half of the tribulation is 42 months, or 3.5 years (Rev 11:2).
b) The two witnesses prophesy for one half of the tribulation, 1,260 days, or 3.5 years (Rev 11:3).
b. It is a time of God's wrath on the human race.
1) Paul calls the tribulation, "the wrath to come" (1 Thess 1:10).
2) John has people in the tribulation saying, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (Rev 6:16-17).
c. Pre, mid, and post-tribulational.
d. The tribulation is a seven-year period of God's wrath before the coming kingdom of God.
2. Rapture
a. Rapture is from the Latin raptus ("snatching away") from the verb rapere ("to seize and carry off, to snatch").[2]
b. Paul wrote, "Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord" (1 Thess 4:17).
1) The Gk. word translated "caught up" (harpazō) is translated in the Lat. Vulgate with rapere.
2) The Gk. word harpazō ("caught up") means "to grab or seize suddenly so as to remove or gain control, snatch/take away."[3]
c. Therefore, if someone objects that the term "rapture" is not found in the Bible, I will gladly use the term "The Great Snatch" instead.
d. The rapture is a sudden catching up into the air of all believers to meet Jesus.
3. Imminence
a. Jesus said that no man knows the time of His return.
1) Jesus said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Matt 24:36; Mark 13:32).
2) Jesus also said, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7).
3) Jesus warned, "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour" (Matt 25:13).
b. Therefore, Jesus could come at any time.
1) There are no signs that must precede His coming for the Church.
2) However, all of the events of the book of Revelation must precede His coming to rule.
3) They are very different events.
c. Jesus' coming for the Church is imminent; it could happen at any moment.
4. Millennium
a. The word "millennium" is derived from the Lat. mille ("thousand") and the Lat. annus ("year").
b. John tells us that the martyrs of the tribulation "came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (Rev 20:4; see also Rev 20:6).
c. John also tells us that there will be a 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth before the eternal state of the kingdom begins (Rev 20:5, 7).
d. Pre, a, and post-millennial.
e. Therefore, the millennium is the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth before the eternal state begins.
B. When is the rapture?
1. Scriptures and the rapture
a. 1 Cor 15:51-58
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not
all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must
put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable
will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS
SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55
"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?
O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of
sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor 15:51-58).
1) This is a mystery; it is not previously revealed.
2) At the same time that the dead in Christ are resurrected, living believers will suddenly become immortal.
3) The Gk. word translated "moment" (atomos) means "strictly, of something too small to be cut."[4]
4) There is a trumpet blast involved.
5) Paul's application is that, because of the resurrection, we should work hard for the Lord knowing that our reward is sure.
b. 1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has
not appeared as yet what we will be.
We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see
Him just as He is. 3
And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is
pure (1 John 3:2-3).
1) John speaks of our transformation also, "we will be like Him" (1 John 3:2).
2) John's application is that this hope has a purifying effect on our lives (1 John 3:3).
c. 1 Thess 4:13-5:11
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed,
brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the
rest who have no hope. 14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with
Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the
Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not
precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the
dead in Christ will rise first. 17
Then we who are alive and remain will 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. 18 Therefore
comfort one another with these words.
5:1
Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to
be written to you. 2
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like
a thief in the night. 3
While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come
upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not
escape. 4 But you,
brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5
for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then
let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do
their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the
day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a
helmet, the hope of salvation. 9
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through
our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we
are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up
one another, just as you also are doing (1 Thess 4:13-5:11).
1) The Thessalonians were worried about believing loved ones that had died before Jesus Christ's coming for the Church. Had they missed the resurrection (1 Thess 4:13)?
2) As Paul already told the Corinthians, our resurrection is grounded in Jesus' resurrection (1 Thess 4:14).
3) Paul would say do not worry about your loved ones; they are going to beat you to the feet of Jesus by about a microsecond (1 Thess 4:15-17)!
a) Notice the trumpet in verse 16.
b) The catching up, Great Snatch, or rapture is in verse 17.
4) This would be small comfort indeed if they know that they had to go through the tribulation first (1 Thess 4:18).
5) In 1 Thess 5:1-2, Paul does not have to write to them about "times and epochs" because they know that Jesus Christ will come unexpectedly.
6) Paul says that "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess 5:9).
a) Paul said that we are waiting "for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess 1:10).
b) Jesus told the Philadelphians, "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth" (Rev 3:10).
c) In both these passages, the Gk. word translated "from" (ek) means "out of."
7) Paul's application is to be "alert and sober" (1 Thess 5:6), comforted (1 Thess 4:11), and encouraged (1 Thess 5:11).
2. Logic and the rapture
a. Immanent return of Christ for the Church
1) Mid-tribulational, or Mid-trib: You could count 1,260 days or 3.5 years from the start of the tribulation, and you would know the day!
2) Post-tribulational, or Post-trib: You could count 2,520 days or 7 years from the start of the tribulation, and you would know the day!
3) Pre-wrath
a) Jesus said, concerning the tribulation, "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short" (Matt 24:22).
b) Therefore, they conclude that God will stop the tribulation before seven years are up, and rapture the Church right before God's wrath falls at the end of the tribulation.
c) However, the entire tribulation is a time of God's wrath.
d) Jesus must have meant, in Matt 24:22, that, if the tribulation continued indefinitely, everyone would have died.
e) John wrote latter than Matthew, and he still has the tribulation lasting seven years (Rev 11:1-3).
4) Pre-tribulational, or Pre-trib, is the only view that does not contradict the imminent return of Christ since the rapture would happen before the tribulation and without warning.
b. Where is the Church during Rev 4-19?
1) Mid-tribulational, or Mid-trib
a) Rev 11 is the mid-point of the tribulation.
b) Therefore, by mid-trib reasoning you should not see any sign of the Church in heaven until chapter 11.
c) However, in Rev 4, John sees, "Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads" (Rev 4:4). "Elder" is a Church term.
2) Post-tribulational, or Post-trib
a) The Post-trib view would expect to see the Church on earth during the tribulation. However, it is conspicuous by its absence!
b) The Church should not be in heaven until the end, and then only to quickly return to earth with Jesus.
c) However, the elders are all through Revelation (Rev 4:4, 10; 5:8, 14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4).
3) Pre-wrath has all of the problems of the Post-trib at this point.
4) Pre-tribulational or Pre-trib is the only view that matches the situation that we find in the book of Revelation, the Church is in heaven, not on earth, from chapters 4-19.
c. Where do kingdom kids come from?
1) At the end of the tribulation:
a) All non-believers are removed; only believers begin the population of the millennium (Matt 25:31-46).
b) The prophets speak of children during the millennium (Isa 61:9; 65:18-25).
c) However, Jesus said, "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven" (Matt 22:30).
d) Therefore, transformed believers cannot populate the kingdom.
2) Post-tribulational, or Post-trib, has a problem because all of the believers have transformed and the unbelievers are removed. There is no one to repopulate the kingdom.
3) Pre-wrath has the same problem as the Post-trib.
4) Pre-tribulational, or Pre-trib, is the only view that harmonizes these prophecies.
a) The Church is removed from the earth before the tribulation, but people come to faith during the tribulation.
b) Those can go on the repopulate the earth.
3. Wrong answers failing both logic and Scripture tests
a. Mid-tribulational, or Mid-trib
b. Post-tribulational, or Post-trib
c. Pre-wrath
4. The right answer: Pre-tribulational, or Pre-trib!
II. Application:
A. For the believer in Jesus Christ ...
1. Because of the resurrection, we should work hard for the Lord knowing that our reward is sure.
2. The hope of Jesus' return for the Church at any moment should have a purifying effect on our lives.
3. Our attitude should be alert and serious, comforted, and encouraged.
B. For those who do not yet believe ...
1. Let this be an incentive to place your trust in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life.
2. If millions of Christians suddenly vanish, you know that the Good News is true, place your trust in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life, and wait for His return to rule in seven years.