The
Rapture is a term most commonly used to describe an event in certain
interpretations of end-time studies where all true Christians are taken from
Earth by Jesus Christ at His secret second-coming. Although almost all forms of Christianity
believe that those who are ‘saved’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the term
‘rapture’ is usually applied specifically to those theories saying the
Christians alive before the end of the world will be taken into heaven. These Christians believe they will be
secretly translated, in the blink of an eye, into immortal bodies in the
Rapture before the persecutions by the Harlot Church and before the
Antichrist. This period of time is
called the Tribulation. According to
this view, the Church has no vital role of witness during this seven-year
Tribulation.
This
view is a recent addition to end-times interpretations. In fact it is only about a few hundred years
old. Therefore the burden of proof rests
on them. The dramatic end-time scenario
proposed by these pre-tribulation rapture theorists is heavily based on a few
verses such as Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, where he writes: “For
the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the
voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God.
The dead in Christ will rise first; then we, who are left alive, will be
snatched up with them on clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall
always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
“With
a shout of command…and the trumpet of God”, kind of goes against a
‘secret’ rapture doesn’t it? And we can
see here that Paul conjures up images of an emperor, a king or a distinguished
person visiting a colony or province. As
was the custom at the time, the citizens go out to meet him in open country and
then escort him into the city. Paul’s
image of the people “meeting the Lord in the air” should be read with the
assumption that the people will immediately turn around and lead the Lord back
to the newly remade world. This verse
taken into context is found to show that the ‘saved’ will be taken up for a
time and brought back down to Earth. But
when did Paul believe this event takes place, before or after the
Tribulation? We find the answer to that
in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
“…it is a righteous thing with God to repay with
tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with
us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in
flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do
not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His
saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony
among you was believed…”
For
the apostle Paul, the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous
are to occur on the same day, immediately following the second coming of
Christ. Are the elect taken before the
Tribulation as the Rapture theory says?
Take a look at John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.”
So,
those who are saved will be raised up at the last day. Now look at John 12:48 “There is a judge for
the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I
spoke will condemn him at the last day.”
As
we can see the ‘saved’ will be raised up on the last day and those who reject
Him will be condemned on the last day.
Therefore, if the saved are raised on the day before the start of the
Tribulation, then those condemned will be sent to Hell on that same day. It begs the question, who will be left to
suffer through the seven-year Tribulation?
This
means that the ‘saved’, the believers in Christ will go through the Tribulation
with the unbelievers. We find support
for this in Matt 13:24-30
“Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom
of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone
was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The
owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your
field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you
want us to go and pull them up?' "No, he answered, 'because while you are
pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will
tell the harvesters: First collect the
weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring
it into my barn.'”
Jesus’
explained what this parable meant at the apostles urgings. Here is His answer a
few verses later in Matt 13:36-43
“Then
he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He answered,
"The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the
world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the
sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is
the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the
fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his
angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and
all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in
the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
The
good seed, which stands for the sons of the kingdom, the ‘saved’, will be
living together with the weeds until the harvest where the weeds will be
harvested first and thrown into the fiery furnace. You will find an even clearer picture of this
event in
Matt
24:37-41
“As it was in
the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the
days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what
would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will
be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be
taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will
be taken and the other left.”
Noah and his family were left behind, those who
listened to the word of God were saved, they were left behind. Those who didn’t believe Noah or knew nothing
of the incoming flood were taken, the unbelievers were taken. As you can see, we find here also that the
unbelievers are taken on the same day as the elect and are saved by being left
behind.
In
conclusion, I personally believe as the Church does that there is a rapture,
but it will only come at the end of the world, at Christ’s second coming where
the weeds and the wheat will be living together until Christ shall separate the
‘saved’ from the un-‘saved’ on the last day, that is the last day of the known
world.
God
Bless
Nathan
