The Rapture and Tribulation
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I was asked on my blog a question about the rapture and the tribulation. The following article is my response to that question
Perhaps the first question should be “what is the rapture”? I noted in my article on “The Mark” that the idea of the mark and end time tribulation is an historically recent theological perspective that came via J N Darby and Cyril Schofield, previously the concept of a pre-millennial return of Christ was rarely (if ever) held – and certainly the dispensational theology model was not present . Most theologians were Post Millennial or an A-millennial in their eschatology.
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The word “rapture” does not actually appear in the Bible, it is based on the passage in 1Thes 4:17 that tells us that we “will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” – the phrase “caught up” is the one that the word “rapture” refers to. There can be no doubt or debate that Christians will be “caught up” (i.e. there will be a “rapture” of the church), the question is WHY will we be “caught up” and exactly what happens when we are “caught up”. The passage in 1Thes (which again I note is the only biblical reference to this event) actually gives the reason – and that reason is to “meet” The Lord in the air.
So, the real key lies not in the event but in the purpose. The Greek word that is used here is apantésis which describes “the act of meeting, to meet (a phrase seemingly almost technical for the reception of a newly arrived official)” – Strongs dictionary definition.
It is used in only 3 other places in the Bible. In Matthew 25:6 when Jesus told the story of the virgins waiting for the bridegroom, He said that that they would “Come out to meet [him]” This phrase is used twice in this parable. So, what happened when the virgins met the bridegroom? Did they go away with him for 7 or maybe 3½ years? I think not – the bride I’m sure would have objected to that! No, they met him and escorted him to the wedding. The other time this word appears is in Acts 28:15 where it tells of Paul being brought, under arrest, to Rome by the Roman soldiers and it says that the elders of the church in Rome head that Paul was on the way and so “they came to meet us”. So, did they take him away from the soldiers are go off somewhere for 7 or 3½ years? No, the soldiers would never have allowed that to happen; they simply met him and escorted him back to Rome (it was a way of honouring him).
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OK, so the only times that this word is mentioned in the Bible other than in 1Thes 4, it carries a meaning of meeting someone and escorting them to their destination. Note the Strongs definition that I mentioned above, where it points out that this word is used in general language to describe the “reception of a newly arrived official”. So the new official is near town and people go out to meet him and escort him into the city. The word was also used to describe a victorious Roman general’s “triumph” on his return to Rome. When he neared the city, the crowd would go out and line the road to cheer him and hail him as a conquering hero and escort him “in triumph” into the city of Rome.
So the word “apantésis” is always used to describe a crowd going to honour someone by escorting that person back to the place from which the crowd had come. So why do we want to change the definition of the word in 1Thes 4? Changing the meaning of the word is simply very poor exegetics, you don’t just change the meaning of a word to make it fit your theological idea.
So, what is 1Thes 4:17 saying? Simple really, when the trumpet sounds and the Lord descends to the clouds, the church is caught up (rapture) to “meet” Him, that is to honour Him and escort Him to the earth as the conquering hero, to acknowledge Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords and to see Him take His rightful place as Ruler of the earth and Judge of all mankind. So there’s no room for either a 7 year or 3½ year gap, it is a single event – The Lord comes, we meet Him “on the way” in the air and escort Him His throne.
So what happened to “The Tribulation” in all of this? Some suggest that “the tribulation” lasts for 7 years at the end of time. The word “tribulation” means “a state of great trouble or suffering” or “distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution”. I suggest that the church has faced such trouble, oppression and persecution since the stoning of Stephen. I cannot imagine arriving in Heaven and meeting my brothers and sisters who were fed to lions, torn apart by horses (“drawn and quartered”), crucified and in other ways cruelly and inhumanely tortured and executed and suggesting to them that they had not faced “tribulation”. How could I face someone who faced the Inquisition and was flayed to death, burned at the stake, dismembered etc and suggest that they hadn’t faced tribulation. How about in more recent times, Christians in North Korea or those captured and beheaded by ISIS, did they not face tribulation?
I find it interesting that so many in the western world think that they somehow should be “raptured” away if persecution and tribulation should come their way, when Christians in most other places, and certainly many throughout history, have simply faced tribulation and given God praise and glory in the midst of it. Please remember, if persecution should come, you have not missed “the rapture” – it simply won’t have happened yet!
But what about the “Left Behind” books, they said that being left behind meant facing tribulation. Unfortunately, too many people build their belief system on something that someone wrote in a 20th century novel rather than what The Bible actually says – especially when the novel fits the theology that we have been taught in our 21st century western church.
What DOES the Bible actually say about being “left behind”. That phrase and idea is taken from Mat 24:40 which says “at that time, two people will be in the field. One will be taken, and one will be left behind” (the next verse refers to 2 people working a mill in the same context as verse 40). So let’s see the context. Read Mat 24:37 “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 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; 39 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”.
Verse 37 gives the context, the coming of The Son of Man will be just as it was in Noah’s day. In Noah’s day, people were living life (eating, drinking, marrying etc.) until the flood came. So who does it say in verse 39 were taken by the flood and who does it say were left behind? THEY (i.e. ordinary people who did NOT go onto the ark) were taken, the ones left behind by the flood were those IN the ark. So the question is, who were better off, those taken or those left behind? The answer is obvious – it was those left behind (those taken, were taken to judgment). If this is the right way to read the passage, then other passages will say the same thing. In Mat 13, Jesus told another parable about the harvest (the harvest is the end of the age) – in verse 30 Jesus said “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”; so the ones taken (the tares) were taken to be burned (i.e. judgment) the wheat was left behind. So better to be taken or left behind? Once again, left behind is the better option. Same principle is found in the parable of the sheep and the goats.
So, according to Jesus, the return of Christ will be like Noah’s time – some taken, some left behind and, if it’s to be the same as Noah’s time, then the ones taken are taken to judgment.
The premise of the “Left Behind” books is the absolute antithesis of Mat 24 but La Hay’s novels are popular, because they are written in the language of a theology that is popular among many evangelicals (thanks to Schofield!!).
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The important lesson in this? Check the Bible, get your theology from there rather than from popular Christian novels and films!