The Rapture IS Mentioned In The Bible!!
Posted by Job on February 13, 2007
There are lots of theological battles raging on within the church concerning the rapture. Most are intramural squabbles betwixt the “rapture – believer” camp; I will not get into that here save to say that post-millennialism and “the social gospel” is clearly anti – Scriptural, and my suspicions that the overwhelming popularity of the pre – tribulation rapture stance as exhibited by “Left Behind”is due at least in a great part to the desire of Christians to escape any real persecution or price for their faith.
But nay, this post is aimed at the dominant viewpoint in Christendom held by Catholics and most mainline denominations: that there will be no rapture, but only a final resurrection and bodily assumption of everyone at the conclusion of Jesus Christ’s Millenial Reign. (Then again, even that is in reference to the declining percentage of Catholics and mainline denominationalists who even interpret the Bible literally anymore: not that the charismatics, evangelicals, fundamentalists, etc. are immune from their own set of problems; if that were not the case this weblog and the Study The Bible weblog and the Heal The Land website would not exist.)
Their biggest argument (other than their slavish adherence to their own false doctrines and traditions that they hold to in lieu of reading the Bible for themselves, or when they do read the Bible themselves they nullify and reject what they believe for their own church teachings) against the rapture is this: that the word is not mentioned in the Bible. And that, like everything else concerning false doctrine, is false. The word “rapture” is a transliteration of the Latin word “rapio“, which itself is used to translate the Greek word harpagesometha, which means, well, THE EXACT SAME THING THAT “RAPTURE” DOES! For an excellent source, see this link. I would be remiss if I did not shamelessly promote my own website’s (regrettably inferior to the first source) article here. Now though both my first listed source and my own article both indicate a post – tribulation (or at least very near to the end of the tribulation) rapture (the former source explicitly states it, my website’s article stops just short by saying that according to my own reading the signs strongly point to it, but there is also justification for the pre – tribuation and mid – tribulation theories in the Bible as well), again, it is not the intent of this post to take a position. Another source is here, another here.. Now to give (somewhat) equal time, I will give an article (here) that attempts to explain why despite “rapio” and “harpagesometha” being in the Bible there still is not going to be a rapture anyway.
Why do most mainline Protestant denominations deny the rapture? Because they came out of the Catholic Church that denies the rapture. Why do Catholics deny the rapture? Who knows, especially since the word “rapio” was used by the CATHOLIC FATHER JEROME when he translated the Vulgate from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts! See what happens when tradition begins to usurp the inerrant word of God? The Catholics claim that they have the right to usurp the Bible based on the authority as the leader of the church given by Jesus Christ to Simon Peter, and since the office of Peter is with the Catholic Church, so is the authority. One small problem with that: NOWHERE IN THE BIBLE IS IT SAID THAT PETER WAS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH. WHY WOULD THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH BE A FALLIBLE MAN? Oh, you have that “upon this rock” that has for CENTURIES been PURPOSEFULLY MISINTERPETED! Well, that verse says “UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH!” It doesn’t say “THIS ROCK SHALL LEAD MY CHURCH.” Second, the rock was not PETER. The rock was FAITH. You’d think that all the times that Peter’s faith wavered and he transgressed would be a hint about that?
Look, Ephesians 5:23 CLEARLY STATES THAT THE LEADER OF THE CHURCH IS JESUS CHRIST! God, GOD is the leader of the church. Not Peter or any man! Jesus Christ is the leader of the church, Christ is the head, and we are the body, and the Holy Spirit is the guide of the church. So yes, EVEN WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH USES TO DENY THE FINAL AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE IS DIRECTLY OPPOSED BY SCRIPTURE!
So please, good people, quit denying what “Saint” (remember, according to the Bible we are not supposed to be bestowing such titles or “veneration” upon people, let alone praying to them) Jerome himself wrote for the Catholic Church simply because the Catholic Church up and decided that they could ignore the Bible and do what they wanted. Had the Catholic Church not decided to reject the rapture, then no one else in Christendom (save those who make no pretense regarding rejecting the Bible) would either.
Brother John said
Dear friend,
I read some of your articles about the ‘rapture’ issue, and I must say that you seem to be an honest person with a deep love for our Lord Jesus. What I find disturbing at times, is the constant claim of some ‘wise’ teachers, that the hope of a pre-tribulation rapture is false and must be ‘a desire of Christians to escape any real persecution or price for their faith.’ Yeah, right!
This is what I call a suspicious assumption with no biblical support, creating camps and stereotypes in the mind. To contradict this, we could also state that those who desire so much to go through suffering and tribulation as a proof of their faith (because Jesus and other believers also suffered) may have a spirit of false humility (Colossians 2:18). When the Lord spoke to Peter after His resurrection, Peter played these same mindgames when he wanted to make sure that John would also go through some special task or suffering for the Lord. But Jesus replied by saying to Peter: “It’s none of your business. If I decide that he will be spared, he will be spared.” Why don’t we leave the ’suffering for the faith’ up to every believer for himself, because when the hour of trial comes, all true believers are expected to lay down their lives for the Lord. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us in difficult times. But we should not be seeking to suffer and undergo persecution, because this is a subtle form of self chastisement and human righteousness coming from religious spirits (catholisism, buddhism, etc). The righteousness of God is totally different from our humanistic self-righteousness idea.
What is completely being ignored is the very character of God’s loving ways in the Bible, when it comes to keeping his loved ones from undergoing His judgement and wrath over sin. Jesus himself points to Noah and Lot when explaining the signs of the endtimes to his disciples in Luke. Why did He chose those two? In both examples (next to others in the Bible) we see a proof of how God saves his chosen BEFORE raining down his anger and wrath upon the sinners.
Put together 1 Tessalonians 1:10 and Revelations 3:10, and there is no discussion needed or denial possible, that this rapture thing must have a firm place in the heart and the plan of God, prior to the second glorious appearance of King Jesus.
Paul repeatedly states that we should expect Him anytime, and long to meet Him face to face. He calls it a secret, and a blessed hope.
Because the Bible is an entirely Jewish affair, we only need to compare the scenario of a real traditional Jewish wedding preparation, and we will recognize the rapture as the moment where the bridegroom comes to take his (waiting) bride to their new home which he has build for her during his absence. Therefore Jesus said to them: “I will go and prepare a place for you, then I will come back and take you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also.” John 14:2-3.
Let’s not despise the rapture, of which the Lord said in Luke: “Pray that you may ESCAPE…” So He wants us to. Therefore encourage each other with these words!
healtheland said
Brother John:
Thank you for your kind comments. I agree that this self – flagellation or self – persecution or false burden mentality that runs through many Christians are nothing but evil spirits. I grew in a church that was strongly influenced by the legalistic doctrines and traditions of the anti – Trinitarian “Oneness Pentecostal” movements, and am well familiar with it. However, if you watch Christian television, especially the famous preachers on the large global networks, there does seem to be a real link between the “prosperity Word of Faith” messages that they preach, where they claim that any “real” Christian with “true” faith can simply “take dominion” over sickness, disease, poverty, famine, family problems, etc.; their world – friendly messages where people can wear the latest fashions, speak the latest vulgar slang, read the book of the month and watch the hit movies and TV shows with all their sin and mockery of God, and hang out with the adulterers, liars, backbiters: the “cool people”, and still call themselves strong Christians because “they have the gifts of the spirit (sure, but of which spirit?)”; and their “any day now, before things start to get REAL BAD for Christians, we are going to get flown out of here.” I guess that were I not black, I would be more receptive to that doctrine. But when I consider how my ancestors, many of whom might have been good Christians, were subjugated by slavery, and then consider the conditions of many more fine Christians are being subjected to in Africa, I have a hard time accepting the notion that “if these people were living right and had true faith they could ‘take dominion’ over their problems and be delivered from slavery, disease, warfare, famine, etc.” And it is not just a racial issue either: Christians all over the globe are suffering and it is only going to get worse as the return of Yeshua HaMashiach gets closer. As a matter of fact, what opened my eyes to the spiritual bankruptness and possibly the demonic origins of this “Word Faith prosperity” movement (now I do believe in Word of Faith and prosperity, but only if you are speaking and prospering in what God has ordained and can be confirmed both in contextual Bible interpretations and in the mouths of two or more witnesses who have the same Holy Spirit within them as is within you, not in what you want or in some “special revelation” that some demon or your own pride has whispered into your ear) was reading about Watchman Nee (http://www.watchmannee.org), a very devoted Chinese Christian with very strong spiritual gifts who died in Mao Zhedong’s communist prison.
Now as to being a person who is personally seeking persecution, I must say quite to the contrary, my life is very comfortable right now, and the Lord has blessed me with a great many things and spared me a great many more. For that I am very thankful, and I must be honest and admit that I hope that things stay that way. I don’t want to be cast into prison or see someone close to be get stricken with a serious painful illness! But I am not going to go around thinking that a Christian should not have to go through those things, or someone who is going to interpret the Bible or change my doctrine in order to avoid such things. So no, I am not someone who will go to a homosexual pride or abortion pride march and start screaming “sinners you are going to burn forever in the lake of fire!” just so I can brag about having gone to jail and what a great Christian that makes me. But I am also not going to start claiming that the Bible says that homosexuality and abortion are OK when they start firing Christians off their jobs and putting them in jail for preaching that and other things related to Christianity like a lot of folks are. And no, I am not going to start saying that the rapture will come before that starts happening in my country. Why not? Because it is already happening to Christians in OTHER countries! I am sorry, but if you are a Christian in Iran, Indonesia, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and in many other places in the world … well granted it may not be the “Great Tribulation”, but it is certainly great trials and persecutions, and it is more trials and persecution than what the vast majority of western Christians not so much think that they are ever going to see, but rather think that they SHOULD SEE, and there are plenty of doctrines out there that tell them just that: doctrines that tickle their ears with syrupy words and prophesy to them what they want to hear. I have to tell you: were the prophet Jeremiah out today, he wouldn’t be running a megachurch and he wouldn’t be on Christian TV, because no one would go to his church, watch his program, attend his conferences, or buy his books! Now I am not saying that the pre – tribulation rapture doctrine is part of this, but rather that a lot of the people who are PREACHING the pre – tribulation doctrine are preaching it as part of the “God loves western Christians better than He loves African, Middle Eastern, Asian Christians, so He is going to rapture us up before we have to go through what they are going through” heresy. So, you could say that I am going after the motivation for adhering to the doctrine and not necessarily the doctrine itself.
And I will end with this: I mentioned Watchman Nee, the person whose writings changed my whole way of looking at Christianity? He was a pre – tribulationist too. But he also said that not all Christians would be raptured: he stated that lukewarm and other non – consecrated Christians would be left behind! Gave Bible verses to support it, too! Now you have to admit that the overwhelming majority of the pre – tribulationists and the mid – tribulationists to not preach such. They allow you to believe that you can call Yeshua HaMashiach your savior and then go out and do whatever you want BUT keep His Commandments, and still get raptured up! Now it is not my position that such people are not saved by grace through faith, but rather my position that people who mock God in such a fashion will not be accounted worthy enough to have the privilege of escaping tribulation. That is in fact how I interpret Revelation 2 and 3, and therefore even if one is a pre – tribulationist, these “Left Behind” folks need to change the tone and focus of their message if for nothing else than that reason.
Brother John said
Dear brother,
Thanks for your lengthy answer! There are very interesting points of view in there. I am aquainted with Watchman Nee, which I read intensively at my conversion in 1979. Although this man suffered under persecution, he also believed in the biblical doctrines we are talking about en expected the Lord.
The point I was trying to make was that the ‘catching away’ of the beloved of the Lord, is a biblical fact that one cannot overlook or ignore, because other people are already suffering under a ‘tribulation’. This is absolutely not the same thing.
The event of the rapture is stated several times in the word of God, and it is going to happen before God’s wrath falls on this sinful world, like at the time of Sodom & Gomorrah. So, that’s what the Great Tribulation is all about. We cannot confuse it with christians suffering in Indonesia. God has made an escape for ALL who believe, and there is nothing wrong with that, because this is what the Gospel is all about. This has nothing to do with critisism on slick ‘Word Faith’ tv ministers or christians who already suffer in Iran or North Korea.
Neither groups, attitudes or circumstances can change God’s plan of salvation. When Jesus comes to meet us in the air, as Paul clearly states, it will be for all who long to see His face and are living a holy life in expectancy! This is what we should believe and preach. That Jesus is coming back, and you better be part of it (See my explanation on the Jewish marriage parallel).
What I meant with my comments, is that there is no way we can make the rapture fit our conditions. It will happen, when the Father thinks it’s time to happen. And it will not be conditioned to any human circumstance or filosophy. When the trumpet blows, I will see you up there and we will rejoice together at the goodness of our God and Saviour! So as Jesus said: ‘Watch and pray that you may escape!’
healtheland said
Brother John:
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I do believe in the rapture, and am doing what I can to be accounted worthy of the rapture and reigning with Christ in the Millenium. As my post said, contextual honest Bible reading can be done to support the pre – tribulation, mid – tribulation, and post tribulation rapture scenarios. I will continue to pray and study the scriptures regarding it, but I honestly do not know if it is possible to figure out for certain, especially since there is also the “place of refuge” in addition to the rapture, and where I am in my Bible study I cannot separate the scriptures that point to the “place of refuge” where people will be spared the worst of the tribulation, and the rapture. Of course, the pre – tribulationists claim that the all such references during the tribulation are speaking of the place of refuge, and the people who deny the rapture entirely claim that ALL of the refererences, including the obvious rapture ones, are either to the place of refuge or the final resurrection. So yes, I will continue to study the scriptures in that regards. Interesting, I am looking reading Noah in Genesis right now, and God’s saving Noah from the flood is a clear picture of people being saved from both the judgments of the second death and the tribulation. But since Noah was not taken up to HEAVEN, was it a future picture of the place of refuge rather than the rapture? Thinks like that are what I am looking at right now. But as I said earlier, thank you for your encourangement and knid words.
Brother John said
Dear brother:
Shalom! About a place of refuge – the bible says in Daniel and Revelation, and even Jesus said it, that the days of tribulation will be like no other such time of persecution before. So, normally speaking, no one will be able to just hide away and wait for the happy end. Though many will lose their lives and become martyrs for the Lord, there seems to be some kind of a refuge place (for three and a half years) to take care of born-again Jewish believers and perhaps others who did not take the mark of the beast.
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time from the face of the serpent” (Rev. 12:14). As most scholars agree, the woman stands for Israel, probably as a result of the 144.000 sealed Jews who are converted during the tribulation, see Rev.7
So, this could be a place of refuge. I could not discover any other. Many have pointed to ‘Petra’ near the Jordan border, as this is a huge mountain site very difficult to reach for any army. Just wanted to put this down as a thought. May the Lord, our refuge, bless you and yours! Until He comes.
healtheland said
Brother John:
Yes, I am familiar with the “Bozrah – Petra” theory, from the city mentioned in Jeremiah and Isaiah. Now the place of refuge will not be a place where you will be able to escape God’s judgment on the earth during the great tribulation, but rather a place where Christians will be able to escape the “anti – Christ”, or more accurately the beast. But this is what the post – tribulationists think: the events leading up to the final judgments are survivable to a degree. But the final judgments … no one or virtually no one will be able to survive them no matter where they are. BUT the final trumpet happens RIGHT BEFORE the final judgments. That would be where the Christians who have escaped the beast and survived the tribulation would be raptured from, according to the post – tribulation theory. But in any event, what I have my eye on right now are the recent events in Israel. One: some Jewish groups are speaking of re – starting the sacrifices. Two: archaeologists have discovered that the site of the second temple is NOT the area where the Muslims have claimed for their “Dome of the Rock” mosque, but rather is far enough away to where the Jews could rebuild their temple without encountering much resistance. So, IMHO, we shall see who is right between the pre – tribulationists, mid – tribulationists, and post – tribulationists soon enough! But the main thing to remember is that even though Yeshua HaMashiach did tell us to take note of the times, after He ascended to Heaven, the angel told us (the church) not to stand around watching the sky, but to go spread the gospel, feed the hungry, comfort those in prison, etc., and that is the part that I have been trying to concentrate myself in doing. Even my post on the rapture is more towards correcting and contending against doctrinal error and “the rapture is not mentioned in the Bible” lies than anything else. Thank you, and God bless you and yours, and your ministry as well.