Introduction to the rapture doctrine.
I do not take what I am about to write lightly. I know that beliefs about the rapture are firmly held, and many preachers have committed to it. I am not writing this to change anyone’s mind. Instead, I just want to help us think soberly. If we never consider that we may have misunderstood something, we can fall into the same trap as the Pharisees and Sadducees. I ask you to consider the things I am about to say with great humility.
Why do we believe in a rapture?
Like most Christians, I have heard the rapture being taught by most preachers and theologians. Because of that, I think my fellow Christians and I hardly ever question whether it is what the Bible teaches. I can’t say that I have never been challenged to consider anything different, because I have. Years ago, I was given a book called something like “why I don’t believe in the secrete rapture.” It was poorly written and seemed to mock the rapture teaching, instead humbly showing a different view.
One of the boxes I found myself in is the word rapture. When I heard someone say the word rapture is not found in the Bible, it would set me off into a defensive posture. We all know the word is not there, but the words caught up are, and that is what is meant by ratpure. What I now understand is that the teaching of the rapture is not taught in the Bible. I am not saying it is not, but that is the argument.
I had questions about the rapture.
What I am about to share did not come from a desire to find fault with the rapture; instead, it was a process of things. My first problem was that I could never read 2 Thessalonians as I was instructed to do.
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?”
2 Thessalonians 2:1–5
The way I have always read this is that Paul is telling us that Christ’s coming to gather His saints will not happen before the man of sin is revealed. We understand the term “man of sin” as the anti-Christ, and that occurs during the tribulation. When Paul says “Remember what I told you,” it seems to refer back to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, which is supposedly teaching the being caught up before the tribulation.
Beyond that point, there were many other things that I could not fit together in my mind about the end times. I prayed for many years that the Lord would help me understand. I figured if it was given to us, He must want us to understand it. Through various lessons and comments about the rapture, I discovered something that made everything clear to me.
My final point in this article about the rapture.
My final point in this article is that what I found is, to me, the natural reading of the passages. I realized that the rapture doctrine has to be taught. Even this morning, I was reading in one of my favorite authors, Dr. Henry Ironside. In his commentary on Matthew (page 322), when teaching on Matthew 24:29-31, he says, “This is not at all the same event as the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4.” Now, this is only an example of what I’ve heard, and that is that there is a difference between the Rapture and Jesus’ Second Coming. But is that what we read, or is that what we are taught? So, in my next article we will take a look at this.
