Comparison of
Christian millennial interpretations
In Christian eschatology [Prophecy beliefs], the Rapture is the name given to a future event in which Jesus Christ will descend from Heaven, accompanied by the spirits of all the saints of God, both from the pre-incarnation period and after, who have passed on prior to this event, and then the bodily remains of these saints are transported from the Earth to meet the Lord and be rejoined with their corresponding spirits in the air. Immediately after this, all Christians alive on the earth are simultaneously transported to meet the Lord and those who have preceded them in the air. All are transformed into immortal bodies like Jesus' body, often referred to as the "resurrection body". This doctrine gained popularity in the 1830s, and more recently in the 1970s, with proponents of the premillennialist, and in particular the dispensationalist, interpretations of scripture. However, proponents of the doctrine have argued that it can be found in the early Church fathers and the New Testament.
There is much disagreement amongst rapture proponents over when the rapture will occur in relation to the Tribulation, a seven-year period preceding the second coming of Christ to the earth, or indeed, if the duration of the Tribulation will be seven years or only a 3 1/2 year period. Some understand the tribulation of Matthew 24 as having already taken place in 70 AD at the destruction of Jerusalem. (Preterism). Three different views predominate. The first is that it will take place sometime prior to the Tribulation. The second is that it will take place mid-way through the Tribulation. The third is that it will take place after the Tribulation, when Christ comes to earth to establish His kingdom, the Kingdom of God, taking over rulership of the world for 1,000 years. (Millennialism). A fourth view has recently developed, called the Pre-Wrath view.
"Rapture", when used in eschatological terms, is an English word used in place of the Latin word raeptius; taken from the Vulgate, which in turn is a translation of the Koine Greek word harpazo, which is found in the Greek New Testament manuscripts of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In many modern English translations of the Bible, harpazo is translated; "caught up", or "taken away".
"Harpazo" \har-pad'-zo\ Koine Greek, "forcibly snatched away", "taken for oneself".
The origins of the doctrine of the rapture are hotly debated. The Catholic and Orthodox churches as well as the Reformed denominations have no tradition of such a teaching and reject the doctrine, in part because they cannot find any reference to it among any of the early Church fathers. Some also reject it because they interpret prophetic scriptures in either an amillennial or postmillennial fashion, as being more spiritual than physical.
Proponents of the rapture insist that the doctrine of amillennialism originated with Alexandrian scholars such as Clement and Origen and was later brought wholly into Roman Catholic dogma by Augustine. Hence, the church up until then held to premillennial views, which see an impending apocalypse from which the church will be rescued after being raptured by the Lord. This is even extrapolated by some to mean that the early church espoused pretribulationism.
Some Pre-Tribulation proponents maintain that the earliest known extra-Biblical reference to the "Pre-Tribulation" rapture is from a sermon falsely attributed to the fourth-century Church Father Ephraem the Syrian, which says, "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." However, the interpretation of this writing, as supporting Pre-Tribulation rapture, is debated.
There exists at least one 18th century and two 19th century Pre-Tribulation references, in a book published in 1788, in the writings of a Catholic priest Emmanuel Lacunza in 1812, and by John Darby himself in 1827. However, both the book published in 1788 and the writings of Lacunza have opposing views regarding their interpretations, as well.
The rise in belief in the "Pre-Tribulation" rapture is sometimes attributed to a 15-year old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret McDonald (a follower of Edward Irving), who in 1830 had a vision that was later published in 1861.
The popularization of the term is associated with teaching of John Nelson Darby, prominent among the Plymouth Brethren, and the rise of premillennialism and dispensationalism in English-speaking churches at the end of the 19th century. In 1908, the doctrine of the rapture was further popularized by an evangelist named William Eugene Blackstone, whose book, Jesus Is Coming, sold more than one million copies. The first known appearance of the theological use of the word "rapture" in print occurs with the Scofield Reference Bible of 1909.
In 1957, Dr. John Walvoord, a theologian at Dallas Theological Seminary, authored a book, "The Rapture Question," that gave theological support to the Pre-Tribulation rapture; this book eventually sold over 65,000 copies. In 1958, J. Dwight Pentecost authored another book supporting the Pre-Tribulation rapture, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology, that sold 215,000 copies.
During the 1970s, the rapture became popular in wider circles, in part due to the books of Hal Lindsey, including The Late Great Planet Earth, which has reportedly sold between 15 million and 35 million copies and by the movie "A Thief in the Night" which based its title on the scriptural reference 1 Thessalonians 5:2. Lindsey proclaimed that the rapture was imminent, an idea that he based on world conditions at the time. The Cold War and the European Economic Community figured prominently in his predictions of impending Armageddon. Other aspects of 1970s global politics were seen as having been predicted in the Bible. Lindsey suggested, for example, that the seven-headed beast with ten horns, cited in the Book of Revelation, was the European Economic Community, a forebear of the European Union, which at the time aspired to ten nations; it now has 27 member states.
In 1995, the doctrine of the Pre-Tribulation rapture was further popularized by Tim LaHaye's book series, Left Behind, which sold tens of millions of copies and was made into several movies.
The doctrine of the rapture continues to be an important component in fundamentalist Christian eschatology today. Many fundamentalist Christians continue to feel that world conditions point to the rapture, Tribulation, and return of Christ occurring soon.
Supporters of the doctrine of the rapture generally cite the following primary sources in the New Testament (the following are quoted from the NKJV):
One of the tenets of the dispensationalist interpretation of Bible prophecy is that in the prophecy of 70 weeks from the book of Daniel (Daniel 9:27), between the 69th and 70th weeks there is a break, lasting an unspecified period of time. Thus, the 70th week of seven years has not yet occurred. This seven-year period will mark the end of the current dispensation, and is referred to as the Tribulation. There is considerable debate among Christians who believe in the rapture in regard to the timing of the rapture relative to the Tribulation. Most views hold that Christian believers will be either removed from, or protected from the judgment of God's wrath.
Comparison of
Christian millennial interpretations
The Pre-Tribulation rapture is the view that the rapture will occur before the beginning of the Tribulation period. According to this view, the Christian Church that existed prior to that seven-year period has no vital role during the seven years of Tribulation, and will therefore be removed. Many people who accept Christ after the rapture will be martyred for their faith during the Tribulation. Saint John the Divine, which some believe is the apostle John, is seen in Revelation 4:1 as representing the Church caught up to Heaven. John hears the Trumpet and a voice that says, "Come up hither", and he is translated in the Spirit to Heaven and then sees what will happen for those left on earth. The Pre-Tribulation rapture is the most widely held position among American evangelical Christians. It has become popular in recent years around the world and through the work of dispensational preachers such as Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost, Tim LaHaye, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Chuck Smith, Dr. Chuck Missler, Jack Van Impe, and Dr. Grant Jeffrey.
Some who believe in a Pre-Tribulation rapture warn that the rapture is imminent, saying that all of the prophecies concerning the latter days have been fulfilled to the extent that the rapture could take place at any moment. Others suggest that certain requirements must first be met before a rapture can occur, such as these:
Others state these events will happen after the rapture.
A minority view, with few proponents today, is that the rapture happens half-way through the seven-year Tribulation. This view is supported by the 7th chapter of Daniel, where it says the saints will be given over to tribulation for "time, times, and half a time" which is interpreted to mean 3.5 years. That is, half way through the seven years of the tribulation. At this juncture, the Antichrist commits the "abomination of desolation" by desecrating the Jerusalem temple (to be built on what is now called The Temple Mount.)
The prewrath rapture view is that the tribulation of the church begins toward the latter part of the seven-year period, being Daniel's 70th week, when the Antichrist is revealed in the temple. The great Tribulation, according to this view, is of the Antichrist against the church at this time. The duration of this tribulation is unknown, except that it begins and ends during the second half of Daniel's 70th week. References from Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are used as evidence that this tribulation will be cut short by the coming of Christ to deliver the righteous by means of rapture, which will occur after the sixth seal is opened and the Sun is darkened and the moon is turned to blood. However, by this point many Christians will have been slaughtered as martyrs by the Antichrist. After the rapture comes God's seventh-seal wrath of trumpets and bowls (a.k.a. "the Day of the Lord"). The Day of the Lord's wrath against the ungodly will follow for the remainder of the seven years.
The Post-Tribulation rapture (or "Post-Trib") view places the rapture at the end of the Tribulation period, based on passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, seen as quoting the words of "the Lord" as indicated in Matthew 24:29-31 (see table below). From this perspective, Christian believers will be on the earth as witnesses to Christ during the entire seven years, until the last day of the tribulation period.
Post-Tribulation advocates find no scriptural support for the so-called "Yo-Yo Theory", which they describe as the first-Second-Coming of Christ in the clouds for the rapture and then coming back again for a second-Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Coming in two parts or the Second and Third Coming). However, the pre-trib believers would say that they do not support two comings of Christ. The first is for the Church (and not a return)- then Christ will return to the Earth to set up the millenial kingdom. The Rapture is not considered to be the coming of Christ but a specific snatching away of the Church.
The Post-Tribulation view brings Christ's "appearing" and his "coming" together in one all-encompassing, grand event. Matthew 24:29-31; "Immediately after the tribulation of those days they shall gather together his elect", is cited as a foundational scripture for this view. Pat Robertson describes the end times this way in his 1995 novel The End of the Age. Another supporting scripture is John 17:15-16, where Jesus prays that the Father not take his (Jesus') disciples from the earth, but that he (the Father) would nevertheless "keep them from the evil one." This is taken to preclude a Pre-Trib or a Mid-Trib rapture to heaven at any time. Prominent authors supporting this view are Walter Ralston Martin, John Piper, George Eldon Ladd, Robert H. Gundry, and Douglas Moo.
| Matthew 24:29-31 ASV | 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 ASV |
|---|---|
| Matthew 24:29 But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. | 1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. |
This is a lesser-known position that maintains that the Scriptures are intentionally unclear about the relationship of the rapture to the Tribulation. As a result, believers could anticipate the return of Jesus to the clouds at any moment while yet watching for the rise of the Antichrist. This position claims to harmonize two seemingly contradictory threads.
Generally, believers in the rapture of the church no longer make predictions regarding the exact timing of the event itself. The primary scripture reference cited for this position is Matthew 24:36, where Jesus is quoted saying; "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (NASB). Gary Demar has jokingly challenged "date setters" to sign a contract turning over all their assets to him on the day after they claim the Rapture is to occur (he has written a book, Last Days Madness, endorsing the preterst position and challenges many of the popular ideas of Bible prophecy).
Any individual or religious group that has dogmatically predicted the day of the rapture, referred to as "date setting", has been thoroughly embarrassed and discredited, as the predicted date of fulfillment came and went without event. Some of these individuals and groups have offered excuses and "corrected" target dates, while others have simply released a reinterpretation of the meaning of the scripture to fit their current predicament, and then explained that although the prediction appeared to have not come true, in reality it had been completely accurate and fulfilled, albeit in a different way than many had expected.
Conversely, many of those who believe that the precise date of the rapture cannot be known, do affirm that the specific timeframe that immediately precedes the rapture event can be known. This timeframe is often referred to as "the season". The primary section of scripture cited for this position is Matthew 24:32-35; where Jesus is quoted teaching the parable of the fig tree, which is proposed as the key that unlocks the understanding of the general timing of the rapture, as well as the surrounding prophecies listed in the sections of scripture that precede and follow this parable.
Some notable rapture predictions include the following:
Posters placed in public locations around the New England
area in 1992
The Rapture is often the plot of films. In these films all of the Christians mysteriously disappear. Usually everyone wakes up one morning and to find that millions of people have vanished without explanation. Often there is a news cast where experts debate what has happened. The rest of the film deals with those that that were "left behind" as they realize that the Rapture has happened and the world is consumed by evil forces and heads towards ultimate destruction.
The first full fledged rapture movie was A Thief in the Night. That film was followed by three sequels and a novel and set up the genre of the rapture film. With only a few exceptions the genre died out by the end of the 1970s only to resurface again in the 1990s with such films as Apocalypse, Revelation, The Rapture, Left Behind: The Movies , and The Omega Code. Cloud Ten Pictures specializes in making end time films.
In 2002, Dirk Been and Joel Klug (former "Survivor" cast members) starred in the movie Gone, which is about three lawyers who are left behind in the Philippines. The film was nominated for 'Best Christian Movie of the Year' by Christian Beats magazine and was seen on the Dove Awards on national TV. "Gone" went on to be seen by an estimated 1.2 million people. It was written and directed by Tim Chey.
In 1950, the novel Raptured by Ernest Angley was published. It's a fictional novel based on the accounts foretold in the books of Daniel and Revelation. The novel focuses on a man whose mother is raptured along with other Christians, while he is left behind in the tribulation period.
In 1995, Left Behind was published. The rapture is a major component of the premise of the book and its various spin-offs. These books greatly revived public interest in this concept. The plot of the book was used as a basis for a 2000 movie and a 2006 vidio game.
In Mark E. Rogers' book The Dead, published in 2001, those chosen for salvation disappear in a blinding flash of light. It is possible for people who have been left behind to redeem themselves in the eyes of God; those who do are immediately raptured. Sacrificing oneself to help others is one way of being redeemed. Some characters are actually under attack by reanimated corpses, or by Legion himself, at the time of their rapture. The blinding flash of light totally disorients the corpses who witness it, rendering them incapable of any action at all for a short time. The humans are literally "caught up" "in an instant" by God.
On May 8, 2005, in Episode 19 in season 16 of The Simpsons titled "Thank God It's Doomsday", Homer predicts the rapture. After seeing a movie titled Left Below (a parody of Left Behind), he becomes paranoid and predicts that the rapture will occur at 3:15 p.m. on May 18.
In the Drawn Together episode "Lost in Parking Space, Part One", Princess Clara, a devout Christian, warns her unconcerned housemates that the rapture is coming, even going so far as to contact a rapture hotline run by Kirk Cameron (star of Left Behind: The Movie). When her housemates later run off to the mall without her, she fears they have been taken off to heaven and she has been left behind.
"Rapture" is the twelfth episode of the third season from the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. Aired on January 21, 2007, this episode marks the return of regular broadcasting after the Christmas mid-season hiatus. In this episode chief discovers that the eye of Jupiter is the supernova.
In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Kidney Car", Master Shake is seen wearing a racing helmet upon returning from a demolition derby in which he wrecked Carl's car. When questioned about the purpose of the helmet by a suspicious Carl, Shake claims it is "For the Rapture".
At the height of the Jesus Movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the rapture figured prominently in popular songs by secular artists, such as "Are You Ready?" by Pacific Gas & Electric (#14 in August 1970) and "In The Year 2525" by Zager and Evans (#1 in July 1969). Also at that time, the song "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" was written and performed by Larry Norman, one of the founders of the nascent "Jesus Rock" movement in the early 70s. Other songs about the Christian end times include "Goin' by the Book", "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash, and "Tribulation" by Charlie Daniels. Later popular songs based on the Apocalypse, if not explicitly the Rapture, are "1999" by Prince and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" by REM. Norman Greenbaum's song "Spirit in the Sky" is also related to the subject. Avenged Sevenfold's song titled "To End The Rapture" from the album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet Senses Fail's song titled "The Rapture" from their album Still Searching.
On August 2, 2001, humorist Elroy Willis posted a Usenet article titled; "Mistaken Rapture Kills Arkansas Woman". This fictional, satirical story about a woman who causes a traffic accident and is killed when she believes the rapture has started, circulated widely on the Internet and was believed by many people to be a description of an actual incident. Elements of the story appeared in an episode of the HBO television drama Six Feet Under, and a slightly modified version of the story was reprinted in the US tabloid newspaper Weekly World News. The story continues to circulate by electronic mail as a chain letter.
One organization, the Rapture Fund, is offering a "Rapture Will" that provides terms by which a Christian can transfer his or her estate to the Rapture Fund in the event of the Rapture. The organization's website indicates that funds are to be used for publication of the Gospel during the Tribulation.
In the vidiogame BioShock the underwater city is called Rapture, named by its creator as a mockery of common belief.