by Tad Lindley
In case you missed last week’s column, it was about the concept of the rapture. The word “rapture” is not in the Bible. It comes from a Latin translation of the Bible, in particular I Thessalonians 4:16-17: 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: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The Latin word for “caught up” comes into English as “rapture”.
Other verses on the rapture
The Bible teaches on the rapture in both the Old and the New Testament that the Lord will return and gather to himself the righteous dead and those who are alive and are living for him:
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life (at the return of the Lord), and some to shame and everlasting contempt (at the 2nd resurrection in Rev. 20:5,13).
Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Matthew 24:30-31 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 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send 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.
I Corinthians 15:51-52 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Revelation 1:7- Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
When did it happen?????
There are some people who believe that this has already happened. That belief is called Preterism. In that belief, the events prophesied in the second half of Daniel and in Revelation all happened by the end of the first century AD. For them the question is, “When did it happen?” For the rest of us, the question is, “When will it happen?”
When will it happen?
Now Jesus said that no man knows the day nor the hour (Matthew 24:36), but he did indicate that we would know the approximate time (Matthew 24:33). If you believe the Bible and you don’t believe the Preterist position, that the rapture has already happened, then you may be wondering when it will happen. There are two main thoughts on this, Pre-Tribulation and Post-Tribulation. Pre- means before, and Post- means after. One group of people thinks that the Rapture happens before the tribulation, and the other that it happens after the tribulation. At this point you might be wondering, “When does the tribulation happen?”
The great tribulation
Jesus talked about the tribulation in Matthew 24. First the anti-Christ will stand in the Holy Place of a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (24:15), …then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. The Tribulation will last three and a half years (see Daniel 7:25, 8:14, Revelation 13:5).
Which is it?
Pre-tribulation believers teach that the Rapture will already have happened prior to the Great Tribulation. This idea was popularized in the 1800’s by John Darby. It was also a central event in the popular Left Behind series written in recent years. The Post-tribulation rapture is based on the following passage in Matthew 24, For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be…Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 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: 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 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send 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.
Are you Rapture ready?
Whether the Rapture happens before the Great Tribulation or after it, it will happen. Will you be ready? No matter how far from God you might feel at the moment, he wants to close that distance. When the Jewish people in Jerusalem realized that they were so far from God, that they had actually driven the Romans to crucify Jesus, they asked Peter what to do to get right with God. Here is what he said, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38) If you have not experienced Acts 2:38, what are you waiting for?
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
