What is the biblical support for the idea of the 'Rapture'?
A while ago the glorified DJ Howard Camping predicted a Rapture to occur on May 21 of this year, with a final coming of Jesus to take place several months later in October. The prediction itself, of course, was totally unfounded malarkey. But what about the idea behind it? Is there any biblical support for a pre-tribulation Rapture?
quote:
Wills in Head and Heart (2007):
It was the total schema, too, that made Darby always refer to the secret Rapture. Not secret in the sense that no one would notice when thousands of people disappeared. But they would not know the explanation, since Jesus would not be seen except by those meeting him "in the air." This secret coming of Jesus was in contrast with his final coming in glory, which will manifest his power to all. Once the whole framework was in place, the Dispensationalists searched for biblical texts that can be made to conform with it. The principal one is from Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians 4.17. The Thessalonians, who expected the imminent return of Christ, worried about their fellow Christians who had already died. Paul assured them that the living and dead would both be swept up to meet the returning Jesus: "Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them [the dead] in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
One trouble with the use of this passage can be seen in the immediately preceding verse (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." That is hardly a secret coming.
...
The other favorite passage of the Darbyites is Matthew 24.40—41: "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." ... But this passage, too, takes its meaning from the immediately preceding verse. Describing all the people who refused to hear Noah and join him on the ark, it says: "And [they] knew not until the flood came and took them all away." The section speaks of destruction, not deliverance. To be taken away is to be destroyed. Being left behind, like Noah and his family, is the desirable thing. (pp. 365—366)
Over at
Rapture Ready, several supposed citations in support of a pre-tribulation Rapture are given in the first few of their paragraphs; here are some of them:
quote:
1 Corinthians 15:51—53 (NRSV):
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
quote:
Matthew 25:13 (NRSV):
Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
quote:
Revelation 12:6 (NRSV):
and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
quote:
2 Thessalonians 2:4 (NRSV):
He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.
quote:
Daniel 9:27 (NRSV):
He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an abomination that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.'
As should be clear, none of these really appear to support the notion of a pre-tribulation Rapture. But are there others? Are there other passages that actually support the idea of a pre-tribulation Rapture as marketed by folk like Camping?
If so, it would sure be interesting to know what they are.
Jon
__________
Wills, G. (2007)
Head and Heart: American Christianities. New York: Penguin Press.
Edited by Jon, : passage quotes; clarity
Love your enemies!
™ Version 4.2
