About
one-fourth of the Bible was predictive when it was written, and obviously
divine revelation is intended to alert us of future events with the intent
of
preparing believers for the events before they happen. Prophecy was never
intended to be a contentious subject for people to argue over, but rather
a
practical subject to alert people to prepare for God's future plan. Much has
been lost by misunderstanding and neglect of the prophetic Scriptures.
In
the history of the interpretation of the prophetic portions of the Bible, it is
tragic that so many have misunderstood what the Bible teaches. This is
first
of all evident in the revelation in the Old Testament of the first and second
coming of Christ. Though specifics of His coming to die, as well as
His
coming to reign are given in Scripture accurately as the writers were guided by
the Holy Spirit, there is no evidence that anyone understood that there
would
be two comings, a first coming in which Christ would suffer and die and a
second coming in which He would gloriously reign. Jewish interpreters of
the
Bible wrestled with this and were unable to come to a satisfactory solution.
The tendency was, however, to gloss over the passages dealing with suffering
and
to emphasize the glorious prophecies of Christ's reign on earth such as is
found in Psalm 2,72, and 89, and Isaiah 2, 11, 65, and 66, to name a few.
Expectation
was high in Israel that when the Messiah came, He would deliver them from the
oppression of the Roman Empire and exalt Israel to be a leading
nation
of the world over whom the Messiah would reign in fulfilling the Old Testament
prophecies. It is unquestionably true that the disciples followed
Christ
anticipating His glorious reign not His sufferings and death. If they had
understood Christ's sufferings as preceding His glory, it is questionable
whether
they would have followed Christ but apparently nobody in the gospel period,
except Christ himself understood that there would be a first coming
in
which He would suffer and die and a second coming in which He would reign
gloriously.
In
following Christ, the disciples confidently expected that He would exalt Israel
and give them places of authority and honor. This was confirmed by the
statement
that they would sit on the throne judging the 12 tribes of Israel (Matt.
19:27-28). Christ made it plain that this would be when He sat on His
throne
of glory but they did not understand that this had to follow His second coming,
not His first.
As
the time approached when Christ would be crucified, they were repeatedly warned
that Jesus would be crucified, die and be resurrected (Matt. 16:21-22;
17:22-23;
20:17-19; Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:32-33; Luke 9:22,44-45; 18:31-34). The
disciples did not receive this announcement with understanding, and
so
thoroughly erased it from their minds that when Christ actually died, they did
not remember His predictions or that He would rise from the dead. By
contrast,
His enemies remembered and sealed the tomb and sent the soldiers to prevent
anyone stealing His body and claim that He was resurrected. It is
doubtful
that the disciples ever really understood that there was a first coming in
which He suffered and died separated by a long time period before His
second
coming until actually they saw Christ ascending to heaven (Acts 1). That
reinforced that His sufferings and death were past and His second coming
would
feature His glorious reign.
This
misunderstanding concerning the difference between the first and second coming
and the time interval between is perpetuated in the New Testament in
the
confusion over whether the second coming includes the rapture or whether the
rapture is an earlier event separated from the second coming by a time
period.
In
the history of the church, it was recognized that the Rapture, the truth that
Christ was coming for His saints, is presented as an imminent event but
that
the Second Coming had certain very specific prophecies that had to be fulfilled
first. They struggled with this and the Early Church fathers frequently
on
one page would say that He could come any day and on the next page that
something had to happen first without resolving the problem. There is no clear
record
of the concept that the Rapture and the Second Coming are two events until the
emergence of Ephraem of Nisibis (306-373). A prolific writer, he
was
copied by others who claimed to be him who stated that the elect will be
gathered before the Tribulation and taken to be with the Lord. Though controversy
raises
some question about this quotation, it seems that there were a few who caught
the idea that the Rapture was a separate event. Later this was given
widespread
interpretation in the Bible conference movement of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Accordingly, the idea of a pre-Tribulation Rapture
separated
from the Second Coming by probably more than seven years has been followed by a
large number of pre-millennial interpreters.
From
a practical standpoint, however, if Christ is not coming before the
Tribulation, His coming is not imminent because obviously there is still
Tribulation
ahead
and prophecies to be fulfilled before the Second Coming. If however, the
Rapture is before these events, then it takes on the concept of an imminent
return
which many believe the Bible teaches. The question of looking for the Lord's
return however is therefore preceded by other questions which must
resolve
the problem of the place in the future events that the rapture of the Church
occupies.
Because
of widespread disagreement as to when the Rapture occurs and what its true
nature is, a great deal of confusion is evident in prophetic literature.
Many
books have been written describing in graphic terms the great Tribulation,
climaxing in the second coming of Christ as if the world is already in
the
process, often totally ignoring the passages dealing with the Rapture. If the
Rapture precedes the Tribulation it becomes one of the most prominent,
important
prophecies which a believer today can understand.
The
cause for confusion goes back in the history of the Old Testament as has been
previously mentioned, in which the first and Second Coming were considered
one
event. There is a similar confusion with the Rapture and the Second Coming
today. The immediate cause however was the rise of non- literal interpretation
of
prophecy due to the influence of a school of theology which sprang up in Egypt
to Alexandria about A.D. 190. They attempted to harmonize the Scripture
with
a pure idealism of Plato and the only way this was possible was by taking the
entire Scripture as a great allegory and not interpreted literally.
The
Early Church rose up and defended the interpretation of grammatical, literal,
and historical interpretation and for the most part succeeded in erasing
the
non-literal interpretation from most areas of theology. Because eschatology is
different in depending on future fulfillment, they were less successful
in
this and the result was that pre-millennialism was largely put aside in favor
of amillennialism, namely the teaching that we were already in the millennium
or
at least that there was going to be no literal millennium following the second
coming of Christ. This became the predominant doctrine of the church
and
was standardized somewhat by Augustine in the fourth and fifth centuries and it
became the accepted doctrine of both the Roman Catholic Church and
the
Protestant reformers. Obviously, the matter of the Rapture could not be studied
or clarified until the issue of whether the pre-millennial view was
correct
or not. This did not occur until the last few centuries when the Bible
conference movement rescued pre-millennialism from this obscurity and made
it
one of the prominent doctrines of conservative Christianity today. If there is
a literal Millennium then there is also a literal Tribulation and the
concept
of the church going through this as those who deny the pre-Tribulation Rapture
hold, becomes far less tenable.
In
the history of the Church, the doctrine of the literal Second Coming is
incorporated in a] I of our major creeds whether Protestant, Roman Catholic,
or
Greek Orthodox, and for this reason even the secular world understands that
Christ said that He would bodily come again to judge the world as these
doctrinal
statements declare. While this is a clear interpretation of prophecy literally,
confusion arises when the events which lead up to it are not
taken
literally and the events that follow are not taken literally as is true
particularly of the amillennial point of view.
There
has been considerable development in this since World War II, because prior to
this it was customary for the amillennialist to ignore the Tribulation
completely
as something that has already been fulfilled in the sufferings of the Church.
After World War II, they made a complete U turn and recognized
that
there is a time of Tribulation preceding the Second Coming and so took away the
doctrine of immanency of the second coming of Christ. It also made
less
tenable the idea that the Church could go through this period of trial
unscathed. This was accomplished by watering down the Tribulation and taking
it
in less than its full description as it is portrayed in the Bible prophecies of
the end times.
The
rapture of the Church is a New Testament doctrine not found in the Old
Testament. There is no indication in the Old Testament that God would take a
whole
generation of believers out of the world prior to the final time of trouble.
The first indication of this is found in John 14 the night before His
crucifixion
when Christ announced that He would come back to take His disciples to the
Father's house. This was incomprehensible to the disciples who were
looking
for a kingdom on earth and was not explained until later when the apostle Paul
was given special revelation on this subject. This became part of
his
missionary message and, as in the case of the Thessalonians, he preached not
only the death and resurrection of Christ but also the fact that Christ
promised
to come back to take His church to heaven. As presented in I Thessalonians 4,
it was given to the Thessalonians as an imminent event and something
that
would end their bereavement for loved ones who had died.
The
Thessalonians apparently had followed Paul's teaching on the Rapture so closely
that they anticipated the Rapture could occur at any time. When some
of
their number died however, this presented anew problem as to when they would
see their loved ones again. There were some apparently who postulated that
there
might be a delay and though this is not clear, they may have had in mind that
they would not be resurrected until the Second Coming which would climax
the
Tribulation. When this problem of interpretation was brought to Paul's
attention by Timothy, he wrote I Thessalonians and described in detail what
would
happen when the Rapture occurs. A careful study of I Thessalonians 4:13-18
reveals the Rapture as an imminent event.
Verse
13 indicates that God wants us to know the wonderful hope we have in Christ. In
verse 14, he states that the Rapture is just as sure as the death
and
resurrection of Christ even though it is still future. He further states that
on the occasion of the Rapture, God would bring back from heaven the
souls
of Christians to the earthly sphere who have died, because He would resurrect
their bodies and the soul will re-enter the body. The exact process
is
described in verse 15-17 in these words:
For
the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise
first.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with
the
Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (I Thess. 4:15-18;NKJ).
The
order of events involve Christ descending bodily from heaven to the air above
the earth, His shout of command ordering Christians who have died to be
resurrected
and living Christians to be instantly changed attended by the shout of the
archangel and rejoicing in this event and what is described as the
trumpet
of God. When this occurs all over the world, Christians will be instantly
resurrected and living Christians will be instantly changed according
to
I Corinthians 15:51-53. After being caught up from the earth, they will go to
the Father's house as indicated in John 14:3. In answer to the Thessalonian's
questions,
they will not have to wait for their loved ones to be resurrected as it will
occur a moment before their translation. The promise is that after
this,
they will be with the Lord forever wherever He is, whether on earth, the
millennial earth, or the new heaven and new earth. The message is intended
to
be a comfort and an encouragement to the Thessalonians who were facing the loss
of their loved ones.
It
should be noted that there is not a word here about any intervening event. The
Thessalonians are not told that they have to go through the Tribulation
first
before they will see their loved ones. Here as in all the passages on the
Rapture, there is implication that the Rapture could occur any day. As
far
as Scripture revelation is concerned, there are no intervening events. This
coincides with the pre-Tribulation Rapture but does not make room for the
post-Tribulation
view or other views.
The
question remains as to how soon the Rapture will occur. After all, almost two
thousand years have passed since this prophecy was given. How does a believer
know
that there will not be many more years before the Rapture is fulfilled?
Many
attempts have been made to date the Rapture and all of them have been false
because the Bible does not give this information. However, there are
indications
that
the Rapture could occur very soon. This seems to be a contradiction, because if
the Rapture has no signs, how can one say that there are signs of
the
Rapture approaching.
The
answer is found in the sequence of chronological events that occur before the
Second Coming. If prophecy is taken literally, the Bible describes in
detail
exactly what the world situation will be at the Rapture and how events will
unfold that finally climax in the Second Coming.
These
events can be stated in order. At the time of the Rapture, there apparently
will be a revival of the ancient Roman Empire that was in power when Christ
was
on earth. Today that empire is dead and gone but the Scriptures imply that
there will be a resurrection of this empire in the end time. This is indicated
in
Daniel 7:7-8 where the ten horns of the beast represent ten kingdoms according
to Daniel 7:25, and apparently anticipates that there will be revival
of
the Roman Empire in the form of ten countries. Under these circumstances, it is
very significant that developments in the world today seem to pave the
way
for this. When these ten nations get together in a voluntary political union, a
dictator will arise who will conquer three as indicated in Daniel 7:8
where
the little horn, the ruler, uproots three of the ten horns representing
conquering three countries. From then on, the Scriptures regard him as the
ruler
of all ten nations. From this position of power, he is able to attempt to solve
the major problem of the Middle East, namely the place of Israel.
According
to Daniel 9:24-27, Israel's total prophetic history is embraced in 490 years,
the last 7 years of which have never been fulfilled. A reasonable
explanation
is that this ruler will impose a covenant on Israel for 7 years offered as a
covenant of peace. According to Daniel 9:27, it will be observed
for
three and one-half years and then will be broken and a time of desecration and
destruction follow. This coincides with prophecies in the Book of Revelation
that
there will be 42 months of Great Tribulation (Rev. 7:14, 13:5), a title which
Daniel, Christ, and the Book of Revelation give this final three and
one-half
years leading up to the second coming of Christ (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21; Rev.
7:14). In this period, the dictator of the ten nations becomes a
world
ruler dominated by Satan (Rev. 13:7) and reveals his own atheistic background
as he claims to be God himself (2 Thess. 2:4). Because he tries to
eliminate
from the world all who would not recognize him, God pours out the terrible
judgments described in the Book of Revelation, and the world is decimated
in
its human population and destroyed in its physical properties leading up to the
second coming of Christ. Christ himself said in Matthew 24 that if He
did
not terminate the process of the Great Tribulation, there will be no people
left (Matt. 24:22).
In
summary, the events are as follows: the revival of the Roman Empire
approximately at the time of the Rapture, emergence of a ruler who conquers the
first
three,
and then all ten countries, the imposition of a seven-year covenant upon Israel
according to Daniel 9:27, the observance of a peace treaty for the
first
half of the seven years, the breaking of the treaty at the time of the Great
Tribulation, the last half in which a world ruler would take over dominated
by
Satan, the terrible judgments of the Tribulation time both from God and from
the world ruler, and then the second coming of Christ.
When
this sequence of events is clearly understood, the fact that Europe is at peace
today becomes tremendously significant. For centuries, the major nations
of
Europe have fought each other and when each war ended, they would start arming
for the next. This was true for hundreds of years up to the time of the
Second
World War. At the conclusion of the Second World War however, a strange change
took place. Due to the atomic bomb, it was recognized that if another
war
broke out, each 'Side would be able to destroy the other which would not make
the war profitable. Accordingly, they abandoned efforts to fight each
other
and adopted a friendly stance where the common market was made possible and
today Europe is an economic unit with more than ten nations involved.
While
this unification of Europe economically is not the political union which the
Bible predicts, it is obviously the soil in which such a political union
could
take place. Even the secular press frequently refers to the possibility of the
United States of Europe uniting Europe in a political union. Because
this
is precisely what would happen if the ten nations of the Roman Empire were
revived, it makes it clear that we are now for the first time precisely
at
the moment in history where the Roman Empire could be revived and if this is
connected with the rapture of the Church, it also helps us to date it.
Probably
a sensible conclusion is that while the date of the Rapture is not revealed,
for the first time, we have some solid evidence that the Rapture could
be
very soon. This leads to practical conclusions about what we Christians should
do in the light of these prophesied events.
The
reason Christians should be watching for the Rapture rather than the Second
Coming is that the Second Coming is not imminent but the Rapture is. If
Christ
may come any day and Christians who have died will be resurrected and living
Christians changed, it obviously puts a challenge before those who
are
living today to make every day count for Christ. In other words, our
opportunities should be maximized in doing the things that we want to do if
Christ
were
coming very soon.
There
is no ground in Scripture for frantic efforts, but obviously the first question
is are we ready in the sense of are we born again for only Christians
who
are born again and part of God's family will be raptured. They have to be in
Christ by the baptism of the Spirit which occurs at the moment of their
faith
in Christ. Undoubtedly, many church members will be left behind who fell short
of a vital, personal relationship to Jesus Christ.
A
second, very practical lesson is that we should be concerned about those around
us who are not Christians whether they are loved ones or strangers. Christians
should
get behind every effort to win people for Christ and they should be engaged in
personal evangelism and prayer for the lost, supporting the church
and
evangelistic efforts in trying to win others to Christ. Certainly, this is a
crucial time in history if the Rapture could be very soon.
It
should be noted that the Bible does not outline frantic or extreme efforts in
preparation for the Lord's return. The Bible does not indicate that Christians
should
give all their money away as some have tried to do who have dated the Rapture.
Instead, however, Christians should be wise stewards giving as much
as
they can because obviously if the Rapture occurs, they will leave behind
whatever physical wealth they have. It is also obvious that we have many
opportunities
for
service for God in recognition of His plan and program and we should order our
lives especially as they are related to eternal values, things that
will
really count as we stand before Christ, the judgment seat of rewards, which the
Bible describes as following the Rapture. Accordingly, we watch because
it
could be soon but watching is not enough. We must be serving and making the
most of our remaining time.