Over the past several years the teaching of the Rapture of the Church has been much taught, publicized and debated among Protestants, Evangelicals and in the public forum.
What is the Rapture?
Though the word “rapture” is never found in the Bible, the idea for the doctrine is found in I Thessalonians 4:13-18, which states:
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, (dead) that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him… 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 words “caught up” are derived from the Greek word “harpazo” which means “to snatch away” or “to take from the ground” thus, the “rapture”.
The rapture is defined, by Christians, as the event in which all of the Christians living on the earth are simultaneously transported to heaven to be with Jesus. The event will take place instantaneously, or, as I Corinthians 15:52 states, “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.”
In other words, all Christians living on the earth will ascend and meet Jesus in the air after they hear the “trump of God” sound. As they ascend, their human bodies will be changed into immortal bodies.
The rapture does not simply include living Christians, it also includes those Christians who have died (i.e. “…the dead in Christ shall rise first”).
People who believe that there is a coming rapture of believers also believe the idea was taught by Jesus in John 14:2-3 when He said, “In my Father’s house there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
The concept of the rapture developed rather recently in the 1830s, and then revived again in the 1970s. Pre-millennialists as well as dispensationalists are primarily accredited with popularizing the idea.
Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants do not hold to the teaching of the rapture. However, it is commonly held among Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, Baptists, Pentecostals and many Independents. Views of exactly when the rapture will occur are widely varied. Among the theories claimed, there is the Pre-tribulational view, the mid-tribulational view, the pre-wrath view and the post-tribulational view. These will each be explored in subsequent articles.
What is the Tribulation? Part 1
Is Baptism Required for Salvation?