Rapture
Encyclopedia
The rapture is a reference to the "being caught up" referred to in 1 Thessalonians
4:17, when the "dead in Christ" and "we who are alive and remain" will be caught up in the clouds to meet "the Lord".
The term "rapture" is used in at least two senses in modern traditions of Christian eschatology
; in pre-tribulationist views, in which a group of people will be "left behind", and as a synonym for the final resurrection
generally.
There are many views among Christians regarding the timing of Christ's return (including whether it will occur in one event or two), and various views regarding the destination of the aerial gathering described in 1 Thessalonians 4. Some denominations, such as Roman Catholics (as described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
676 and 677) and Orthodox Christians
, do not accept the doctrine at all, but affirm the Resurrection to be the "catching away". The rapture theory was largely developed by American evangelists from the 17th century onwards, although some Catholics had espoused similar ideas before.
text of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 uses the verb form ἁρπαγησόμεθα (harpagēsometha), which means "we shall be caught up" or "taken away", with the connotation that this is a sudden event. The dictionary form of this Greek verb is harpazō (ἁρπάζω). This use is also seen in such texts as ; ; .
translates the Greek ἁρπαγησόμεθα as rapiemur, meaning "to catch up" or "take away".
, was expressed by the 17th-century American Puritan father and son Increase
and Cotton Mather
. They held to the idea that believers would be caught up in the air, followed by judgments on the Earth, and then the millennium
. The term rapture was used by Philip Doddridge and John Gill in their New Testament
commentaries, with the idea that believers would be caught up prior to judgment on the Earth and Jesus' second coming
.
There exists at least one 18th century and two 19th century pre-tribulation references: in an essay published in 1788 in Philadelphia by the Baptist Morgan Edwards
which articulated the concept of a pre-tribulation rapture, in the writings of Catholic priest Emmanuel Lacunza in 1812, and by John Nelson Darby
in 1827. However, both the book published in 1788 and the writings of Lacunza have opposing views regarding their interpretations. Emmanuel Lacunza
(1731–1801), a Jesuit priest, (under the pseudonym Juan Josafat Ben Ezra) wrote an apocalyptic work entitled La venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad (The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty). The book appeared first in 1811, 10 years after his death. In 1827, it was translated into English by the Scottish minister Edward Irving
.
Dr. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles
(1813-1875), a prominent English theologian and biblical scholar, wrote a pamphlet in 1866 tracing the concept of the rapture through the works of John Darby back to Edward Irving
.
Although not using the term "rapture", the idea was more fully developed by Edward Irving (1792–1834). In ? (first volume published in 1706) Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume. Peabody: Hendrickson. Matthew Henry used the term in his commentary of 1 Thessalonians 4. Irving directed his attention to the study of prophecy and eventually accepted the one-man Antichrist
idea of James Henthorn Todd
, Samuel Roffey Maitland
, Robert Bellarmine
, and Francisco Ribera
, yet he went a step further. Irving began to teach the idea of a two-phase return of Christ, the first phase being a secret rapture prior to the rise of the Antichrist. According to Irving, “There are three gatherings: – First, of the first-fruits of the harvest, the wise virgins who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth; next, the abundant harvest gathered afterwards by God; and lastly, the assembling of the wicked for punishment.”
John Nelson Darby first proposed and popularized the pre-tribulation rapture in 1827. This view was accepted among many other Plymouth Brethren
movements in England. Darby and other prominent Brethren were part of the Brethren Movement which impacted American Christianity, especially with movements and teachings associated with Christian eschatology and fundamentalism
, primarily through their writings. Influences included the Bible Conference Movement, starting in 1878 with the Niagara Bible Conference. These conferences, which were initially inclusive of historicist
and futurist
premillennialism, led to an increasing acceptance of futurist premillennial views and the pre-tribulation rapture especially among Presbyterian, Baptist and Congregational members. Popular books also contributed to acceptance of the pre-tribulation rapture, including William Eugene Blackstone
's book Jesus is Coming published in 1878 and which sold more than 1.3 million copies and the Scofield Reference Bible
, published in 1909 and 1919 and revised in 1967.
The early original Christian church
, as well as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, the Anglican Communion
and many Protestant Calvinist denominations, have no tradition of a preliminary return of Christ and reject the doctrine. The Orthodox Church, for example, rejects it because the Protestant doctrine of the rapture depends on a millennial interpretation of prophetic scriptures, rather than an amillennial
or postmillennial
fashion.
Some proponents of a preliminary rapture believe the doctrine of amillennialism originated with Alexandria
n scholars such as Clement
and Origen
and later became Catholic dogma through Augustine
. Thus the church 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 pre-tribulationism.
Some pre-tribulation proponents maintain that the earliest known extra-Biblical reference to the pre-tribulation rapture is from a 7th-century tract known as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem
the Syria
n, 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 a pre-tribulation rapture is debated.
The rise in belief in the pre-tribulation rapture is often wrongly attributed to a 15-year old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret McDonald (a follower of Edward Irving
), who in 1830 had a vision of the end times which describes a post-tribulation view of the rapture that was first published in 1840. It was published again in 1861, but two important passages demonstrating a post-tribulation view were removed to encourage confusion concerning the timing of the rapture. The two removed segments were, "This is the fiery trial which is to try us. - It will be for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus" and "The trial of the Church is from Antichrist. It is by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept".
In 1957, 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, which sold 215,000 copies.
During the 1970s, belief in 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 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, based on world conditions at the time. The Cold War
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 between 1981 and 1986 had ten member states; it now has 27 member states.
In 1995, the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture was further popularized by Tim LaHaye
's Left Behind
series of books, which sold tens of millions of copies and were made into several movies.
The doctrine of the rapture continues to be an important component of American
evangelical Christian eschatology.
) hold the return of Christ to be two distinct events, or one second coming in two stages. 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 is seen to be a description of a preliminary event to the return described in Matthew 24:29–31. Although both describe a return of Jesus, these are seen to be separated in time by more than a brief period. The first event may or may not be seen (which is not a primary issue), and is called the rapture, when the saved are to be 'caught up,' from whence the term "rapture" is taken. The "second coming" is a public event, wherein Christ's presence is prophesied to be clearly seen by all, as he returns to end a battle staged at Armageddon
, though possibly fought at the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The majority of dispensationalists
hold that the first event precedes the period of tribulation
, even if not immediately (see chart for additional dispensationalist timing views);
Amillennialists
deny the interpretation of a literal 1,000-year rule of Christ, and as such amillennialism does not necessarily imply much difference between itself and other forms of millennialism
besides that denial. However, there is considerable overlap in the beliefs of Amillenialists (including most Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans), postmillennialists (including Presbyterians), and historic premillennialists
(including some Calvinistic Baptist
s, among others) with those who hold that the return of Christ will be a single, public event. Those who identify the rapture with the second coming are likely to emphasize mutual similarities between passages of scripture where clouds, trumpets, angel
s or the archangel
, resurrection, and gathering are mentioned. Although some (particularly some amillennialists) may take the rapture to be figurative, rather than literal, these three groups are likely to maintain that the passages regarding the return of Christ describe a single event.
Some also claim that the "word of the Lord" cited by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 is the Olivet Discourse
which Matthew separately describes in Matthew 24:29-31. Although the doctrinal relationship between the rapture and the second coming is the same in these three groups, Historic premillennialists are more likely to use the term "rapture" to clarify their position in distinction from dispensationalists.
, with an eventual return to Earth. Roman Catholic commentators, such as Walter Drum (1912), identify the destination of the 1 Thessalonians 4:17 gathering as Heaven.
While Anglicans have many views, some Anglican commentators, such as N. T. Wright, identify the destination as a specific place on Earth. Often the destination identified is Jerusalem
. This interpretation may sometimes be connected to Christian environmentalist concerns.
, J. Dwight Pentecost
, Tim LaHaye
, J. Vernon McGee
, Perry Stone, Chuck Smith
, Chuck Missler
, Jack Van Impe
, Grant Jeffrey
, Thomas Ice
, David Reagan
, and David Jeremiah
. While many pre-tribulationists are also dispensationalists, not all pre-tribulationists are dispensationalists.
(to be built on what is now called the Temple Mount, see Third Temple). Mid-tribulationist teachers include Harold Ockenga
, James O. Buswell (a reformed, Calvinistic Presbyterian), and Norman Harrison. This position is a minority view among premillennialists.
view also places the rapture at some point during the tribulation period before the second coming. This view holds 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. This latter half of the seven-year period is defined as the great tribulation, although the exact duration is not known. 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 the rapture, which will occur after specific events in Revelation, in particular 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 will come 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. Marvin Rosenthal, author of The Prewrath Rapture of the Church, is a primary proponent for the prewrath rapture view. His belief is founded on the work of Robert D. Van Kampen (1938–1999); his books "The Sign", "The Rapture Question Answered" and "The Fourth Reich" detail his pre-wrath rapture doctrine.
depending on one's genuine conversion to the faith. Therefore, the rapture of a believer is determined by the timing of his conversion during the tribulation. The proponents of this theory hold that only those who are faithful in the church will be raptured or translated and the rest will either be raptured sometime during the tribulation or at its end. As stated by Ira David (a proponent of this view): “The saints will be raptured in groups during the tribulation as they are prepared to go.”
position places the rapture at the end of the tribulation period. Post-tribulation writers define the tribulation period in a generic sense as the entire present age, or in a specific sense of a period of time preceding the second coming of Christ. The emphasis in this view is that the church will undergo the tribulation — even though the church will be spared the wrath of God. - "Immediately after the Tribulation of those days...they shall gather together his elect..." - is cited as a foundational scripture for this view. Post-tribulationists perceive the rapture as occurring simultaneously with the second coming of Christ. Upon Jesus' return, believers will meet him in the air and will then accompany him in his return to the Earth. In the Epistles of Paul, most notably in and , a trumpet
is described as blowing at the end of the tribulation to herald the return of Christ; further supports this view.
Authors and teachers who support the post-tribulational view include Pat Robertson
, Walter R. Martin, John Piper
, George E. Ladd
, Robert H. Gundry
, and Douglas Moo.
).
Any individual or religious group that has dogmatically predicted the day of the rapture, a practise referred to as "date setting", has been thoroughly embarrassed and discredited, as the predicted date of fulfillment has invariably come and gone 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 time frame that immediately precedes the rapture event can be known. This time frame 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.
, Homer Simpson
predicts the rapture to occur within the week. Homer gets the date wrong and ends up being the only person taken up. Everything is then reversed after Homer vandalizes Heaven
. In the American Dad episode "Rapture's Delight
", the rapture occurs and Stan Smith helps Christ with his final battle with the Antichrist. In the Supernatural
episode "The Rapture", the angel Castiel is taken back to Heaven by his fellow angels to be "reeducated", leaving his vessel Jimmy and the Winchester brothers behind.
The first feature-length cinematic treatment of the rapture was the 1972 film 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 Movie
, and The Omega Code
. Cloud Ten Pictures
specializes in making end-time films. The 2009 film Knowing
, starring Nicolas Cage
, has thematic elements that parallel the rapture, although the term "Rapture" is not used.
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
.
Opposition
Neutral
First Epistle to the Thessalonians
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, usually referred to simply as First Thessalonians and often written 1 Thessalonians, is a book from the New Testament of the Christian Bible....
4:17, when the "dead in Christ" and "we who are alive and remain" will be caught up in the clouds to meet "the Lord".
The term "rapture" is used in at least two senses in modern traditions of Christian eschatology
Christian eschatology
Christian eschatology is a major branch of study within Christian theology. Eschatology, from two Greek words meaning last and study , is the study of the end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the end of the world...
; in pre-tribulationist views, in which a group of people will be "left behind", and as a synonym for the final resurrection
Resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
generally.
There are many views among Christians regarding the timing of Christ's return (including whether it will occur in one event or two), and various views regarding the destination of the aerial gathering described in 1 Thessalonians 4. Some denominations, such as Roman Catholics (as described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the official text of the teachings of the Catholic Church. A provisional, "reference text" was issued by Pope John Paul II on October 11, 1992 — "the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council" — with his apostolic...
676 and 677) and Orthodox Christians
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
, do not accept the doctrine at all, but affirm the Resurrection to be the "catching away". The rapture theory was largely developed by American evangelists from the 17th century onwards, although some Catholics had espoused similar ideas before.
Etymology
"Rapture" is derived from Middle French rapture, via the Middle Latin raptura ("seizure, rape, kidnapping") from Latin raptus, "a carrying off".Greek
The Koine GreekKoine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
text of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 uses the verb form ἁρπαγησόμεθα (harpagēsometha), which means "we shall be caught up" or "taken away", with the connotation that this is a sudden event. The dictionary form of this Greek verb is harpazō (ἁρπάζω). This use is also seen in such texts as ; ; .
Latin
The Latin VulgateVulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
translates the Greek ἁρπαγησόμεθα as rapiemur, meaning "to catch up" or "take away".
English Bible versions
English versions of the Bible have translated rapiemur in various ways:- The Wycliffe Bible (1395), translated from the Latin VulgateVulgateThe Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
, uses "rushed". - The Tyndale New Testament (1525), the Bishop's Bible (1568), the Geneva BibleGeneva BibleThe Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of the 16th century Protestant movement and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John...
(1587) and the King James Version (1611) have "caught up". - The New English BibleNew English BibleThe New English Bible is a translation of the Bible into modern English directly from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts . The New Testament was published in 1961...
, translated from the Greek uses "suddenly caught up" with this footnote: "Or “snatched up.” The Greek verb ἁρπάζω implies that the action is quick or forceful, so the translation supplied the adverb “suddenly” to make this implicit notion clear."
Doctrinal history
The concept of the rapture, in connection with premillennialismPremillennialism
Premillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Jesus will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Jesus’ physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration...
, was expressed by the 17th-century American Puritan father and son Increase
Increase Mather
Increase Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials...
and Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...
. They held to the idea that believers would be caught up in the air, followed by judgments on the Earth, and then the millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
. The term rapture was used by Philip Doddridge and John Gill in their New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
commentaries, with the idea that believers would be caught up prior to judgment on the Earth and Jesus' second coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
.
There exists at least one 18th century and two 19th century pre-tribulation references: in an essay published in 1788 in Philadelphia by the Baptist Morgan Edwards
Morgan Edwards
Morgan Edwards was a Welsh historian of religion, Baptist pastor, and notable for his teaching on the 'rapture' before its popularization by John Nelson Darby ....
which articulated the concept of a pre-tribulation rapture, in the writings of Catholic priest Emmanuel Lacunza in 1812, and by John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...
in 1827. However, both the book published in 1788 and the writings of Lacunza have opposing views regarding their interpretations. Emmanuel Lacunza
Manuel Lacunza
Manuel Diaz Lacunza S.J. was a Jesuit priest who used the pen-name Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra for his main work on the interpretation of the prophecies of the Bible.- Biography :...
(1731–1801), a Jesuit priest, (under the pseudonym Juan Josafat Ben Ezra) wrote an apocalyptic work entitled La venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad (The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty). The book appeared first in 1811, 10 years after his death. In 1827, it was translated into English by the Scottish minister Edward Irving
Edward Irving
*For Edward Irving, the Canadian geologist, see Edward A. Irving.Edward Irving was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.-Youth:...
.
Dr. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles was an English biblical scholar, textual critic, and theologian.- Life :Tregelles was born at Wodehouse Place, Falmouth, of Quaker parents, but he himself for many years was in communion with the Plymouth Brethren and then later in life became a Presbyterian...
(1813-1875), a prominent English theologian and biblical scholar, wrote a pamphlet in 1866 tracing the concept of the rapture through the works of John Darby back to Edward Irving
Edward Irving
*For Edward Irving, the Canadian geologist, see Edward A. Irving.Edward Irving was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.-Youth:...
.
Although not using the term "rapture", the idea was more fully developed by Edward Irving (1792–1834). In ? (first volume published in 1706) Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume. Peabody: Hendrickson. Matthew Henry used the term in his commentary of 1 Thessalonians 4. Irving directed his attention to the study of prophecy and eventually accepted the one-man Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
idea of James Henthorn Todd
James Henthorn Todd
James Henthorn Todd was a biblical scholar, educator, and Irish historian. He is noted for his efforts to place religious disagreements on a rational historical footing, for his advocacy of a liberal form of Protestantism, and for his endeavours as an educator, librarian, and scholar in Irish...
, Samuel Roffey Maitland
Samuel Roffey Maitland
Samuel Roffey Maitland was an English historian and miscellaneous writer on religious topics. He was in Anglican orders, and worked also as a librarian, barrister and editor.-Early life:...
, Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was one of the most important figures in the Counter-Reformation...
, and Francisco Ribera
Francisco Ribera
Francisco Ribera was a Spanish Jesuit theologian, identified with the Futurist Christian eschatological view.-Life:He was born at Villacastín. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1570, and taught at the University of Salamanca. He acted as confessor to Teresa of Avila...
, yet he went a step further. Irving began to teach the idea of a two-phase return of Christ, the first phase being a secret rapture prior to the rise of the Antichrist. According to Irving, “There are three gatherings: – First, of the first-fruits of the harvest, the wise virgins who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth; next, the abundant harvest gathered afterwards by God; and lastly, the assembling of the wicked for punishment.”
John Nelson Darby first proposed and popularized the pre-tribulation rapture in 1827. This view was accepted among many other Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
movements in England. Darby and other prominent Brethren were part of the Brethren Movement which impacted American Christianity, especially with movements and teachings associated with Christian eschatology and fundamentalism
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
, primarily through their writings. Influences included the Bible Conference Movement, starting in 1878 with the Niagara Bible Conference. These conferences, which were initially inclusive of historicist
Historicism
Historicism is a mode of thinking that assigns a central and basic significance to a specific context, such as historical period, geographical place and local culture. As such it is in contrast to individualist theories of knowledges such as empiricism and rationalism, which neglect the role of...
and futurist
Futurism
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...
premillennialism, led to an increasing acceptance of futurist premillennial views and the pre-tribulation rapture especially among Presbyterian, Baptist and Congregational members. Popular books also contributed to acceptance of the pre-tribulation rapture, including William Eugene Blackstone
William Eugene Blackstone
William Eugene Blackstone was an American evangelist and Christian Zionist. he was the author of the proto- Zionist Blackstone Memorial of 1891. Blackstone was influenced by Dwight Lyman Moody, James H...
's book Jesus is Coming published in 1878 and which sold more than 1.3 million copies and the Scofield Reference Bible
Scofield Reference Bible
The Scofield Reference Bible is a widely circulated study Bible edited and annotated by the American Bible student Cyrus I. Scofield, that popularized dispensationalism at the beginning of the 20th century...
, published in 1909 and 1919 and revised in 1967.
The early original Christian church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
, as well as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
and many Protestant Calvinist denominations, have no tradition of a preliminary return of Christ and reject the doctrine. The Orthodox Church, for example, rejects it because the Protestant doctrine of the rapture depends on a millennial interpretation of prophetic scriptures, rather than an amillennial
Amillennialism
Amillennialism is a view in Christian end-times theology named for its rejection of the theory that Jesus Christ will have a thousand-year long, physical reign on the earth...
or postmillennial
Postmillennialism
In Christian end-times theology, , postmillennialism is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring after the "Millennium", a Golden Age in which Christian ethics prosper...
fashion.
Some proponents of a preliminary rapture believe the doctrine of amillennialism originated with Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
n scholars such as Clement
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
and Origen
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
and later became Catholic dogma through Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
. Thus the church until then held to premillennial views, which see an impending apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
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 pre-tribulationism.
Some pre-tribulation proponents maintain that the earliest known extra-Biblical reference to the pre-tribulation rapture is from a 7th-century tract known as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem
Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem
Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem is a 7th century Syrian tract which provides a glimpse into the events that took place during its time in the Middle-East.- Use of Pseudo-Ephraem in Rapture Controversy :...
the Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n, 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 a pre-tribulation rapture is debated.
The rise in belief in the pre-tribulation rapture is often wrongly attributed to a 15-year old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret McDonald (a follower of Edward Irving
Edward Irving
*For Edward Irving, the Canadian geologist, see Edward A. Irving.Edward Irving was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.-Youth:...
), who in 1830 had a vision of the end times which describes a post-tribulation view of the rapture that was first published in 1840. It was published again in 1861, but two important passages demonstrating a post-tribulation view were removed to encourage confusion concerning the timing of the rapture. The two removed segments were, "This is the fiery trial which is to try us. - It will be for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus" and "The trial of the Church is from Antichrist. It is by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept".
In 1957, John Walvoord
John Walvoord
John F. Walvoord was a Christian theologian, pastor, and president of Dallas Theological Seminary from 1952 to 1986. He was the author of over 30 books, focusing primarily on eschatology and theology including The Rapture Question, and was co-editor of The Bible Knowledge Commentary with Roy B....
, a theologian at Dallas Theological Seminary
Dallas Theological Seminary
Dallas Theological Seminary is an evangelical theological seminary located in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing the theological system known as Dispensationalism...
, 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
J. Dwight Pentecost
J. Dwight Pentecost is a Christian theologian best known for his book Things to Come.He currently is Distinguished Professor of Bible Exposition, Emeritus, at Dallas Theological Seminary, one of only two so honored. He holds a B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College and Th.M. and Th.D. degrees from...
authored another book supporting the pre-tribulation rapture, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology, which sold 215,000 copies.
During the 1970s, belief in the rapture became popular in wider circles, in part due to the books of Hal Lindsey
Hal Lindsey
Harold Lee "Hal" Lindsey is an American evangelist and Christian writer. He is a Christian Zionist and dispensationalist author. He currently resides in Texas.-Biography:...
, including The Late Great Planet Earth, which has reportedly sold between 15 million and 35 million copies, and 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, based on world conditions at the time. The Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
figured prominently in his predictions of impending Armageddon
Armageddon
Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
. Other aspects of 1970s global politics were seen as having been predicted in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. Lindsey suggested, for example, that the seven-headed beast with ten horns, cited in the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, was the European Economic Community, a forebear of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, which between 1981 and 1986 had ten member states; it now has 27 member states.
In 1995, the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture was further popularized by Tim LaHaye
Tim LaHaye
Timothy F. LaHaye is an American evangelical Christian minister, author, and speaker. He is best known for the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-wrote with Jerry B. Jenkins. He has written over 50 books, both fiction and non-fiction.-Early life:LaHaye was born in Detroit,...
's Left Behind
Left Behind (series)
Left Behind is a series of 16 best-selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, dealing with Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatological viewpoint of the end of the world. The primary conflict of the series is the members of the Tribulation...
series of books, which sold tens of millions of copies and were made into several movies.
The doctrine of the rapture continues to be an important component of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
evangelical Christian eschatology.
One event or two
Some dispensationalist premillennialists (including many EvangelicalsEvangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
) hold the return of Christ to be two distinct events, or one second coming in two stages. 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 is seen to be a description of a preliminary event to the return described in Matthew 24:29–31. Although both describe a return of Jesus, these are seen to be separated in time by more than a brief period. The first event may or may not be seen (which is not a primary issue), and is called the rapture, when the saved are to be 'caught up,' from whence the term "rapture" is taken. The "second coming" is a public event, wherein Christ's presence is prophesied to be clearly seen by all, as he returns to end a battle staged at Armageddon
Armageddon
Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
, though possibly fought at the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The majority of dispensationalists
Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on a futurist biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.As a system,...
hold that the first event precedes the period of tribulation
Tribulation
The Great Tribulation refers to tumultuous events that are described during the "signs of the times", first mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet discourse...
, even if not immediately (see chart for additional dispensationalist timing views);
Amillennialists
Amillennialism
Amillennialism is a view in Christian end-times theology named for its rejection of the theory that Jesus Christ will have a thousand-year long, physical reign on the earth...
deny the interpretation of a literal 1,000-year rule of Christ, and as such amillennialism does not necessarily imply much difference between itself and other forms of millennialism
Millennialism
Millennialism , or chiliasm in Greek, is a belief held by some Christian denominations that there will be a Golden Age or Paradise on Earth in which "Christ will reign" for 1000 years prior to the final judgment and future eternal state...
besides that denial. However, there is considerable overlap in the beliefs of Amillenialists (including most Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans), postmillennialists (including Presbyterians), and historic premillennialists
Historic premillennialism
Historic premillennialism is the polemical designation which could be more objectively called post-tribulational premillennialism. The use of the term "historic" implies that this point of view is the historical view of premillennialists, while pre-tribulationism is a new theory...
(including some Calvinistic Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
s, among others) with those who hold that the return of Christ will be a single, public event. Those who identify the rapture with the second coming are likely to emphasize mutual similarities between passages of scripture where clouds, trumpets, angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s or the archangel
Archangel
An archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...
, resurrection, and gathering are mentioned. Although some (particularly some amillennialists) may take the rapture to be figurative, rather than literal, these three groups are likely to maintain that the passages regarding the return of Christ describe a single event.
Some also claim that the "word of the Lord" cited by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 is the Olivet Discourse
Olivet discourse
The Olivet discourse or Olivet prophecy is a biblical passage found in the Synoptic Gospels of Mark 13, Matthew 24, Luke 21. It is known as the "Little Apocalypse" because it includes Jesus' descriptions of the end times, the use of apocalyptic language, and Jesus' warning to his followers that...
which Matthew separately describes in Matthew 24:29-31. Although the doctrinal relationship between the rapture and the second coming is the same in these three groups, Historic premillennialists are more likely to use the term "rapture" to clarify their position in distinction from dispensationalists.
Destination
Dispensationalists see the immediate destination of the raptured Christians as being HeavenHeaven (Christianity)
Traditionally, Christianity has taught Heaven as a place of eternal life and the dwelling place of Angels and the Throne of God, and a kingdom to which all the elect will be admitted...
, with an eventual return to Earth. Roman Catholic commentators, such as Walter Drum (1912), identify the destination of the 1 Thessalonians 4:17 gathering as Heaven.
While Anglicans have many views, some Anglican commentators, such as N. T. Wright, identify the destination as a specific place on Earth. Often the destination identified is Jerusalem
Jerusalem in Christianity
For Christians, Jerusalem's place in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in the New Testament and early Christianity:...
. This interpretation may sometimes be connected to Christian environmentalist concerns.
Timing
In the amillennial and postmillennial views, as well as in the post-tribulation premillennial position, there are no distinctions in the timing of the rapture. These views regard the rapture, as it is described in , as being either identical to the second coming of Jesus as described in , or as a meeting in the air with Jesus that immediately precedes his return to the Earth. Within premillennialism, the pre-tribulation position is the predominant view that distinguishes between the rapture and second coming as two events. There are also two minor positions within premillennialism that differ with regard to the timing of the rapture, the mid-tribulation view and the partial-rapture view.Pre-tribulation
The pre-tribulation position advocates that the rapture will occur before the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period, while the second coming will occur at the end of the seven-year tribulation period. Pre-tribulationists often describe the rapture as Jesus coming for the church and the second coming as Jesus coming with the church. Pre-tribulation educators and preachers include Jimmy SwaggartJimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Lee Swaggart is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast...
, J. Dwight Pentecost
J. Dwight Pentecost
J. Dwight Pentecost is a Christian theologian best known for his book Things to Come.He currently is Distinguished Professor of Bible Exposition, Emeritus, at Dallas Theological Seminary, one of only two so honored. He holds a B.A. from Hampden-Sydney College and Th.M. and Th.D. degrees from...
, Tim LaHaye
Tim LaHaye
Timothy F. LaHaye is an American evangelical Christian minister, author, and speaker. He is best known for the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-wrote with Jerry B. Jenkins. He has written over 50 books, both fiction and non-fiction.-Early life:LaHaye was born in Detroit,...
, J. Vernon McGee
J. Vernon McGee
John Vernon McGee, Th.D., LL.D, was an ordained Presbyterian minister who later pastored an interdenominational church, a Bible teacher, theologian, and was also a radio minister.-Early Years and Education:...
, Perry Stone, Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith (pastor)
Charles Ward “Chuck” Smith, , is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement...
, Chuck Missler
Chuck Missler
Charles "Chuck" Missler is an author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, former businessman and US Navy officer. He is the founder of the Koinonia House ministry based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.-Biography:...
, Jack Van Impe
Jack Van Impe
Jack Leo Van Impe is a televangelist who is known for his half-hour weekly television series Jack Van Impe Presents, an eschatological commentary on the news of the week through his interpretation of the Bible...
, Grant Jeffrey
Grant Jeffrey
Grant R. Jeffrey is a Canadian Bible teacher of Bible prophecy/eschatology and biblical archaeology and a proponent of dispensational evangelical Christianity. As chairman of Frontier Research Publications for more than 20 years, Jeffrey's 25 books have been translated into 24 languages...
, Thomas Ice
Thomas Ice
Dr Thomas Ice is the executive director of the Pre-Trib Research Center on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The research center was founded in 1994 by Tim LaHaye and Ice to research, teach, proclaim, and defend pre-tribulationism...
, David Reagan
David Reagan
David R. Reagan is a Christian Bible scholar who heads Lamb and Lion Ministries. David Reagan is also host of a weekly show on DayStar ....
, and David Jeremiah
David Jeremiah
For the article on the retired U.S. Navy admiral and former Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, see David E. Jeremiah.David P. Jeremiah is a conservative evangelical Christian author, evangelist, and currently the senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, an evangelical...
. While many pre-tribulationists are also dispensationalists, not all pre-tribulationists are dispensationalists.
Mid-tribulation
The mid-tribulation position espouses that the rapture will occur at some point in the middle of what is popularly called the tribulation period, or during Daniel's 70th Week. However, since the Bible only uses "tribulation" to refer to the second half of Daniel's 70th week, from a mid-tribulationist's point of view he is a pre-tribulationist. The tribulation is typically divided into two periods of 3.5 years each. Mid-tribulationists hold that the saints will go through the first period (Beginning of Travail, which is not "the tribulation"), but will be raptured into Heaven before the severe outpouring of God's wrath in the second half of what is popularly called the tribulation. Mid-tribulationists appeal to which says the saints will be given over to tribulation for "time, times, and half a time," - interpreted to mean 3.5 years. At the halfway point of the tribulation, the Antichrist will commit the "abomination of desolation" by desecrating the Jerusalem templeTemple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
(to be built on what is now called the Temple Mount, see Third Temple). Mid-tribulationist teachers include Harold Ockenga
Harold Ockenga
Harold John Ockenga was a leading figure of 20th century American evangelicalism, part of the reform movement known as "Neo-Evangelicalism". A Congregational minister, Ockenga served for many years as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also a prolific author on...
, James O. Buswell (a reformed, Calvinistic Presbyterian), and Norman Harrison. This position is a minority view among premillennialists.
Prewrath
The prewrath rapturePrewrath
The Prewrath rapture is one of several premillennial views on the end-times events among evangelical Christians, and states that Christians will be raptured at the end of the great tribulation, and before the day of the Lord's wrath , sometime during the second half of the seventieth week of Daniel...
view also places the rapture at some point during the tribulation period before the second coming. This view holds 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. This latter half of the seven-year period is defined as the great tribulation, although the exact duration is not known. 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 the rapture, which will occur after specific events in Revelation, in particular 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
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
. After the rapture will come God's seventh-seal
Seven seals
The Seven Seals is a phrase in the Book of Revelation that refers to seven symbolic seals that secure the book or scroll, that John of Patmos saw in his Revelation of Jesus Christ. The opening of the seals, on the Apocalyptic document occurs in Revelation Chapters 5-8...
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. Marvin Rosenthal, author of The Prewrath Rapture of the Church, is a primary proponent for the prewrath rapture view. His belief is founded on the work of Robert D. Van Kampen (1938–1999); his books "The Sign", "The Rapture Question Answered" and "The Fourth Reich" detail his pre-wrath rapture doctrine.
Partial
The partial rapture theory holds that true Christians will be raptured before, in the midst of, or after the tribulationTribulation
The Great Tribulation refers to tumultuous events that are described during the "signs of the times", first mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet discourse...
depending on one's genuine conversion to the faith. Therefore, the rapture of a believer is determined by the timing of his conversion during the tribulation. The proponents of this theory hold that only those who are faithful in the church will be raptured or translated and the rest will either be raptured sometime during the tribulation or at its end. As stated by Ira David (a proponent of this view): “The saints will be raptured in groups during the tribulation as they are prepared to go.”
Post-tribulation
The post-tribulationPost Tribulation Rapture
In Christian eschatology, the Post-Tribulation Rapture doctrine is the belief in a combined Resurrection and Rapture of all believers coming after the Great Tribulation.-Doctrine and implications:...
position places the rapture at the end of the tribulation period. Post-tribulation writers define the tribulation period in a generic sense as the entire present age, or in a specific sense of a period of time preceding the second coming of Christ. The emphasis in this view is that the church will undergo the tribulation — even though the church will be spared the wrath of God. - "Immediately after the Tribulation of those days...they shall gather together his elect..." - is cited as a foundational scripture for this view. Post-tribulationists perceive the rapture as occurring simultaneously with the second coming of Christ. Upon Jesus' return, believers will meet him in the air and will then accompany him in his return to the Earth. In the Epistles of Paul, most notably in and , a trumpet
Shofar
A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes. Shofar-blowing is incorporated in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Shofar come in a variety of sizes.- Bible and rabbinic literature :...
is described as blowing at the end of the tribulation to herald the return of Christ; further supports this view.
Authors and teachers who support the post-tribulational view include Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
, Walter R. Martin, John Piper
John Piper (theologian)
John Stephen Piper is a Christian preacher and author, currently serving as Pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
, George E. Ladd
George Eldon Ladd
George Eldon Ladd was a Baptist minister and professor of New Testament exegesis and theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California....
, Robert H. Gundry
Robert H. Gundry
Robert Horton Gundry is a Biblical scholar. He received a B.A. and a B.D. degree from the Los Angeles Baptist College and Seminary, and his Ph.D. from Manchester University in Manchester, England in 1961 and has taught for several decades at Westmont College in California...
, and Douglas Moo.
Date
Since the origin of the concept, many believers in the rapture of the church have made predictions regarding the date of the event. The primary scripture reference cited against this position is , where Jesus is quoted as saying; "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (RSVRevised Standard Version
The Revised Standard Version is an English translation of the Bible published in the mid-20th century. It traces its history to William Tyndale's New Testament translation of 1525. The RSV is an authorized revision of the American Standard Version of 1901...
).
Any individual or religious group that has dogmatically predicted the day of the rapture, a practise referred to as "date setting", has been thoroughly embarrassed and discredited, as the predicted date of fulfillment has invariably come and gone 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 time frame that immediately precedes the rapture event can be known. This time frame 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
Parable of the budding fig tree
The Parable of the Budding Fig Tree is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament, found in Matthew , Mark , and Luke . This parable, about the Kingdom of God, involves a fig tree, as does the equally brief parable of the barren fig tree, with which it should not be confused.-Narrative:According...
, 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.
Predictions
Some notable predictions of the date of the rapture include the following:- 1844 – William MillerWilliam Miller (preacher)William Miller was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-nineteenth century North American religious movement now known as Adventism. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists and Advent Christians...
predicted that Christ would return between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844, then revised his prediction, claiming to have miscalculated Scripture, to October 22, 1844. The realization that the predictions were incorrect resulted in a Great DisappointmentGreat DisappointmentThe Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening. Based on his interpretations of the prophecies in the book of Daniel The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history...
. Miller's theology gave rise to the Advent movement. The Baha'isBahá'í FaithThe Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
believe that Christ did return as Miller predicted in 1844, with the advent of the Báb, and numerous Miller-like prophetic predictions from many religions are given in William SearsWilliam Sears (Bahá'í)William Sears was a Hand of the Cause of God, writer and a popular television and radio personality. In 2010, he was honored at the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival for achieving excellence as a professional media personality.-Personal life:Sears was married twice and had two children...
' book, Thief in The Night. - 1914, 1918, 1925, 1942 – Various dates predicted for the rapture by the Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
. - 1981 – Chuck SmithChuck Smith (pastor)Charles Ward “Chuck” Smith, , is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement...
predicted that Jesus would probably return by 1981. - 1988 – Publication of 88 Reasons why the Rapture is in 1988, by Edgar C. WhisenantEdgar C. WhisenantEdgar C. Whisenant , was a former NASA engineer and Bible student who predicted the Rapture would occur in 1988, sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13. He published two books about this: 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 and On Borrowed Time...
. - 1989 – Publication of The final shout: Rapture report 1989, by Edgar Whisenant. This author made further predictions of the rapture for 1992, 1995, and other years.
- 1992 - A KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n group, the Mission for the Coming Days, predicted that the rapture would occur on October 28, 1992. - 1993 – Seven years before the year 2000; the rapture would have to start to allow for seven years of the tribulation before the return in 2000. Multiple predictions.
- 1994 – Pastor John Hinkle of Christ Church in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
predicted that the rapture would occur on June 9, 1994. Radio evangelist Harold CampingHarold CampingHarold Egbert Camping is an American Christian radio broadcaster. He served as president of Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that broadcasts to more than 150 markets in the United States, since 1958. In 2011 he retired from active broadcasting following a stroke, but still...
predicted September 6, 1994. - 2011 – Harold CampingHarold CampingHarold Egbert Camping is an American Christian radio broadcaster. He served as president of Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that broadcasts to more than 150 markets in the United States, since 1958. In 2011 he retired from active broadcasting following a stroke, but still...
's revised prediction2011 end times predictionThe 2011 end times prediction made by American Christian radio host Harold Camping stated that the Rapture and Judgment Day would take place on May 21, 2011, and that the end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011. The Rapture, in a specific tradition of premillennial...
had May 21, 2011 as the date of the rapture. After this prediction proved inaccurate, he claimed that a non-visible "spiritual judgment" had taken place, and that the physical rapture would occur on October 21, 2011. - 2060 – in 1704, Sir Isaac Newton proposed that, based upon his calculations using figures from the Book of DanielBook of DanielThe Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
, the ApocalypseApocalypseAn Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
could happen no earlier than 2060.
Cultural references
In "Thank God, It's Doomsday", episode 354 of The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
predicts the rapture to occur within the week. Homer gets the date wrong and ends up being the only person taken up. Everything is then reversed after Homer vandalizes Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. In the American Dad episode "Rapture's Delight
Rapture's Delight
"Rapture's Delight" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of American Dad!. It aired on December 13, 2009 on Fox. This episode centers around Stan and Francine's life after the vast majority of the church, including Hayley and Steve, are raptured...
", the rapture occurs and Stan Smith helps Christ with his final battle with the Antichrist. In the Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
episode "The Rapture", the angel Castiel is taken back to Heaven by his fellow angels to be "reeducated", leaving his vessel Jimmy and the Winchester brothers behind.
The first feature-length cinematic treatment of the rapture was the 1972 film 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
Revelation (2001 film)
Revelation is a 2001 film, directed by Stuart Urban and starring James D'Arcy, Natasha Wightman, Udo Kier and Terence Stamp. Revelation tells the story of the final search for an ancient relic known as the Loculus, dating back to 50 CE, and the effect of this relic on the Martel family and the...
, The Rapture
The Rapture (film)
The Rapture is a 1991 psychological/religious drama film starring Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny, Darwyn Carson, Patrick Bauchau, Marvin Elkins, Will Patton, and Stephanie Menuez; directed by Michael Tolkin; rated R; 100 minutes long; and produced by New Line Cinema.-Cast:*Mimi Rogers... Sharon*David...
, Left Behind: The Movie
Left Behind: The Movie
Left Behind is a Christian based film released in 2000 and starring Kirk Cameron, Brad Johnson, Gordon Currie and Clarence Gilyard. It was directed by Vic Sarin. Left Behind was proclaimed by its creators as the biggest and most ambitious Christian film ever made...
, and The Omega Code
The Omega Code
The Omega Code is a 1999 thriller film directed by Robert Marcarelli, starring Casper Van Dien as the protagonist, Dr. Gillen Lane, and Michael York as the antagonist. Its main plot presents an Evangelical Christian view about the millennium, and a plot by the Antichrist to take over the world...
. Cloud Ten Pictures
Cloud Ten Pictures
Cloud Ten Pictures is a film production and distribution company located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, specializing in Christian-themed films.- Overview :Cloud Ten was formed by brothers Peter LaLonde and Paul LaLonde in 1994...
specializes in making end-time films. The 2009 film Knowing
Knowing (film)
Knowing is a 2009 American-British science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially...
, starring Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, has thematic elements that parallel the rapture, although the term "Rapture" is not used.
- In 1950, the novel Raptured by Ernest AngleyErnest AngleyErnest Angley is an international Christian evangelist, based in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.-Grace Cathedral:Ernest Angley's interdenominational ministry was originally based at Grace Cathedral in Springfield Township, Ohio southeast of Akron...
was published, based on the accounts 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. - Robert Heinlein's 1984 book Job: A Comedy of JusticeJob: A Comedy of JusticeJob: A Comedy of Justice is a novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1984. The title is a reference to the biblical Book of Job and James Branch Cabell's book Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice...
describes the troubles of a Christian man called Alex, who is moved from parallel world to parallel world, accompanied by his lover Margrethe. Halfway through the book, the rapture occurs and Alex is taken up, but Margrethe is left behind because she is a pagan. The rest of the book describes Alex's attempts to bypass the rules and save his true love. - In 1995, Left BehindLeft Behind (series)Left Behind is a series of 16 best-selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, dealing with Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatological viewpoint of the end of the world. The primary conflict of the series is the members of the Tribulation...
was published. The rapture is a major component of the premise of the book and its various spin-offs. The plot of the book was used as a basis for a movie seriesLeft Behind film seriesThe Left Behind film series is a series of films based on the Left Behind best-selling book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. They were produced by Cloud Ten Pictures, and directed by Vic Sarin , Bill Corcoran , and Craig R. Baxley...
and a video game seriesLeft Behind: Eternal ForcesLeft Behind: Eternal Forces is a Christian real-time strategy game developed and published by Inspired Media Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was released on November 7, 2006...
. - At the height of the Jesus MovementJesus movementThe Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
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 & ElectricPacific Gas & Electric (band)Pacific Gas & Electric was an American blues rock band in the late 1960s and early 1970s, led by singer Charlie Allen. Their biggest hit was "Are You Ready?"-Career:...
(#14 in August 1970). Also at that time, the song "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" was written and performed by Larry NormanLarry NormanLarry David Norman was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music...
, one of the founders of the nascent "Jesus Rock" movement in the early 70s. Other examples of apocalyptic themes like the rapture, the AntichristAntichristThe term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
, ArmageddonArmageddonArmageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
and the Second coming of Christ in Larry Norman's writing are "U.F.O." from the 1976 album In Another LandIn Another Land (album)In Another Land is the title of an album recorded by Larry Norman and released in 1976. It is the third album in Norman's "trilogy," which began with Only Visiting This Planet and continued with So Long Ago the Garden...
, "Six Sixty Six" from the same album and "Messiah" from Stop This Flight. - Examples of apocalyptic themes in Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's writing are "When He Returns", from the 1979 album Slow Train ComingSlow Train ComingSlow Train Coming is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 19th studio album, released by Columbia Records in August 1979.It was the artist's first effort since becoming a born-again Christian, and all of the songs either express his strong personal faith, or stress the importance of Christian teachings...
and — quoting 1 Corinthians 15:49–55 —Ye Shall Be Changed, released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. - Other songs about the Christian end times include "Goin' by the Book," "The Man Comes AroundThe Man Comes Around (song)"The Man Comes Around" is the title track from Johnny Cash's American IV: The Man Comes Around, released in 2002. It is one of the last songs Cash wrote in his life....
" by Johnny CashJohnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, from the album American IV: The Man Comes AroundAmerican IV: The Man Comes AroundAmerican IV: The Man Comes Around is the fourth album in the American series by Johnny Cash, released in 2002. The majority of songs are covers which Cash performs in his own spare style, with help from producer Rick Rubin...
, released in 2002, and "Tribulation" by Charlie Daniels. Noel GallagherNoel GallagherNoel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
refers to the rapture twice on the OasisOasis (band)Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
album Dig Out Your SoulDig Out Your SoulDig Out Your Soul is the seventh and final studio album by English rock band Oasis. It was released in October 2008. The first single, "The Shock of the Lightning", was released on 29 September 2008. In promotion of the album, the band embarked on a world tour, debuting in Seattle, Washington at...
, first in "The Turning" ("Then come on, when the Rapture takes me, Will you be by my side?") and also on the following track "Waiting For The Rapture." - FFHFFHFFH is a Contemporary Christian band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the United States. The band is occasionally known as Far From Home. They released six independent projects before being signed by Essential Records. Since then, they have released seven studio albums, as well as a "greatest-hits"...
's popular song "Fly Away" asks what it will be like when the rapture occurs. - Crystal LewisCrystal LewisCrystal Lewis is an American contemporary Christian/Gospel vocalist, songwriter and author.-Early years:Lewis grew up singing in her father's church...
' song "People Get Ready Jesus Is Coming." - Sonic YouthSonic YouthSonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
's song "Do You Believe in Rapture?", on their album Rather RippedRather RippedRather Ripped is the fifteenth studio album by Sonic Youth, which was released on June 13, 2006. It was their first album without guitarist Jim O'Rourke since 2000's NYC Ghosts & Flowers. The album was described by Thurston Moore as "a super song record" containing "rockers and ballads". The name... - Siouxsie And The Banshees' song "The Rapture", from their 1995 album of the same nameThe Rapture (album)The Rapture is the eleventh and final studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees. The songs with cello arrangements, including the title track plus "Fall from Grace" and "Not Forgotten", were produced by the band on their own in 1993...
, lyrically describes the supposed experience of being raptured.
On August 2, 2001, humorist Elroy Willis posted a Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
article titled "Mistaken Rapture Kills Arkansas Woman". This fictional, satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
story about a woman who causes a traffic accident and is killed when she believes the rapture has started, circulated widely on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
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
Weekly World News
The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become...
. The story continues to circulate by electronic mail as a chain letter
Chain letter
A typical chain letter consists of a message that attempts to the recipient to make a number of copies of the letter and then pass them on to as many recipients as possible...
.
- The 2007 video game BioShockBioshockBioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
is set in the destroyed utopian underwater city of RaptureRapture (BioShock)Rapture is an underwater city that is the setting for the games BioShock and BioShock 2. The game's back-story describes the city as envisioned by business tycoon Andrew Ryan in the mid-1940s as a means to create a utopia for mankind's greatest thinkers to prosper in a laissez-faire environment...
. The city was to house the best and brightest people on Earth in a completely free society. The city was named Rapture because those chosen by the city's founder disappeared to live in his utopia, mirroring God calling the faithful to Heaven. - The Left BehindLeft Behind: Eternal ForcesLeft Behind: Eternal Forces is a Christian real-time strategy game developed and published by Inspired Media Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was released on November 7, 2006...
series of games takes place after the rapture.
See also
- ArmageddonArmageddonArmageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
- Bible ProphecyBible prophecyBible prophecy or biblical prophecy is the prediction of future events based on the action, function, or faculty of a prophet. Such passages are widely distributed throughout the Bible, but those most often cited are from Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, and Revelation.Believers in biblical...
- Covenantalism
- Earth ChangesEarth changesThe phrase "Earth Changes" was coined by the American psychic Edgar Cayce torefer to the belief that the world will soon enter on a series of cataclysmic events causing major alterations in human life on the planet....
- End TimesEnd timesThe end time, end times, or end of days is a time period described in the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
- Eschatology of Jehovah's WitnessesEschatology of Jehovah's WitnessesThe eschatology of Jehovah's Witnesses is central to their religious beliefs. They believe that Jesus Christ has been ruling in heaven as king since 1914 , and that after that time a period of cleansing occurred, resulting in God's selection of the Bible Students associated with Charles Taze...
- Left BehindLeft BehindLeft Behind is a series of 16 best-selling novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, dealing with Christian dispensationalist End Times: pretribulation, premillennial, Christian eschatological viewpoint of the end of the world. The primary conflict of the series is the members of the Tribulation...
- Number of the BeastNumber of the BeastThe Number of the Beast is a term in the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, that is associated with the first Beast of Revelation chapter 13, the Beast of the sea. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of the Beast is...
- Post tribulation rapturePost Tribulation RaptureIn Christian eschatology, the Post-Tribulation Rapture doctrine is the belief in a combined Resurrection and Rapture of all believers coming after the Great Tribulation.-Doctrine and implications:...
- ProphecyProphecyProphecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
- Rapture ReadyRapture ReadyRapture Ready is an Evangelical Christian site founded by Todd Strandberg in 1995, dedicated to the idea that the Rapture will soon occur, and that non-Christians should be warned...
- Summary of Christian eschatological differences
- Unfulfilled historical predictions by Christians
External links
Support- Rapture Ready
- Rapture: Lord's Coming from Biblecentre.org
- A chronological chart of Revelation, depicting multiple Raptures
- Answers in Revelation A site that addresses the Rapture question from a post-tribulational framework. Features debates and critiques of other eschatological timelines.
- In Case Of the Rapture Pre-tribulation rapture eschatology
- Catechism of the Catholic Church
Opposition
- A detailed description of the Rapture from inductive logic and solid biblical exegesis.
- A detailed description of the Rapture with a sarcastic slant.
- Essays on Rapture from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library
- The Rapture: Truth or Speculation? by Dennis Bratcher (Church of the Nazarene)
- Raptured or Not? A Catholic Understanding by Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M. (Catholic Update, October 2005)
- The Left Behind Deception by Steve Wohlberg (Adventist Review)
- Farewell to the Rapture by N. T. Wright (Bible Review, August 2001)
Neutral
- The Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development Bible Research on the Rapture
- The Rapture: Hoax or Hope? at Ontario Consultants on Religious ToleranceOntario Consultants on Religious ToleranceThe Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance are a small group in Kingston, Ontario dedicated to the promotion of religious tolerance through their website, ReligiousTolerance.org.-History of the group and its website:Bruce A...
- Is the world ending? Rapture or Evolution? by Seth David Chernoff, author of the Manual for Living
- The Rapture from inductive logic and solid biblical exegesis.