What You're Getting Wrong About the Rapture

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In 1995, authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins released the first of their “Left Behind” books, which would go on to become one of the most successful religious fiction franchises ever.

So what was the driving force behind the popularity of the “Left Behind” books?

The Rapture.

The books tell the story of the end times, in which Christian believers have been “raptured”—taken directly to Heaven. In their absence, the rest of the world is left in chaos as those who have been left behind search for answers amidst a barrage of supernatural disasters and global destruction

The massive success of the “Left Behind” books shows the world’s obsession with the idea of the Rapture, also known as "the Blessed Hope." And it’s no wonder—the idea that all believers will be taken up into Heaven, sparing them from the agonies of death, is a compelling one.

Several Biblical scriptures are often used to support the idea of the Rapture, primarily from the books of Revelation and Thessalonians, but things aren’t quite as straightforward as they seem. The Rapture may seem simple, but in reality, this is an idea that is steeped in interpretational problems, disagreements, and downright falsehoods.

This matters. As with any theological belief, truth is important—every verse in the Bible helps us to better know the character of God, and how we understand the Bible affects how we see and teach about God.

Let’s take a look at what you’re probably getting wrong about the Rapture so that you can gain a clearer picture of this mysterious event.

“All Christians Have the Same Beliefs About the Rapture.”

The idea that the Rapture is an essential and fundamental belief of Christianity is a common misconception. While a number of Christians do believe in some form of Rapture, these beliefs vary widely, and many Christian sects don’t believe that the Rapture is scriptural at all.

Even among groups that emphasize the Rapture—mainly Evangelicals—there are several different ideas concerning when it will happen in relation to the return of Christ and the period of disasters leading up to that return, called the Tribulation.

Some believe that believers will be taken up before the Tribulation, avoiding the suffering. Others believe the Rapture will occur in the middle of the Tribulation. Still others believe that the rapture will not occur until the end of the Tribulation.

The majority of Christian denominations don’t believe that scripture supports the idea of the Rapture at all. Catholics, Lutherans, and Presbyterians, for instance, take this stance.

The Rapture is far from being a well-established idea in the Christian church, and in fact, when it comes to official doctrine, is a minority view. Read on to find out why.

“The Bible clearly teaches about the Rapture.”

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It might surprise you to know that the Rapture isn’t actually mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Instead, those who believe that the Rapture will occur base those beliefs on a few key passages which they interpret in a very certain way.

A full examination of these scriptures would take many weeks, but let’s look at the most commonly-cited verse on the Rapture.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 reads, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.”

While this verse, as well as the similar 1 Corinthians 15, are often interpreted as referring to the Rapture, this is problematic, and far from certain. There seems to be nothing here that indicates that believers will be secreted off the planet. Rather, these verses seems to say that Christians will simply be glorified in some wayat the Second Coming—“caught up” with Christ and made anew along with the rest of creation.

And that’s saying nothing of the possibility that all or part of these verses could merely be symbolic.

The Bible simply isn’t clear on the Rapture—it’s doubtful that we’ll know the truth until Christ, Himself, arrives to reveal it.

“Early Christians believed in the Rapture.”

The idea of a Rapture, in which Christians are taken up bodily into Heaven, wasn’t something early Christians would have ever considered. In fact, the idea of the Rapture, as we know it today, is less than two hundred years old.

The idea came about in 1830. A fifteen-year-old Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald had a vision that detailed the return of Christ—a vision of what we’d know today as the Rapture. A British minister named John Nelson Darby, founder of a Christian denomination called the Plymouth Brethren, popularized the idea, and from there, it spread throughout fundamentalist Christian groups, gaining popularity as the years went by.

Instead, early Christians believed that God would, instead of taking the faithful from the Earth, remake and resurrect the world—and the believers in it—affirming the goodness of creation while overcoming its corruption. The closest idea to the “Rapture” they may have held is the image of believers being met by Christ in the sky. The events of the “Left Behind” series would have seemed utterly alien to them.

“We’ll know when the Rapture is coming.”

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End-times predictions are incredibly common, with many of them focusing on the Rapture, but all of them are wrong. We cannot know when the Rapture is coming—or, as we’ve seen, if it will happen at all in the way we think.

Scripture teaches that no one, with the exception of God, knows when the world will come to an end. Mark 13:32 tells us, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

And so if Christ, Himself, doesn’t know when the end will come, how could we?

So pay no attention to the Rapture countdowns, visions, and prophecies which claim to give you some unique insight on when you’ll be taken bodily up into heaven—scripture has already settled the matter. Giving undue attention to the end of the world will only distract you from the far more valuable present.

“What I believe about the Rapture doesn’t matter.”

By now, you’re probably thinking “Well, if scripture doesn’t clearly define the Rapture, and the Church can’t agree on how or if it will happen, why this worth talking about?”

There are two very good reasons to talk about the Rapture. The first is that how you think the end of the world will happen affects what you do in the present.

Think about it. If you believe that you’ll be taken up into heaven just before the Earth is ravaged, you might not be as concerned about issues like environmentalism and charity work. You’ll be gone when the worst happens, so why should you care now?

These beliefs need to be examined so that you can become more conscious about your attitudes.

And the second reason we need to talk about the Rapture? According to the Bible, truth is important.

It’s vital that we gain as clear an understanding of what scripture really means as we can. Every chapter and verse exists for a reason—if you hold that the Bible is a divinely inspired document, each word is important. Each letter has a reason.

It’s only through investigation and discussion that we can ferret out the truth.