The Gospel Truth and Bible Prophecy

Chapter Eight: THE RAPTURE

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

The word "rapture" itself is never mentioned in the Bible, but it is the common term applied to the Greek New Testament word "harpazo", which means to snatch away, to carry off quickly. It is the faith that believers in Christ will be taken away from this earth to be with God in Heaven. It will happen in a moment, in "a twinkling of the eye".

Some believe the rapture will happen before the Tribulation (pre-Trib), some at its mid-point (mid-Trib), and some between the mid-point and the end (pre-Wrath), and others at the end (post-Trib). No subject is more passionately debated among Christians than the timing of the rapture.

Personally, I vacillated between pre-Trib and pre-Wrath for a long time. But after an extensive study of the Scriptures, and a lot of research, I'm now firmly in the pre-Trib camp. Here are the reasons:

1. The 70th week is for Israel, not the Church –

In Daniel 9:24-27 we see that the purposes of the 70 weeks are all for Israel. The first 69 weeks ended with the crucifixion of Christ, followed by the Church Age. After the Rapture, the 70th week will take place. God deals with Israel and the Church separately.

2. In 2 Thessalonians we find the Greek word "apostasia" used. Most believe this must mean "apostasy", a falling away from the faith. The actual definition is "departure, withdrawal, or separation."[122] The word is not limited to a spiritual departure but can be a physical one as well. The context of the passage is important to its meaning.

In fact, the earliest translations of the Bible into English render the word, as used in 2 Thessalonians, to mean "departure". The word is used 15 times in the New Testament and only 3 of them imply a spiritual defection; the others are physical.[123]

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [apostasia] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. 2 Thessalonians 2:3

I believe the "falling away" implies a physical departure of Christians in the Rapture, and that happens prior to the Antichrist being revealed.

3. In the book of Revelation, the first three chapters pertain to the Church. Then, in 4:1, we see a symbol of the Rapture when John is told to "Come up hither..." After that the Church is not mentioned as being on earth again, although there is another picture of the Rapture in Revelation 12.

4. When John is in heaven symbols of the Church are there. For instance, the 4 and 20 elders, first mentioned in chapter 4, seem to represent the raptured Church.

- The word "elders" in the Bible is never used for angels but is always applied to men.

- Also, it mentions the elders wearing crowns – angels are not pictured as having crowns but faithful Christians are promised crowns.

- They are seated on thrones – angels don't sit on thrones but faithful Christians are said to rule with Christ.

5. Many believe that the pre-Tribulation theory began with John Darby in the 19th century, but the early Church fathers believed in the Rapture occurring before the 70th week. And that includes many who were very close to the time of John writing the book of Revelation.

- Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who was the first disciple of John and that's pretty direct. He wrote a treatise called Against Heresies. In 5.29 of that work, on the subject of the rapture, he wrote: