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Jan Luyken's illustration of the Rapture described in Matthew 24:40, from the 1795 Bowyer Bible.
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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".[1]
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.[2][3][4]
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)[5] and Orthodox Christians, believe in rapture only in the sense of the resurrection generally. The pre-tribulation rapture theory was largely developed by American evangelists from the 17th century onwards, although some Catholics had espoused similar ideas before.
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"Rapture" is derived from Middle French rapture, via the Middle Latin raptura ("seizure, rape, kidnapping") from Latin raptus, "a carrying off".[6]
The Koine Greek 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).[7] This use is also seen in such texts as Acts 8:39; 2 Corinthian; Revelation 12:5.
The Latin Vulgate translates the Greek ἁρπαγησόμεθα as rapiemur,[8] meaning "to catch up" or "take away".[9]
English versions of the Bible have translated rapiemur in various ways:
The concept of the rapture, in connection with premillennialism, 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.[13][14] The term rapture was used by Philip Doddridge[15] and John Gill[16] 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,[17] in the writings of Catholic priest Emmanuel Lacunza in 1812,[18] and by John Nelson Darby in 1827.[19] 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.[20]
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.[21] 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.”[22]
John Nelson Darby first proposed and popularized the pre-tribulation rapture in 1827.[23] 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.[24] Popular books also contributed to acceptance of the pre-tribulation rapture, including William Eugene Blackstone's book Jesus is Coming published in 1878[25] 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,[26] as well as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches,[27] 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.[28]
Some proponents of a preliminary rapture believe the doctrine of amillennialism originated with Alexandrian scholars such as Clement and Origen[29] and later became Catholic dogma through Augustine.[30] 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 Syrian, 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."[31]"[32] However, the interpretation of this writing as supporting a pre-tribulation rapture is debated.[33][34]
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".[35]
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.[36] 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.
Some dispensationalist premillennialists (including many Evangelicals) 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 Baptists, 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, angels 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.
Dispensationalists see the immediate destination of the raptured Christians as being Heaven, 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.[37]
While Anglicans have many views, some Anglican commentators, such as N. T. Wright, identify the destination as a specific place on Earth.[38][39] Often the destination identified is Jerusalem.[40] This interpretation may sometimes be connected to Christian environmentalist concerns.[41]
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 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, as being either identical to the second coming of Jesus as described in Matthew 24:29-31, 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.[42]
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 Swaggart, 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.[43] While many pre-tribulationists are also dispensationalists, not all pre-tribulationists are dispensationalists.[44]
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 Daniel 7:25 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 temple (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.[45] This position is a minority view among premillennialists.[46]
The prewrath rapture 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.[47] 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.[48] 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.
The partial rapture theory holds that true Christians will be raptured before, in the midst of, or after the tribulation depending on one's genuine conversion to the faith.[49][50] 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.”[51]
The post-tribulation 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.[52] The emphasis in this view is that the church will undergo the tribulation — even though the church will be spared the wrath of God.[53] Matthew 24:29–31 - "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 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, a trumpet is described as blowing at the end of the tribulation to herald the return of Christ; Revelation 11:15 further supports this view.
Authors and teachers who support the post-tribulational view include Pat Robertson, Walter R. Martin, John Piper, George E. Ladd,[54] Robert H. Gundry,[55] and Douglas Moo.
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 Matthew 24:36, 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" (RSV). Another problem for those attempting to set a date for the rapture arises from Matthew 24:34, where Jesus is quoted as saying "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (KJV). This implies that, although only the Father knew of the date, Jesus was aware that the rapture would occur during the lifetime of his disciples.
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.[56][57] 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.
Some notable predictions of the date of the rapture include the following:
In "Thank God, It's Doomsday", episode 354 of The Simpsons, 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.[72]