THE DOCTRINE OF THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

from Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians

 

 

Introduction

 

            The doctrine of the rapture is a marvelous doctrine given to Christians for hope. It is a doctrine that has wrought a handful of different interpretations as to when it will occur or if it is to occur at all. Some see the rapture of the Church as occurring before the seven-year Tribulation period spoken of in the Book of Daniel, some see it as occurring during that time (midtribulation rapture), and some see it as occurring after the Tribulation. Others deny there will even be a rapture, Tribulation, or a Millennial Kingdom where Christ reigns on the earth for 1000 years as the Davidic King. This essay will defend a pretribulation rapture using Paul’s teaching from his letters to the church in Thessalonica.

 

Interpretation of First Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

            When the Apostle Paul comes to this point in his letter to the Thessalonians he begins to teach them concerning Christ’s coming. Because he did not want them to be uninformed regarding those who had died and gone before them he began by teaching them the doctrine of the rapture and the second coming of Christ. Paul did not want these people to be continually sorrowful over their loved ones who had passed away (1 Thes. 4:13). This doctrine he begins to teach is a doctrine of hope, not only for the Thessalonians then, but also for the Christian community today.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

 

            Using the explanatory conjunction “for” in verse 14, Paul tells why this passage is included into the holy scriptures. This verse is a first class condition in the original Greek (inferring a condition that is true to reality), and the “for” here can also be translated with a “since”: “Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” What Paul is saying here is that the fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection was just that, a fact -- something that no one could logically deny (though many did). But because this event was so well attested and undisputed Paul uses it to compare the fact that God will bring those who have died “in Jesus” back with him at the rapture. The key words here are “in Jesus” because this relates only to those who have died at true Christians. Paul does not include the Old Testament saints in this group. They will resurrect with new bodies following the Tribulation (Daniel 12:1-13; Isaiah 26:13-19).[1] This is not to say, however, that these Old Testament saints are unconscious until that Second Coming of Christ -- they are absent from the body, but present with Christ (1 Thes. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23). When a Christian dies it is his body that lies dead in the grave, but it is his soul that goes to be with the Lord Jesus.

            Paul gives further explanation in verses 15 and 16 by telling his readers that what he has to teach them comes directly from the word of the Lord. This “word of the Lord” has caused some to equate this with the words of Jesus in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Luke 17. This view says that this was Jesus’ revelation concerning His second coming which will immediately follow the rapture.[2] However, most likely this “word of the Lord” is a revelation from Jesus to Paul -- the same type of revelation Paul gets for all of his authoritative teaching in his epistles. It just cannot be taken as fact that this “word of the Lord” is to be inferred from the Olivet Discourse.

            Paul’s teaching here, from the word of the Lord, is that when Jesus comes those believers who are alive will not go ahead of those believers who have died previously. Why does Paul include this in light of the fact that it most likely did not matter to the Thessalonians who actually got to Jesus first? It appears that the Thessalonians were very concerned their loved ones in Christ would miss the glorious coming of the Lord which they believed would occur in their lifetime. They were simply confused, due to their belief that Christ would return in their lifetime, about those who had died waiting for him to return. Paul encourages them with this teaching, but even Paul seems to believe that Christ was going to return in his lifetime because Christ was not specific in when He was coming back. This is a great testimony to their hope in Christ and in His return to earth. They felt His coming was immanent and were preparing themselves for it.

            Verse 17 teaches that those who are alive when Christ comes will be “caught up.” These two words is where “rapture” comes from. It is interesting to note that the word “rapture” never occurs in scripture, but it is clearly a word that describes being “caught up.” The word “rapture” in a Latin term and comes from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate (4th century) which is the Latin translation of the Bible. There will be a voice from heaven, a shout from the archangel, and the trumpet of God (verse 17). Once this happens the dead in Christ will rise to meet the Lord in the air signifying that the rapture has now begun. They will then receive their immortal bodies. The dead in Christ will meet Christ first in the air then the Christians who are still alive will meet all of them in the clouds in the rapture and live with Jesus forever and ever. It is at this point that those who were still alive at the time of the rapture will have their bodies translated into their own immortal bodies which will never see death. Verse 18 notes that this was given to the Thessalonians in order to “comfort one another” (verse 18).

            Verses 13-18 clearly portray a rapture of Christian believers prior to the seven-year Tribulation. The fact that Christians are spared from God’s wrath in the Tribulation is spelled out in 1:10 where Paul says, “...and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” The “wrath to come” most likely has the Tribulation in mind in view of the whole context of 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Also in 5:9 Paul says that Christians are not appointed for wrath but to salvation. In this pre-tribulational rapture, imminence is employed because no one knows when it will occur -- not even Paul knew, and he had “word from the Lord.” Furthermore, in view of verse 18 where Paul claims to write in order to give comfort, it would be ridiculous to conclude that comfort would be given if these devout believers were supposed to endure God’s wrath which was to come. God’s wrath is the final seven-year period from Daniel’s 70 weeks (Dan. 9:27), and it was for the Jews. Why would Christians, who are most certainly separate from the Jews, suffer right along with them for their sin and rejection of God when they obviously never rejected Him and have their sins atoned for? God would have no conceivable purpose for putting the Church through the Tribulation period.

 

The Rapture vs. the Day of the Lord

 

            First Thessalonians 5:1-3 changes directions and makes a shift in teaching regarding the

 

Day of the Lord and the Rapture of the saints. It reads as follows:

 

1Thessalonians 5:1-3: Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

 

            Paul clearly shifts his attention from the rapture to the Day of the Lord by using the introductory phrase, “But concerning...”. “In 4:13-18 Paul tried to allay the fears of some who thought that deceased believers might not share in the kingdom. His explanation in that paragraph was something about which they were uninformed. But, in contrast, they were well informed about the beginning of the Day of the Lord as he explains in 5:1-11.”[3] The Day of the Lord refers to a definite time when the Lord is expected to appear and usher in His wrath. This time period begins immediately after the rapture of the church and encompasses at least 1007 years (Tribulation and Millennium). This wrath is spelled out in detail in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Luke 17 and in Revelation 4-20. In the Old Testament the phrase “day of the Lord” denotes a time in which God will conspicuously manifest power and goodness or his penal justice (Isa. 2:12; Ezek. 13:5; Joel 1:15; 2:11; compare Rom. 2:5). The whole class of phrases is rare in the New Testament outside of Paul's Epistles.[4]

            Paul now deals with the uncertainty of the timing of the day of the Lord. He uses the expression to refer to Christ’s return and the coming judgment. This judgment will come “like a thief in the night,” or in other words, at a time when no one is expecting it. In the context of the passage this time is not to be confused with Christ’s second coming at the end of the Tribulation, rather it is at the beginning of the Tribulation, for this is when God’s wrath is poured out. It would seem ridiculous to have all of Revelation’s wrath poured out and not consider it to be part of the day of the Lord.

            In verse 3 the sense of peace felt by all which gives them a false sense of security is most likely Antichrist’s signing of a peace treaty with Israel.[5] At this point it will be as a woman giving birth to a child -- and inevitable event following labor pains. Since the Greek uses a double negative here with regard to the destruction it seems emphatic that no one living one the earth at that time shall escape the wrath to come. If this were not separate from the rapture, leaving the Church on the earth during the Tribulation would negate what Paul said in 1:10 and 5:9, that is, that Christians are not appointed for wrath. In sum, the Day of the Lord is that time period when God’s wrath is poured out on the earth. Following the Tribulation time period of seven years Christ will return as promised and fulfill the unconditional promises made to Israel in Genesis and in 2 Samuel. But the rapture is different from the day of the Lord in that it occurs just prior to it. But when will this rapture occur according to Paul’s letter?

 

The Time of the Rapture

 

            Though setting dates and specific prophetic times for the rapture is not the purpose of this essay, the time when it will occur will be evident as certain events begin to take place on the earth according to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4.

II Thessalonians 2:1-4: Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

 

            Paul wrote this second epistle after receiving word that the Christians in Thessalonica were being misled by false teachers concerning Christ’s second coming. Used on two times in the New Testament, “gathering together” here refers to the whole of Christianity. At this gathering together Christians will be together for the first time in worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. This event would appear to correspond to 1 Thes. 4:17 where Paul speaks of the rapture of the church and meeting Christ in the air. The false teaching concerning the day of the Lord was that it had already come due to the fact that the Thessalonians were experiencing some intense persecution for their faith. In view of this some of them thought that Christ’s coming had passed them by, and Paul instructs them not to believe such teaching. “If the day of the Lord had already begun, how could Paul say the Lord’s return for His own would precede that day (1 Thes. 1:10; 5:9)? Paul was teaching them a pretribulation rapture.[6] “The supposed doctrinal difficulty lies in the failure to distinguish between the parousia (appearing) and the day of the Lord. The advocates of the false teaching at Thessalonica conceived that the day of the Lord was not merely ‘at hand,’ which was true (Romans 13:12), but actually ‘present,’ which Paul denied. Such a view denied the believer the hope of the imminent rapture.”[7]

 

Conclusion

 

            It appears from Paul’s teaching that the order of events in the last days will be as follows: the rapture of the Church (1 Thes. 4:17), the seven-year tribulation with all of God’s wrath poured out, then the second coming of Christ. The Day of the Lord is the time period beginning with the seven-year Tribulation going through to the Great White Throne Judgment in Rev. 20. Following the rapture of the Church the “man of lawlessness” is to be revealed and a great falling away will occur due to the fact that God’s presence on the earth will be gone (He lives with the believers who have been taken off the earth in the rapture) as revealed in 2 Thes. 2:3-4. This entire teaching is a teaching of hope to all believers. God has revealed Himself in the scriptures and in doing so has also revealed what He is going to do in the future. There may be many other interpretations to these passages, but this interpretation utilizes a consistent hermeneutic and recognizes the dispensations revealed throughout the scriptures from Genesis to the Revelation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORKS CITED

 

Constable, Tom. DTS class notes from 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

 

Ryrie, C.C. 1987. Basic Theology. Victor Books: USA, Canada, England. pp. 485-86.

 

Vincent's Word Studies of the New Testament by BibleSoft computer software.

 

Walvoord, J.F., “The Resurrection of Israel,” Bibliotheca Sacra 124:493 (January-March

            1967): 3-15.