Historically, there are two beliefs about "The Rapture." The earliest was the belief in the raising of of the dead and the taking up of the living saints occur at the same time: when Jesus returns.
This is the belief of the Seventh-Day-Adventist Church. The newer teaching says the two events are separate. Here is what Wikipedia writes:
Authors generally maintain that the pre-tribulation Rapture doctrine originated in the eighteenth century, with the Puritan preachers Increase and Cotton Mather, and was then popularized in the 1830s by John Darby.[14][15] Others, including Grant Jeffrey, maintain that an earlier document called Ephraem or Pseudo-Ephraem already supported a pre-tribulation rapture.[16]
Pre-tribulation rapture theology was popularized extensively in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren,[17]and further popularized in the United States in the early 20th century by the wide circulation of the Scofield Reference Bible.[18]
The exact meaning, timing and impact of the event are disputed among Christians[4] and the term is used in at least two senses. In the pre-tribulation view, a group of people will be left behind on earth after another group literally leaves "to meet the Lord in the air." This is now the most common use of the term, especially among fundamentalist Christians in the United States.
So, that is the history of the teaching of the Rapture, a word that does not appear in the Bible. This is the verse Fundamentalists use: "I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” Luke 17:34,35
I've heard the "Rapture" called the "Secret Rapture." But there is nothing secret about Jesus returning to get his people.
I'll just quote the Bible now and let you make up your own mind on which view seems correct:
"For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:27.
Matthew 24:30 says, "They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven ... and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.
"We shall all be changed, ... and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. For ... this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.
"We look for ... the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Philippians 3:20, 21.
2 comments:
All I know is that when it happens, I will get to meet Jesus face to face that day. And how could it be secret when so many will vanish?
Yes, I don't understand where "secret rapture" came from. I can't wait until Jesus comes. We will have to find each other in the crowd one day. Won't that be fun?
Post a Comment