The Rapture

Will today’s Christians suddenly be taken out of this world?

Will they escape “the hour of trial” coming upon the whole world?

What Jesus said about the Rapture

Major New Testament texts teach that true followers of Jesus are suddenly “taken” to be with Jesus at the end of this age. They are supernaturally taken to meet Jesus “in the air”. In Matthew 24 and Luke 17 Jesus says:

For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the Flood came and took them all away.

So will the coming of the Son of Man be. At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. 

It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building; but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

This supernatural event is often referred to as the “Rapture” (although the word is not in the Bible). The term is derived from the Latin verb ‘Rapere,’ meaning ‘to snatch’ or ‘take away’, link. This might be seen as a ‘secret coming’ of Christ since it is not apparent to the world – until it has happened! But it is certainly not the highly visible Second Coming of Christ to earth which happens a few years later.

Note that in Jesus’ example of workers in the field or at the mill, there is no suggestion of a work restriction, as might be imposed by the enforced 666 ID. The pre-rapture scenario is not compatible with severe persecution under the two beasts of Revelation 13 and their imposition of “the mark” for buying and selling.

Who is “Taken”?

Opponents of Rapture theology miss a fundamental point. They argue that it is unbelievers who are “taken”. But by referring to the days of Noah and Lot, Jesus clearly implies that in the near future it is believers who are “taken” out of a godless world prior to its judgement, just as Noah and Lot were “taken” out of godless societies. In both historical cases God’s people were taken prior to God’s judgement on unbelievers. It will be the same in the Rapture.

Note that the Greek word for ‘taken’ is ‘paralambano’, which means ‘to take into close association with oneself’, in a loving positive sense. So the Rapture is a friendly taking of the true church of Jesus Christ before earth’s tribulations begin. In contrast, the Greek word for ‘left’ is ‘aphiemi’ and means ‘to leave, forsake, omit or lay aside’. A literal reading of the Bible implies that unbelievers, together with the false church, are left to suffer during the subsequent Tribulation period (Daniel’s 70th Week)! The theologian and evangelist John Wesley put it like this:

One is taken into God’s immediate protection: and one is left to share the common calamities

God takes His true church

The Church Age Suddenly Ends

Clearly, after true believers and followers of Christ are suddenly taken, the true church is suddenly absent from the earth! Today the key mission of the church is to spread the good news of salvation through Christ. The church is like a “door” to salvation.

But in the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus said that “door” will suddenly “shut” (Matthew 25:1-13, Luke 13:25). Here Jesus is likened to a “bridegroom” who suddenly comes for His waiting bride (verse 10). In the parable, those who have heard the Gospel but have not responded (the unwise virgins) lose out. They don’t go on to “the marriage of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7). Those who were not waiting were excluded from this gathering and there will be much “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. This suggests an urgent need to preach the Gospel. Time is short.

There is a need to be ready for Christ’s sudden return. Jesus said a future “hour of trial” will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth: “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:35-36, amplified)

What Paul says about the Rapture

The apostle Paul added some interesting detail to this supernatural event. He says the rapture instance is marked by a resurrection to immortality of past believers, and by the change to immortality of living believers. It is described as a harvest:

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle … So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:14,16)

This is a vision of Jesus reaping the good harvest of the earth – from a cloud. There is no mention of Jesus actually coming to stand on the earth at this point in time! Believers are separated from those who are about to suffer the wrath of God (Revelation 14:19) and taken to meet Christ in the clouds.

What happens next? The New Testament suggests a period of rest with Christ for resurrected, immortal believers. It seems they are rewarded in heaven and presented to Christ as His bride before they return to earth with Him:

Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself (Revelation 19:7, amplified)

Paul also stressed the rapture would be announced by the sounding of a trumpet. He wrote:

Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, amplified)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will 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.  (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, amplified)

Note: it is incorrect to see Paul’s ‘last trumpet’ as the seventh and final trumpet in Revelation 11:15, link. In verse 52 of Corinthians it is God sounding the resurrection trumpet (1 Thessalonians 4:16), whereas in Revelation it is the the seventh angel trumpeting the final judgements.

So why Trumpets?

To answer this it is necessary to look at the seven Feasts of Israel, Table 1. The first four (or “Spring”) feasts prophetically foreshadowed Christ’s First Coming. For example, Passover pointed to Jesus as the spotless Lamb, and the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost was fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the start of the Church Age.  Although the length of the Church Age is unknown, many believe it is rapidly drawing to a close as the three “Fall” feasts (September/October) come into view, link.

Table 1: The Hebrew Calendar and the Seven Annual Feasts

The Jewish shofar or ram’s horn

For Jews, the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) is a Sabbath rest on the first day of the the seventh month (Tishri, September/October). It is a time for the ‘blowing of trumpets’ (Leviticus 23:23-25), a time when the shofar, a ram’s-horn trumpet,  is sounded in synagogues. Today, Tishri 1-2 is celebrated as the Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah (‘Head of the Year’) which relates primarily to the agricultural cycle and the beginning of a new harvest year. 

The important point here is that the Feast involves exactly 100 trumpet blasts throughout the day, link, and each blast has meaning and purpose. The blasts culminate in one final, long, powerful blast which had specific name in Hebrew, meaning the last trump (as in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52). This loud blast reminds Jews of the increasingly loud blasts that God used to call Moses at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:19).  So at the sounding of the Shofar each year on Yom Teruah, Messianic Jews remember that Messiah Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach, is returning soon, link.

So, according to Table 1, the Rapture appears to be aligned to the Hebrew month Tishri, sometime in September or October of an unspecified year. For example, in year 2025, the Feast of Trumpets fell on September 22-24.

Why the Rapture?

Why does God see it important to take believers out of the world? One view is that, at this point, the building of the Kingdom of God on earth is now complete (Matthew 13:47-48). And since God loves the true church (the Philadelphia-type church seen in Revelation 3), He wishes to protect her from the “Day” of horrors soon to come upon a rebellious, godless world. Jesus warned:

That Day will come on you unexpectedly . . . it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass . . . (Luke 21:34-36, emphasis added)

Because you have kept My word of perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of the testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who live on the earth. (Revelation 3:10, emphasis added)

What is this “hour of testing”? To answer this it is necessary to briefly consider Daniels’ 70-week prophecy.

Daniel’s 70 Week Prophecy Concerning Israel

“Seventy weeks [of years, or 70×7 = 490 years] have been decreed for your people [Israel] and for your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression , to make an end of sins [Jesus’s sacrifice], to make atonement [reconciliation] for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness [through faith in Christ], to seal up vision and prophecy and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.” (Daniel 9:24, amplified)

Here Daniel is using scripture’s ‘prophetic years‘, where each month has 30 days, each year has twelve months [360 days] and each “week” has seven 360-day years. Week 70 is the final seven (360-day) years of this age, after which Christ returns to earth! So Week 70 spans 7 x 360 = 2,520 days.

Has Week 70 Elapsed? No!

Daniel’s prophecy in chapter 9 sets the context of the mysterious rapture. How is it to be read? It is logical to adopt prophetic interpretations that agree closely with reality. That is, with what we observe in the world today. For example, “to anoint the most holy place” is mostly likely the Holy of Holies inside the temple, link. But that temple no longer exists! Jews believe this part of the prophecy awaits to be fulfilled in a future Temple at Messiah’s return. Christ then reigns from Jerusalem as “King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:8-9). This so-called “Kingdom Age” lasts for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6).

So many take the Futurist view and see a time-gap between the end of Week 69 (the crucifixion of Christ) and the start of Week 70 (the last seven years of this age) i.e. Week 70 is still future.

There are sound theological reasons why such a time gap exists. After all, if Week 70 elapsed around the time of Christ (the Historicist view) there is no framework within which to fit the Church Age and many end-time prophecies. For example, how would we interpret Jeremiah 30:4-7; Daniel 7:23-28; Daniel 11:11,21-45; Daniel 12:11-12; Matthew 24; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 7:3-8; Revelation 12:6 and Revelation 13?

Put simply, Week 70 corresponds to the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls of Revelation. It is a time of God’s wrath on a godless World Government under the two “beasts” of Revelation 13. See Week 70 and End Time Pilgrim for detailed theological discussions of the Futurist view.

The Tribulation Years

Figure 1: The Tribulation years of Week 70

Figure 1 shows that Week 70 spans 7 biblical years or 7 x 360 = 2520 days (1260 + 1260). It sees the emergence of a tyrannical world government or New World Order (NWO). Many see this as a revived form of the historic Roman Empire. It is symbolised by the final and fourth “beast” of Daniel 7:23. Moreover, this “beast” is ridden i.e. controlled by a woman sitting upon it (Revelation 17). In scripture a woman often symbolises a church and Revelation 17 clearly points to the false or apostate church of Rome. Bear in mind this “harlot” church has shed the blood of the saints over the centuries (Revelation 17:6), and so it could well persecute true believers at this time.

The start of Week 70 also sees the emergence of the godless World Ruler of Daniel 7:20-25 and Revelation 13:1-10. This political and powerful military World Ruler first appears peaceably, being described as just a little horn in Daniel 7:8. Mimicking Christ, he appears like a king on a white horse (Revelation 6:2). So Israel will feel quite safe in signing a Treaty with him. It seems that for the first 1260 days or 42 months, Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, will have some form of peace, albeit under the rule of Gentile nations (Revelation 11:2).

In reality Israel makes “a covenant with death” (Isaiah 28:14-18) and is betrayed. The Treaty will be broken midweek:

The Ruler will make a Treaty with the people [Israel] for a period of one week, but after half this time [1260 days], he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration [abomination] until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.” (Daniel 9:27, amplified)

Jesus referred to this mid-week event as the setting up of the “abomination of desolation”, (Matthew 24:15, Fig.1), an event foreshadowed by Antiochus Epiphanes (167 BC) who set up a pagan idol in the second Temple. This marks the start of the Great Tribulation, (Matthew 24:21). During this time the (new) Temple will be desecrated by the World Ruler – the “beast from the sea” (Revelation 13:1-10) – and Israel will endure great suffering. This arrogant person is granted authority for forty-two months [the last 1260 days in Fig.1] to make war with “the saints” (particularly the Jews) and to overcome them (Revelation 13:5-7).

The Great Tribulation also introduces the so-called “mark of the beast” (666). Note that this is forced upon the world by the second beast – the “beast from the earth” (Revelation 13:16). Since this beast is like a lamb, some theologians refer to this person (not the World Ruler) as the Antichrist. Certainly, Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin and Wesley associated the Papacy with the Antichrist, and this teaching gave rise to the Protestant Reformation, link.

God’s Cosmic Judgements: the Sixth Seal

After just 1260 days the heavenly court terminates the authority of the World Ruler (Daniel 7:26) and his kingdom becomes “full of darkness” (Revelation 16:10). The Great Tribulation ends. As shown in Fig.1, there follows a short 30-day period of unspeakable global judgements – God’s wrath – and some of these involve the cosmic disturbances of the Sixth Seal.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (Matthew 24:29)

The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. (Revelation 6:12)

This short 30-day period before Christ returns to earth could be seen a brief period of grace, when the nations can at last repent and turn to Christ.

Relating Week 70 to the Rapture: the Pre-Tribulation View

It is clear that Week 70 is a time to be avoided! The first half sees the emergence of a very controlling World Government, headed by a deceptive leader and strongly influenced by an apostate and political Church (the Vatican). The second half of Week 70 sees the extreme persecution of regathered Israel, and the enforced 666 ID. This horrific time is specifically identified with the nation of Israel and is described as “Jacob’s Trouble” in Jeremiah 30:7. But the suffering also applies to the Gentile nations and all those who keep their allegiance to Christ (Revelation 7:14 and 12:17). All the suffering saints are seen as the martyrs of the Fifth Seal in Revelation 6.

Those who reject the Rapture remove all hope of Christ’s protection during Week 70. Most followers of Christ will be martyred, and the few who escape will still have to endure the global wars of Revelation 6 and God’s cosmic judgements of the Sixth Seal.

APPENDIX

The Jewish Wedding is a Model of the Rapture

The traditional Jewish wedding at the time of Christ is a good model of the events surrounding the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. The wedding was in four steps:

• 1. The father of the groom made the marriage arrangements and paid the price. Sometimes this was many years before the actual marriage
• 2. The second step was the fetching of the bride. The bride groom would go to the home of his soon-to-be bride in order to bring her home. Before the groom left he must have a place for his bride. It was the father of the groom who set the timing of this fetching of the bride
• 3. The third step was the wedding ceremony itself. Only a few guests were usually invited. Prior to the wedding the bride went through a ritual immersion for ritual cleansing
• 4. The final and fourth step we as marriage feast, which could last as many as seven days, and many more people were invited to the feast

It is remarkable how closely the traditional Jewish wedding models the Pre-Tribulation rapture.

Step 1 models the Father’s historic plan for the bride of Christ (the true church). God paid the price of the ‘marriage’ through the sacrifice of His Son.

Step 2 models the rapture of the church as Christ comes for her at a time determined only by the Father. Prior to the rapture, Christ makes a home in heaven for the bride.

Step 3 models the judgement seat of Christ (a time of rewards for the saints), and then the wedding. Both occur in heaven after the rapture. The Jewish wedding could be several days long. Note: the time between the rapture and Christ’s actual return to earth after the wedding may be several years.

Step 4, the wedding feast occurs after the Second Coming of Christ to earth. Although the rapture and the wedding involves only the church, the guests at the marriage feast includes both Old Testament saints, and tribulation saints (see later).

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