The End Times: Eschatology
The Rapture
and the Resurrection
The predominant view of the end times is that sometime in the
future, the righteous will be taken from the earth, and spared from Hell on
Earth. Seven years of hell on earth will
follow. This view was popularized by The
Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey.
It is popular for several reasons:
1. There is
always resurgence in interest in prophecy at the turn of the century.
2. people are apt
to read signs of economic problems and moral and natural disasters into the
Bible
3. The popularity
of the Left Behind series: this is fiction, but it is being taught as
fact in some Protestant circles.
4. The Catholic
Church has been largely silent on Bible prophecy because so many have used
Revelation to slam the Church
The Rapture Theory, or Dispensationalism,
consists of three Second Comings, three Resurrections, and three Judgments.
At the First Second Coming, Jesus goes to saved Christians in
secret, and they are instantly taken alive to Heaven.
The first Tribulation consists of seven years of Hell on Earth,
led by the Antichrist.
The second Second Coming, described in
Revelation, consists of the Battle of Armageddon, the 1000-year reign of
Christ, and the Resurrection of the Righteous.
At the end of Christ’s 1000-year reign on earth, the third Second
Coming occurs. The third Judgment is
referred to as the White Throne Judgment; all of those who are non-repentant at
the White Throne Judgment will go to hell.
It is after the White Throne Judgment that we will enter into our
eternal state.
Strengths of the theory
It takes the Bible literally, although the Bible is misread in
the process. Some scripture cannot be
taken literally, e.g., Psalm 18:7-9: “Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling And were
shaken, because He was angry. Smoke went
up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth
devoured; Coals were kindled by it. He
bowed the heavens also, and came down With thick
darkness under His feet.”
Problems with the theory
1. He will come
again in glory (Nicene Creed), once. Most people believe in one Second Coming,
Judgment, and Resurrection. This was the
prevailing eschatological view held by Christians for 1700 years.
2. The Rapture
Theory has been declared a heresy by the Catholic Church. It’s called Chiliasm.
3. Multiple
Resurrections means that Jesus was wrong in Matthew 25 when he talked about the
Last Judgment. In His depiction, there
were only two groups of people, the goats and the sheep. If the Rapture Theory is correct, there would
be several groups of people, separated at the different Judgments
4. The Rapture
Theory has only been around for 150 years.
It was started by the Millerites (founded by
William Miller), who are the origin of the 7th Day Adventists and
the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s
Witnesses have predicted the end of the world 16 times (unsuccessfully).
5. It promotes
date-setting, which is an unbalanced view of prophecy. (A best-seller in the ‘80s was 88 Reasons the
Rapture Will Take Place in 1988…until that year passed). If you set dates for prophecies to fulfill
themselves, then you will inevitably become a false prophet.
6. It also
promotes the idea of retreating from society. “You don’t polish brass on a
sinking ship.” Proponents of the Rapture Theory don’t bother influencing the
world for the better because they believe that we’ll be gone any moment now:
their world is a sinking ship.
7. It is based on
Bible passages taken out of context and misinterpreted. Luke 17:34-37: “‘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 at the same place; one will be taken and the
other will be left. [Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the
other will be left.’ And answering they said to Him, ‘Where, Lord?’ And He said to them, ‘Where the body is,
there also the vultures will be gathered.’”
Based on a full reading of this passage, in context, it would be better
to be left than to be taken.
8. There will be one Second Coming and one Resurrection. Matthew 25 talks about the judgment of the
sheep and the goats, and John 5 and 6 mention being judged at the last day.
In the Old Testament, before Christ came, no one went to Heaven;
everyone went to Sheol, the “realm of the dead” (a
holding place for souls before Heaven was opened by Christ). In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, they both went to the same place. They went to different areas of Sheol (the rich man to a place of torment, Lazarus to
“Abraham’s bosom”), but they were in the same realm because they could see each
other and speak to each other. Jesus
said “No one has seen the Father” at this time.
Revelation 20 mentions a thousand year reign, but in verse 4 John
mentions souls, not bodies. This reign and the accompanying Resurrection are
spiritual in nature.
Rapture is not a biblical word.
It comes from the Latin word meaning “to be caught up”. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18: “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, will 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 will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so
we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these
words.” The focus here is on those mourning
the dead, who have fallen asleep in Christ.
The term “Antichrist” was never used for an individual in the
Bible. It was used to refer to anyone
who opposes Christ. If you read
Revelation from the perspective of its author, you’ll see that much of the book
was referring to things that happened in John’s generation. For instance, The Beast in Revelation 13 was
Nero Caesar. The “number of the beast”
is 666, which is the value of Nero’s name in Greek and Hebrew.
So what about the 7 years of hell on earth? John 16 and Matthew 13, 14, and 15 all refer
to events in the near future. Matt 24:34: “Truly I say to you, this generation
will not pass away until all these things take place.” Why would John have
intended Revelation’s prophecies to be fulfilled 2000 years in the future
instead of near his own time? Scripture
must be interpreted in the context in which it was written.
Rapture has occurred in the past, it occurs now, and it will
occur in the future. In the past, Jesus
called up all of those sleeping in Sheol into
Heaven. In the present, we join the
choirs of angels in praising God in the