The Book of Revelation Part V: Debunking the Rapture Prior question...why the interest? • Jesus says not only that we do not know the hour...but should not concern ourselves about it! Rather, we should get busy! • Mt 24:44; 24:50; 25:13 • Mk 13:32-33 - neither angels nor Jesus himself • Lk 12:39-40, 46 & Acts 1:7 • Rev 3:3 - to the church at Sardis Matthew 24:44, 50 • 44 - "..false messiahs and false prophets will appear and ...lead astray, if possible, even the elect." • 50 - "...the master will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know." Matthew 25:13 • 13 - "Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Mark 13:32-33 • 32-33 - "But about the day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come." Luke 12:39-40, 46 • 39-40, 46 - "..know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." • 46 - "...the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know..." Acts 1:7 • 7 - "He replied, "'It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.'" Revelation 3:3 • 3 - to the Church in Sardis: "Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you." Why now? • What of previous 1900 years?
• Why are the "secrets" of the bible only for this time? - Did Revelation have no meaning for prior Christians? - Why didn't God kill everyone earlier? - Why not kill everyone 1,000 years from now? The Rapture Racket cf. B.R. Rossing's The Rapture Exposed. 2004 • Left Behind novels, published 1995-2004 by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins - over 50 million sold - like The Late Great Planet Earth, from 1970 by Hal Lindsey • Kids' books and Board games • Web sites (www.rapturereadv.com/rrsurvival-QUide.html) • Two movies The Rapture Racket ...cont'd • Spawn fears • Appeals to fears • Boon for televangelism and Preachers • Influence on Biblical interpretation • Influence on politics - domestic and foreign • Earns political clout for its spokespersons
What Is "The Rapture?" • Definition / Description is difficult (many variants) - Lifting of believers from earth to sky by Jesus (will watch the earth from above) - Begins 7 years of "tribulation" on earth • 144,000 Jewish men, converts, will seek to convert all to Christ • Anti-Christ (1 & 2 Jn) will emerge, seek to prevent salvation • Anti-Christ will oppose 144,000 What is "The Rapture?"...cont'd • Definition / Description - Temple will be rebuilt - Sacrificial cult will resume - After 7 years the world will be destroyed - Christians will be saved - A new heaven and a new earth will be created for the saved - Those first taken will return to the new earth What is "The Rapture?"...cont'd • Definition / Description - State of Israel must expand - Previous dispensation, #6, stopped with
death of Jesus - Last dispensation began recently, 2,000 year gap - Church and Israel radically separated at the Rapture - Divine clock will start again in last dispensation Where does "The Rapture" Come from? • NOT found in the Bible but taken from the Bible - It is an idea looking for a text • eisegesis versus exeges;s! - Meaning from the text or meaning into the text - God must follow our plan • Word from Latin rapiemur in 1 Thess 4:16-17 "...will be caught up..." • "70 weeks" of Dan 9:25-27 is basis for Darby's dispensationalist - Used in Mt 25:6 - the bridesmaids meet and
accompany the bridegroom to the feast - Ac 28:15 - Romans go out to meet and accompany Paul as he enters the city of Rome Where does "The Rapture" Come from? • The "tribulation" from Rev 3:10 (actual word is "trial") is that from which Christians will be "raptured" • Rev 3:22 last use of word "church" in Bible • Rev 4:1 says "come up here" therefore vision must mean the Church has been "raptured" "up here" i.e. to Heaven • Titus 2:13 basis for 7 year gap, but not in text • 28 ovdi "woes" in Rev; s/b "alas" Is it in the Bible? • Anti-Christ mentioned only in 1 & 2 John; not in Rev nor Daniel • No reference in NT to rebuilding the Temple • No covenant between Anti-Christ and Israel • Hence, no mention of the breaking of this covenant • No mention of Jesus' earthly throne in Jerusalem Is it in the Bible? ...cont'd • No 2,000 year gap in Daniel • Church and Israel not separated in the NT; Church of gentiles and Jews is the new Israel • Daniel not interpreted in the Bible this way - not ...cont'd
by Paul, Peter, Jesus, nor his followers, nor rabbinic writers • Peter says in Ac 2:16-21 that "these last days" of Joel 2 (locusts, of. v. 25) are fulfilled, God has NOT abandoned His people; Rapturists say no Is it in the Bible? ...cont'd • Is 9:6 is divided also by 2,000 years - "as son is given" but "the government" not yet "upon his shoulders." No such gap in the Bible • 7 year tribulation not in Revelation - odd, given the repetition of "7" in the work Three Key Rapturist Passages • 1 Thess 4:13-18 • Matthew 24:40-41 • • John 14:1-2 1 Thess 4:13-18 • "...we would not have you uninformed, brothers and sister, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as those who have no hope...we who are alive when He comes will have no precedence...the dead in Christ will rise first...(but) we will all be with the Lord forever." Context of 1 Thessalonians' Letter • Paul trying to assure Christians that though some may have died before Christ's second coming, they too will be joined in Christ w. those who are alive at His coming • It is an assurance that we ALL will be reunited with loved ones in Christ • This is the opposite of the Rapturists - loved ones will NOT be left behind! All Believers Meet Christ • No mention of Christ taking some and then going back to Heaven, leaving others behind • Greek verb "meet" dpirayi'riaou.eGa is to meet and accompany a visiting dignitary Mt 24:40-41 (Lk 17:34-35) • "..two men in the field; one taken the other left, two women grinding grain, one will be taken the other left.... So keep awake, you do not know on what day the Lord is coming." Matthew Text "pasted" to 1 Thess • Which one is "taken?" Is it the "saved" or the non-saved? • Earlier verses in Mt imply that "taken" is like those swept away in Noah's flood; i.e. the sinful ones left to die!
• If this is meaning, then being "left behind" is to be desired! "Taken" here is not an image of salvation! Matthew Text not clear • Perhaps deliberately ambiguous so that we NOT focus on the end but, rather, focus on urgent necessity of being ready • This idea strongest in Matthew • Verses right before Noah reference (vs. 36), Jesus says, "About that day and hour, no one knows, neither angels...nor the Son." Context of Matthew Text • Mt 24-25 - the Olivet Discourse • Lengthy speech of Jesus exhorting His followers to keep vigilant; remain faithful • Historical setting is one generation removed from Roman destruction of Jerusalem • In spite of such traumas, upheavals, we must not let our love grow cold (v. 12) Parables of Olivet Discourse • Parables of Olivet Discourse - Wise Slave, 10 Bridesmaids, Talents given to servants and Separation of Sheep from Goats • Focus of all is ethics - not prediction of the end - we must live our lives as Jesus taught, whether in calm or troubled times Rapturists' Meaning Inconsisten • The "literal" interpretation claimed by Rapturists does not include Mt 24:34: - Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place." - For them "generation" means not audience of Jesus but a later generation which founded state of Israel, 1948 or some say the taking of the west bank in 1967 - no biblical evidence to support such interpretations John 14:1-2 • "In my Father's house there are many dwellings. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" • Rapturists say this is the first teaching about the Rapture in the Bible - Jesus is leaving to prepare place for those to be raptured. What does "dwellings" mean? • Later, in John 14:23, Jesus uses same word to mean the believer: "We will come and make our dwelling with that one" • Here it clearly refers to God's mystical indwelling in the believer • As believers dwell or abide in Christ, so Christ and
God abide in believers Mystical Imagery of John • Typical mystical language of John used similarly in Jesus' discourse about our being grafted into Christ like the branches are in the vine, "the branch abides in the vine" Jn 15:1-11 • Dominant theme of John is that God and Jesus are not "up there" but in us Revelation not a Deciphering Code • God does not offer us a code for deciphering but a relationship! Consequences of "The Rapture" • No peace in the Mid-East • Encourages expansion of Israel's borders & further occupation of disputed territory • Portrays a God to be feared • Where is the Lamb of Revelations? • Natural resources to be used up • OK Sen. James Inhofe: Israel must take all the land! - US must support Israel, it has a right to the land because God said so...look it up in Gen 13:1417..thisisnota political battle but a "contest over whether or not the word of God is true." CBN News, 2002 "The Rapture" distracts • The meaning of the Book of Revelation is still a challenge and still a comfort • it is still the gospel message • It is not a secret message to be de-coded Point of the Book • To interpret present earthly reality in terms of future supernatural reality - Heaven and Hell are posited for the sake of the PRESENT; not the future • Seeks to influence both understanding and behavior of contemporary audience - Last judgment is NOW; visions of future are to affect present reality Point of the Book ...cont'd • Moves against NT message promoting accommodation with Rome - Paul's letters, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and 1 Peter seek accommodation w. Roman society (1 Tim 2:2 asks Christians to pray for their civil leaders!) • The empire is evil to its core; Christians must eschew its values • Such resistance guarantees conflict
Point of the Book ...cont'd • Rome is evil - "The rest of humanity, not killed by these plagues, still did not renounce the gods their hands had made nor give up worshiping demons, and the idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk; nor did they repent of their murders , their sorceries, their fornication, or their robberies." - Rev 7:20-21 - It is of Satan - jCD&n ha satan - the opponent Point of the Book ...cont'd • Christians must not be co-opted by Roman values • Christians must see the truth of Rome's success - Built on crushing power - Arrogant blasphemy • Seeds of Rome's destruction are within her; she will implode...and soon Point of the Book ...cont'd • Christian resistance must be passive • The slain Lamb is the Victor • Death in fidelity is not defeat but victory - Your "defeat", like the empire's "triumph," is only apparent, only temporary Finally... • "The fact is that not one single biblical passage lays out the dispensationalists' overarching chronology of Rapture followed by 7 years of tribulation followed by Jesus' return to earth. They have to piece this grand narrative together like stringing clothes on a clothesline. There is no two-stage return of Christ in the Bible, no escapist Rapture from earth for born-again Christians." B. Rossing, p. 186