Throughout my Christian life, I have been taught in all the churches I have been, about the imminent event coded “The Rapture”. In a nutshell, the Rapture is the appearing (coming) of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church, in which all born-again Christians are caught up (snatch away) to meet the Lord in the air. Their bodies would be changed to a supernatural body incorruptible and immortal. Then follow the 7 years of tribulation on earth into which God will be pouring His wrath in Judgment on Satan and his cohorts, along with the unbelieving, sinful, rebellious and idolatrous humanity. It is believed that the Rapture is God’s plan to move His people out when He is pouring His wrath on the earth. Most Evangelical churches would have held on to this view.
The Rapture — with the sudden snatching away (the disappearing) of millions of Christians all over the globe always intrigue me. An aeroplane flying in mid-air with a Christian pilot suddenly snatch away. The plane is now left without a pilot. That’s scary! Thousands or millions of automobiles on the roads and highways are suddenly left without drivers because they are Christians. Can you imagine what countless accidents could have had happened? It’s going to be massive chaos everywhere when the Rapture takes place. Well, I have since handed these questions or thoughts to God knowing He knows what He is doing.
However, in recent years I have been reading and searching the scriptures concerning the apocalypse or the unveiling of the Last Days (or End-times) happenings. I am beginning to change my understanding of the Rapture and the return (2nd coming) of the Lord Jesus. There isn’t going to be a Rapture the way most churches are teaching. If there is a Rapture, it’s going to be towards the end of the Great Tribulation when the 2nd coming of the Lord takes place. I am still searching but more and more I feel there isn’t going to be a pre-tribulation Rapture. You and I as Christians are going through the Big Trouble, folks!
And the man who has very much influenced me on my change of view on this matter is the most distinguish Bible teacher, the late Dr David Pawon. He has passed on to Glory since the beginning of 2020. His books, ‘A Commentary on the Book of Revelation’ and ‘When Jesus Returns’ offer such clear apocalypse insights. Many of my thoughts about the Rapture have been altered by Pawson’s insightful biblical teaching.
There are 7 mains factors concerning the Rapture most evangelical churches would ‘put their stakes on’.
1) the Rapture is imminent
2) the Rapture is coming as a surprise
3) the Rapture is not the 2nd coming of Christ
4) the Early Church had been expecting the Rapture
5) the Rapture will come before the Great Tribulation
6) the emphasis to comfort one another with the Rapture
7) the Rapture is God’s plan to get us out when God is pouring His wrath on the earth
Here’s what Pawson’s argument against this teaching. Let me summarize the best I could.
The Rapture is imminent, which means can happen at any moment. The church has been waiting for the last 2000 years and it has not happened. What the New Testament (NT) taught is that we ought to look forward to His coming again soon. There is never, not even one teaching in the NT that His coming (or for the matter, the Rapture) is imminent. It does mean, that time is relative to God. One day is like a 1000-years and a 1000-years is like one day. Christians ought to continually believe the Lord is coming back for sure.
The Rapture is coming as a surprise, like a thief in the night. The coming of the Lord should come as a surprise only to the unbelieving and the sleeping Christians, not for those who are watchful and prayerful. Christians ought to be discerning as to the times and seasons that would point to His coming and not to a sudden snatching away.
The Rapture is not the same as the 2nd coming. Those who advocate for the Rapture would divide the use of words or phrases in the NT – one for the Rapture, and the other for the 2nd coming. For example, His appearing as opposed to His coming. His coming for the church to mean the Rapture and His coming with the saints to mean the 2nd Coming. Pawson asserts that there had been a forced assumption for those holding on to the Rapture. He believes both these phrases or words meant the same 2nd Coming. There is never one for the Rapture and another for the 2nd Coming.
The Early Church was expecting the Rapture. No, they weren’t expecting the Rapture. They were expecting the 2nd Coming. The only portion of the NT scripture closed to what has been a Rapture teaching is in 1Cor 15 by the Apostle Paul. We shall not all die, but we shall be caught up, and in a twinkling of an eye, our bodies would be change… Pawson explains that in the last days – at the end of the Great Tribulation, not all Christians will die (though many will die as martyrs) but they that remain alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That’s the Rapture. It is different from what we have been taught in most churches today. He says, ” It’s not whether you believe in the Rapture or not, but how and when it is going to take place.” Actually, there isn’t the idea of a secret, imminent Rapture in the Early Church. They had just been commissioned by the Lord Jesus to bring the Gospel to the end of the world, so how could they be expecting a secret, imminent event in which they shall be caught up in the Rapture.
The Rapture teaching first came into the church in AD1830, when a prophetic teaching was given in Scotland among the Plymouth Brethren by a man, called John Newton Darby. (I was raised as a Brethren and I remembered this Rapture teaching in my church then). Then Dr CI Scotfied took this teaching and published a Scotfield Reference Bible and together with Hal Lindsay whose book on the Rapture sold by the millions — the Rapture teaching had taken the American churches by storm. Today it has been taken as biblical truth not only in churches but also in Bible Seminaries.
The Rapture will come before the Great Tribulation. They assert that there is no mention of the word ‘Church’ in Revelation 16 to 19 which talk about the Great Tribulation; only the word ‘Elect’ and ‘Saints’ were used of the Jews. Therefore the Rapture must first take place for the Great Tribulation to kick in. Pawson explains that again there is an undue assertion to say that. Paul in his letters did also used the word ‘Elect’ and ‘Saints’ for Church.
The emphasis on comfort with the thought of the ‘Rapture’ – 1 Thess 4:17. Pawson explains that it is not the consoling kind of comforting one another with the prospect of a Rapture. The word comfort here is meant to come forth strong. Christian ought to be strong in the face of impending suffering and death with the thought that we will be caught to be with the Lord. Again, the caught up to be with the Lord is a question of how and when it is going to take place.
The Rapture is God’s plan to get us out when God is pouring His wrath on the earth. This is by far the most coded for the Rapture. God had delivered His children from wrath, so how can He allows them to go through the Great Tribulation which is days when God is pouring His wrath on this evil world. Notwithstanding that, Pawson believes that even if the Church were to go through the Great Tribulation, God is quite capable to deliver His people when His wrath is poured out on the earth. Pawson draws similarities from Exodus that His children were kept safe in Goshen when the plagues strike Egypt. So also, God is capable to deliver His children from His wrath, when those series of Judgements are unleashed on the earth.
As I thought through the scriptures, more and more I am convinced that most evangelical churches perhaps have been misguided from their past heritage concerning the Rapture. Like Pawson, I also believe in the Rapture (the snatching away of all believers to meet the Lordi the air) but it’s not going to be imminent. Rather it’s going to happen towards the end of the Great Tribulation. I hope my sharing here will set you thinking, what if we have been misguided, and that there isn’t going to be a Rapture!? Are you ready for the Big Trouble to come? Many will die as martyrs. Christians and Jews will be persecuted. There will be more martyrs in the Great Tribulation than in all the history of martyrs put together! Will you remain faithful to Jesus until death?
I agree absolutely with Pawson in his parting shot – “I will rather be wrong on my side, to tell you that you would have to go through the Great Tribulation and then finding out that you don’t have to. Rather than to tell you that you don’t have to go through the Great Tribulation, only to find out that you have to.”
Sharing an Apocalypse Insight…
David Quek
Leave a Reply