Why Knowing The Imminency Of The Rapture Is So Critical For Believers

HARBINGER'S DAILY ^ | APRIL 8, 2024 | JONATHAN BRENTNER

[Texan4Life]

The silence in most churches regarding our “blessed hope” makes our expectation all the more difficult to maintain. On top of that, many of our Christian friends and family members believe it’s irrational to regard the Rapture as something that might happen anytime soon or even in our lifetime. Many in our churches think we are crazy for believing that there is such a thing as the Rapture or a seven-year Tribulation.

In spite of the long wait and scoffing that comes my way, I remain convinced that imminency is not only incredibly important for today, but also an essential aspect of our walk with the Savior.

[Texan4Life]

Look up... For Your Redemption Draweth Nigh . . .

[SkyDancer]

My dad has been following this Rapture thing since the early 70’s and it’s the same mantra decade after decade but with differrnt preachers.

[markman46]

So people have been saying for 2000 years and been wrong everytime

[Philsworld]

"I am not aware that there was any definite teaching that there would be a SECRET rapture of the Church at a SECRET coming, until this was given forth as an utterance in Mr. Irving's Church, from what was there received as being the voice of the Spirit. But whether anyone ever asserted such a thing or not, it was from that supposed revelation that the modern doctrine and the modern phraseology respecting it arose. It came not from Holy Scripture, but from that which falsely pretended to be the Spirit of God, while not owning the true doctrine of our Lord's incarnation in the same flesh and blood as His brethren, but without taint of sin.

The Hope of Christ's Second Coming: How is it Taught in Scripture? And Why? Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. March 17, 1864.

[Fungi]

Always anazed by these posts. This guy quotes a few bible verses but conveniently neglects this one:
2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Why is the important question. ‘Nuff said...........

[ADSUM]

THERE IS NO RAPTURE - NOT IN THE BIBLE - A PROTESTANT BELIEF

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul writes,

13 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, console one another with these words

The detail that I want to focus on here is Paul’s statement that when Christ comes from heaven the Christians “who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with [those raised from the dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (v.17).

Some Protestants[i] believe, contrary to Catholic teaching (CCC 675), this passage reveals that Christians will not experience the persecution of the Antichrist at the end of time but will be snatched up by the Lord prior to it. This is a doctrine known as the pre-tribulation Rapture.

Protestants argue that Paul can’t be talking about the Second Coming here, because Jesus only comes part-way down and then goes back up. Moreover, because no judgment of the nations is mentioned, like we see in Matthew 25:31-46 and Revelation 20, it must be referring to the “rapture.”

The responses that I will give here come from my book Meeting the Protestant Challenge: How to Answer 50 Biblical Objections to Catholic Beliefs.

The first is that this view misreads the text as a partial coming-from and return back to heaven. Verse 15 reads that the Lord will “descend from heaven with a cry of command” but nowhere does Paul actually say that Jesus returns to heaven. If Jesus’ descent is definitive, it’s not a partial coming like the pre-tribulation rapture requires it to be.

But what are we to make of Paul’s description that the saints who are alive will be “caught up…to meet the Lord in the air”? A possible interpretation is that Paul is describing how Christians will meet the Lord in the air to escort him, in a way that is analogous to the ancient custom of citizens ushering in important visitors.

It was common for citizens to meet an illustrious person (such as dignitary or victorious military leader) and his entourage outside the walls of their city and accompany him back in. This was a way for people to honor the visitor and take part in the celebration of the visitor’s coming.

We see an example of this in Acts 28:14-15, where the brethren at Rome went out of the city to meet Paul as he approached: “And so we came to Rome. And the brethren there, when they heard of us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us.” This ancient custom also explains why the crowds go out to meet Jesus on Palm Sunday and usher him into Jerusalem (see Matt. 21:1-17).

So, for Paul, those who are alive at the Second Coming will do for our blessed Lord what the ancients did for their dignitaries: they will be caught up in the air to meet the approaching king Jesus and escort him as he “descend[s] from heaven with a cry of command” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Second, the details of the passage reveal that Paul is talking about the final coming of Jesus at the end of time.

Notice that it’s not just the living who are caught up with the Lord, but also the dead in Christ: “And the dead in Christ will rise first” (v.16). That Paul speaks of the resurrection of the dead tells us that he’s referring to the end of time.

We know this for several reasons. First, Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15 that the end happens in tandem with the resurrection of the dead:

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power (1 Cor. 15:22-24).

If Paul viewed the resurrection of the dead as occurring in tandem with the end of time, and if he speaks of the resurrection of the dead in tandem with Christ’s coming in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, it follows that Christ’s coming in those verses is his coming at the end of time and not the beginning of a pre-tribulation rapture.

A second reason why we know Paul is talking about the end of time is because when he speaks about the “coming of the Lord” in 2 Thessalonians, he says that the Antichrist and his reign of evil must precede it:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming (2 Thess. 2:1-8).

It’s clear that Paul is connecting the “coming of our Lord” here in 2 Thessalonians and the “coming of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, because he speaks of “our assembling to meet him.”

So, if the “coming of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 must be preceded by the Antichrist and his reign of evil, those verses can’t be referring to a pre-tribulation rapture. Rather, they must refer to our Lord’s coming at the end of time, when he vanquishes all evil and condemns those “who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:12).

A final clue for this being the final day of judgment is the fact that the Lord will descend with “the sound of the trumpet of God” (v.16). Paul speaks of the same trumpet when he describes the resurrection of the dead at the end of time:

Lo! 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-53).

Since in Paul’s mind the trumpet is associated with the resurrection of the dead at the end of time, and he speaks of it when describing the “coming of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, we can conclude that the “coming of the Lord” that Paul writes of in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 is the final coming at the end of time.

There’s one last thing that we can say in response. The rapture is often portrayed as a “secret coming” of Jesus. But in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Paul describes Christ’s coming with “the sound of the trumpet of God.” There is nothing secret about descending with the sound of a trumpet!

AUTHOR Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers

[Texan4Life]

I am happy for this discussion. I learn from it.

[ducttape45]

Amen!

[aMorePerfectUnion]

THERE IS NO RAPTURE - NOT IN THE BIBLE

Now do the gay priesthood

and the assumption of Mary

..............

1 Thessalonians 4:17

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.

[ealgeone]

It’s secret in that no one knows the time....that’s the secret.

[ealgeone]

I'll add the Immaculate Conception to that list. And that it is necessary to go through Mary for salvation.

And possibly the most blasphemous belief Rome allows....the Brown Scapular and/or Miraculous Medal as things that will save you from the hell fire.

[ealgeone]

I notice in this “apologetic” you offered it completely contradicts the Roman Catholic position on purgatory.

[californian by choice]

Ephesians 4:13
Reina-Valera 1960
13 until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

[ealgeone]

Explain the Greek word for “caught up”. Also square away the Roman Catholic position where the Bible says Jesus will make an actual physical return to earth.

[Old Yeller]

THERE IS NO RAPTURE - NOT IN THE BIBLE
Now do the gay priesthood

and the assumption of Mary

And purgatory, and transubstantiation, and on and on.

[Old Yeller]

I'll add the Immaculate Conception to that list. And that it is necessary to go through Mary for salvation. And possibly the most blasphemous belief Rome allows....the Brown Scapular and/or Miraculous Medal as things that will save you from the hell fire.

And the “Treasury of Merit”. Look that one up , if you’ve never heard of it before.

[ealgeone]

Yes! I’ve heard of it. Completely un-Scriptural.

[right way right]

Believing in the rapture doesn’t save.
Being ready for it does.

👍

[Tucker39]

Here’s a clue. Yes, the Rapture IS imminent, in that our Sovereign Lord and various prophets in the Word of God have stated as much. OTOH, Jesus also stated that the Redemption Story and the offer of Eternal Salvation must be proclaimed to every tribe, tongue and nation; and THEN shall the end come. The oranization: Faithcomesbyhearing.com has stated that with their latest methods of spreading the Word, the gospel is being preached to the most remote and lost people groups in the most remote and benighted areas; and multitudes are being saved and taught. Wycliffe Translaters, et al, have allied themselves with that organization and claim that the several billions of as yet unreached peoples will all be reached and hear the gospel by sometime in 2033. Of course, God can sound the final trumpet any time He desires. But the year 2033 is projected for the last people group to be reached.

[Tucker39]

faithcomesbyhearing.com