Why Do Christians Need A Pre-Trib Rapture

In modern, evangelical Christianity, the term “rapture” conjures up images

of the Christian church being pulled from an earth in turmoil and swept away to

Heaven. It is an image that is reminiscent of the “Left Behind” books, a fictional

series which depicts a world in which a rapture of all of earth’s Christians has

occurred, leaving behind only “sinners” to stare down the end of the world. This

view of a “rapture” has become a popular one, and one that remains largely

unquestioned by the evangelical Church. This rapture theology is not, however,

Biblically founded or supported. In reality, this eschatological perspective is fairly

new, and has only been around for about 180 years. So, the question must be asked

– why is the
modern Church allowing this relatively new piece of theology to shape

it’s understanding of end times? Throughout this paper I will discuss how modern

day rapture theology is predicated on the misinterpretation of Biblical texts and

perpetuated by a failure to understand context.

In order to fully understand the fallacy of the rapture, it is first necessary to

understand a bit of background as to what the rapture is, what it is not, and where it

came from. There are two schools of thought when it comes to the rapture: post-

tribulationism and pre-tribulationism. As post-tribulationism refers to the coming of

Christ after the tribulation of the world to judge all men, it is synonymous with

judgment day, and cannot truly be defined as the “rapture” as it is understood by

modern Christians. Thus, when the term “rapture” is mentioned in this paper, it will

be in reference to the pre-tribulationistic idea that Christ will come before the trials

of the world to bring the Church to Heaven. This understanding of the rapture is

actually fairly new, beginning around 1830 with a woman named Margaret

Macdonald. To give some back-story, Macdonald lived in Scotland during a time in

which the spiritual gifts were being revived, particularly that of prophecy. Margaret

herself was very ill during this time, and it was on one spring evening that she found

herself gripped by a fever. This fever would help shape rapture theology and

eschatology for the years to come, as it was in the throes of the illness that Margaret

claimed to receive a revelation from God detailing a pre-tribulation rapture, in

which all the Christians of the world are spared from the period of suffering and

trials that is to come with end times.
This idea of a two-part rapture quickly

circulated the newly-charismatic Scotland, and was eventually picked up by one

John Nelson Darby, a man who would go one to be a figurehead of pre-

tribulationism. Darby’s support of a pre-trib rapture would ultimately serve

to perpetuate the misconception long after his death. Dave MacPherson, an author

and specialist in rapture theology, writes in his book The Unbelievable Pre-Trib

Origin: “Darbyist dispensationalism was injected into the Scofield Reference Bible

(1909), which has done much in this present century to further the idea of a two-

stage, Pre-Trib rapture.” (MacPherson, 44). With an acclaimed reference Bible now

supporting the rapture, this bit of theology became popular opinion and widely circulated

within Christian communities. Marvin Rosenthal, executive director of Zion’s Hope and

author of The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church, writes: “Most of the early Bible

conferences, Bible colleges, and seminaries, under the influence of those early

pretribulationist leaders, adopted the pretribulational position, and the number
of

adherents continued to grow.” (Rosenthal, 56) With Darby helping to disperse the

concept of a two-stage rapture, the next couple hundred years became a snowball

effect, until finally this concept was completely ingrained and accepted by Christian

culture. The final nail in the coffin of acceptance of pre-tribulationism was the release of

Jerry B. Jenkins’ and Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind book series in 1995, detailing a fictional

end times scenario in which all the Christians of the world are raptured in the blink of an

eye, leaving everyone else to await tribulation. So, with this understanding of the

history of rapture theology in mind, what does Scripture say?

When it comes to understanding the fallacy of the rapture, the interpretation of

Biblical texts is crucial. A thorough understanding of the importance of context,

specifically, is often the difference between false doctrine and sound theology. In

dialogue surrounding the rapture, numerous Bible verse make an appearance, each

one intended to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the legitimacy of the theological

concept. In reality, most, if not all, of these verses are taken out of context and have

been expounded on intensely. One such example of this is the use of Matthew 24:40

in support of the rapture. This verse reads: “Two men will be in the field; one will be

taken and the other left” (Matthew 24:40). At first glance, this passage would appear

to support rapture theology. The true meaning, however, can be found through

looking at the context of the verse, and to do this it is necessary to zoom out and

look at the surrounding verses. In verses 36-44, Jesus is addressing end times,

placing a particular emphasis on living in a constant state of readiness for Christ’s

return. To help make this point, he uses the story of Noah as an illustration, by

saying in verses 37-39:

“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 the did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:37-39, NASB)

This Noetic parallel, although initially appearing arbitrary, carries great theological

importance. In the time of Noah, it was the wicked who were swept away by the

flood, not the righteous. By including this parallel, Jesus is demonstrating that the

righteous will not, in fact, be pulled from the world, but rather the opposite! This

verse, while over the last hundred years or so has been interpreted as supportive of

rapture theology, actually speaks more to judgment day. Furthermore, if one were to

look even further back in Matthew 24, it would be seen that verse 9 warns

Christians to live in expectation of a time of tribulation, completely contradicting the

pre-tribulation rapture concept. So it can be seen Matthew 24:40 does not paint a

picture of a “Left Behind” end-times scenario, but rather points to a judgment day,

and warns it’s audience to live in a constant state of readiness for Christ’s return.

Similarly, the misinterpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 has helped to

perpetuate false doctrine surrounding the rapture. The passage reads:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 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.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, NASB)

Note first the very first sentence, as it is crucial to an accurate understanding of this

section. This passage, while it has been widely understood as a promise of a pre-

tribulation rapture, actually speaks more directly to the issue of resurrection, and

this can be seen through context. William Hendriksen, author of New Testament

Commentary, explains the context of 1 Thessalonians 4 when he writes:

“A fair inference from the present passage is that during the short period which had elapsed since the Thessalonians first heard the Gospel some believers had passed from this earthly scene. It was with reference to them that friends and relatives were deeply disturbed.” (Hendriksen, 110)

So it can be seen that 1 Thessalonians 4 is actually being written to address a church

of Christians whose community is dying in order to reassure them that their loved

ones who have passed on will still be able to partake in the Kingdom of heaven,

despite not having lived to see Christ’s return. In reality, the closest this passage

comes to discussing a rapture is when it speaks to the order of ascension on

judgment day, stating that the dead will be caught up before the living. Even this,

however, proves to be an attempt to emphasize the surety of a resurrection of the

dead in order to comfort the living, as further reiterated by the last line of 1

Thessalonians 4:18. The only way this passage can be understood as referring to a

rapture is if one commits oneself to misinterpretation of scripture and context. So it

can be seen that 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 speaks not of a rapture, but of judgment

day.