Christian Rapture

The "Rapture" will take away all Christians First – Truth or Myth?

There are various teachings on "rapture" today, but the most popular one says that "Christians" will be taken away first and the those that remain will go through great tribulations and troubles here on earth. Since the term "rapture" does not appear in Scripture and since the doctrine of the modern "rapture" has only been around for a couple hundred years, it would be prudent to see what the Bible has to say about it – pay attention to the order in which the end of time unfolds:

MAT 24:3,4 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you.

When Jesus warns, "See to it that no one misleads you", we should pay close attention to what He says after that:

MAT 24:9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name.

Did you notice that Jesus was telling His own disciples which includes us, that they were going to be delivered to tribulation and that they would be hated because of His name?

MAT 24:10, 13 "And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. "But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.

Notice that Jesus did not mention anything about any "rapture" taking them away, but that they would have to endure to the end to be saved!

MAT 24:21,22,29,30,31 for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall. "And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short. "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory."And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Again Jesus clearly established here that the saints, His elect would have to endure all the way to the end after everything else had taken place before they would be taken up to be with Him.

MAT 13:24-30 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. "But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away. "But when the wheat sprang up and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. "And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' And the slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' "But he said, 'No; lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them. 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."' "

Again, the consistent message is that the bad will be removed first and the good will remain until the end!

MAT 13:36-43 Then He left the multitudes, and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." And He answered and said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Again the sinners and lawless will be gathered out first and cast into the fire, then the righteous will remain to the end and shine forth in His Kingdom! Isn't this contrary to what we have been taught?

MAT 13:47-51 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. "So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "Have you understood all these things?" They said to Him, "Yes."

So, it is not the Christian who is snatched away as we have been told, but the wicked who will be snatched away and thrown into the fire. Again the believer has to endure to the end and not fall away in order to be saved!

LUK 17:26-27 "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

So again, didn't the flood take away all the wicked and leave the righteous? Isn't this the opposite of the modern rapture teaching?

LUK 17:28-30 "It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. "It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

Again, was it not the wicked who were taken out? Does Jesus not again make it perfectly clear that the first to go will be the wicked? Lot remained but the rest were taken away and destroyed!

LUK 17:34-36 "I tell you, on that night there will be two men 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."]

It is commonly taught concerning these scriptures that the one taken in each of the cases was "raptured" out. Do you see how false that is and how inconsistent it would be with the rest of the scriptures? It has always been that the one taken first is the sinner who is destroyed! The man taken from bed, the woman taken from grinding, the man taken from the field – were all taken away by the reapers that come at the end of the age and they suffer the same fate as the flood victims and fire and brimstone victims of Sodom that are given for examples.

It is also commonly taught that we as Christians are not going to suffer any tribulation or trouble and that Jesus did all the suffering for us on His cross. But is that what the Bible says?

MAT 10:37-39 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. "He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.

Jesus also said:

MAT 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. "For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.

Here in these scriptures we are told that the narrow way and small gate are the only way to life. The Greek meanings of narrow and small here are – tribulation, suffering, difficulty, pain, hardship, etc. The false doctrine on rapture says that you will be taken away from the tribulation and that you will not suffer the pain and hardship of this narrow way. But the opposite is true, the narrow way of tribulation, trials, persecutions, rejection, being hated, difficulty and having to endure to the end to be saved – is the only way to life. It is your cross you must bear and your life you must give up in order to be saved!

1TH 5:1-6 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

You see destruction will come suddenly upon those who are saying and believing "Peace and Safety"! You see it is only those who are entering by the narrow (difficult, tribulation, persecution) way that will be saved. The modern rapture doctrine is another false peace and safety message similar to the "once saved, always saved" doctrine. We were warned to be sober and be on the alert. In the beginning of this blog Jesus said for us to not be deceived. You must decide for yourself if the modern rapture doctrine is Truth or Myth!

Comment by ROY on Tuesday, July 9, 2019...

Comment by DON BRITTON on Thursday, July 11, 2019...

Comment by DEBORAH on Saturday, August 31, 2019...

Comment by DON BRITTON on Thursday, September 5, 2019...

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