Think Wink.

I have spent this past weekend on vacation. It was wonderful. As I shared in a comment, I was wonderfully upset at the idea of getting plagiarized. I saw Chicago and it was wonderful. During the trip, I had some time with my Bible to read. I had my computer with me so I started writing. So far, I have almost 10 full, single-spaced, pages of thoughts centering on Revelation 20:1-6 (another post) and its application to today. But in the course of reading and studying that, I began to turn my thoughts on what has really bothered me this summer. I love to listen to Christian talk radio on the Bott Radio Network. It has some of my favorite preachers (ie John Piper, Chuck Swindoll, RC Sproul, Alistar Begg). But for some reason, it seemed like every time I turned on the radio, some preacher, except the aforementioned, were preaching on Revelation. They were firm dispensationalists. It was guys like Dr. Adrian Rogers, Dr. David Jeremiah, Dr. Woodrow Kroll, and Dr. Michael Yuseff. I have much respect for these guys and love to listen to them. Dr. Rogers (I pick on him again because he is in my particular denomination of Southern Baptist) said Revelation 4:1 is the rapture. That is ludicrous. That text does not teach anything about rapture. Revelation 4:2 seems to indicate a trance or a state in which John was able to receive the visions. That is not a rapture.

So I ask the question, does the Bible really teach this rapture that all of these preachers, good respected men with the title “doctor” in front of their names, are saying it does? Let us examine the main passage and see if that is true.

First Thessalonians 4:16-17 from the ESV says,

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. 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, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Now the idea of the rapture comes out of v. 17 and “caught up” or ἁρπαγησόμεθα in the Greek. The Latin translation of that word is where we get rapture. So what I am disputing is not necessarily the existance of the rapture or the event’s biblicality. What I dispute is the nature of it, or is it pre- or mid- or post-tribulational?

I opt for the post-tribulational, though I do not hold to a seven year tribulation, view of the rapture in this text for two reasons: v. 16 indicates a different scene than what pre-tribulationalism paints; in v. 17 there is a Greek word, ἀπάντησιν, that does not seem to indicate pre- or mid-tribulational interpretations.

1.) Look at v. 16, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” What about that seems quiet? The cry of command-which the Greek word there refers to a military command, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God; which of those is a quiet event? Paul says that when Jesus comes back, he is going to give a shout like a military commander, like the angel heralding news, like the sound of a trumpet blasting. What is the result of this noise, “the dead in Christ will rise first.” It will be so loud that the dead will literally come to life. The saying, “You’ll wake the dead” will literally happen here. This idea is what is spoken of in John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

2.) Based on the Greek, we know that there is some kind of rapture that will occur. I have demonstrated that it will not be some secret rapture. So then what is it? The word Greek word ἀπάντησιν or “to meet” gives the answer. This Greeks used this word to describe the coming of a king to a city, let us say the capital city after a long time away. When he comes to the city, he declares to the gatekeeper that he is the king. The watchmen at the gate announce to the city heralds that the king has come. The heralds bring the good news to the city and a welcoming party is formed. The party goes to the gates “to meet” the king. They welcome him into the city as while the party is formed, the king remains outside the city. They then escort him to his destination in the city, in this example his palace. Thus Paul’s idea here is not so much we, both dead Christians and living, go up in the air and return with Christ to heaven and await the end of the Tribulation. Instead, Paul is saying that we shall go up to meet Christ, who is waiting in the air, outside of the city, and welcome him to earth. We go up, we are transformed, we meet Christ, we immediately escort him back down to earth. It is in that sense we will be with Christ forever, we will live with him in the New Jerusalem, the new heavens, and the new earth.

This text really does not lend its way to pre-tribulationalism and to dispensationalism. It actually points the other way. It seems to skip over mid-tribulational rapture and goes to post-tribulational rapture. Thus in conclusion, I think that looking forward to the rapture does not look forward to the real hope. We must look to Christ’s second coming in which all his enemies, last of all death, are made footstools under his feet. We look forward to that coming in which our lowly bodies are made to be like Christ’s. Our real hope in eschatology is found in the eternal state. John 17:3 defines eternity like this, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
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