There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about the rapture in the American church today. This article will address four key misconceptions about the rapture.

• Is the teaching of a secret rapture biblical?
• When does the rapture occur?
• Are Christians raptured out of the world first?
• Is there a delay between the rapture and Judgment Day?

Before we look into what is written, there are two foundational considerations. The first is to know that the doctrine of the secret rapture of the church did not exist before the 1800’s. It came into the church through the teaching of John Darby, an Anglican minister who left the Anglican Church and started the Plymouth Brethren movement. His teaching influenced C. I. Schofield who published the Schofield Reference Bible. Although he used the excellent KJV bible, Schofield added many unbiblical reference notes detailing what is known as the Premillennial Dispensational view of Scripture which included teaching about the rapture.

The second consideration is to realize is the word “rapture” never appears in English translations of the New Testament. In the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary, rapture is defined as coming from a Latin word meaning a “seizing by violence; ecstasy; extreme joy or pleasure.” In the Latin Vulgate translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:17, the word is used to translate the Greek “caught up”. That passage reads, “¹⁷ 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.”

As a result of the teaching of Darby and Schofield, the term rapture came to mean the secret catching up of Christians into Heaven at the end time.

What is written in Scripture? What does Scripture actually teach? First, is the rapture secret as taught by Darby and others who taught that Christians would be taken out the world by a secret return of Christ to redeem His church?

Although the rapture doctrine is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:17 which teaches Christians will be “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air, the verse teaches the event is certainly not a secret. Verse 16 tells us the Lord will descend with a shout. He will descend with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. Everyone in the world will know when Jesus returns to claim His own.

When does the rapture occur? There are three primary teachings about the timing of the rapture event.

The first, and probably the most popular teaching, is that the rapture will occur prior to a seven-year tribulation that is believed to come before the millennium (1000 years) mentioned in Revelation 20. This teaching is known as pretribulation rapture. This position is taught because it is believed that Christians will be taken out of the world and not have to endure the tribulation that is supposed to be coming in the future.

Others believe the rapture will occur after the seven year tribulation and still another group believes the rapture will happen in the midpoint of the seven year tribulation. All three positions are based on the premise that Christians are raptured or “caught up” while unbelievers are left behind. This is the thesis for the popular “Left Behind” series of books and films.

Are Christians taken out of the world first in a “catching up” by Christ? In fact, it is written in Scripture that it is the ungodly who will be removed first. In the parable of the wheat and tares, Jesus Himself teaches “⁴⁰ “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ “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, ⁴² and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:40-42).

In the parable of the dragnet in Matthew 13:47–50, Jesus teaches “⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; ⁴⁸ 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. ⁴⁹ “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰ and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Notice that in both parables, Jesus states it is the wicked who will be taken out from among the righteous at the end of the age.

Is there a period of time between the rapture and Judgment Day? It is written in Scripture that there is no delay between Jesus coming for His saints and His coming in judgment against the wicked. In 2 Thessalonians 1:6–10, the Apostle Paul states, “⁶ For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, ⁷and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, ⁸ dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, ¹⁰ when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.”

The important thing here is to realize that the Lord Jesus will deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey Him. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction. That judgment will occur “on that day” when Jesus comes to be glorified in His saints. Therefore, the judgment of the wicked and the glorification of the saints occurs on the same day. There is no interval of time between the two events.

There are many commentators who view Matthew 24 as being future to even our time. Those who believe in the rapture might ask, “Isn’t a future rapture taught in Matthew 24:37-41?” That passage reads “³⁷“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. ³⁸ “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, ³⁹ and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴¹ “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.”

Doesn’t this speak of two men in the field and one being raptured; of two women grinding at the mill and one being raptured? No, it does not. In Matthew 24, Jesus is teaching that He is going to come in judgment against the Temple. He tells His disciples that “He is near, right at the door.” Jesus also states the no one knows the day or hour of His coming. He states that His coming will be “just like the days of Noah.” All the unbelievers were living their normal ungodly lives until the flood came and took them all away. When Jesus states there will be two men in the field and one will be taken, He is not teaching about the rapture of Christians. Jesus is speaking of the suddenness of His coming in judgment. He is comparing the imminent judgment of the unbelievers in Israel with that of the unbelievers in the days of Noah.

But, isn’t Matthew 24 speaking about a future tribulation and terrible events that are still to come? Absolutely, not.

In Matthew 24:2 Jesus clearly prophesies the destruction of the Jewish Temple. In response to His prophecy, in verse 3, His disciples ask, “When will these things happen?” Beginning in verse 4, Jesus answers their question with His prophecy of the events surrounding the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. Throughout the chapter, Jesus is telling the four disciples (Mark 13:3 tells us it was Peter, James, John, and Andrew) the things they would see happening before the destruction of the Temple. When Jesus says “you” in the chapter, He is speaking to the four disciples, not to us in modern times.

Most people in the church today believe the events listed in Matthew 24 are still future to our time. Jesus states in verses 29-31, “²⁹ “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 fallfrom the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.³⁰“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. ³¹ “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpetand they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

Because many do not study what is actually written in Scripture, they believe Jesus is still to come on the clouds with power and glory. Yet, it is written in the bible that this event has already happened in the events surrounding the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

In Matthew 26:63, in one of His illegal trials before the Jewish leadership, the high priest demands Jesus tell him whether He is “the Christ, the Son of God.” In verse 64, “Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

It is not possible that the high priest is still alive, and it is not possible that Jesus was mistaken. Therefore, it is must be that since Jesus told that high priest that he will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds, that event has already happened. It happened when Jesus came in judgment against the apostate Jewish Temple in 70 AD.

Finally, Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 24:34: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” The word generation in the New Testament always means “this present generation.” That being the case, since no one of that generation is still living, all the events of Matthew 24 must necessarily have already occurred.

So, what have we learned about the rapture that is written in Scripture?

• The teaching of a secret rapture is based on a faulty understanding of Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and is therefore, not biblical.
• The rapture does not occur in relation to any future tribulation. The saints of God are “caught up” to Jesus at the consummation of history.
• In Matthew 13, Christians are not “raptured” out of the world first. Jesus teaches the wicked are taken out of the righteous.
• There is no delay between the reward of the saints and the judgment of the wicked. 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 teaches both those events happen on the same day.