The Rapture is a pretribulation secret coming of Jesus Christ distinct to Dispensationalism, not to be confused with the subsequent Second Coming of Jesus Christ, to collect both the dead and alive members of the Christian Church and relocate them in heaven, to allow the Millennial Kingdom to begin on earth and marks the end of the Great Parenthesis. The Rapture was first proposed in 1827 by John Nelson Darby as a solution to the expectancy that Jesus could return at any moment, and prophecies that would take a long duration.. A second propose rapture will occur at the end of the tribulation for the Jews who have converted to Christianity during the tribulation.
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The Rapture is a pretribulation secret coming of Jesus Christ distinct to Dispensationalism, not to be confused with the subsequent Second Coming of Jesus Christ, to collect both the dead and alive members of the Christian Church and relocate them in heaven, to allow the Millennial Kingdom to begin on earth and marks the end of the Great Parenthesis. The Rapture was first proposed in 1827 by John Nelson Darby as a solution to the expectancy that Jesus could return at any moment, and prophecies that would take a long duration.. A second propose rapture will occur at the end of the tribulation for the Jews who have converted to Christianity during the tribulation.
The primary passage describing the Rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, in which Paul cites "the word of the Lord" about the return of Jesus to gather his saints. Although all Christian denominations believe in Christ's return, there are two primary views regarding its nature:
- Amillenialists (such as Roman Catholics, and others), Postmillenialists (such as some Presbyterians, and others), and historic Premillenialists (such as Calvinistic Baptists, and others) hold that the return of Christ will be a single, public event. All passages regarding the return of Christ, such as Matthew 24:29-31, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Revelation 1:7, etc, describe the return of Jesus in the clouds amidst trumpets, angelic activity, heavenly signs, a resurrection, and a gathering of saints. Although some (such as some Amillenialists) take this event to be figurative, rather than literal, these three groups maintain that passages regarding the return of Christ describe a single event, and that the "word of the Lord" cited by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 is the Olivet Discourse which Matthew separately describes in Matthew 24:29-31.
- Dispensationalist Premillenialists (such as many Evangelicals, especially in the USA) hold the return of Christ to be in two stages. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 is seen to be a preliminary event to the return described in Matthew 24:29-31. Although both describe a return of Jesus in the clouds with angelic activity, trumpets, heavenly signs, and a gathering of the saints, these are seen to be two separate events, the first unseen, and the second public. Dispensationalists are divided, however, on whether the first event comes before a period of Tribulation, or midway through it. (See chart for Dispensationalist timing views)
Etymology
"Rapture", when used in eschatological terms, is an English word used in place of the Latin word raptus, taken from the Vulgate of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In Koine Greek, this word is harpazo, which means "caught up" or "taken away." The word "rapture" is an English transliteration of the word, but is not used in any Bible translation.
Doctrinal history
The concept of the rapture, in connection with premillennialism, was expressed by the American Puritans Increase and Cotton Mather. They held to the idea that believers would be caught up in the air, followed by judgments on the earth and then the millennium. The term rapture was used by Philip Doddridge (1738) and John Gill (1748) in their New Testament commentaries, with the idea that believers would be caught up prior to judgment on the earth and Jesus' Second Coming. The concept of a pretribulation rapture was articulated by Baptist Morgan Edwards in an essay published in 1788 in Philadelphia.
