Next You’ll Say There’s No Pre-Trib Rapture
There is more evidence that all of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges have been destroyed than there is for a Dispensationalist concept of a pre-tribulational rapture.
The Rapture: America’s Most Assumed Doctrine
The idea of the imminent Rapture of believers from the earth is a commonly accepted doctrine among many American evangelicals today. Within evangelicalism, it is likely that there are very few doctrines that have simply been taken for granted more than the Rapture.
Enter Dr. Walvoord: The System Behind the Snatching
To demonstrate this view, let’s take a cursory look at the teachings of the late Dr. John F. Walvoord, President and Professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary from 1952–1986, concerning the doctrine of the Rapture and 1 Thessalonians.
Summary of Walvoord’s Rapture Doctrine from 1 Thessalonians
Dr. Walvoord places particular emphasis on the doctrine of the Rapture when dealing with 1 Thessalonians. This section will focus on Walvoord’s interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 since he claims that this passage provides a “detailed account of the Rapture” and considers it to be one of two “crucial revelations” regarding the Rapture with the other being 1 Cor. 15:51–58 (from his book, The Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, 1990). Dr. Walvoord makes a distinction between the Rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ. Believers are caught up to heaven at the Rapture whereas at the second coming of Christ, they remain on earth.
Piecing the Rapture Together
Walvoord believes that Jesus Christ first introduced the concept of the Rapture in John 14:1–3 but did not expound upon it at that time. He states that 1 Thessalonians is where God provided more detailed revelation concerning the subject. According to Dr. Walvoord, a sequence of events is provided in 4:16–17 that reads,
“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 shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (NASB).
Walvoord explains that at this time Christ will descend to the “sphere of earth” in bodily form, will command the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the “translation of the living,” the voice of the archangel Michael will accompany this command, and the “trumpet call of God” will sound. He understands these events to transpire simultaneously.
Two Comings or Just One?
Walvoord distinguishes between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ in Prophecy in the New Millennium (2001).
Rapture
Saints meet Lord in the air
Living saints are translated
Christ transports saints to heaven
Before the wrath
Imminent event
2nd Coming
Christ returns to Mt. of Olives
No translation; resurrection is later
Christ remains on earth, reigns 1,000 yrs
Follows Great Tribulation
Many preceding signs fulfilled first
Walvoord teaches 1 Thessalonians 4:17 contains the essential description of the Rapture when it states that believers who “remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.” He relates this event to what is recorded in John 14:1–3 by explaining that Christ was referring to the Rapture in this passage when He told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house and that He would come again to take them where He was going.
No Wrath, No Signs, No Rapture?
Again, Dr. Walvoord maintains a strict separation between the Rapture and the second coming of Christ. He believes that the Rapture takes place before “the grand procession described in Revelation 19 of Christ’s return from heaven to earth to set up His earthly kingdom.” Although he believes that 1 Thess. 4:13–18 “is most informative concerning the nature of the Rapture,” he does point out that the passage “is designed to be an encouragement to those who are living in Christ.”
One of the keys to Walvoord’s distinction between the Rapture and the second coming of Christ is his observation that the 1 Thessalonians passage does not include any mention of “world-shaking events” that are to precede the taking up described in 4:17. He points out that the second coming of Christ “will be preceded by divine judgments on the world and followed by the establishing of Christ’s earthly kingdom.” He also places significant importance on his observation that “the Rapture is never mentioned in any of the passages that relate to the Great Tribulation.” Since “no preceding events are ever revealed” in connection with the Rapture, he believes that “the Rapture in the New Testament is presented as an imminent event.”
Cracks in the Doctrine
Critics of Dr. Walvoord’s view of the Rapture (and of any notion of such a Rapture) are many. Barbara Rossing, Lutheran minister and author of The Rapture Exposed, claims,
“The majority of New Testament passages on which dispensationalists base the notion of Rapture concern either resurrection or Jesus’ second coming – neither of which is the same as the Rapture, despite dispensationalist’s claims.”
Paul Thigpen, a Protestant-turned-Catholic and author of The Rapture Trap, provides this sharp critique:
“This novel, eccentric teaching only appeared late in Church history and has never been embraced by the great majority of believers, Catholic or otherwise. Neither ancient Christians, nor medieval Christians, nor even the founders of the major Protestant movements ever heard of the secret rapture doctrine. They knew of no invisible coming by Christ to catch believers up to heaven prior to His return to earth in clouds of glory. And when they wrote about that single, universally visible, glorious coming of the Lord, they often referred to the very same biblical passages that today’s secret rapture advocates claim must refer instead to an invisible snatching away.”
Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Apantesin
Many evangelicals are critical of the Rapture as well. The well-known evangelical pastor and author, John Piper, critiques the notion of a pre-tribulational Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in this manner:
“The word for ‘meeting’ the Lord in the air in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (apantesin) is used in two other places in the New Testament: Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15. In both places it refers to a meeting in which people go out to meet a dignitary and then accompany him into the place from which they came out. One of these, Matthew 25:6, is even a parable of the second coming and so a strong argument that this is the sense of the meeting here in 1 Thess. 4:17-that we rise to meet the Lord in the air and then welcome him to earth as king.”
These criticisms do not necessarily establish the strengths or weaknesses of Dr. Walvoord’s view of the Rapture but they do demonstrate that the Dispensational Pre-tribulational view of the Rapture is not as commonly held as some within the circle are apt to think.
Matthew 24 vs. 1 Thessalonians: One and the Same?
One of the main criticisms of the Rapture is in regard to the way proponents attempt to distinguish between the Rapture and the second coming of Christ. Dr. Walvoord confirms that Matthew 24 contains a description of the second coming but argues in The Final Drama: Fourteen Keys to Understanding the Prophetic Scriptures (1997) that this is completely separate and distinct from the Rapture.
Critics of the Rapture disagree. Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Ben Witherington III, claims in The Problem with Evangelical Theology (2005) that Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4 describe the same event: the second coming of Christ.
Witherington’s Parallel Breakdown
The 2nd Coming of Christ in 1 Thess. & Matt. 24
Christ returns – 1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:30
From heaven – 1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:30
Accompanied by angels – 1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:31
With a trumpet of God – 1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:31
Believers gathered – 1 Thess. 4:17; Matt. 24:31, 40–41
In clouds – 1 Thess. 4:17; Matt. 24:30
Time unknown – 1 Thess. 5:1–2; Matt. 24:36
Like a thief – 1 Thess. 5:2, 4; Matt. 24:43
Unbelievers unaware – 1 Thess. 5:3; Matt. 24:37–39
Judgment like labor pains – 1 Thess. 5:3; Matt. 24:8
Believers not deceived – 1 Thess. 5:4–5; Matt. 24:43
Be watchful – 1 Thess. 5:6; Matt. 24:37–39
Warning vs. drunkenness – 1 Thess. 5:7; Matt. 24:49
Continuing in his critique, Witherington states:
“One of the real weaknesses in the Dispensational approach to texts such as 1 Thessalonians 4-5 is that on the one hand they want parousia to refer to the secret rapture of the church here and in 2 Thessalonians 2:1, while on the other hand they tend to concede that parousia refers to the second coming in this very same argument at 2 Thessalonians 2:8. But Paul everywhere always uses this term consistently when speaking of Jesus to refer to the second coming, an all too visible event.”
Reading the Rapture Into the Text
As it so happens, Dr. Walvoord did indeed consider 2 Thessalonians 2:8 to be a reference to the second coming of Christ which Witherington singles out as an example of inconsistency in this matter. It seems that Walvoord may have believed that his view of a separate coming of Christ to rapture living saints as distinct from “the second coming of Christ” is so obvious in passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:17 that it was enough to assert that this is so without providing much by way of exegetical evidence.
For example, Walvoord states:
“When some of the Thessalonians died, it raised the question of what would happen to them when the living were raptured. They apparently had the idea that the resurrection of the dead in Christ would not occur at the Rapture but would be sometime later. How much they understood about the coming Tribulation and the second coming of Christ is not clear in Thessalonians. When they asked Timothy to clear up this difficulty, he was unable to do so and brought this question, along with other theological questions, to Paul, and Paul answers them in 1 Thessalonians. The experience of the Thessalonian Christians makes quite clear that they were expecting Christ to come at any time but did not anticipate going through the Tribulation because no mention is made of it.” Prophecy in the New Millennium, pg. 125.
What’s Missing from the Text?
Walvoord writes this section as if the Thessalonians presupposed a Dispensational understanding of the Rapture. He claims... that questions concerning the Rapture were part of the reason why Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians. It's doubtful such claims can be made from what is provided in the text of 1 Thessalonians.
The Rapture cannot be found in the text of 1 Thessalonians apart from presupposing the existence of such a doctrine.
What If the Rapture’s Not There?
If it is indeed impossible to discern the reality of the Rapture from the text itself then it appears that Walvoord, among many others, may have read his understanding of the Rapture into the passage as he attempted to explain the occasion of Paul’s teachings in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. This would be highly problematic since it is this verse that Dr. Walvoord points to for clear teaching on the subject. There is little to no evidence in Scripture for a coming of Christ to rapture believers from the earth that precedes and is distinct from the second coming of Christ. Paul’s reference to the coming of Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4 concerns the second coming of Christ.
First You Take Away Israel… Now This?
First you tell me the present state of Israel isn’t the Israel of the Bible and now you’re telling me there is no Rapture?!
Breathe. Just breathe.
