Is the Rapture Imminent? Focus on the Word


by Harvey E. Schultz


A few years back, some Bible College students avoided detailed, careful study of eschatology (i.e., future things). Tey were “turned off” by the fact that aſter every new development in the Middle East, leading evangelical authors appeared to take advan- tage of the situation by writing a new book which didn’t always line up with reality. More recently there is a growing chorus of people saying: “We focus on essentials and avoid discussions about non-essentials (like the study of end times) because that only leads to divisions in the Church.”


Tese are disturbing trends because they cause believers to


avoid any serious examination of what the Bible really does say about future events and, specifically, the rapture. Let’s ask our- selves some important questions about the rapture.


Question #1: Does the Bible really teach that some day there will be an event when true believers will be snatched away fom this earth and taken to be with our Lord Jesus Christ?


1 Tess. 4:13-17 and 1 Cor. 15:51-53 make it very clear


that such an event will take place. Deceased believers will be resurrected and given new bodies. Living believers will receive transformed bodies, and all will be taken up to heaven. Tis will take place in a flash. It’s a promise we can “take to the bank.”


Question #2: When did the apostles expect this to happen? In at least 17 different New Testament passages1


, the


Apostles indicated that they expected it would happen in their lifetime. Paul taught new believers "to wait for his Son from heav- en” (1 Tess. 1:10). He expressed his own assurance that “we who are still alive (at Jesus’ coming)" would meet the Lord (1 Tess. 4:15). He wrote about “our being gathered to him” (2 Tess.2:1). He said that the “Lord Jesus Christ … will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21). His choice of words to describe this event clearly shows that he


1 See 1 Cor. 1:7-8 ; 15:50-52; 16:22; 1 Tess. 1:10; 2:1-4;


2:19; 4:5-18; 5:9, 23; Phil. 3:20-4:1; 4:5; 1 Tim 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13; Heb. 9:28; James 5:7-9; 1 Peter 1:7, 13; 1 John 2:28-3:2; Rev. 2:25; 3:10. All quotations from NIV.


expected to be raptured during his lifetime, and he taught that to new converts. In his mind, the rapture could take place at any moment. He considered it to be imminent! In like manner, James, Peter and John used similar terms to write about this won- derful event (see James 5:7-9; 1 Pet. 1:7, 13; 1 John 2:28-3:2).


Question #3: Didn’t Jesus indicate that certain events had to transpire before the rapture? For example, in Matthew 24 he taught that there will be wars, famines and earthquakes before the end, and that the Gospel must be preached to the whole world before the rapture.


Many readers do not realize that Jesus was not speaking


about the rapture! He was answering a question from his disci- ples. Tey had asked: “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age” (Matt. 24:3)? Tey wanted to know when Jesus would set up the messianic kingdom promised repeatedly in previous centuries through the Hebrew prophets. Even when Jesus was about to ascend to heaven, the disciples asked: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Te Jews fully and rightfully expected the Messiah to set up an earthly kingdom as promised in Old Testament writings. Tose prophecies leſt no doubt about that coming reality, and that was the focus of their question.


Tey were not asking about the rapture. In fact, at that point


in time, they did not even know about the rapture. When Paul wrote about the rapture to the Corinthian believers, he stated: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye ….” A mystery did not refer to something mysterious or difficult to understand. New Testament writers used that term to refer to something that had not been revealed until that point, but was now being revealed (see Eph. 3:4-5). We create confusion in our minds if we think that Jesus was talking about the rapture when in reality he was talking about his return to set up the messianic kingdom and reign on earth. It is a mistake to “read back” into a passage something that was not revealed until years later.


All this is simply to emphasize that the rapture is imminent.


It could happen at any time. No prophecy must be fulfilled before the rapture takes place. Early believers were convinced that it could take place at any time because they had been taught by the Apostles to anticipate it at any time. What a glorious expectation! No wonder Paul called it “our blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).


Final Question: Is it our blessed hope? My blessed hope? Your blessed hope?


Do we really expect it to take place at any time? Tat at any


time we could be snatched from this earth, caught up to Jesus, given a new, glorious body like his resurrected body? Let’s ask the Holy Spirit each day to make this glorious promise our unshak- able expectation.


6 Fellowship Focus, September/October 2019 FellowshipForward.org


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