During the early decades of the twentieth century, the song, “This Train Is Bound for Glory,” became a popular gospel tune and was later recorded by talented singers such as Johnny Cash. It wasn’t a coincidence that, during this time, a belief in the pre-Tribulation Rapture had already become a mainstay at many Bible-believing churches in America as well as throughout much of the world. Pastors boldly encouraged their flocks with the hope of Jesus’ imminent appearing to take them home to glory before the onset of the seven-year Tribulation.
Unfortunately, much has changed during the past twenty-five years. The word “Rapture” has become taboo in many churches today, even in numerous houses of worship that claim to believe in the divine inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. Because of this intense opposition and scoffing, it’s necessary to establish the Rapture’s validity before further exploring the many delights we will experience when Jesus comes to take us to our ultimate destination and home: Heaven.
The Rapture: A Biblical Event
Scripture provides several details regarding the sequence of events referred to as the “Rapture.”
Put it this way: If you disagree on the timing of the rapture, please don’t tell people, “There’s never going to be a rapture.” No, there must be a rapture or the Bible is not true. There must be a time when the archangel shouts, when the trumpet sounds, and the dead in Christ are raised and the living are caught up (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).
We may differ on the timing of the rapture but not the fact of the rapture. The Rapture is a scripturally sound occurrence regardless of its timing in respect to the seven-year Tribulation. The events described in 1 Thessalonians 4:14–17 must take place in the future:
“For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 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. 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. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”(ESV)
We find references to this same event in John 14:2–3; 1 Corinthians 15:50–55; Philippians 3:20–21; Romans 8:23–25; Titus 2:11–14; and Colossians 3:4.
Putting these passages together, we produced the following chain of events, all of which will take place suddenly and almost simultaneously:
1. Jesus descends from Heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
2. There’s a “cry of command,” along with the shout of the archangel (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
3. The “trumpet of God” sounds (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
4. Jesus first raises the dead in Christ with immortal bodies and joins them to the souls He brings with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14–16; 1 Corinthians 15:52).
5. In the “twinkling of an eye,” believers who are alive receive their immortal bodies and meet Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54; Philippians 3:20–21; Romans 8:23–25).
6. Jesus takes His Bride, the Church, to the place He’s prepared for them in His Father’s house (John 14:2–3, 17:24).
7. We appear with Jesus in glory (Colossians 3:4).
These actions represent what we today refer to as the “Rapture.” It’s not a fictional belief based on mysterious visions from the nineteenth century, as many claim, but an actual event described in several places within the pages of the New Testament.
We have a solid scriptural basis for our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:11–14). In Romans 8:23– 24, Paul wrote about the “redemption of our bodies,” then said, “For in this hope we were saved” (ESV). This isn’t just any expectation, it’s an anticipation of meeting Jesus in the air, which is embedded in the saving message of the Gospel.
Rapture’s Roots in the Early Church
Another objection often comes from those who claim that no one in the early Church believed in a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Please don’t fall for that lie; it simply isn’t true. The New Testament hope of Jesus’ imminent appearing spilled over into the writings of many early writers.
In AD 180, theologian and bishop Irenaeus wrote Against Heresies to refute the errors of Gnosticism, which posed a great threat to the Church at the time. In Book 5, Chapter 29 of the book, he wrote: “And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, “There shall be Tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.” Irenaeus used the same Greek word for “caught up,” harpazo, that Paul used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and placed this event ahead of the events Jesus referred to in the context of Matthew 24:21. Irenaeus believed a time of “Tribulation” would follow the sequence of events Paul described in 1 Thessalonians 4:14–17.
This respected early Church leader didn’t combine the Rapture and Second Coming as many do today, but separated the events with an intervening period of God’s judgment on the earth.
Cyprian, a bishop in the city of Carthage during the early third century AD, wrote the following in his book, Treatises of Cyprian: “We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by an early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent? Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us hence, and sets us free from the snares of the world and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.”
The “early departure” of the Church from the earth before further disasters would occur is the pre-Tribulation Rapture. This reference to “snatches us hence” resembles the catching-up of the Church referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Cyprian believed Jesus would take believers out of the world to “paradise” before the Tribulation period.
Saint Ephraim of Edessa was a monk, a poet, a hymn writer, and a preacher during the fourth century AD. The following excerpt from his sermon entitled “On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World” also places Jesus’ return for His Church ahead of the entire Tribulation period: “Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time. Or do you not believe unless you see with your eyes? See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: “Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord!” For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.
These three excerpts demonstrate an early belief in Jesus taking His Church out of the world before God’s judgment falls and sufficiently dispel the claim that no one in the early Church believed in the pre-Tribulation Rapture. Yes, Cyprian and Ephraim believed Jesus was coming for His Church in their day because of what they saw happening around them. Does that mean they were wrong to have such a hope? Not at all.
