The Rapture Isn’t In The Bible. So Why Do So Many People Believe?
A history of the idea of the Rapture (and why it is false)
There is a persistent and dangerous idea within the Christian Evangelical church that there will be a Rapture of believers at the end of the world. The Rapture is an event in which faithful Christians will instantly be taken up into heaven before the End Times. This idea, on its face, is ridiculous. Yet, it continues to dominate certain religious circles. The Bible does not speak of a Rapture. It is a fabrication created by fringe thinkers and capitalized by intrepid salespeople. Despite that, it continues to linger as a potential pitfall for Christians, new and old.
So, where did the idea of the Rapture come from? Why is it so prevalent? What does the Bible actually say?
The History
The Rapture is a relatively recent idea. It emerged in the early 19th century out of the American revival movement. This was a time of loose orthodoxy and new ideas that gave way to denominations such as Mormonism and Seventh Day Adventists. It was out of this culture of newness and reinterpretation that the Rapture came to be. John Nelson Darby is credited with being the first person to postulate a Rapture in which Christians would be taken before a final Tribulation Period. Before Darby, there was no official idea of a Rapture. Indeed, most major Christian sects have no position on a Rapture. Large denominations such as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Lutheran Church all do not believe in the Rapture.
Darby spread his ideas in the growing evangelical revivalist movement. The spread of the idea of a Rapture was further crystalized with the creation and distribution of the Scofield Reference Bible in the early 20th century. This Bible focused on the idea that all of human history was broken into various distinct ages (dispensations) that God uses to judge and shape His people. A Rapture would precede the final age. That is what the notes in the Bible claimed. This Bible was surprisingly popular, and it was heavily used by evangelical churches in the 20th century, which allowed the idea of a Rapture to seep into the public consciousness.
In the middle of the 20th century and into the early 21st century, the Rapture has been used in various forms of media. There was a long series of books that told a fictional account of a potential End of Days scenario. Every Christian who grew up in an evangelical environment has likely heard of, read, or watched the Left Behind series. This media empire had an outsized effect on young Christians and pastors throughout the English speaking world. Suddenly, the Rapture could be visualized, imagined, and read about in a vivid way.
The Left Behind series was insanely popular, and it went a long way toward cementing the idea that the Rapture is real, Biblical, and imminent. From 1830 until today, this idea has continued to grow and morph, be fed and pruned, and taught as doctrine when it was never anything of the sort.
There are various problems with the history of the idea of the Rapture.
- If this idea is so obvious, why did every Bible scholar miss it before the 19th century?
- Christ never spoke of a Rapture. He spoke of a Second Coming and of a Final Judgement but never about a Rapture.
- A Rapture speaks of two comings of Christ when the Bible only speaks of one. The first comes during the Rapture, and then the second comes during the last judgment. Dual appearances of Christ are not doctrinally sound.
So why is it that so many Christians profess to believe in a Rapture? There are a handful of verses used to create this position, and all of them are cherry-picked and strung together in unnatural ways.
The Verses
Caught Up In The Air
One of the primary verses used to create the idea of a Rapture comes from 1 Thessalonians. The verse reads:
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. — 1 Thessalonians 4:17
This is often a silver bullet verse held up by Rapture adherents. The problem with this verse derives from the word “meet.” When you look at the original Greek word used here, it is a special form of the word meet that means to ride out and meet a dignitary or emperor as they approach a city.
During this era, if a king or emperor was coming to visit, a procession would ride out to meet them outside of the city gates. This was the polite and proper thing to do. Then, the people would ride back together with the emperor and begin the festivities within the city.
Given the context, the verse actually talks about how living Christians will gladly ride out to meet Jesus as he's descending from heaven. They will give Him the same type of reception as you would an emperor and then follow Christ into the new age. This interpretation is completely valid and speaks nothing about a Rapture.
One Will Be Taken
The other verse held up as a visual of the Rapture comes from Matthew 24. The verse reads:
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken, and the other left. — Matthew 24:37–40
People say that the visual of one person being taken and one being left reinforces the idea of a Rapture. But again, context is everything. In this verse, Jesus is talking about the Great Flood that came in the days of Noah. In that context, the person taken is one swept away by the waters and drowned. Few Rapture believers will say that the Rapture is the drowning of believers. In this case, you want to be the one left, not the one taken. The person left is the one who will survive the flood.
These two verses are necessary for the idea of a Rapture. Without them, the idea becomes much less palpable. These verses have their own very specific contexts, and it is hard to believe that Paul or Jesus was talking about the Rapture of believers. Instead, they tell of a time when Christ will return, and believers will rejoice while others will perish.
A Dangerous Pitfall
The Rapture has been used to browbeat Christians for decades. It has terrorized children, fascinated adults, and led more than one person down a rabbit hole of heterodoxy. The problem with ideas like the Rapture, and indeed any obsession with End Times prophecy, is that it takes you out of the here and now. It is not our place to hem and haw over the End Times. It is not the place for humans to decipher and dictate what will happen at the end of the world. It is a waste of time, a waste of effort, and a massive waste of goodwill. How many people have been turned off to Christ thanks to teachings about things like the Rapture?
There are two verses that tell us that God’s goodness is here on Earth, not in some Rapture event.
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. — John 17:3
Jesus says eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing the Son. In this life. Not the next life. Knowing God is eternal life. That is why Jesus says he has the words of eternal life. Eternal life is not exactly what most people think.
Then in the Old Testament, David wrote in one of his Psalms:
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. — Psalm 27:13
Both of these verses say that we can know God and His goodness in this life. It doesn’t require a Rapture. So many Christians live for heaven or live for the End Times to the point where it almost becomes a death cult. If you believe in Satan (another problematic idea for another article), how he must love the idea of Christians wasting their lives imagining and pining for fictitious events instead of dwelling in the House of the Lord in the days of their lives.
Conclusion
Christianity is supposed to be experienced here in this life, and if we are lucky, we will get to live in communion with God in the next life. But the Rapture is simply a distraction and a stumbling block.
The Rapture is not in the Bible. It is a fabrication. It is a distraction. It is not structurally sound. It was born out of the mind of a few men in the 19th century and watered for personal gain in the 20th century.
So next time someone brings up the Rapture, politely tell them not to dwell on such silly ideas and remind them to seek God and His Kingdom in this life. Don’t wait around for some Rapture that is never going to come.
