The Rapture
Campbell Morgan , Otto Stockmayer and Rev. In the post-tribulation premillennial position, the rapture would be identical to the second coming of Jesus or as a meeting in the air with Jesus that immediately precedes his return to the Earth before a literal millennium. The post-tribulation position places the rapture at the end of the tribulation period. Post-tribulation writers define the tribulation period in a generic sense as the entire present age, or in a specific sense of a period of time preceding the second coming of Christ. Post-tribulationists perceive the rapture as occurring simultaneously with the second coming of Christ.
Upon Jesus' return, believers will meet him in the air and will then accompany him in his return to the Earth.
In the Epistles of Paul , most notably in 1 Thessalonians 4: Moreover, after chapters 6—19, and after But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. Authors and teachers who support the post-tribulational view include Pat Robertson , Walter R. Martin , John Piper , George E. Ladd , [74] Robert H. Gundry , [75] and Douglas Moo. In the Post-Millennialism view the millennium is seen as an indefinitely long time thus precluding literal interpretation of a thousand-year period.
According to Loraine Boettner "the world will be Christianized, and the return of Christ will occur at the close of a long period of righteousness and peace, commonly called the millennium. According to them the great tribulation was already fulfilled in the Jewish-Roman War of 66—73 AD that involved the destruction of Jerusalem.
Amillennialists view the millennial rule of Christ as the current, but indefinite period that began with the foundation of the church and that will end with the Second Coming—a period where Christ already reigns with his saints through the Eucharist and his church. They view the life of the church as Christ's kingdom already established inaugurated on the day of the Pentecost described in the first chapter of Acts , but not to be made complete until his second coming. This framework precludes a literal interpretation of the thousand-year period mentioned in chapter twenty of Revelation, viewing the number "thousand" as numerologically symbolic and pertaining to the current age of the church.
Amillennialists generally do not use "rapture" as a theological term, but they do view the event as coinciding with the second coming—primarily as a mystical gathering with Christ. To amillennialists the final days already began on the day of the Pentecost, but that the great tribulation will occur during the final phase or conclusion of the millennium, with Christ then returning as the alpha and omega at the end of time.
What is the rapture?
Unlike premillennialists who predict the millennium as a literal thousand-year reign by Christ after his return, amillennialists emphasize the continuity and permanency of his reign throughout all periods of the New Covenant, past, present and future. They do not regard mentions of Jerusalem in the chapter twenty-one of Revelation as pertaining to the present geographical city, but to a future new Jerusalem or "new heaven and new earth", for which the church through the twelve apostles representing of the twelve tribes of Israel currently lays the foundation in the messianic kingdom already present.
Unlike certain premillennial dispensationalists, they do not view the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem as necessary, because it has already been established in the life of the church through Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross. Authors who have expressed support for this view include St. Since the origin of the concept, many believers in the rapture have made predictions regarding the date of the event.
The primary Biblical reference cited against this position is Matthew But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming Parousia of the Son of man be. Also in 2Peter 3: Any individual or religious group that has dogmatically predicted the day of the rapture, a practise referred to as "date setting", has been thoroughly embarrassed and discredited, as the predicted date of fulfillment has invariably come and gone without event. Conversely, many of those who believe that the precise date of the rapture cannot be known, do affirm that the specific time frame that immediately precedes the rapture event can be known.
This time frame is often referred to as "the season". The primary section of scripture cited for this position is Matthew From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Rapture disambiguation. Jan Luyken 's three-part illustration of the rapture described in Matthew 24 , verse 40, from the Bowyer Bible. This article contains embedded lists that may be poorly defined, unverified or indiscriminate. Please help to clean it up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Where appropriate, incorporate items into the main body of the article. Retrieved 26 December Encyclopaedic dictionary of religion: Retrieved 6 April Dictionary of Biblical Prophecy and End Times.
Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Guinan, "Raptured or Not? However, for many American fundamentalist Christians, "the Rapture forms part of the scenario of events that will happen at the end of the world Drawing on all my years of Catholic education kindergarten through the seminary and doctoral studies , I replied, 'The what?
Who will the rapture take?
Schwertley, "Is the Pretribulation Rapture Biblical? Vague notions had been considered by the Puritan preachers Increase and Cotton Mather , and the late 18th-century Baptist minister Morgan Edwards, but it was John Nelson Darby who solidified the belief in the s and placed it into a larger theological framework. Originally of women and cognate with rape. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology 2nd ed.
And so shall we euer be with the Lorde. Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Omaha. Archived from the original on Retrieved 23 January Rapture is a popular term among some Protestant sects for the raising of the faithful from the dead The belief in rapture tends to be what is called 'pre-tribulation'.
The Road to Holocaust. Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. When Paul speaks of 'meeting' the Lord 'in the air,' the point is precisely not—as in the popular rapture theology—that the saved believers would then stay up in the air somewhere, The point is that, having gone out to meet their returning Lord, they will escort him royally into his domain, that is, back to the place they have come from. Even when we realize that this is highly charged metaphor, not literal description, the meaning is the same as in the parallel in Philippians 3: Foreword by Gary Habermas.
For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care. Engaging Culture 2nd ed. A History of the End Times. Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture.
The Rapture (band) - Wikipedia
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Practical Reflections on the Character and Translation of Enoch sermon. Dicey and sold by Ratten in Coventry, J. Cook in Uppingham, Tho. Warren in Birmingham, and Matt. At the same time, according to their beliefs, it is inconceivable that the Church would be subject to the wrath of God.
Is God waiting to punish the Earth? More than just Catholic theologians are also troubled by the literal acceptance of a seven-year period at the end of history, known as the Great Tribulation. Belief in the Great Tribulation assumes that at the end of time God will unreservedly punish all the inhabitants of earth with war, disease, pestilence, earthquakes, and various other natural disasters. This is an extremely literal interpretation of biblical apocalyptic literature which are passages written in some of the most symbolic language found in all of Sacred Scripture.
We live in an age when mass communication makes us increasingly aware of the terrible suffering of much of humanity at any given time and in many places on our planet. It is, in the first place, the assurance that God recognizes their suffering and, secondly, that God opposes the injustice that is responsible and will bring an end to it. Asking God to turn the hearts of persecutors and to bless our enemies Matthew 5: What would have become of Paul if God chose violence as a response to persecution? Christians and non-Christians alike suffer from many maladies and oppressive circumstances in the world.
It is the first known example of a letter of Christian encouragement from the apostle Paul. Not only is it Sacred Scripture, First Thessalonians is a great treasure for anyone interested in early Christianity. It was probably written around 50 A. Either way, it is the very earliest document found in the New Testament, and the very first written account anywhere of faith in Jesus Christ and the importance of his death and resurrection.
It had evidently never occurred to Paul until the writing of this letter that he needed to teach them about death and what it meant for a follower of Jesus. Today, a long life and a peaceful death are the hope of most Christians. We also know that we live in a world fraught with natural disasters, wars, terrorism and even the possibility of nuclear holocaust. But we do not need a Rapture to face the future with faith. Scripture study, with the right aids and done in the context of faith, can be a wonderful source of joy and renewal in the faith. Why not consider joining or starting a small group Bible study under the auspices of your local Catholic parish?
Glossary of terms apocalyptic literature: Those events associated with the ultimate destiny of the world, or events which are so decisive and dramatic that they resemble those associated with the ultimate destiny of the world. There is no official definition of an evangelical Christian, though those who claim to be evangelicals frequently belong to conservative, Protestant denominations, profess a personal relationship with Christ, and believe in the Bible as the sole source of revelation.
The Rapture
While many evangelical Christians might also be considered fundamentalists, a fundamentalist is usually distinguished by a strict adherence to a belief in the inerrancy of the Bible in all matters, whether they are theological, historical, scientific or of any other matter. The seven-year period of great suffering on earth following the Rapture.
Those who read and accept the book of Revelation in a literal fashion often speak of a thousand year period in which Christ will reign as king over all the earth. Alive in the Word. What the Bible Says About.
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