Doctrine of the Rapture: Session 1

CityPoint: Doctrine of the Rapture Session 1 Notes

We are meeting Thursday, July 6th at 5:30 at our house: 4501 73rd ST. First, we will have walking tacos then immediately get into Session 2. We have a pastors’ meeting at 7:30, so we will need to wrap up by then. Hope to see you tonight!

As always, be a Berean and challenge against Scripture what is written here, the words I say or anyone, for that matter, who speaks about the Bible. The church as a whole would not be so far off track if Christians who sit in church would know, study, and challenge all things against Scripture. This is incumbent on all of us. Remember, the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10). This is why prophecy is pivotal to our walk with Jesus. He made a promise, and He will fulfill it! Praise HIM!!!

As always, we will just scratch the surface….

I. Definition of Rapture?

a. Rapture is an English word.

b. This word is derived from the Latin word rapemier.

c. The original word is harpazo which was a Greek word.

d. The word means snatch/caught up or seize by force.

e. We find this word in the the following three passages:

i. Acts 8:39: In this entire passage starting in verse 26, Philip was sent to find and Ethiopian and witness to him. After the Ethiopian accepted Jesus and was baptized, Philip was harpazo’d to a different location. We serve a God who commands the laws of nature, not one who is bound by them.

ii. II Corinthians 12:2, 4: Paul knew a man who was harpazo’d into the third heaven. The first heaven is the air we breath and atmosphere of earth. The second heaven is space. This third heaven is where God dwells, what we would call heaven. He notes a second account in verse 4 compared to verse 2 who was harpazo’d into Paradise (Abraham’s Bosom). Paradise is where the Old Testament Saints are gathered who await the 2nd Coming of Jesus at the end of the 70th Week (Tribulation) for their resurrection (Daniel 12). Paradise is in the center of the earth and a great chasm separates it from Hell. This is a big tangent that we will leave here.

iii. I Thessalonians 4:17: This is a major component of our Rapture Doctrine which we will get more into, but here we have the Church Age (New Testament) Saints harpazo’d to meet Jesus in the air.

f. We find this concept in the following four people:

i. Enoch in Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5: Enoch did not see death as the Lord took him into heaven before that time. Enoch is also a type or a what was will be concept as he was taken to heaven prior to the Flood. So in essence, he was rapture before God’s wrath was poured out on the world.

ii. Elijah in II Kings 2:11: He was surrounded by a chariot from heaven then taken into heaven in a whirlwind. This is a phenomenal passage to study and pertaining to Elisha. As much as we concentrate on Elijah, I believe there are three times as many miracles attributed to Elisha in the Bible than Elijah.

iii. Jesus in Acts 1:9-10: This is Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

iv. John in Revelation 4:1-2: I believe Revelation stands on its own two feet with not only a rapture but a pre-tribulation rapture. Let’s back up to Revelation 1:19. Jesus tells John to write down three things: “the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things that will take place after this.” “The things which you have seen” are the verses prior to verse 19, please read this. It is John seeing Jesus, and Jesus speaking to him. “The things which are” are found in Revelation 2 and 3 which are Jesus’ words to the churches in what we know is Turkey today, but they are timeless for the entire church age which ends with the rapture. “The things which shall take place after this” is the Greek word meta tauta. This is Revelation 4 and beyond. Now, let’s proceed to Revelation 4:1-2. We have a door standing open in heaven. We have a voice that sounds like a trumpet that calls John into heaven. The voice says, “come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this (meta tauta).” If we take our Bibles both seriously and literally, we can see the breakdown of Revelation and the concept of a pre-tribulation rapture as John will now be in the throne room of heaven seeing the church gathered and rewarded/crowned prior to God’s wrath being poured out… Praise HIM!!!

II. Historical Doctrine

a. Teaching originating out of the 19th Century by James Nelson Darby. There is a teaching that you will hear from those who reject a rapture in general or even a pre-tribulation rapture that will say this originated from Darby in the 1800s. It is true he preached this, but it is emphatically false that he developed the concept. You will actually find a lot of Christians propagating this as well which is interesting given this stance of Darby originating it is such a lie.

b. He supposedly derived this concept from a dream from Margaret MacDonald. Some will then state that Darby got this concept from Margaret MacDonald who had a dream about it. Interestingly enough, Darby preach a pre-trib rapture concept which supposedly Margaret’s dream was a mid-tribulation or pre-wratch rapture. There are actually writings of Darby that challenge Margaret MacDonald in general and even questions as to whether she was truly a Believer or not, so this is a wildly propagated lie that Darby got this concept from Margaret.

c. Teaching found in 1st Century by Barnabas. Barnabas was an early church (1st Century) Believer who wrote about a pre-triblulation Rapture.

d. Irenaeus wrote this in his book Against Heresies who was a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of John. Irenaeus was only one person removed from the writer of Revelation. He most emphatically wrote about a pre-tribulation rapture. A little story about God’s goodness here. We had this this session just a couple days before Alana and I went to a conference at Hidden Acres. I have Against Heresies which is a big book (in my viewpoint) and not an easy read (from my perspective). I have been so desiring to find the actual words that Irenaeus wrote. Well, the conference speaker actually has a lot of research into this, so we were able to find it. Here is a video from him talking about it: https://soothkeep.info/explosive-pretrib-info-irenaeus-was-pretrib-irenaeus-linked-to-the-apostles/

e. Hippolytus wrote this in the 2nd Century. True

f. Ephraum the Syrian who lived sometime in late 4th to early 7th Century. True

III. Biblical Passages of Future Rapture

a. I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11: This passage is where we gleam a lot of detail about the rapture of the church. A couple interesting points here: The dead in Christ (those who died prior to this event) will be raptured first then those who are alive. The rapture will commence with a shout, voice of an archangel, and a trumpet of God. We will meet Jesus in the air and will from that point always be with Him. We should comfort ourselves with these words. The world will cry, “peace and safety” then sudden destruction will come. Do we see the world crying for this? Does the UN and WEF push this agenda? The word sleep in 4:13, 14, 15 is different than the one in 5:6, 10. The ones in chapter 4 reference those who are dead. The ones in chapter 5 means spiritually asleep, distracted, not aware of prophecy and what is going on, etc. Pay close attention to these points in this passage as you will see parallels in the coming references.

b. I Corinthians 15:51-52: This really is a full chapter packed with phenomenal doctrine. Please study this whole chapter. In verses 51 and 52, we are told there is a mystery. We all shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. That trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised. Some will say the rapture will commence with the Feast of Trumpets as there is some parallel language here with how that feast commences, and Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts with His 1st Coming which means he will fulfill the fall feasts with His 2nd Coming. I do believe all that, but those are for Israel not for the church. It is an interesting topic to discuss, but we shouldn’t say this is when it is going to happen. The last trumpet is interesting as some say the rapture will commence at the blowing of the 7th Trumpet of Revelation. I think there are issues with that as well. Again, the doctrine of the rapture pertains to imminency. It can happen at any moment. It is unpredictable. The last trumpet has more to do with it heralding in the last stage of human history prior to Jesus’ 2nd Coming following by His 1000 reign on earth. The 70th Week or final week will commence after as God will turn His face to deal with Israel.

c. Numbers 10:1-10: We would be remiss if we didn’t pull something from the Old Testament, so here is a passage that discusses what trumpets mean for Israel. Read this passage. The importance is on the fact that a trumpet blast meant something. Sometimes it was for gathering people which is interesting. It marked time. Again back to the I Thessalonians and I Corinthians references, we can see the trumpet at the rapture gathering those Believers in Jesus then God turning His face toward Israel to prepare her to be redeemed at the conclusion of the 70th Week.

d. John 14:1-4: I love this passage as this is Jesus’ own words. He says He is going back to heaven (Ascension) to prepare a place for us. Then, He will gathering us to Himself to take us back there (rapture) to be with Him always.

e. Revelation 1:10, 19: We again see John recording voices as the sound of trumpets. Then, we have the breakdown of Revelation in verse 19. John is told to write down the things which he has seen (Jesus, verses 9-18), the things which are (chapters 2-3, letters to the churches), and the things which shall take place after this (after the church age, Greek word meta tauta). We discussed this above in Section I, Item f, point iv. The church age is still going on, therefore, we have no meta tauta.

f. Revelation 4:1: Again, we covered this above. We know this is still yet future. We see correlating language with a trumpet-like voice calling John into heaven before the first seal is opened up in Chapter 6. In Chapters 4-5, we see the church gathered in heaven receiving their rewards/crowns which takes place at the Bema Seat, Judgement Seat of Christ. Believers are not judged, they are rewarded! We see the doctrine of a pre-70th Week Rapture in Revelation. I will get more into this in a bit. One can make an argument that it will at least be before the mid-point somewhere, but it cannot be after. Again, more on this to come. Nonetheless, we do not see the church referenced by name or even figuratively until Revelation 19 which is when Jesus comes out of heaven, descends upon the earth, to rule and reign for a 1000 years. Where is the church in Revelation 19? Following Jesus out of heaven.

MARANATHA!!!!