Episode 29: Breaking Down the Rapture, part 1: The Epicenter

Welcome back to the West of Breakdown Podcast. During this course of days, that's so breaking on the Rapture Part 1. Hey everybody, it's Ben. It has been a long time since we've been together and I'm glad to be back at it and sharing some things with you today. We are actually going to be getting a series today talking about some in times things and really kind of breaking things down and getting simplistic and also as complex as we possibly can to help you understand what the scriptures say and what they don't say. To start this off, we're really going to be focusing on this idea of the Rapture. This is probably going to be a 6, 7, 8 part series just on the Rapture and then we'll move to another topic in in times discussion and go from there. We're going to be looking at little sections of the idea or the doctrine of a particular thing in today's sake, the Rapture and just kind of chewing on some small bites instead of taking the whole meal at once. This will be the first of many podcasts about this particular topic. Before I even get into this, you may be asking, "Why are we talking about this? Why is this a subject that needs to be talked about? Doesn't it just divide the church? Doesn't it just cause problems? Certainly just talk about Jesus." Here's what I need you to understand. That as Christians, our hope is not in the death of Jesus, our hope is not in the resurrection of Jesus. His death was our payment, his resurrection is our life, but our hope in all of that is that he's coming back to get us. At the end of the day, our greatest hope is a Christian is not what's happened, it's what's going to happen. If he doesn't come back to get us, if that's true in Scripture and we don't understand that, then we're in trouble. We begin to talk about this. This is vital as a product of the gospel. This is our hope is the second coming of Christ. What I want to do today is we start this topic off. I want to first identify and define what the modern popular idea of the rapture is. Then I want to look at the main passage that it comes from. Let's see what it actually says. That's all we'll talk about today. The idea of the rapture has really taken a life of its own in the last four or five decades. The idea itself, though, came about in the early 1800s as part of a belief system called dispensationalism from a guy named John Nelson Darby. Moving from there, the Skullfield Study Bible in the early 1900s became a prominent influence and force for this idea as it spread across the world. In the late 70s, you had Halenzi's book, The Late Great Planet Earth that promoted this idea. Then it hit fever pitch levels in the early 2000s when the left behind series came out and really pushed this idea of a rapture, specifically a secret rapture or a surprise rapture. It's gone from being a non-existent teaching in the church. Yes, the church did not believe this for the first 1800 years of the church. Not teach this, did not teach that something. They were going to miss the tribulation, miss the hard times that were coming, that they weren't going to go through the tough times, that the church in Israel were something different. They didn't teach any of this stuff in the early church. It has become a from non-existent in the church to a predominant view within the church, especially in the Western world, and a divisive doctrine for many. I think it's important that we talk about this because anything that's dividing the church we really need to look at carefully. But also we want to let the scripture speak to this. Not us, not our opinions, not our feelings, not media, not what we've learned going up, not by people we hold in high esteem, rather by what the scripture says. What is this rapture? First of all, it is important that you understand the rapture is not a standalone doctrine. In other words, it is not just something that comes out on its own. It's rather part of a belief system, and it is a necessary component of that belief system, that belief system called dispensationalism. That's for another discussion on another day. But because it's part of this belief system, it is intertwined and codependent with other doctrines within the system, such as a seven-year tribulation, a millennial reign or literal reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years, a distinct separation between Israel and the church, that they are two completely separate entities that Israel is not the church, and they have separate promises than the church does, as well as many other doctrines. So just know that they're intertwined. Oftentimes when you question this doctrine or you question the idea of it to somebody who holds these other beliefs, they feel like their entire belief system is being challenged, and in effect it is because they are all intertwined and codependent upon one another. So the definition, and if you're listening to this today and you think I missed something or you would define a different way, please, but all means let me know. But simply put, the rapture is this view that the church has to be removed from the earth in order to make way for promises that were made to Israel. And so that's essentially the reasoning for it. Why they think it's going to happen is that the church will be taken out of the picture, and Israel will get all these promises that they believe have not been given to them that were promised in the Old Testament. So the belief is this, that Christ will come down, not on the earth, but in the air, and resurrect all dead believers, gather them with them in the air along with any living Christians, and all those Christians will be with him forever. So he'll resurrect the dead, he'll gather all the living Christians, and they will leave this earth. Some believe that's a secret thing, some think it's a public thing, that's for a discussion later. Now it is important to clarify that those who believe in a rapture, whether they think it's before the tribulation, during the tribulation, or after the tribulation, they believe that it is a separate and distinct event from the second coming. So they don't believe the second coming and the rapture are the same event. They believe there are two separate events. They believe it's coming, that the second coming is what these people who hold to a rapture believe the second coming is coming after a time of seven years. Well Christ will return with the church. So they believe he comes in the rapture for the church, and they believe that he comes after the tribulation with the church in order to reign on the earth with any born again believers that have come to know Christ during the tribulation for a thousand years. Okay? So they believe that this will happen, that believers will be removed for one reason, not just to make room for Israel to get their promises, but also believe that believers will be removed in order to miss the coming tribulation. Just because of verses that say things like we have not been destined to wrath and things like that. But we'll discuss that in some upcoming weeks as well as we look at the tribulation. So just to review, the definition is that only the church, quote unquote the church, will be taken, that this rapture event is a distinctly different event than the second coming, and that the church will not go through this tribulation that's supposed to come later. Okay? Now so many pastors, preachers, believers, speak of this event with such assurance that they that it would seem as if the Bible must be crystal clear about the topic. But I would ask you today, is it really? And that's what that's my challenge to you is that it's not about what people say. It's not about how people tie the Bible together. It's what does the word actually say? What did Paul say? What did Jesus say? What did Peter say, et cetera? Let's go to the word and actually see what it has to say. So we're going to look specifically today at the passage that is used from which the origin of this doctrine came. Okay? And that is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 through 18. Okay? 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 through 18. Now if you're sitting down listening to this, I would encourage you to open your Bible up and read along with me. If you're riding in the car or doing some work or doing whatever you want, you want to go in, mowing grass or whatever. Maybe with all the rain, it seems like maybe I can do any of the interesting things, but I would encourage you to listen. But it is important when we get into this passage that we pay attention to the context in which Paul is riding. So Paul's the author here. He's riding to the church in Thessalonica or Thessalonica. Have you ever pronounce it? And he is riding to a church who is concerned that their dead loved ones will miss the coming of Christ. So they have family who are believers who have passed away and they are concerned that their dead loved ones will not get to experience the coming of Christ because they are dead. And so Paul is calming their fears. All right? So I'm going to read the first three verses of this, verses 13, 14 and 15, and just point out some things and then we'll read the other four or five verses and point out some things and then we'll call it a day. So if you're following along with me at home or starting with verse 13, chapter 4, 1 Thessalonians, Paul says this, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that asleep meaning dead." He says, "About those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who do not, who may start over again, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope." For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. And so here we have in this first two verses, he's saying, "I don't want you to be uninformed." In other words, I want to instruct you about your loved ones, these believers who are asleep in the Lord that like, "I don't want you to mourn them as other people do because because you have hope. Other people don't have hope. Well, what's our hope? Our hope is in the coming of Christ. This is why we have to talk about it. So what someone says, well, let's just talk about Jesus. We are talking about Jesus. This is his next thing. Jesus' next thing is coming to get us. And so, verse 14 again, he says, we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep, some Paul's down on him. Your loved ones who believe and put their faith in Jesus Christ, they will rise as well, just like Jesus did, right? So, verse 15, he says this, 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 proceed those who have fallen asleep. So think about what he's telling this church. He's like, I know you're concerned with them that they're gonna miss out on this, but listen, if we're still alive when he comes back, we will not proceed and be with him before they do, right? So think about that for a second. And so, when he talks about this, this coming of the Lord, and this is vitally important to understanding this passage because when he's writing a context, remember, he's not writing to 21st century Christians, he's writing to 1st century, 2nd century Christians, I guess 1st century Christians, as he's talking to the people at that time in that church. And so when he says this word, the coming of the Lord, it comes from the Greek word, paracia, right? P-A-R-O-U-S-I-A paracia. And so a paracia are coming in that time period, was often used to reference an event where a king or some member of royalty, maybe even Caesar himself, was coming to visit a city. And when he would come, this coming, this paracia, when he was coming, a delegation of significant members of the city, of the society would go outside the city limits, meet him and enter with him. And so I give you an example of that, something like that. If you remember when Jesus comes in at the end of his ministry, he's coming into Jerusalem at the triumphal entry, right? On Palm Sunday. When he comes in and they're laying down branches in front of him and, or sorry, waving their prong branches and laying down their robes and their cloaks and all this and they're crying out, "Hosanna, Hosanna, all this." They are welcoming him in as a king. That's essentially what a paracia is, this coming. And so these people are gonna go out and greet this, member of royalty and welcome them into the city. And so this paracia, the coming of the Lord, that's mentioned here in First Thessalonians, is not about a coming and then leaving, which is what the rapture would insinuate that he comes, gathers people and leaves. But rather it is a going to him to enter with him. It's a coming, it's not a leaving. And I do believe that readers at the time would understand this when he mentions this coming of the Lord. Okay. So now, the event itself, we're gonna see described here in the next few verses. So let's go back to verse 16. Let's back to verse 15 just to preface. This says, "For this we declare to you by word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not proceed those who have fallen asleep." Now, verse 16, here's the event, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with the 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." That's it, that's the whole passage. That passage right there is where the idea of the rapture comes from and I'm gonna explain to you why that is. So the event goes down like this. Christ is gonna come down from heaven. We have plenty of verses that tell us that he's gonna come on the clouds when he left and acts. He says he's gonna come back just like he left. He left on the clouds, he come back on the clouds. We have multiple engines of that throughout the scripture and we'll talk about that on another day. So he comes down from heaven, comes with the loud command. You hear the voice of an archangel, so the angels are with him. We hear the sound of the trumpet of God. And it says that the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, so there will still be some believers left on the earth when he comes will be caught up together with them in the air and we will always be with the Lord after that moment. These words should encourage us. And so here's some observations about this. Okay? The phrase when it says and we will be caught up together with them in the air. That phrase caught up. This is where the term rapture comes from. Okay? So the term rapture comes from a Latin translation of the Greek word to be caught up or snatched or seized. Okay? So it's not actually in scripture, it's not the Greek word, but when the Latin translation of the Bible back then, the Latin vulgate, they translated that word. And the word that they translated to is what we have derived the word rapture from. Okay? So just keep that in mind that without this passage, without this passage in scripture, the idea of the rapture, or at least that terminology, does not exist. Okay? Without that terminology or without this passage, that terminology doesn't exist. So we have to go to the source. That's why this episode is called the epicenter because this is where the entirety of the rapture came from, biblical, or this idea of the rapture came from biblical. It's from this passage. Without this passage, we're not having this conversation. And so it is important to recognize that we need to start here and work our way out. Okay? And so let's look at the phrase there, what says, the dead in Christ will rise first. So the person who is a proponent for the rapture would say that this event, see the dead rise first, the dead in Christ rise first. So they're insinuating that there are two resurrections, that there's a resurrection of the church, of the believers, and then later, there's gonna be a resurrection of everyone else. And so they believe that that's showing a separate resurrection, but here's the problem again, context matters. So when we read this, go back to verse 15. In verse 15, before he explains these events, he's actually in verses 16 through 17, he's explaining what he means in verse 15. So remember, in verse 15, he says, "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." Right? And so he's saying that we, whoever we are, whoever the living believers are when Jesus comes back, will not precede those who are dead. So precede means go first. So we who are living will not go first to Christ, but rather those who are dead will go to Christ. Right? 'Cause keep in mind, remember Paul is comforting them in this passage about their dead loved ones in regards to Christ coming. And he's saying, listen, you who are alive, you're not gonna go first to Christ, but rather the dead will rise and go first to Christ. So when he says that the dead and Christ will rise first, it has nothing to do with anything else other than the order in which believers will join Jesus in the air, it has nothing to say about unbelievers. It has nothing to try to, it doesn't distinguish itself from a second resurrection. It has only to do with the order in which believers will join Jesus in the air. The dead and Christ will rise first and then we shall join them. And that's really important that you catch this because the rising there is not so much about a resurrection to step foot on the ground. Like, like, like mummies coming out of their grave or like, you know, their bodies coming out of the grave. Rather, the dead loved ones will rise and do what? Join him in the air, right? So they will rise first to where? To Jesus in the air, not to the earth, they're not staying on the earth. It says they rise first and then it clarifies it by saying that we will then, whoever's alive, when he comes back, we will join them in the clouds, right? 'Cause that's where Jesus is. The power of see of the coming, his people are meeting him outside of the city, so to speak, right? To join him. And so the dead and Christ will rise first to him in the air before the living believers will then rise. And I can't stress this enough, right? That the dead rising isn't about coming to life and setting foot on dry land. It's about rising to meet Christ in the air. Verse 17 tells us that their living are then caught up with them, right? They're snatched up with them, the dead believers, in the clouds. And so the reference to first is only, the reference to being risen first is only to living believers and dead believers, are about living believers and dead believers in regards to their joining Christ in the air. I can't stress that enough. There's nothing in here that implies anything about a second resurrection or the unbelievers or anything like that. It's only about distinguishing who will join Jesus in the air first. The dead believers will go first. And that's why it's a comfort to those Thessalonians because their dead loved ones are going to get to experience this second coming or this transformation that we read about in 1 Corinthians before we do, before the living wants to. And he's like, and then we're going to join them and that's encouraging, encourage each other with these words because we know we don't have to, we don't have to mourn without hope because we have hope to be with them again. So with that being said, just with this short passage right here, just a couple of things I want to point out as we come to a close here. The very epicenter of the rapture, this very verse, this passage of the rapture, doesn't claim to be a separate event. It doesn't claim to be a secret as some would insinuate. It doesn't separate the church in Israel as two separate entities. Nor does it even mention missing the tribulation or anything about a tribulation. But next time, next week, I mean, next week, I might do it tomorrow, but the next time we'll look into chapter five, so the following chapter of this, and we're going to compare Paul's description of all of this to the second coming and see, could it possibly be a separate event? Because I was right now, we've had no indication that it's something different. We've had no indication that it's secret. We've had no indication that of a second resurrection. We've had no indication of any of the things that are implied in the rapture doctrine. Yet this is the very passage from which the doctrine comes. So as an introduction to all of this, I hope this is kind of giving you a taste because we're going to be going back and forth to this passage from now on, just showing you these things because what you're going to see at the end of the day is that scripture has to harmonize. It has to harmonize completely. And the rapture doctrine that is put out today, especially in the left behind style rapture doctrine, where the people go missing in their clothes are still there and all this kind of stuff, does not line up with scripture. It just simply doesn't. And so as we go on, I hope that you stay with me on this in the next several weeks. And hopefully this will give you a clearer understanding of what the Bible says about Jesus the second coming and about the rapture. But like I said, next time we will dive into the following chapter from what we just finished reading in 1 Thessalonians 4. We're going to chapter five. And we'll see what it says and we'll compare this whole rapture passage with what the Bible says about the second coming. And we'll see are they two separate events or are they the same event. Guys, I hope this has been a blessing to you. I look forward to talking to you next time. Join us again on what's the breakdown. Thank you for joining us. We hope to see you next time on what's the breakdown.