Will believers soon be ‘raptured’ to heaven?
The “rapture” is a popular idea that Jesus’ true followers will be rescued from this world and be transported (“raptured”) into the heavens where they will meet Jesus. This rapture is followed by a later event when Jesus returns visibly to the world and inaugurates the judgment of all mankind. However, this two-fold return of Christ is a misreading of the Bible. The scriptures only point to one return of Christ when he returns personally, suddenly, publicly, visibly and gloriously.
The most conclusive repudiation of the notion of a private rapture comes from Jesus himself in Matthew 24:30-31. Note how Christ’s return is not preceded by a removal of his followers.
“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31)
Jesus uses vivid imagery from the Old Testament to describe his return. The great trumpet refers to the silver trumpets used to call God’s people to worship (Numbers 10:1-10) and the four winds (Jeremiah 49:36; Zechariah 2:6) symbolise the entire world. In this way Jesus will gather his elect “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). The sequence is clear:
A sign of Jesus will appear in the sky (24:30)
Jesus himself will appear visibly (24:30)
The whole world will see him and mourn (24:30)
The event will be accompanied by loud sounds (24:31)
Then Jesus will send his angels to gather his elect (24:31)
This is identical to the sequence found in Thessalonians 4:16-17.
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 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 4:16-17).
The idea of a private rapture in which believers will suddenly disappear and escape the suffering of the end times while unbelievers are left behind to wait for divine judgment is based on a misunderstanding of Matthew 24:40-41.
“Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.” (Matthew 24:40-41)
In the preceding verses Jesus uses the story of Noah to explain who will be ‘taken’ and who will be ‘left behind’.
“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.” (Matthew 24:37-39)
Just as the unbelievers of Noah’s day were ‘taken away’ by the flood (verse 39), so unbelievers will be ‘taken’ first when Christ returns. This sequence is reaffirmed in parable of the Wheat and the Tares in which Jesus insists unbelievers will be taken first:
“Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.” (Matthew 13:30).