Builders of Faith

Builders of Faith Explorer II:  Exploring End-Time Prophecy

Lesson 1—Is Jesus’ Coming a Secret Event?

1.    In brief, what is the popular secret rapture teaching, and where did it originate?

Answer:  The essence of the secret rapture teaching is that Jesus will come secretly to rapture His faithful believers (the church) to heaven at some point before He returns in the visible, audible, glorious Second Coming to usher in His millennial reign on earth.  This view is reflected in the popular bumper sticker, “In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned.”  Suddenly, people all over the world disappear, and those left behind are wondering where they went.  Although there are some differences among supporters of this idea, most believe that seven years will follow the rapture, in which the Antichrist will make his appearance, make a pact with the Jewish people, and then break that pact, beginning the final tribulation.  People who missed salvation at the rapture will have a second chance at salvation.  Then after the seven years, the visible, audible, glorious Second Coming of Jesus will occur in order to set up His 1,000 years of reigning on earth.  This understanding was made popular by a British nineteenth-century Christian named John Nelson Darby and spread to America by men like Cyrus Scofield.  The idea grew in popularity after the creation of the modern nation of Israel in 1948, until it is now the most popular view among Christians of the end-times.


2.    Does the word “rapture” and/or its concept exist in Scripture?

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”  I Thessalonians 4:16-17.

Answer:  The word “rapture” does not appear in Scripture, but the concept is present in the passage above.  The English word “rapture” simply means to be “caught up in the air”.  The Christian rapture is the catching up of God’s saved in the air to begin their journey to heaven.  So we believe in the rapture too, although most Christians who talk about the rapture are referring to the secret rapture as described under Question #1 above.


3.    Doesn’t Matthew 25 teach that Jesus returns to the earth in contrast to His earlier coming in the air?

“When the Son of Mon comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left….  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’”…Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’”  Matthew 25:31-33, 37-39, 44.

Answer:  This is not a literal account of what Jesus will do at His Second Coming, for consider the figurative language.  First, the saved are pictured as sheep and the lost as goats.  Second, is it likely that Jesus would literally place all the saved on one side of Him and the lost on the other side?  Finally, to believe this is a literal account would mean that every saved person will say the same things to Jesus like a choir, and likewise every lost person.  No, this is highly figurative language, which means it should be understood as a parable.  The main points are two in number:  (1) At the Second Coming, there will be a separation between the saved and the lost, and (2) the basis for His judgment will be how we treated other people, especially those less fortunate than ourselves.  Therefore, this chapter cannot be used to teach that Jesus will return to the earth to establish His millennial kingdom.


4.    But surely Revelation 19 teaches that Jesus returns to the earth in contrast to His earlier coming in the air, doesn’t it?

“His [Jesus’] eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns….  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood….  Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations….  He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God….  And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse….”  Revelation 19:12-13, 15, 21.

Answer:  Note the figurative language in this passage.  Are Jesus’ eyes really like a flame of fire literally, or is this only how Jesus is pictured in vision to John?  Will Jesus literally wear a robe dipped in blood?  Will a sword literally in Jesus’ mouth be used to kill all of the wicked?  No, this is figurative language telling us that at the Second Coming of Jesus, all of the wicked will be slain.  But this account does not necessarily mean that He will return to the earth to set up His millennial kingdom.


5.    Are Matthew 24 and I Thessalonians 4 really describing the same event?

Answer:  Those who teach the secret rapture interpret Matthew 24 as a description of the visible, audible, glorious Second Coming of Jesus, and they interpret I Thessalonians 4:16-17 as a description of the invisible, silent, and secret phase of His return in which the church is raptured to heaven.  But please note the key parallel words and concepts between these two chapters below:

Matthew 24:30-31                             I Thessalonians 4:16-17

“Son of Man…appear in heaven”        “Lord…from heaven”

“the clouds”                                            “the clouds”

“trumpet”                                                 “trumpet”

“gather together His elect…from one    “we…caught up together…in the air”
end of heaven to the other”

Both passages declare that Jesus Himself will come from heaven in association with clouds and the sound of a trumpet.  Furthermore, I Thessalonians 4:16-17 adds that the noise of Christ’s voice is like that of an archangel and a shout—sufficient noise to wake the dead in Christ.  How can I Thessalonians 4:16-17 be viewed as a secret event?  Therefore, we conclude that both passages are talking about the same event—the visible, audible, glorious Second Coming of Jesus, at which time He raptures His faithful people!


6.    What do the Greek words used for Jesus’ return in the New Testament tell us about the Second Coming of Jesus?

Answer:  There are three Greek words used in connection with the Second Coming of Jesus:

A.    Parousia:  This word means “an arrival and a resulting presence”.

B.    Epiphaneia:  This word means “an appearance or a shining forth”.

C.    Apokalupsis:  This word means “a revelation or unveiling”.

First, all three of these Greek words represent a visible event.  Second, a comparison of Matthew 24 and Luke 17 reveals that all three of these Greek words are used interchangeably to describe the Second Coming of Jesus.  Finally, 25 of the 27 times any of these Greek words are used in connection with the Second Coming of Jesus, the word has the definite article “the”, which means there is one Second Coming.  The other two times, the article the is implied (see I Peter 1:7, 13).  Therefore, there is the Second Coming of Jesus.  Thus, it is one Second Coming, not two comings or two phases of Jesus’ return.  This proves that the rapture of God’s saved people will take place at the one Second Coming of Jesus, which will be a visible, audible, and glorious event!


7.    Doesn’t I Corinthians 15:51-53 prove that believers will instantly change their location from earth to heaven at the return of Jesus?

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  But each one in his own order:  Christ, the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”  I Corinthians 15:22-23.  “Behold, I tell you a mystery:  We shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead [in Christ] will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”  I Corinthians 15:51-53.

Answer:  Verses 22-23 here gives us the context of the return of Jesus.  The Greek word for “moment” comes from our English word atom and means that which cannot be divided.  Those who teach the secret rapture teach that the “change” referred to above will take place in an instant.  We agree.  However, does that change actually refer to the rapture of the saints or to something else?  Those who teach the secret rapture believe that the reference to “the last trumpet” is parallel to the times among the ancient Israelites in the wilderness, when “the last trumpet” was the signal for the whole nation to begin to move out toward another site.  However, as verses 51-53 make very clear, this change is not a change of location but a change of nature—from mortal bodies to immortal bodies.  Thus, I Corinthians provides absolutely no evidence for an instant change of location from earth to the air/heaven.


8.    But don’t the texts comparing Jesus’ return to a thief in the night prove that Jesus comes secretly?

“For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.  For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.  And they shall not escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.  You are all sons of light and sons of the day.  We are not of the night nor of darkness.  Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.”  I Thessalonians 5:2-6.  “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”  II Peter 3:10.

Answer:  These passages plainly teach that the Lord’s coming will be like a thief in that those who are unprepared for Jesus will be surprised when He comes.  They will be spiritually asleep until sudden destruction comes upon them.  But it most certainly is not a quiet or secret event because “…the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”  Nothing could be further from a secret event than the return of Jesus!


9.    Don’t the “one taken and the other left” texts suggest a secret rapture of the righteous when Jesus returns?

“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”  Matthew 24:37-39.  “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”  Luke 17:26-27.  “I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed:  the one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two women will be grinding together; the one will be taken and the other left.  Two men will be in the field; the one will be taken, and the other left.”  “And they answered and said to Him, ‘Where, Lord?’  So He said to them, ‘Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.’”  Luke 17:34-37.

Answer:  The popular secret rapture of the church doctrine teaches that (1) those taken are taken to heaven, and (2) those left behind live to have a second chance at salvation.  Notice that both are still living after the rapture.  Also, those left behind are left to wonder what happened to the ones taken.  But the Bible does not teach this doctrine, as follows:

A.    The context of Matthew’s and Luke’s account of the “one taken and the other left” is plainly a visible, audible, glorious return of Jesus—not a secret event.  Moreover, the example of Christ’s return given in these passages—Noah’s flood—was not a secret event either.  Therefore, there is no secret, invisible coming of Jesus spoken of here, or anywhere else.

B.    Note that the example of Noah’s flood shows that some were saved, while others were destroyed.  Moreover, note the parallel between Matthew and Luke, where Matthew’s account says “…the flood came and took them all away…” and Luke’s account says that “…the flood came and destroyed them all.”  Not only does this show that both parties at the return of Jesus do not survive the event, but this parallel also reveals that those “taken” are taken in destruction.  That means the ones left behind are the survivors whom Jesus will rapture!  This is confirmed by the brief conversation between Jesus and His disciples in Luke, where His disciples ask Jesus “Where, Lord?”  They know that the ones left are left in the bed, at the grinder, and in the field.  So they are asking where the ones taken were taken to.  Jesus replied to look for them where you see the eagles [vultures would be a better translation] are gathered.  In other words, the ones taken are taken in destruction, and vultures are feeding upon their flesh.  One is destroyed, while the other one is saved.  

Special Note:  Therefore, in perfect agreement with the “sudden destruction” text quoted in Question #8 above, all of the wicked who are alive when Jesus comes will be destroyed at His coming!


10.    Will God’s faithful believers escape the final tribulation near the end of the world?

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”  Revelation 3:10.  “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”  John 17:15.

Answer:  This is the most common text used by teachers of the secret rapture to defend the idea that the rapture will occur before the final tribulation begins, so that God’s faithful church will not have to go through that tribulation or worry about knowing what the mark of the beast is.   But a careful look at this text does not support this conclusion.  The key word is “keep”, which represents a Greek word meaning “to watch over, preserve, keep, watch”.  It is the same Greek word that is translated also as “keep” in John 17:15 above.  Therefore, the true teaching in Revelation 3:10 is that Jesus will watch and preserve His people during the tribulation; He will be with them in it and get them through it safely!


11.    Of what significance are the stories of Daniel and his three friends to the question about God’s people going through the final tribulation?

“That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain.  And Darius the Mede received the kingdom….”  Daniel 5:30-31.  “So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”  Daniel 6:28.  “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream….”  Daniel 7:1.  “In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel….”  Daniel 8:1.

Answer:  If you examine those texts here in Daniel, you realize that Daniel chapters 5-8 are not in chronological order.  If they were in chronological order, the contents of the chapters would be in this order:  Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6.  This is part of God’s Word; this cannot be a coincidence.  By placing those chapters the way they are, the book of Daniel is evenly divided into the (1) historical (Chapters 1-6) and (2) prophetic sections (Chapters 7-12).  Even though there is a prophecy in Chapter 2, note that it is given as part of a narrative (story).  Among other things, this arrangement of the chapters of Daniel means that what Daniel and his three friends went through, and how God dealt with them, represents what God’s end-time people will experience in principle.

A.    Daniel 1:  Here is a test of faithfulness to God concerning what Daniel and his three friends refused to eat and drink.  Health reform must therefore play a prominent part among God’s last-day church.

B.    Daniel 3:  This is the story of Daniel’s three friends being tested over whether they would bow down to the image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar or not.  They refused, were thrown into a fiery furnace, where Jesus appeared in the furnace with them—and they were not killed.

C.    Daniel 6:  This is the story of Daniel in the Lions’ Den, where he was placed when he refused to stop praying to the one true God.  God shut the lions’ mouths so that Daniel was not hurt even though he spent an entire night in that den.

Please note that healthy living and worship were the major issues faced by Daniel and his three friends.  Moreover, God preserved them through each of their troubles; He did not remove them from the scene so they did not have to experience those trials.  In fact, all of Biblical history attests to that fact—that God never removes His people from trials, but preserves them through the trials if they are faithful to Him.  We should not expect for God to suddenly change the way He deals with His people in the last days.


12.    What is the grave danger of believing the popular secret rapture theory?

“…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  II Corinthians 6:2.

Answer:  People often say that it doesn’t make any difference what you believe about certain teachings, such as the secret rapture theory.  After all, we shall all find out the truth when it happens.  That may be true.  But for those who believe the secret rapture theory, they will be unprepared to go through the final tribulation if they should live at that time.  By not knowing what the final issue, called the mark of the beast, is all about, you will surely be deceived into receiving that mark and thus be eternally lost.  Knowing the truth will not save anyone.  But knowing the truth, if your heart is right, can save you from any final deception!

 

Quiz for Lesson 1—Is Jesus’ Coming a Secret Event?

1.  Which of the following statements about the popular secret rapture theory are true according to those who believe that theory? (4)
  This theory had its origins in the 19th century.

  Jesus first will come secretly and rapture His Church so that they don’t have to go through the final tribulation.

  Ten years after the secret rapture, Jesus will return visibly and gloriously.

  Between Jesus’ two different comings, the Antichrist will make his appearance and eventually create the final tribulation.

  People who missed the rapture will have a second chance to be saved.

 

2.  Which of the following statements about the word "rapture" are true? (3)

  The word rapture does not appear in Scripture.

  Neither the word nor the concept of the rapture is taught in Scripture.

  To be raptured means to be caught up in the air.

  I Thessalonians 4:16-17 teaches the rapture of God’s people.

 

3.  When Jesus returns in His visible, glorious return, He will literally sit on His throne on the earth and judge between the sheep and the goats. (1)

  True

  False

 

4.  Both sides agree that I Thessalonians 4 teaches the rapture of God’s people, and both sides agree that Matthew 24 refers to a visible, glorious return of Jesus.  What key words or phrases below tell us that both chapters are actually describing the same event? (5)

  [Jesus] will come from “heaven”.

  “the rapture”

  “the clouds”

  “trumpet”

  “gather together His elect”

  “caught up together”

 

5.  Which of the 3 Greek words used in connection with the Second Coming of Jesus are correctly defined? (2)

  Apokalupsis means “a hidden message or event”.

  Parousia means “an arrival and a resulting presence”.

  Epiphaneia means “an appearance or a shining forth”.

 

6.  What instant change does I Corinthians 15:51-53 describe? (1)

  A change in location from earth to heaven

  A change from death to resurrection

  A change from mortal to immortality

 

7.  How does Jesus come back as a thief in the night? (2)

  His coming is unexpected and thus a surprise to the wicked.

  His coming is secret and silent.

  His coming results in surprise and sudden destruction of the wicked.

 

8.  But don’t the texts about “one taken and the other left” prove the secret rapture true? (2)

  Yes, it does suggest that.

  No, because that phrase is always in the context of a visible, audible, glorious Second Coming of Jesus.

  No, because no one is left alive on earth after the event described by that phrase occurs.

  Yes, because if one is left behind, then obviously Jesus has not completed His judgment.

 

9.  Which of the following statements about God’s people and tribulation does the Bible teach? (3)

  God has almost never removed His people from tribulation, but has gone through it with them.

  Daniel was able to avoid being thrown into the lions’ den.

  Jesus appeared with Daniel’s 3 Hebrew friends when they were thrown into the fiery furnace, and thus they were protected.

  The word “keep” in Revelation 3:10 means “to watch over, preserve, keep, watch”, not to remove them from tribulation.

  The stories in Daniel have much to teach us, but they don’t say anything about the final tribulation.

 

10.  The great danger in believing the secret rapture theory is that you will be deceived and unprepared for the final crisis. (1)

  True

  False