Most Christians who know of the term “rapture” think of it as an event that involves Jesus coming near but not to earth for the purpose of gathering His church, living and dead, up to the clouds. This is purported to be a resurrection to heaven executed in secret. And they probably understand this event as enabling the believers living at the time to avoid the serious time of tribulation over the subsequent seven years until the second coming of Christ. This understanding of events relating to the second coming of Christ is often the extent of what most Christians understand about it. Unfortunately, the whole concept of the so-called secret rapture is wholly inconsistent with the word of God.
When people speak of “the rapture,” they are referring to the first phase of a two-phase premillennial view of the second coming of Christ. Generally, this view is that Christ descends to the earth’s atmosphere but not actually to earth in a so-called “secret coming” for the purpose of resurrecting only the living and dead believers and taking them to heaven (the first phase). After a seven-year period of tribulation, Christ returns to earth to begin a literal one-thousand-year reign on earth (the second phase).
The Greek word,” παρουσία, translated as “rapture” in the New Testament, is transliterated from the Greek into English as parousia and means “a presence” or “a coming.” Parousia is sometimes used in the New Testament to describe the return of Christ at His second coming (Matt. 24:37; 2 Thess. 2:8).
The English word “rapture” does not refer to a gathering of resurrected believers in the clouds. The word rapture used properly means a “coming” that results in a “presence.” In this biblical sense then, the word rapture refers to the coming and bodily presence of Jesus Christ on earth. It does not refer to some secret coming and near presence of Christ on earth that is unknown to the world. Those who hold this point of view of a sort of two-phase second coming of Christ, with the so-called secret rapture being the first of the two phases, is a false teaching.
The proper biblical understanding of the parousia (transl. rapture) or the second coming of Jesus Christ is that it is a single biblical event prophesied for the future end of the world. Though the vast majority of Christian scholars agree that Jesus Christ will return to earth in the future, there is disagreement surrounding the timing of Christ’s second coming and the various events related to His second coming. The relation of the second coming with such events as the resurrection of believers and unbelievers, a seven-year tribulation, a one-thousand-year reign of Christ, the judgment by Christ, the end of the world, and the consummation of the kingdom of God, are points of disagreement among biblical scholars.
CAVEAT
We realize that many true Christians hold the premillennial secret rapture eschatology point of view. This article is not questioning the veracity of their belief in Christ. True Christians can and do support this viewpoint and other true Christians can and do oppose the tenets of this viewpoint. This article merely addresses what the author believes is the erroneous biblical interpretation contained in the premillennial secret rapture eschatology point of view.
HISTORICAL NOTES RELATING TO THE RAPTURE
In the first half of the nineteenth century, Darby and others introduced a new eschatological scheme regarding the second coming of Christ and the so-called rapture of His church. This eschatological scheme was heavily influenced by premillennialism and dispensationalism. The Scofield bible championed this view in the United States. The Darby-esque secret rapture eschatology consisted of multiple comings of Christ, multiple resurrections, and multiple judgments. Moreover, two peoples of God were recognized by some, the Church and national Israel.
SOME OBJECTIONS TO THE SECRET RAPTURE ESCHATOLOGY
The secret rapture theories require multiple “comings” and resurrections and usually require that the one and only second coming of Christ (the Day of the Lord) must be separated from Judgment Day, the general resurrection, the end of the world, and the consummation of the kingdom of God. [1] Those who hold this view of the secret rapture eschatology do much violence to the biblical view of Christ’s second coming.
The Bible clearly teaches that these four events are concomitant with the Day of the Lord at the one and only second coming of Christ. Thus this view of separating these events from the second coming of Christ is based on the erroneous interpretation of sacred text and leads to a misunderstanding of the teachings of Scripture.[2]
Most supporters of the secret rapture scheme hold that the rapture event, the coming of Christ for His saints, is imminent in that no other event must precede it. They believe that at any time now Jesus will come only so far as the clouds in earth’s atmosphere and from there He will resurrect the dead believers and remove both the living and the dead believers to heaven.
This is patently unbiblical. Those portions of Scripture that speak only of the resurrection of believers do so only because the writer is speaking to and about believers only (E.g., 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; John 6:39, 40). The writer is specifically focusing only on the future of believers. Yet this does not negate the truth elsewhere in Scripture that all human beings, the good and the evil, will be resurrected at the same time at the end of the world (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:12-15).
In spite of what the secret rapture theory proponents say, this pretribulation rapture that they describe is a putative coming of Christ with a resurrection of only certain people, namely, believers. These proponents of this eschatological view also propose a second “coming” seven years later with another resurrection of more individuals that involves Jesus Christ “coming” all the way to earth this time and establishing rule on earth for a literal one thousand years. Moreover, they propose another resurrection at the end of this one-thousand-year period that this time also includes eternal judgment and the end of the world.
The believers will not be taken up secretly and on a different day from other human beings. All humans (except for the resurrected Christ) will be resurrected on the same day at the one and only second coming of Christ. Christ’s second coming will not be executed in two phases and will not be separated from Judgment Day, the general resurrection, the end of the world, and the consummation of the kingdom of God. Moreover, at the second coming of Christ, the world will end and there will be no literal one-thousand-year reign of Christ on earth.
There are many more objections to the varying views of a secret rapture.[3] No matter which of the views one considers, it is clear to this author that the viewpoint of the Darby-esque secret rapture theory has no support in Scripture.
THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE SECOND COMINGOF CHRIST
The teaching of Scripture regarding the parousia does not support the secret rapture theory of the second coming of Christ, including the pre-tribulation rapture and the mid-tribulation rapture, as well as the one-thousand-year reign of Christ on earth prior to the final judgment. Any eschatological scheme concerning the second coming of Christ that includes multiple future comings of Christ, multiple future resurrections of human beings, and multiple future judgments is simply not consistent with Scripture.
The parousia or the second coming of Christ is a single event occurring concomitantly with four other events which transpire immediately after the tribulation of the interadvental period.[4] The Bible teaches that certain events occur concomitantly with the second coming of our Lord on “the Day of the Lord” (2 Peter 3:10). Those events are 1) the general resurrection (John 5:28, 29), 2) the final judgment (Matt.13:41-43), 3) the end of the world (Matt. 13:38-40, 24:3), and 4) the final consummation of the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:24).
Jesus Christ is the only resurrected human being in heaven now and no human beings will be resurrected prior to the single event of the second coming of Christ which occurs at the end of the world (Matt. 24:29-31).
There will be no literal one-thousand-year reign of Christ on earth after the second coming. The one thousand years written about in Revelation 20:1-6, which the Darby-esque theories are to some extent based on, refers figuratively, not literally, to the period of time between the first and second advents of Christ. The length of this period of time is known only by God (Matt. 24:36). Also, the premillennial views of the secret rapture improperly separate the second coming of Christ from the four concomitant events mentioned above and is unsupported by Scripture.
There will be no secret rapture of the saints. Jesus Himself spoke these words regarding THE COMING (i.e., not more than one, but just one) “For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt.24:27, emphasis added). With this statement, Jesus absolutely eliminates a secret coming as well as multiple comings. Every location on earth will see His coming at once and this will happen only once because Jesus chose the words the coming, not the coming(s). The second coming of Jesus Christ will occur only once and His coming will be visible all over the earth at once. And Scripture assures us that Jesus will return in the same way he ascended into heaven (Acts 1:11).
The second coming of Christ begins after the tribulation of the interadvental period with the destruction of the universe (Matt. 24:29). Jesus tells us that at His second coming, every person on earth at once will see the Christ, that a loud audible sound will accompany His coming, and that the angels will collect all the believing elect to one place (Matt. 24:30, 31) and Jesus will transform the resurrected bodies of believers to glorification (Phil. 20, 21). On the last day too, Jesus will be seen coming from heaven and will be seated on His throne (Matt. 26:64) and all people of the earth, not just the elect, will be resurrected and gathered together for the final judgment and He will separate the believers from the unbelievers (Matt.25:31-33). Jesus will consummate the salvation of the believers and will usher them into heaven to receive their promised inheritance (Matt. 25:34; Eph. 1:11-14). The wicked humans and the fallen angels will be ordered into hell, the eternal fire (Matt. 25:41).
The final judgment occurs only once on the Day of the Lord at the end of the world, when Jesus Christ returns to earth, which is the only time He will return. The general resurrection of all human beings, righteous and unrighteous also occurs then along with the consummation of the kingdom. All this is evident in Scripture (Matt. 25:31-35, 41; 2 Thess. 1:5-10). Furthermore, speaking to and about Christians, the apostle Paul writes that on the last day, the coming of the Lord will not be a secret coming but the whole world will know it and the dead in Christ will be resurrected first and then those Christians living on the last day will be resurrected (1 Thess. 4:15-17).
The second coming of Christ is often spoken of in the New Testament as the parousia. This term is describing the coming that results in the presence of Christ on earth (Matt. 24:3, 27, 37; 1 Cor. 15:23; 1Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:1-9; Jas. 5:7, 8; 2 Pet. 1:16; 3:4, 12; 1 John 2:28). The term parousia and the phrase “day of the Lord” are used synonymously in Scripture (2 Thess. 1, 2, 8). “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven” is made synchronous with “when he comes on that day” bringing the glorification of the saints (2 Thess. 1:7, 10).
The parousia or second coming of Christ is a single event unlike the twofold coming proposed by the premillennial secret rapture theory. The second coming of Christ cannot be divided in two and cannot be said to be imminent because the single event of the coming must be preceded by several events.
The second coming of Christ occurs immediately after the interadvental period of tribulation (Matt. 24:29-31). So it is not imminent in that the interadvental period of tribulation and other events must still precede it. The parousia will occur on the Day of the Lord, also called the end of the age, the last day, and Judgment Day.
CONCLUSION
The concept of the Darby-esque premillennial secret rapture theories is a construct that lacks proper biblical support and leads to unscriptural understandings.
The parousia or the second coming of Christ is a single event occurring immediately after the tribulation of the interadvental period at the same time as the end of the world (Matt. 24:3, 29-31, 35-44). This moment in the future is called the end of the age and Judgment Day and the Day of the Lord. This is the moment that all human beings will be resurrected (1 Cor. 15:23) to appear before the final judgment by Jesus Christ. This is the end of the world when God will replace the universe and the new heaven and new earth will be brought forth. The wicked will be condemned to hell. And the salvation of the believers will be finally consummated by Jesus when He withholds from believers his eternal, condemning judgment and wrath, which He will have just exercised against the wicked. The believing elect will be ushered into the new heaven and new earth in their glorified bodies. Jesus Christ with all His enemies subdued, will hand over the kingdom of God to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24).
The idea that Jesus will secretly whisk away some Christians by stealth to avoid a difficult period of tribulation is biblically unsound. Those portions of Scripture that proponents of the premillennial secret rapture theory point to as proving a separate coming for the saints because those verses speak only of the resurrection of believers, is incorrectly interpreted by them. Those verses speak only of saints because the writer is speaking to and about believers only (1 Thess. 4:16, 17; John 6:39, 40). Yet this does not negate the truth elsewhere in Scripture that all human beings, the good and the evil, will be resurrected at the same time (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:12-15) at the second coming of Christ at the end of the world.
Jesus was the first resurrection. Currently and until the single event of Christ’s second coming happens, no other resurrected human being is in heaven. The only human residents of heaven with Jesus now are the disembodied souls of the believing dead. Contemporaneous with that future day of Christ’s return, there will be 1) the one and only general resurrection of all human beings, 2) their appearance before the final judgment by Jesus Christ, 3) the end of the world, and 4) the consummation of the kingdom of God.
[1] See Dr. McLin’s article on this blog entitled The One Thousand Year Error for a more detailed discussion of this issue.
[2] The One Thousand-Year Error, www.christianinquiry.com, accessed August 22, 2023.
[3] See Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology. The Banner of Truth Trust, 2019, 745-49ff for a discussion of some of the general objections to the premillennial theory of the second coming of Christ.
[4] The period of time between the first and second advents of Christ.
