The Imminency of the Rapture
This is a doctrine that has been held since the early
days of the church. Quote from the first epistle of Clement, a pastor in Rome,
written approximately AD 96: “Of a truth, soon and suddenly shall His will be
accomplished, as the Scripture also bears witness, saying, ‘Speedily will, he
come and will not tarry,’ and ‘The Lord shall come suddenly to his temple, even
the holy one for whom you look.’” So the early church understood that Jesus can
come back at any moment. They anticipated it within their lifetime, they did
not think that it would be hundreds or thousands of years, they understood that
Jesus could come at any moment.
At the Rapture all church age believers alive and dead
are taken to be with the Lord in the air, and some time after this there is the
seven-year Tribulation period referred to in Revelation as an “hour of
testing.” While that is going on believers are being evaluated in heaven. That
period ends in the heavenlies with the marriage of
the Lamb, and then Jesus returns to the earth at the Second Advent. In many
passages these two returns, the return in the clouds for the church and the
return to the earth with the church, are viewed as collapsed, like a telescope as
one event. In the Old Testament the first coming and the second coming of
Christ are collapsed into one event. It is not until time goes by that we
realize that there is a separation. The second
advent is then followed by a thousand years under the rule of
Christ on the earth.
One thing that needs to be pointed out is that the
Rapture ends the church age but the Rapture doesn’t begin the Tribulation.
Daniel chapter nine gives us our specific description of this seven-year
period, it is known as Daniel’s seventieth week, and it begins when the prince
of the people who is to come (Antichrist) signs a contract or peace treaty with
the nation
2 Timothy 4:8 gives us our attitude: “From now on
there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all
who have longed for his appearing.” That is our attitude. Each day we are to
anticipate, look forward to, be
motivated by, the fact that that Jesus Christ could come today. Because He
doesn’t we sometimes become
complacent in our spiritual life. But any day he could come, are we ready? That
is the application that underlies the whole doctrine of imminency:
that we don’t know when he will come. So we always need to be ready as if that
day were today.
The doctrine of the imminency of the Rapture
1) Definition: Imminency means
the at-any-moment return of Jesus Christ. Nothing must occur prior to the
return of Christ for the church, no prophetic fulfilment, nothing that has to
come between today and His return. The Second Coming, on the other hand, is not
imminent because there are specific signs that precede it. We are not looking
for the Antichrist, we are looking for Jesus Christ, and that is the sense of imminency. The church age, then, is the only dispensation
in history in which there are historical trends and no prophetic fulfilment in
relationship to the church and the church age itself.
2) The doctrine of imminency is
important to understand the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the church. Imminency means that it is certain it will occur, but it is
uncertain when it will occur. It is not contingent on any other event. No
prophesied event intervenes between the present time and the Rapture. The
Rapture is the resurrection of all dead church age believers and the removal of
all living believers from the earth at the end of the church age before the Tribulation
begins.
3) The purpose of the doctrine of imminency
is to keep each believer in a constant state of expectancy—looking, waiting,
watching, hoping for the
return of Christ that we might be ready. The purpose is to keep us ready, keep
us on our toes, so that we might not be ashamed at His coming, 1 John 2:28.
4) Believers are to look forward to the blessed hope. We
are to look for the savior, Hebrews 9:28; Titus 2:13.
We are to watch for the savior: 1 Thessalonians 5:6;
Luke 12:37. We are to wait for the savior, 1
Corinthians 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:10. We should live every day as if the Lord
was coming back today, constantly in a state of readiness.
5) No prophecy occurs or is fulfilled between the baptism
of the Spirit and the Rapture means that the Rapture is imminent.
6) The resurrection of the church, one of the terms used
for the Rapture of the church, like our dying is completely out of our control.
We don’t know when it will be.
7) The resurrection of the church is totally beyond our
control because the resurrection is the Lord’s victory. 1 Corinthians 15:57:
“But thanks be to God, who
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Rapture of the church
is a victory of the Lord Jesus Christ in taking us to be with Him and keeping
the church, His bride, out of the Tribulation.
8) While the Rapture is imminent, the Second Advent is
not. Before the Second Advent occurs there are many prophecies which must take
place.
9) The Rapture could have occurred at the time of James
or the time of Paul, because no prophecy had to be fulfilled before the
resurrection occurs. They anticipated the imminent return of Jesus Christ.
10) Distortion
of the imminency of the Rapture results in
instability and foolish explanation or speculation about the time of the
Rapture. 2 Peter 3:3, 4 tells us that one of the trends that will take place
during the last days of the church that
mockers would come with their mocking: “Where is the promise of
his coming?” John 14:1-3 is our Lord’s statement to His disciples about His
departure: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in
me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so,
would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that
where I am, there you may be also.” Revelation 22:12: “Behold, I come quickly.”
James 5:4-9: “Listen! The wages of the laborers who
mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the
harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the
earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of
slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not
resist you. Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The
farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until
it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen
your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble
against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing
at the doors!” The focus is on the next event, which is the appearance of His Son:
“and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who
rescues us from the wrath that is coming.” 1 Corinthians 1:7: “so that you are
not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord
Jesus Christ.” That is what we are looking for. Philippians 3:20, 21: “But our
citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body
of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the
power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.” 1
Thessalonians 4:15: “For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that
we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means
precede those who have died.” Titus 2:13: “while we wait for the blessed hope
and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ.”
I am waiting for the
dawning
Of a bright and blessed
day,
When the darksome night
of sorrow
Shall have vanished far
away:
When for ever with the
Saviour,
Far beyond this vale of
tears,
I shall swell the song
of worship
Through the everlasting
years
I am looking at the
brightness
See, it shineth from afar;
Of the clear and joyous
beaming
Of the bright and morning Star.
Through the dark grey
mist morning
Do I see its glorious light;
Then away with every
shadow
Of this sad and weary night.
I am waiting for the
coming
Of the Lord who died for
me;
Oh, His words have
thrilled my spirit,
I will come again for
thee.
I can almost hear the
footfall,
On the threshold of the
door,
And my heart, my heart
is longing
To be with Him evermore.
S.T. Francis