Back in the Future...The Great Escape (part 1)

Whenever you talk about or preach on the subject of the rapture, the event that will see Christ return in the air for His church, the big question on every believer’s mind is, “When?” When will the rapture take place? Many throughout the centuries have tried to predict a date for this great event. But when each of these dates rolled around, it came and went with nothing miraculous taking place.

The prediction that sticks out the most in my mind was the one that gave a specific day of the year back in 1988 in which Jesus was guaranteed to return. I was in my first year of ministry as a youth pastor in Ohio at the time. I was amazed at the number of Biblically grounded pastors that I heard about who fell for this hoax. In fact, the very pastor that married my wife and I was so convinced of the certainty of this 1988 date that I am told that his congregation held funeral services for everyone in advance of this date since they would not be able to have their own funeral due to being raptured rather than dying. That alone intrigued me. I can’t honestly say that the prospect of not have a funeral would disappoint me.

On that predicted day of that year back in 1988, this once vibrant congregation all met at the church so they could get raptured together as a local church. Many even brought their children home from college so they could experience this great hope as a family. But, as you can well imagine, the day and night came and went and when it was all said and done they were all still sitting in the church sanctuary…no trumpet…no rapture…not even a sign in the sky…just very disheartening amounts of dismay and disappointment.

The Bible is clear that it is impossible to set a date for the return of Christ. But there is one aspect about its timing that I believe we can know for sure. We can know the timing of the rapture as it relates to the horrible 7-year tribulation that the book of Revelation teaches is coming to this earth. What are the main views concerning the timing of the rapture? The Partial Rapture Theory says that the rapture of the church happens at many different intervals throughout the tribulation. The Mid-Tribulational Rapture Theory says that the rapture of the church happens at the mid point of the tribulation period (3.5 years into it). The Post-Tribulational Rapture Theory says that the rapture of the church happens at the end of the tribulation period and that the church will go through all 7 years of this time of judgment on earth. Another popular current theory is the Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory which teaches that the rapture of the church happens somewhere between the 6th and 7th seal judgment of the tribulation period.

I personally believe in what is called a Pre-Tribulational Rapture. This simply means that the rapture of the church happens before the tribulation period even begins. In other words, it is my belief that we as Christians will not go through the tribulation because we will be raptured before this 7-year period starts. Why do I believe in a pre-tribulational rapture of the church? There are many reasons, but in the coming two blog entries I will highlight just a few of them (8 to be exact). Be sure to read the next 2 days blogs!