Introduction: The Confusion of Our Day
The Lord Jesus Christ is returning to this earth. There is a day coming when with power and great glory he will return for his people and gather them together unto himself in the clouds. This will be a glorious event, one which every Christian eagerly anticipates — for from that moment he will never be parted from the Lord.
But exactly what will occur at that time, and in what chronological order, are matters about which so many have great confusion in our day. It never used to be so. When the Scriptures are studied without preconceived ideas and theories, the events of that great day are very plainly revealed. But a certain theory — the futurist interpretation of prophecy — has become dominant in our day, sowing immense confusion everywhere. It has taken what is really a very straightforward matter and by a process of intense scripture distortion made a mountain out of a molehill.
The Origins of Futurism
Futurism was first put forward by a Jesuit priest named Ribera some centuries ago, and then developed further by another Jesuit priest named Lacunza. These were Roman Catholic Jesuit priests, and their purpose was to deliberately lead Protestants away from their historical interpretation of the Roman papacy as the Antichrist. They were very successful. Various Protestants took up their ideas and gradually developed the entire system we have today. But the roots of it are to be found in diabolical Jesuitism.
The only aspect of futurism I am dealing with today is the theory that the Lord Jesus will come secretly first for his saints, and then some years later return visibly and openly with his saints.
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory
The most popular version of this is what is known as the pre-trib rapture theory. The word rapture is not found in the Bible — Scripture speaks of being caught up, of the gathering together, of meeting the Lord in the air. But the word rapture has become extremely popular, and I accept that like the word trinity it can be helpful to a point.
According to this theory, the Lord Jesus Christ will return secretly for his saints seven years before his public second coming to judge the world. When he comes secretly he will rapture his church — gathering them to him in the clouds along with the resurrected saints of all ages — and then take them back to heaven. All over the earth, Christians will suddenly disappear. Pandemonium breaks out: cars without drivers, planes without pilots, hospitals in chaos as Christian nurses and doctors suddenly vanish. Then believers spend the next seven years in heaven at the marriage supper of the Lamb, while down on earth the Antichrist reigns during what futurists call the tribulation — with no Christians and no Holy Spirit on earth. Then at the end of the seven years, Jesus returns visibly with his saints to destroy the Antichrist at Armageddon and reign on earth for a thousand years.
In essence: a two-stage coming of Christ. First, a secret coming for his church; second, a visible coming with his saints seven years later. That is the pre-tribulation rapture theory, the dominant prophetic interpretation of our time. A slight variation is the mid-trib rapture theory — the same idea, but with Christ coming for his people three and a half years into the tribulation instead of before it. To refute the first is to refute both, since both argue for a two-stage coming. If it can be shown from Scripture that there is only one coming, both theories fall together.
What the Scriptures Actually Teach
There is not a single verse in all the Bible that supports the notion of a seven-year tribulation at the end of time. The tribulation began in the first century already, as Matthew 24 and Revelation 7 make plain, and all believers through much tribulation must enter the kingdom of God. Look at what the millions of believers suffered at the hands of Rome through the Dark Ages and the Inquisition — no seven-year period at the end of time could equal what the papacy has done to the saints of God through the centuries.
Let us now turn to the plain teaching of God's Word, approaching these scriptures without preconceived theories, as if reading them for the very first time.
Matthew 24:29–31
Without any preconceived notions: Christ comes after the tribulation (verse 29), he will be seen by the peoples of the earth (verse 30), his coming will be spectacular and glorious. And in verse 31 — at his second coming, not seven years before it, not three and a half years before it, but at his second coming — he gathers together his elect from the four corners of the world.
It is plain enough that this gathering of the elect in verse 31 is nothing other than what 1 Thessalonians 4 describes — the catching up of the living and the dead saints to meet the Lord in the air. Compare them:
Nothing secret about this. Very visible. Very noisy. Very glorious. And it ties perfectly with Matthew 24:31. The same event — the great sound of a trumpet, the gathering of the elect from the four winds — described in both passages.
The same again in 1 Corinthians 15:
The same trumpet. The same event. At the last trump. When Matthew 24 verse 31 speaks of gathering the elect, it refers to exactly this. Even pre-trib supporters acknowledge that verses 29 and 30 of Matthew 24 refer to the visible second coming — but verse 31 presents a major problem for their theory, since it places the gathering of the elect at that same visible second coming.
Their answer is to say that the elect in verse 31 refers not to Christians but to the Jews. But this is entirely without foundation. The elect of God are his chosen people — believers in Christ from all nations. The doctrine of election is despised today and the vast majority of pre-tribulationists are Arminians who do not believe it, making it easy for them to apply the word elsewhere. But the elect are Christians, and verse 31 refers to the gathering of Christians at the visible return of Christ.
John 6: The Last Day
These verses in John are not often considered by futurists — and for very good reason. They completely demolish the theory. Four times in a single sermon Jesus said:
Four times: the resurrection at the last day. And we know from 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 that the resurrection of the dead saints occurs at the very same moment as the living saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Therefore, what is so often called the rapture also occurs on the last day.
If the catching up occurs seven years before Christ's return to earth, then the resurrection must as well — since they happen simultaneously. But that would make the Lord Jesus Christ a liar. He specifically said the resurrection occurs on the last day. One can hardly call a day the last day when it occurs seven years before the last day.
Futurists have woven a very intricate web for themselves, and they are ensnared in it. There is absolutely no way out of it except to abandon this false theory.
Noah and the Flood: Matthew 24:37–42
Futurists argue: just as Noah was put in the ark before the flood, so Christians will be raptured before the tribulation. But they overlook one very significant fact. Noah was not put into the ark seven years before the flood — not three and a half years before, not even half a year before. The very day Noah was delivered, God's judgment immediately began. In the very same way, believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at the very last moment, as Christ returns to earth to judge.
Verse 40: Then shall two be in the field, one shall be taken and the other left. The word then connects directly to verse 39 — at his coming. The entire context shows that the Lord was speaking of his return, and not a secret return, but the only return there will be — the second coming of Christ. There is absolutely nothing in these verses that even hints at a two-stage coming.
Scripture, when allowed to interpret itself, leaves us in no doubt: Christ returns once, visibly, powerfully, gloriously — on the last day — and at that moment he gathers together all his people, raises the dead, changes the living, and comes to judge the world in righteousness. This is the plain, beautiful, comforting teaching of God's Word.
Continued in Part II.