Day of Judgment / Rapture (1)

     Another doomsday date has come and gone.  According to a book recently in circulation, a time refered to by some religious groups as the "rapture" could have taken place during a Jewish feast held this past Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  As anyone listening to this broadcast can figure out, nothing of the sort took place.
     Before going any farther, please go get a Bible.  It is always important to have a Bible in hand while listening to this program.  But it is especially true today since we will have to make reference to several passages without taking time to read each one.
     As is generally the case with such predictions, at least three errors were made in arriving at the prediction.  First of all, it is not sound biblical practice to try to predict the end of the world.  According to 2 Peter 3:10, Christ's return will come like a thief.  This point is made in many biblical references to judgement.  Although the author who made the most recent prediction spent a great deal of time at the beginning of his book explaining why we should be able to know when Christ is returning, the Bible still clearly teaches the opposite.  Since his interpretations used in the body of his book have now been proved to be incorrect, it is no wonder that his preliminary interpretation about being able to determine the date of Christ's return falls into the same category.
     The second error involves the existance of the rapture itself.  Looking once again at 2 Peter 3:10, we learn that the earth will be destroyed on the day that the Lord returns.  The concept of a "rapture" is non-scriptural and is the result of a lack of understanding of biblical prophecy.
     This brings to focus the third error: the way this author used prophecy to support his point is not consistant with the meaning of these prophecies.
     Yes, these may be strong statements.  But they are not ours.  They express what the Bible teaches.
     "But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptiously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak," God says in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, "or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die."
     "And you may say in your heart," the passage continues, "'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?'
     "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken.  The prophet has spoken it presumptiously; you shall not be afraid of him."
     Some have argued that this author has done well in making this prediction, even if they personally don't agree with it.  Does God share this attitude?
     "And I say to you," Jesus states in Matthew 12:36-37, "that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment.  For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned."
     "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren," James 3:1 warns, "knowing that as such we shall incur stricter judgment."
     Anyone who doubts that these condemnations apply to those who teach incorrectly about the second coming of Christ should read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 where Paul addresses this very subject.
     There can be little discussion as to whether or not the latest prediction was correct.  We are all living proof that it was false.  Regardless of the fact the title of the book says "could be" instead of "will be," the prediction did not come true.  Romans 14:22-23 teaches that we should be convinced of something before we practice it or impose it on others.
     Notwithstanding the author's plea to the contrary, the Bible stands clearly opposed to trying to predict when the end will come.  Our discussion, then, should center around the existance of a rapture, as well as the Scriptures used to support this idea.
     Much of the calculation used to arrive at the predicted date was taken from the book of Daniel.  Throughout the book of Daniel, the prophet is talking about the kingdoms that would follow his time and precede the establishment of the church, the kingdom of the Messiah.  This is obvious in Daniel 2:36-45 and 8:19-22.  It is little wonder that the rest of the book, then, fits into the same time frame.  Speaking through a Jewish prophet, God was interested in revealing the end of the Jewish system and the coming of the Messiah.  He was not interested in revealing the events of September, 1988.  The seventy weeks of Daniel chapter 9 are figurative and apply to the end of the Jewish system.
     How do we know the seventy weeks are figurative?  Most importantly, we know that they are figurative because they occur in a figurative setting in a prophetic book.  Less important but critical to this discussion is the fact that the author who made the prediction admits they are symbolic.
     It is interesting to see how people treat this passage.  Those who believe in the rapture say that each day stands for a year.  So, according to them, 70 weeks really means 490 years.  This makes the passage figurative.  Then they place a gap of nearly 2000 years between the 69th and 70th year.  And then they use these figurative numbers to pinpoint a literal date in September, 1988.  Honest biblical interpretation requires consistency.  If the numbers are symbolic, then their meaning is symbolic.  If the passage in Daniel is literal, then there are only 70 weeks to work with and not 490 years plus a gap of nearly 2000 years.

     Another source of much of the calculation is the book of Revelation.  We just finished a chapter-by-chapter study of Revelation on this broadcast a couple of months ago, so we will not spend a lot of time now giving information that we have already presented.  Anyone who missed that series can write for a printed copy of the study.
     One of the things to remember about the book of Revelation is its symbolic nature.  This is obvious to anyone who has ever taken a glance at the book, but there are still people who try to stuff its content into a literal mold.
     Another thing to remember about Revelation is its purpose.  It was written to give courage to early Christians who were facing terrible persecutions.  It is also intended to provide us with the same help.  But if we make Revelation fit a 20th-Century time frame, we destroy its meaning for the first readers.  What did they care about atomic bombs and red armies?
     And one of the most important things to remember about Revelation is the claim of the book itself.  Twice in chapter one, in verses one and three, the text says that the things being revealed are to take place shortly.  Twice in the last chapter, in verses six and 10, the text says that the things being revealed are to take place shortly.  Does the book of Revelation really seem to be dealing with a date in September, 1988?
     Still another passage that is used to teach the idea of a rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.  Anyone who reads this passage without having a preconceived idea understands that it is talking about the final day when Christ returns.  But anyone who wants to twist this Scripture to imply a rapture runs into real problems, since the rapture requires a literal pact made between an antichrist and the Jewish nation sometime after the rapture begins.  But Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 that the anitchrist will be destroyed when Christ appears.  In 1 Thessalonians Paul is writing to comfort Christians who are concerned about the coming of Christ.  1 Thessalonians 4:13 says so.  In 2 Thessalonians Paul is writing to comfort Christians who are still concerned about the coming of Christ.  2 Thessalonians 2:2 says so.  Are we really to believe that Paul is talking about two entirely different occasions, or are we to understand that Christ will return only one more time?
     Another passage that is used to defend the idea of a rapture is 1 Corinthians 15:50-54.  Again, anyone reading this Scripture without a preconceived idea will simply understand it as a reference to the day of judgement.  Those who want to make it refer to a rapture must deal with the rest of the chapter.  Verses 54-57 make it clear that the passage is talking about a time when death is abolished.  Verses 20-28 state that this will happen when Christ returns.  And verse 24 labels this day as "the end."  At this time the kingdom is delivered up to God and all rule and authority is abolished.  This is totally inconsistant with the rapture and the pre-millenial idea of on-going world powers.
     We have yet to examine the most critical Scripture in this discussion: the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and its parallel passages in Mark and Luke.  Lord willing, we will do this next week.
     In a world filled with conflicting theories and conclusions, there is one thing that we must constantly keep in mind: only the truth will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."