BIBLICAL BRIEFS 30
No! Only theological bogey-men are able to scare the babes/immature in faith! Recently it was once again affirmed that the Bible’s message regarding the return of Jesus is beyond the grasp of most believers. This doctrine of the rapture was mainly established by the ‘Left behind’-series of Tim LaHaye. On the basis of an incorrect interpretation of the last 7 years in Daniel’s prophecy (Dan. 9:25-27) concerning the history and fulfilment of the epoch of the Jews, an end-time doctrine has been fabricated which has been divided into two periods of three-and-half years each, which subsequently was utilised to explain the rapture. This interpretation is not logical, historical-correct nor biblical defensible. Only two passages in Scripture are mainly used to explain the rapture. Matt. 24: 40-41 refers to two men who will be in the field; one is accepted and the other is left. And: “Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one is taken, and the other is left.” Those verses, as is the fact with the entire chapter (of) Matt. 24 in which there is supposedly a referral to the signs of the end times, should be read in the light of verse 34: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” One generation (= 40 years) after this was pronounced (30 AD), the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem, took place in 70 AD. Matt. 24 (AND ALL the so-called end-time signs) have thus ALREADY taken place. The other scripture is 1 Thes. 4:17 – ” Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The word, “caught up” in Greek means “to take something or someone firmly” and is derived from the word meaning to “seize”. The English word ‘rapture’ is derived from Latin where ‘rapere’, means ‘to snatch’. The word ‘rape’ has the same basis, ‘taking by force’. This Scripture clearly refers to the “resurrection” in which Phil. 3:11 (AMP) also states: “the [spiritual] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].” When we, through rebirth, are spiritually resurrected from the dead, like Jesus, we become, together with those who have already died in Christ, part of the cloud of witnesses. “In the air” means “in the spiritual realm”. God comes to live with/in us; The New Jerusalem descends from the spiritual realm to the earth; we inherit the new earth and it is a dramatic reconciliation with Him and the rest of the Body of Christ. Ps. 115:16 declares clearly – “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.” The prayer of Jesus in John 17:15 draws the line at the rapture theory: “I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.”
Dr. Tom Gouws
