The Rapture

                                                                          
 
                                                                By Ajayi Ojeva  Osogbo,      of Nigeria
 
The Rapture is a popular doctrine among denominational churches today. It was believed and taught by a few premillenialists in the church. It is connected with theories about the second coming of Christ and his kingdom.
 
The exponents of this doctrine believe and teach that Christ will come secretly and take his church out of the earth, leaving sinners behind. It is an arm of the premillenialists’ theory about the second coming Christ.
 
The premillenialists are divided on the question as to when the so-called rapture will occur. Four positions are held among them. They all believe and teach a period of great tribulation on earth. They place the rapture at different periods of the tribulation.
 
The pre-tribulationists place the rapture before the tribulation. They believe that Christ will return at any moment to secretly rapture the church before the tribulation on earth. After seven years of tribulation, Christ will return with His saints to overcome the Antichrist and his forces and establish God’s millennial, Jewish kingdom on earth.
 
Mid-tribulationists on the contrary place the rapture in the midst of the tribulation. They claim that Christians will experience the first half of the Tribulation, that is three and a half years of persecution, and then at the midpoint of the tribulation they will be raptured. They base their argument for such a position on Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 12:4 which include the phrase “time, times and half a time.” This is taken to mean a period of three and a half years of tribulation, before the rapture.
 
Post-tribulationists on the other hand placed the rapture after the tribulation. They believe the church will experience seven years of tribulation before Christ returns. They believe also that the Jews will believe in Jesus after the church has been raptured.
 
Pre-Wrath Tribulationists on their own placed the rapture after the tribulation, but before the wrath of the day of the Lord.
 
No passage of the scripture teach the doctrine of the so-called rapture.
 
Neither Matthew 24 nor 1 Thessalonians 4 teach such doctrine.
 
In Mathew chapter 24 verses 40 and 41 we read, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” In the verses, Jesus was not speaking about the so-called rapture. What does taking one and leaving the other mean then? In this life, two persons may be doing things together but be separated in relation to Christ. Thus, they shall be separated in eternity. At the second coming of Christ, men shall be separated in the resurrection and judgment; the righteous will resurrect unto resurrection of life. But the unrighteous unto the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28-29). The meaning here apparently is that at the second coming of Jesus to judge the world, the righteous faithful saints will be taken away to their eternal reward in heaven, the unrighteous and unfaithful will be left for their final abode in hell. The judgment shall see the unrighteous going into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (Matthew 25:46).
 
1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 15 to 17 reads:
”For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain 
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself 
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the 
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain 
shall be caught off together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so 
shall we ever be with the Lord.”
This passage does not teach a secret rapture in any way. First, the so-called rapture is supposedly followed by a return to the earth. But in this passage, there is nothing that suggests a return of the saints to the earth. This Scripture says. So we shall ever be with the Lord. Here, the saints are taken up to be with the Lord forever. There is only one coming of the Lord and that is for judgment (Matthew 25: 31-46).
 
Conclusion
 
The doctrine of so-called rapture is false. There is not going to be any intermediate between the second coming of Christ and eternity. There is no secret coming of the Lord. “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen” (Revelation 1:7).