I received a note the other day from a gentleman who felt compelled to write me to tell me why I should believe in a secret rapture of the church. The comments below are a portion of my email response to his letter.

Dear Sir,

I trust the Lord will bless you and your ministry in 2009.

Thank you for your response to the issue of the rapture. However, I want to exhort you to continue to study this matter very carefully for the following reasons.

The concept of a rapture whereby Christians suddenly disappear off the face of the earth to avoid a seven-year period of tribulation and then return with Jesus seven years later is without biblical support. The idea of a secret rapture of the saints is foreign to Scripture and is antithetical to the passages you mentioned. Neither 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 nor 1 Thessalonians 4 substantiate the position you hold. We must be careful to let Scripture speak for itself and not read into a passage what we want it to say.

The concept of a secret rapture is not part of the historic Christian faith. You will not find a discussion of this topic in any one of the historic creeds of Christendom, nor have any of the church councils ever mentioned this issue. I would encourage you to study the Baptist Confession of 1689 or the Westminster Confession of Faith to see that the church has never considered this issue biblical.

I would further submit to you that your position adds a third coming of Christ:

First. Jesus came to die at Calvary.

Second. Jesus comes to retrieve His church.

Third. Jesus comes seven years later with His saints after a tribulation period.

The problem of course is that Hebrews 9:28 teaches Jesus is coming second time for all that believe. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." The rapture adds a third coming of Christ.

The concept of the rapture was first introduced in the late eighteenth century but was not widely held until half a century later. Are you asking me to believe that God withheld a vital doctrine from the church for more than eighteen hundred years? How, then, could Christians follow the book of Jude’s advice to ‘contend for the faith once delivered to the saints’ – not contend for doctrines that have yet to be developed.

The idea of the secret rapture teaches a secret and silent coming of Christ in which people suddenly disappear in a twinkling of an eye. But Scripture teaches just the opposite. Acts 1:11 and 1 Thessalonians 4 address Christ’s return in which there will be a shout, the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God. It is true, however, that Christians will rise to meet the Lord in the air and escort him back to earth…

…The promise for believers is not the rapture but the Second Coming of Christ – bodily, boldly, loudly, obviously and then comes the end.

I exhort you to study the Bible to see if these things are so.

That is my word of exhortation to you.

Because I Care,
Stan