By Dennis Pollock
Occasionally I hear or read statements by Bible teachers which I consider theologically dumb. One of those statements is: “I don’t believe in the rapture,” and it is often followed by a second: “The word ‘rapture’ is not in the Bible.” The second statement, that rapture is not in the Bible, is sort of true, depending on whether you read a Latin version of the Scriptures, which, I would guess, is pretty rare. Chances are, if you are reading the NIV, KJV, NKJV, or NAS Bible, you will not find the word rapture anywhere in your Bible, Old or New Testament.
So why would I consider this a dumb statement to say that the word rapture is not in the Bible? I consider it dumb because it strongly implies that, since the word is not in the Bible, the concept of the rapture of the church is not in the Bible either. And this could not be further from the truth. The idea that Jesus will one day come and take His church to Himself, snatching them from the earth and meeting them in the air, is spelled out so plainly, clearly, and directly that you would either have to be totally ignorant of the New Testament or so incredibly biased in your anti-rapture views that you are willing to completely overlook the truth of Scripture.
Let’s not waste any more time on this. Here are the words of the apostle Paul on this subject, taken from the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians:
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17)
“Caught Up”
If it bothers you that you do not find the word “rapture” in this declaration, you can simply say: “I am eagerly looking forward to the great 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17! But let’s go a little deeper. The concept and the word “rapture” come from the two words in this passage: “caught up.” The living Christians will be “caught up” together with the resurrected believers and we will all have a great meeting with Jesus in the air. The words “caught up” come from the Greek word “harpazo” and Greek is the language Paul used to write this epistle. “Harpazo” means to seize, to aggressively and speedily snatch something away, to claim something for yourself. If you had to define this Greek word in one English word, probably the best word you could use would be the word “snatch.” We who are alive at the coming of Christ will be snatched from the earth by Jesus and taken to be with Him.
But if you read a Latin version of the Bible, you would see the word “rapturo” rather than harpazo, which also means to quickly snatch something away. And “rapturo” is the root from which we get the word “rapture.” So yes, you could say that the word “rapture” is in the Bible, if you happen to read a Latin version. But if we are to stick with our English versions of the New Testament, we would be more proper to say that Jesus will one day “snatch” His church from the earth, or we could declare how excited we are about the great Snatch. Somehow “snatch” has never caught on like the word rapture.
The Greek word harpazo is found in a couple of other places in the Scriptures. When Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch in a pond, the Bible says: “Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:39). Philip was “caught away,” and here again we find the word harpazo. You might say that Philip was raptured away, but this was not a vertical rapture, with Philip going up to heaven to be with Jesus. This was a horizontal snatch, and Philip was transported to a different city. Nice way to travel!
Another use of harpazo is found in the words of Jesus, where He says: “And I give (My sheep) eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28). Without question, the concept of Jesus suddenly coming to take His people to Himself comes straight from the Scriptures. Jesus tells us: “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself…” (John 14:3).
Is it Wimpy to Look for Jesus?
Some people mock anyone who says much about the rapture. If you press them hard enough with the supporting Bible verses, they may grudgingly admit that they exist, but they feel that anyone who gets too enthusiastic about Jesus returning for us is both carnal and an escapist. In their minds, we are such wimps that we cannot stand to live in this world, and so we sit around waiting for Jesus to come and take us away from all our miseries. They feel that if we were as spiritual as they are, we would forget all this nonsense and be about the business of praying, evangelizing, and building Christ’s kingdom.
That might sound reasonable if it were not directly contradicted by Scripture, and by the very words of Jesus. Not only is it biblically OK to eagerly watch for the return of Jesus to take us to Himself; we are commanded to look for Him. Jesus says: “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42). And Paul writes: “… looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…” (Titus 2:13). And in another place Paul says: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)
As far as the return of Jesus being an escape, it really is an escape, but not an escape from the problems and afflictions we have in this world. Everyone is subject to these, and there is no escape. But the return of Jesus is an escape from the wrath of God. After detailing the terrible things that will happen to our world in its final days, Jesus tells us: “Pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36). Through the blood Jesus shed for us, we are made worthy and acceptable to God, and one day, maybe in our lifetime, maybe after we are already in heaven, Jesus will call His people to Himself. The dead in Christ will rise first, and those who are alive and remain will follow immediately afterwards, caught up to be with Jesus forever. How do we know this? God has clearly revealed this in His word, and He always keeps His promises.
