One of the characteristics of Dispensationalism is its doctrine of the Rapture. Unlike traditional Christianity which believes in one single return of Christ at the end of this age, Dispensationalists look for two more comings of the Lord. First, he will come for His people, and then with His saints. According to this two-stage theory of Christ's return, the first coming will be the Rapture and the second coming will be the Revelation.

The Rapture may take place at any moment, and will be secret as far as the world is concerned. Only true believers will be removed from the world in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Those who will be left behind, the unsaved, will go through a seven year period (corresponding to the seventieth week of Daniel's prophecy), during which time they will have a second chance to repent. During the first half of this period many will be converted by the preaching of the "Gospel of the Kingdom." Antichrist, who will be in power by that time, will make a covenant with the Jews, allowing them to offer sacrifices in a rebuilt temple at Jerusalem. But after three and a half years he will break this covenant and place an idol (the abomination of desolation) in the holy of holies of the temple. The Jews will refuse to bow to this idol and a great persecution will result – the time of Jacob's trouble. Finally, at the close of this tribulation period, Christ will return in power and great glory. Antichrist will be defeated and the Millennium established. There will be two resurrections, one of the saved at the beginning of the Millennium and a second, of the wicked, at the end of the thousand years.

In this article I want to examine in some detail this whole notion of the Rapture. The following quotations from dispensational writers are representative of this interpretation:

Quickly and invisibly, unperceivably by the world, the Lord will come as a thief in the night and catch away His waiting saints.

His appearance in the clouds will be veiled to the human eye and no one will see Him. He will slip in and slip out; move in to get His jewels and slip out as under cover of night.

It will be a secret rapture, quiet, noiseless, sudden as the step of the thief in the night. All that the world will know will be that multitudes at once have gone.

One can hear statements like the above from countless radio preachers, who never seem to get tired of expounding this strange doctrine of the Rapture. So often is this view aired on the radio or written about in books and magazines that many people think that this is the only correct inter­pretation of the Second Coming. Yet the fact is that this teaching is of a relatively recent origin. It was not taught by the New Testament church, not by the church of the first centuries, nor by the churches of the Reformation. It was not taught by any Christian until around the year 1830!

It all started with a man named Edward Irving. Born in Scotland in 1792, Irving became one of the most eloquent preachers of his time. In 1829 his open-air meetings in Scotland drew crowds of ten thousand people, and he regularly preached to a congregation in London of over one thousand hearers. In 1832 Irving was barred from his pulpit because of certain teachings about the two natures of Christ, which teachings were deemed heretical by his denomination, the Church of Scotland. He died two years later, a broken-hearted man.

I mention Irving, because it was in his church in March 1830, that a Miss Margaret McDonald had a vision in which she prophesied about the second coming of Christ. She first spoke of a visible, open, and glorious appearance of the Saviour. But as the utterances continued, she began to speak of another coming of Christ – a special, secret coming in which He would come and rapture those who were truly ready and looking for His return. Those who were left would go through the tribulation period. Miss MacDonald's revelation was accepted as genuine by Irving and he began to preach the secret Rapture as Biblical truth. A few years later the doctrine was adopted by the Plymouth Brethren whose leader, Darby, I wrote about in previous articles.

Dr. Tregelles, one of the Brethren who did not agree with this new teaching, wrote in 1864:

I am not aware that there was any definite teaching that there should be a Secret Rapture of the Church until this was given forth as an 'utterance' in Mr. Irving's church from what was then received as being the voice of the Spirit. But whether anyone ever asserted such a thing or not, it was from that supposed revelation that the modern doctrine and the modern phrase­ology respecting it arose. It came, not from the Holy Scriptures, but from that which was falsely pretended to be the Spirit of God.Quoted by Robert D. Brinsmead in "Presenting Truth", Sept. 1974, p. 29

The secret Rapture teaching was introduced into the United States and Canada in the 1860's and 70's. Darby himself visited the United States six times. Due to his influence the new teaching spread rapidly, making inroads among Presbyterians, Baptists and many other denomina­tions. The most amazing thing about this whole secret Rapture teaching is that in spite of its questionable origin it was so soon dogmatically promoted by men who for the most part were of unquestionable reputations. The reason for this is that for many years the story of Miss MacDonald had been hushed up. This has been documented recently by Dave MacPherson in his book The Unbelievable Pre-Trib Origin, which appeared in 1973.

At any rate, the doctrine of the Rapture is based on a vision of a young girl who had what we today call a charismatic experience! It was only later that Biblical evidence was sought to undergird this teaching. And to that alleged Biblical proof we now turn. The main passage cited in support of the Rapture doctrine is 1 Thess. 4:16,17, where the apostle Paul writes:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of his 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 up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

To anyone who reads with unprejudiced eyes, this verse indicates anything but a quiet, secret rapture. Whether we take the "shout", the "voice", and the "trump" in a literal sense or as having a figurative meaning – either way, this passage does not convey the idea of a secret and quiet event which none but the true believers will notice. 1 Thess. 4:16 has appropriately been called "the noisiest verse in the Bible." We are told here that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God, and in addition to this there will be the shouts of praise and rejoicing from a multitude of saints as they are caught up to meet the Lord!

Where is any secrecy here? Surely this is not the descrip­tion of a hidden and quiet event! Yet, in spite of every indication to the contrary, this verse is constantly used as a text for sermons which describe the Rapture as a secret, hidden, and quiet coming of Christ. But what about the claim that at this Rapture, Christ will come for His Church only to return seven years later with His Church? This too is sup­posed to be taught here in 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.

For one thing, the expression "coming for the saints" is never used in the Bible. This should already caution us. It is an expression coined by the people holding to the secret Rapture idea. But once a person has this concept in his mind that there will be a special coming of Christ "for" the Church, he will then read this concept into texts like 1 Thess. 4:17. When such a person reads about believers being "caught up" he will immediately conclude that they will be caught up to heaven. But this is not what the passage says at all. It says rather that believers will be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.

This verse simply explains where the believers will meet the Lord. The place of meeting will be just above the earth – in the clouds, in the air. There is nothing here to suggest that Christ will then turn around and take the church to heaven. Notice that believers will rise to "meet" the Lord. The word that is translated "meet" is a word that was used in reference to the coming of a king to visit a city. As he approached, the citizens would go out to meet him and then escort him on the last part of his journey into the city. I believe that it has precisely the same meaning here. As the Lord descends from heaven, believers will rise to meet Him in the air, in order to come with Him as He continues His descent to earth.

When Paul speaks of believers here, he is referring to two categories. There are first of all the believers who will still be alive at Christ's Second Coming. But then there are also the dead in Christ or those who have fallen asleep in Jesus before His return.

The Thessalonians were concerned about the latter. What will happen to our loved ones when Christ will return, they asked Paul? This shows, of course, that the Thessalonians were quite ignorant. But it also showed their love. They were new Christians and did not fully understand the implications of the doctrine of Christ's return. They thought that when Christ would suddenly come back, their departed loved ones would be deprived of the joy of going forth to meet him.

Therefore Paul assures them that those who would survive until the time of Christ's return would have no advantage over those who had already died. Those still alive will have to wait until the dead have been raised. Then, together, the two groups – survivors and resurrected believers – will go forth to meet the Lord. This is the meaning of the phrase: "The dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds."

At Christ's coming the bodies of the dead in Christ will be raised and joined to their souls which Christ will bring with Him from heaven. The rest will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and so all who in this life, that is in the dispensation of grace, came to faith in Christ, will be with Him and spend eternity in His presence.

What about those who died unsaved and those un­believers who are still alive at Christ's coming? They too shall be judged together with the saints, but they shall stand at Christ's left, whereas believers shall be at His right hand.

They will not have a second chance, as those who believe in the secret Rapture claim. No, as Paul says in 2 Thess. 1:8-10, when Christ comes again, "He will take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe … in that day."

The idea that then there will still be an opportunity for repentance is absolutely ruled out. Swift destruction is the lot of the wicked. Very swiftly they are driven to the judgment seat.

Matthew 25 tells us that Christ, at His return, will separate the sheep from the goats, opening wide the gates of eternal joy for the former, and sending the latter into eternal punishment. And in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins those who are ready go in with the Bridegroom into the marriage-feast and immediately the door is shut. Christ has a name for those people who imagine that there will still be an opportunity for conversion after His return. He calls them "foolish virgins". Christ thus emphasizes that once these swift events begin to take place, it will be too late. We conclude therefore, that the doctrine of the Rapture is false and misleading. Not only does it hold out the empty promise of escaping the great tribulation, which appeals to the flesh, but even more dangerous is the fact that it takes away the urgency to seek the Lord now, while He may be found, and to call upon Him while He is near (Isa. 55:6).

Those who hold to this strange doctrine may be very sincere, but I am afraid they are sincerely wrong. Any teaching that has not better foundation than the utterance of a girl given to visions and dreams, plus one or two Scripture passages twisted to fit this preconceived notion, should be highly suspect. The doctrine of the Rapture and everything that is connected with it is not a part of the faith which was once delivered unto the saints and for which we are to contend earnestly (Jude 3).