Is the rapture Biblical? That depends on what you mean by “rapture.” Many Christians have heard of the rapture of the Left Behind series of books and movies. This is the idea that there will be a secret, first coming of Messiah in which he catches up the believers into heaven. Only after that, after a “seven-year tribulation period,” will he return in his second, public coming. This teaching is quite popular right now in conservative churches. But the idea of a secret rapture is quite recent, dating back only to the 1800’s.* What did Christians believe before that?