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?
Let’s begin by looking at the primary source of this teaching in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of a trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Messiah will rise first; then we, the living who remain, at the same time together with them will be snatched up [rapiemur] in the clouds in order to meet the Lord in the air: and in this way we will always be together with the Lord.”
The word “rapture” comes from the Latin for “will be snatched up” (rapiemur) in this passage.* This idea of the “catching away” or “snatching up” of believers is therefore a fully Biblical teaching. The language is also quite clear: we will meet the Lord in the air amidst the clouds of the sky as he descends from heaven. There is, however, no mention of it being a secret event or that we will disappear into heaven with Jesus. Rather it plainly states that we will meet him “in the air.”
* Latin was the language of the official Bible translation used in Western Christianity for more than a thousand years (the Latin Vulgate).
So why is this idea so unfamiliar in traditional Christian churches? This is because of the many debates about the end times that have taken place throughout Church history. Beginning in the 5th century AD or so, traditional churches rejected the idea of a separate, first resurrection of believers (the “first resurrection” of Rev. 20:5-6). This was because of their rejection of a future Millennium or Messianic Kingdom in which Jesus will reign on the earth (Rev. 20:1-6).* As a result, they came to understand 1 Thessalonians 4 as a general resurrection of all the dead.** This would then be followed immediately by the Final Judgment.
* This was in part due to the rise of anti-Semitism in the Church. A future Millennium in which Jesus would reign from Jerusalem was seen as “too Jewish.” However, this Messianic Kingdom on earth is the subject of many Old and New Testament prophecies and is still taught in traditional Judaism today. For more on the Church’s rejection of the Millennium, see our teaching, “Neglected Issues in the Debate About the Millennium,” https://totheends.com/page18.html
** Despite the fact that 1 Thessalonians only mentions the “dead in Messiah” (1 Thess. 4:16).
So what did the Church believe before that, before the Millennium teaching was rejected? Some claim that the “catching away” of believers is mentioned only in 1 Thessalonians. But there is a very similar passage in Revelation 11, when the two witnesses ascend “up into the sky in the cloud” (Rev. 11:12).* The similarity is even closer if we recognize that these two witnesses represent the entire Church.** This is a popular interpretation that many Christians have held over the centuries. But this, too, is not a secret event. It says that “their enemies watched them” as they ascended (Rev. 11:12).
* The word for sky used here (ouranos) generally refers to that which is above, translated “sky” or “heaven” according to the context. While this verse is often translated “up into the heaven,” the mention of clouds indicates that this is the “first heaven,” the lowest of the heavens, which refers to the air around us. The Hebrew Bible always speaks of a plurality of heavens, which include the atmosphere around us, the starry heavens above, and the heaven above that in which God dwells.
** This is an example of corporate personality: when a person or persons are used to represent a group of people. Other examples in the Bible are Adam representing mankind, Israel representing the nation of Israel, and the body of Messiah representing the Church.
There are many examples of people being “caught up” in the Bible: from Enoch (“for God took him,” Gen. 5:24, Heb. 11:5), to Elijah (who “ascended the heavens in the storm-wind,” 2 Kings 2:11), to Paul (who “was snatched up to the third heaven,” 2 Cor. 12:2). Paul’s experience of being “snatched up” is described using the same Greek verb as in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (arpadzo). This same verb is also used of Philip’s experience in Acts 8:39, when “the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away” (Acts 8:40). Lot and his family had a similar experience when they were “set down” or “lowered down” (yanichuhu) outside of Sodom after being taken out by the hand by angels (Gen. 19:16).* The clear implication is that the angels flew them out of the city. So the idea of people being “caught up” by God or by angels is not strange to the Bible.
* For more on Lot’s experience with angels, see our teaching “Sodom and Gomorrah” at https://totheends.com/sodom.html
Lot’s experience with angels helps us better understand Jesus’ own description of his return: “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will beat [their breasts in mourning], and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matt. 24:30-31). This passage doesn’t mention directly being caught up in the clouds. But if angels come to take us somewhere, I don’t think we’ll be walking. And if they gather us to Jesus, who will be up in “the clouds,” it’s a fair assumption that we will be in the clouds with him, just as 1 Thessalonians teaches.
But where did Jesus and the apostles get this idea of meeting Jesus in the air? It wasn’t their practice to introduce new doctrines, but rather to base their teachings firmly on the Old Testament. One of their sources was a passage in Isaiah that also mentions the blowing of a loud trumpet and the “gathering up” or “picking up” of God’s people: “And you will be picked up one by one, sons of Israel. And it will be in that day that a signal will be blown with a great trumpet, and those perishing in the land of Assyria will come, and those scattered in the land of Egypt, and they will bow down [in worship] to the LORD in the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:12-13). At first glance, this may not seem to have anything to do with a resurrection. But a few verses earlier, a strange passage is found, here translated literally: “Your dead will live, my corpse, they will rise. Wake up and shout for joy, you who dwell in the dust” (Isaiah 26:19). The verse is difficult, but it’s clearly talking about resurrection. And this is how the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament (also known as the LXX), understands this entire section.* It translates Isaiah 27:13: “And it will be in that day, they will blow the great trumpet, and those who have perished in the country of Assyria and those who have perished in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13 LXX). According to this translation, when the trumpet blows, the dead will be raised, and they will come to worship in Jerusalem. This is a good example of the close relationship between the Septuagint and the teaching of the New Testament.
* Why is the Septuagint important? Modern scroll discoveries have shown that many of the minor differences between the Septuagint and the Hebrew text (the Masoretic Text or MT) are based on different Hebrew source texts. This means that in many cases, the Septuagint may provide a more accurate understanding of the original. This was certainly the understanding of the apostles, who often quote from the Septuagint in the New Testament. There are many reasons to value the Septuagint. Its translation of the five books of Moses was completed about 250 years before the time of Jesus. This was done with the approval of the high priest in Jerusalem and under the authority of King Ptolemy II of Egypt. The rest of the Old Testament was finished in the next 150 years or so. The Septuagint was officially received by the Jewish community in Egypt, and celebrated with an annual feast (Philo, Life of Moses 2.41-42). Since few early Christians understood Hebrew, the Septuagint served as the Old Testament for Christians for hundreds of years. It’s still considered authoritative today by Orthodox churches (Eastern Orthodox). The Septuagint only fell out of favor with Jewish religious leaders after the time of Jesus because it so closely supported the Christian message.
Jesus had this same passage in mind when he described how God’s people would be “picked up one by one,” as Isaiah put it (Isa. 27:12). In Matthew, he said, “Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken along and one will be left behind. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken along and one will be left behind” (Matt. 24:40-41). In many translations, it’s hard to tell whether it’s better to be taken along or left behind. But the range of meaning of the words used here makes it clear: “taken along” (paralambano) also indicates “accepted” and “received,” while “left behind” (aphiemi) implies “sent off” or “abandoned.” Those “taken along” are those that will be caught up when the trumpet is blown and when the dead in Messiah are raised.
But while Isaiah mentions a great trumpet, the resurrection, and being caught up, he makes no mention of meeting Messiah in the clouds. Where does that come from? It’s from Daniel 7:13: “I was looking in visions of the night, and look: with the clouds [anani] of the heavens, one like a son of man was coming, and he reached the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him.” This coming of Messiah on the clouds was so well known that the rabbis considered Anani to be one of the names of the Messiah (Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Toldot 20:1; Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 14:2).
But what about the believers meeting Jesus in the clouds? For this, we have to turn once again to the Septuagint (the LXX). This same verse reads: “I was looking in a vision of the night, and look: on the clouds of heaven, as a son of man he was appearing, and as an Ancient of Days he was coming, and those serving him were coming to him” (Daniel 7:13 LXX). Here, the Son of Man is not being presented to the Ancient of Days (the Father God), rather he is coming “as an Ancient of Days,” in other words, he is coming as God. And who comes out to meet him in the clouds? “Those serving him were coming to him”—coming, that is, to meet him in the clouds (Daniel 7:13 LXX). These are the believers being caught up to meet Jesus.
The rabbis were not unfamiliar with this idea of being caught up to the clouds in the time of the Messianic Kingdom. “Rav Nachman said, ‘What has been is what will be’ (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Just as the Lord took Israel out of Egypt with glorious clouds and carried them, as it is said (in Exodus 19:4), ‘I bore you on eagles’ wings,’ so he will do for them [in the future], as it is said (in Isaiah 60:8), ‘Who are these that fly like a cloud?’” (Midrash on Psalms 48:5, also Yalkut Shimoni on Nach [Isaiah] 503; similarly Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Tzav 16:1 and Sanh. 92b).
But what is the point of meeting Jesus in the air like this? This reflects the ancient custom of going out to meet a victorious conqueror as he drew near to a city and then accompanying him as he entered the city in triumph. This is just what the people did with Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matt. 21:7-9). But this time, it will be on a much grander scale. As Zechariah puts it, again turning to the Septuagint: “And the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones will be with him” (Zech. 14:5 LXX).*
* As also in Rev. 19:8,14.
So is the rapture a Biblical teaching? Yes, if we understand it in the original sense, as referring to the one and only return of Jesus. But this is taught not only in one passage of the Bible. This catching away and others like it are mentioned in several different places. And the catching away when Jesus returns, the greatest of them all, is firmly based on Old Testament prophecy. Thanks to the Septuagint, we can gain a lot more insight into how Jesus and the disciples understood this important coming event. It is, as Paul describes it, “the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Messiah Jesus” (Titus 2:13). Maranatha! (“Come, Lord Jesus,” 1 Cor. 16:22).
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