Preface
What is the Issue, Coming or Going?
A popular question that is asked by promoters of pretribulation
rapture is as follows: Why didn't the apostle Paul teach about a
posttribulation rapture? The question is obviously flawed because it
assumes that Paul taught about pretribulation rapture, which he did not.
In fact, Paul did not teach concerning a midtribulation or even a
prewrath rapture or any of the popular views of the rapture. In fact,
one could say that Paul didn't teach about a rapture at all, but only
referred to it in several places.
Unlike many today, Paul didn't make the rapture the central issue
of eschatology. Instead, the return of Christ was the primary concern of
Paul's eschatological teaching. The rapture is the method by which we
will depart and it will last approximately 1/52 hundredths of a second,
the twinkling of an eye. People have written songs about this event as
if it is going to be a slower experience. One such song goes as follows:
"Oh I'm going to take a trip, on the good old gospel ship!" It
won't happen that way! The rapture will not be a trip, but a split
second event. I mean, those people who are raptured will not even
have time to say, "Weeee!!" Leave it to carnally minded
teachers to concentrate all their efforts on the method of departure
instead of the coming of Christ.
Paul taught that when Jesus comes, we Christians are going. He
taught, as did Christ and the early Church writers, that Jesus is coming
at the end of the tribulation, and that is when we are departing. Paul
did not put timing prefixes on the departure method, i.e., pre, post,
mid, and etceteras. There was no need to do this because it isn't a
separate event from the Parousia of Christ. All that is necessary is to
give some general indication of the time of Jesus' coming and we know to
the same extent when we are leaving the earth.
A timing prefix and all the other tags are only needed in the
dispensationalist scheme because they have separated the method of the
Church’s departure from the event of Christ’s arrival—thus the
term “rapture” rather than the Second Coming.
When we see Christ, we shall be with Him instantly. In that
context, it is practically a simultaneous event. Paul puts it like this;
"When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear
with Him in glory." (Col. 3:4) The reader should compare that
scripture to the one in 1Thessalonians "But
we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is." (1 Jn. 3:2)
By sectioning out the instant departure from the instant coming,
and giving it a term, i.e. rapture, and applying a timing prefix,
pretribulation, the departure method has been blown up into a billion
dollar industry with the singular objective of perpetually explaining
itself. In order to get the clear picture of how ludicrous that this
situation is, we will turn to an illustration that can put it in proper
perspective.
Imagine someone turning on a flashlight in a dark room. How quick
would we estimate that it takes the beam to reach the wall? That's how
fast the coming of Christ and the departure of the saints will be.
Then we should imagine a group of people forming an institute to
study the event of the light leaving the lens of a flashlight and
hitting the wall. Finally, they could turn this microsecond event into a
dual event separated by seven years; and then add a mountain of
literature that would make it so important and traditional that sooner
or later a future generation would believe everything that they were
taught about it. Such a scenario would be a complete exercise in
futility.
The Scriptures focus on the coming of Christ and our method of
departure is not that important. We should not be looking at the event
from the underside, but from the viewpoint of God. It is the arrival of
His Son, our King and Savior, that is the highlight of eschatology.
Everyone who is prepared to greet Him as Lord and submit to His
authority only has to concern themselves about taking up their cross and
walking in His footsteps.
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