How does the rapture fit into armageddon?

Answer 1

A:

The 'rapture' is a more recent theological invention than was the armageddon, and was developed John Nelson Darby, founder of the Plymouth Brethren, in the nineteenth-century. The concept has evolved over a period of nearly two hundred years, but is still essentially the same as originally proposed by Darby.

Barbara R. Rossing (The Rapture Exposed) says that Darby's new teaching was that Christ would return twice, first in secret to "rapture" Christians out of the world and up to heaven, then a second time after seven years of global tribulation for non-believers, to establish a Jerusalem-based kingdom on earth. The tribulation more or less corresponds with the armaggedon and probably includes wars of great destruction. Variations on the rapture have it ocurring before the tribulation, or shortly after the start of the tribulation but perhaps before armaggedon.

Most proponents of the rapture claim that during the tribulation, non-believers will be given the chance to believe and then saved. Of course, even if these events do occur one day, they would only affect a tiny proportion of people since nearly all the Christians who have ever lived and nearly all non-believers would have quietly lived their lives and passed away in the fullness of time, oblivious to any "rapture".

Rossing says that according to one critic, the rapture has its origins with a young girl's vision. In 1830, in Port Glasgow, Scotland, fifteen-year-old Margaret MacDonald attended a healing service. There, she was said to have seen a vision of a two-stage return of Jesus Christ. The story of her vision was adopted and amplified by Darby. There is no good reason to believe there will ever be a rapture or that the events portrayed by Darby will ever occur. John Nelson Darby has sunk into obscurity, apart from his followers in the Plymouth Brethren, and so should his theology.