When will Christians be raptured?

Answer 1

A:

The 'Rapture' is a theological invention of John Nelson Darby, the nineteenth-century founder of the Plymouth Brethren. Barbara R. Rossing (The Rapture Exposed) 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. Darby's new teaching was that Christ would return twice, first in secret to "Rapture" his church 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.

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Biblical tradition says that no one can know when the Second Coming of Jesus will occur, and Christians have always taught that Jesus will return to earth and that believers should live in the urgent and hopeful anticipation of his second coming. In the same way, Darby did not predict a specific date for Christ's return, instead inventing "dispensations" - intervals of time ordering God's grand timetable for world events.

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There will be no Rapture and therefore no timescale for the Rapture to begin. John Nelson Darby has sunk into obscurity, apart from his followers in the Plymouth Brethren, and so should his theology.

Another Answer:

In The Bible it doesnt say anything about the hour the day and the minute of the rapture so youll never know when its going to happen

Another Answer:

The term 'rapture' is not in the Scripture but was a concept of man in the early-mid 19th Century of a 'secret' coming of Christ to take His true disciples to Heaven, then the tribulation culminating in another Coming of Christ to rule the world. However, the Bible is quite clear that Jesus will only come one time (at the sound of the 7th trumpet) and it will be quite loud and spectacular - the whole world will take note of it and many will shutter and ask the mountains to fall upon them because of fear.

The when part demands our watching for the inevitable signs Christ gave us in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13 (speaking to the Temple's soon coming destruction in 70AD but giving signs of the ways of mankind and the world in the end-times (duality) ).

Luke 21:36

New International Version (NIV)

36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

Answer 2

Another answer from our community:

Most likely before the Great Tribulation starts. Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Answer 3

Without a doubt.

The word rapture is not used, but the premise is.

See Matthew 24:40&41 "Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left."

I Thessalonians 5:2&3 "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape."

II Peter 3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up."

Perhaps a better example is this in Revelation 14 verses 14-16 "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe. Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped."

Answer:

According to the Bible, the time is coming when Christ will return to earth with the Kingdom of God... at which time He will send His angels [who will be with Him] to "gather" His saints [His "elect"... dead and alive] off of the earth into the clouds [that will then be surrounding the planet], where they will be "changed" into "immortal sons of God. Then, He will finish His descent onto the Mount of Olives with His angelic army to defeat man's armies gathered at Armageddon, which will lie in His path to Jerusalem where He'll set up headquarters for His Government. [see Zech.14]

This will hardly be the "rapture" that's being taught to men in these last days... a "doctrine" that emerged and developed as recently as the 19th century.

A popular "Left Behind" fictional book series has also made a lot of money off of believers of this false doctrine of "escapism" and the sudden unexplainable global "disappearance" of alleged "Christians" around the world.

As cited above... one Bible passage used to propel this doctrine is:

"...Then shall two be in the field; the one taken, and the other left. Two women shall be gringing at the mill; the one taken, and the other left." (Matt.24:40-41)

But, what the rapture doctrine fails to take into account is the "chronology" of this prophecy of Jesus. Matthew 24 is written in chronological order of the "overlapping" events that shall lead up to His return to earth with the Kingdom of God -- not the "rapturing of His servants up to heaven." Nowhere in Matthew 24 does Jesus make any mention of taking anyone to heaven.

Chronologically... He warns His people to beware and watch the development of "false Christianity," world wars, famines, diseases, pestilences, earthquakes... explaining that the growth of all these things are just the beginnings and will eventually lead into a period of global unprecedented "Great Tribulation." [Matt.24:4-8] [no rapture, yet]

Jesus, then, describes the Great Tribulation to us and tells us what to look for, that we will know that it's starting:

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations FOR MY NAME'S SAKE." (verse 9) [no rapture, yet]

Then, things start going bad as He describes the Great Tribulation from verse 9 through 28. [still no mention of escaping to heaven in a rapture]

In verse 29, the Great Tribulation has ended and the entire earth is darkened by "some kind of cloud cover" [atmospheric? nuclear fallout? a little of both?]... and "stars" start falling from the sky; "...and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken..." (verse 29). [still no rapture to safety in heaven]

It's not until THEN that Jesus returns to gather His "elect" into the clouds with Him [verses 30-31]. [not before or during the Great Tribulation... but AFTER it]

Not a "rapture into heaven"... but the gathering of His elect to Himself in the clouds, before He completes His descent upon the earth... where He will "reward" His elect with positions and offices of authority in His Kingdom over the nations.

He tells us that the time of His return will be like "the days of Noah." So shall the generation that sees Jesus' return be as surprised as Noah's generation was:

"...and knew not until the flood came, and [WHAT?] TOOK THEM ALL AWAY..."!!! (Matt.24:39)

Who was "TAKEN?" Who was "LEFT BEHIND?" And when did all this happen?

Not until the "flood came."

Jesus Christ is the "flood" of the coming latter day "Noah's flood"... that the world today "doesn't believe will happen"... just as it didn't believe Noah.

Then comes the chronological passage used by the "rapture doctrine"... supposedly telling about "mysterious and sudden disappearances" around the world of "God's people" from the earth into heaven.

But it doesn't say that.

The ones that are "taken" will be the "wicked ones" who are trying to hide among the good. It's the good ones who will be "left behind" at their jobs.

The timing of it is AFTER the Great Tribulation... and AFTER Jesus returns.

It will be His ANGELS who will do the separating and "weeding out" of the tares [weeds].

...the harvest is the end of the world [age]; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; SO SHALL IT BE IN THE END OF THIS WORLD [age]. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and THEY SHALL GATHER OUT OF HIS KINGDOM ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND THEM WHICH DO INIQUITY: and shall cast them into a furnace of fire [the famed 'Lake of Fire']: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matt.13:39-42)

Angels, ministering spirits" [Heb.1:14], are able to see into our hearts and minds to determine who would try to hide among the general populace, seeking to undermine Christ's Government, think to make "IED's" to disrupt the smooth operation of God's Kingdom, try to establish "underground resistence groups" to fight against God's Absolute Authority on earth.

It's these wicked ones who shall be "taken" after Jesus returns to earth. And it will be the righteous who will be "left behind."

Will there be a time of "rapture?" Not one as men teach it today. But there will be a "gathering" of God's elect in the clouds, to meet the Lord as He descends onto earth from heaven... after God cuts the Great Tribulation short.

No rapture. A gathering unto the Lord to establish God's Government on earth to teach the nations God's ways.

"...he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron..." (Rev.2:26-27).

Answer 4

Another answer from our community:

No one knows. Only God the Father knows the day and hour all of the end-time events will happen (Matthew 24:36 - "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.")

There are several verses in Matthew chapter 24 that address the uncertainty of knowing the exact time of the end-time events. But this is about the Second Coming, and not the 'Rapture' that we have heard so much about.

Answer 5

We do not know when the rapture will take place. Only God in heaven knows this. Many scholars believe it is getting close to that time.

There are different views on the rapture. Some believe that there will be no rapture.

But the Bible plainly speaks of a time when the dead in Christ will rise (The resurrection) and then those who are alive at that time will be raptured to heaven (I Corinthians 15:50-54; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Some scholars believe this will happen before the Great Tribulation begins, others believe this will happen Midway in the Great Tribulation, still others believe this will occur between the middle and just before the wrath of God begins toward the end of the Great Tribulation, and still others believe the rapture will happen after the Great tribulation. Whenever it happens we need to be ready.

Answer 6

There has been some dispute among proponents of Rapture theology as to just when the Rapture would occur. When John Nelson Darby created the idea of the Rapture, in 1830, he was careful not to state when it would actually happen. Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth and one of the principal modern proponents of the Rapture, decided that biblical prophecy required that it would occur within one generation, or forty years, of the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. Barbara R. Rossing (The Rapture Exposed) says that as 1988 approached, with no sign of the Rapture to come, Lindsey began to back off from that statement. Another proponent of the Rapture, Harold Campling, pinned down the actual date of the Rapture, in May 2011. When this month came and went, Campling changed his prophecy to October 2011. But still no Rapture.

This has not stopped supporters of Rapture theology from teaching that the Rapture must come soon. We just have to wait. Or accept that the Rapture is an idea whose time has come and gone.

Answer 7

The Rapture is a theological invention of John Nelson Darby, the nineteenth-century founder of the Plymouth Brethren. He asserted that Christians would suddenly be whisked bodily up to heaven, leaving the non-believers behind. Although few people belong the the Plymouth Brethren Church, many Christians believe in its founder's most enduring theological creation, the Rapture.

There has been some dispute among proponents of Rapture theology as to just when the Rapture would occur. When John Nelson Darby created the idea of the Rapture, in 1830, he was careful not to state when it would actually happen. Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth and one of the principal modern proponents of the Rapture, decided that biblical prophecy required that it would occur within one generation, or forty years, of the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. Barbara R. Rossing (The Rapture Exposed) says that as 1988 approached, with no sign of the Rapture to come, Lindsey began to back off from that statement. Another proponent of the Rapture, Harold Campling, pinned down the actual date of the Rapture, in May 2011. When this month came and went, Campling changed his prophecy to October 2011. But still no Rapture.
This has not stopped supporters of Rapture theology from teaching that the Rapture must come soon. We just have to wait. Or accept that the Rapture is an idea whose time has come and gone.

Answer 8

No one knows but the Father.