Will the very elect make it in the rapture?

Answer 1

A:

According to John Nelson Darby, a nineteenth-century British evangelical preacher and founder of the Plymouth Brethren, you will only miss the Rapture if you do not believe in Jesus Christ. In Darby's scheme all Christians will be taken bodily up into heaven with the 'Rapture', and this should include the very elect - although he does not mention this.

The 'Rapture' was a theological invention that states that Christ will 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. Christians have always taught that Jesus will return to earth and that believers should live in anticipation of his second coming, but Darby's scheme differs in that Christians will be "raptured" up into heaven, before a seven-year tribulation of non-Christians.

Of course, John Nelson Darby has sunk into obscurity, apart from his followers in the Plymouth Brethren, and so should his predictions. However, while few people belong to the the Plymouth Brethren Church, many Christians continue to believe in its founder's most enduring theological creation, the Rapture.