Protestantism

When the nation of (ancient) Israel split into two, this resulted in the formation of two separate kingdoms. One was the northern kingdom of the House of Israel, and the other was the southern kingdom of the House of Judah. This northern kingdom ( the House of Israel) rejected the God of the nation of Israel and anything to do with it, but the southern kingdom ( the House of Judah) did not reject God (to be specific YHWH, or Yahweh, or Jehovah etc ) and tried to obey Him. (The northern kingdom would have said they were worshipping the same God too, but they did not obey Him: if they were, they either would not have left the area that became the southern and God-fearing kingdom, or would have voted with their feet and travelled down to it from the northern kingdom.

This migration resulted in the northern kingdom, or House of Israel, containing all who had rejected the God of the nation of Israel and everything it stood for, while the southern kingdom, or House of Judah, was the opposite: they were God-fearing and retained all the previous Laws, customs, and traditions (as well as just a few new ones.)

One of these laws was that of the "Jubilee Year" which both mirrored the weekly Sabbath and was the year of redemption and cancellation of all debts, both monetary and criminal: needless to say, people looked forward to it. Just as people were to rest every seventh day, so was the land: every seventh year the land was to lie fallow for a year, and every 50th year (7 x 7 +1) the land was to revert back to it's previous owner. (The Jubilee Year is also called the Year of Redemption.)

The full regulations are given in Leviticus chapter 25 (NET Bible):-

Lev 25:1 Regulations for the Sabbatical Year

The LORD spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai:

Lev 25:2 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

Lev 25:3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce,

Lev 25:4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest - a Sabbath to the LORD. You must not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

Lev 25:5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned vines; the land must have a year of complete rest.

Lev 25:6 You may have the Sabbath produce of the land to eat - you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you,

Lev 25:7 your cattle, and the wild animals that are in your land - all its produce will be for you to eat.

Lev 25:8 Regulations for the Jubilee Year of Release

" 'You must count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years.

Lev 25:9 You must sound loud horn blasts - in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement - you must sound the horn in your entire land.

Lev 25:10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, and you must proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee; each one of you must return to his property and each one of you must return to his clan.

Lev 25:11 That fiftieth year will be your jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines.

Lev 25:12 Because that year is a jubilee, it will be holy to you - you may eat its produce from the field.

Lev 25:13 Release of Landed Property

" 'In this year of jubilee you must each return to your property.

Lev 25:14 If you make a sale to your fellow citizen or buy from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother.

Lev 25:15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since the last jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left.

Lev 25:16 The more years there are, the moreyou may make its purchase price, and the fewer yearsthere are, the less you must make its purchase price, because he is only selling to you a number of years of produce.

Lev 25:17 No one is to oppress his fellow citizen, but you must fear your God, because I am the LORD your God.

Lev 25:18 You must obey my statutes and my regulations; you must be sure to keep them so that you may live securely in the land.

Lev 25:19 " 'The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are satisfied, and you may live securely in the land.

Lev 25:20 If you say, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?'

Lev 25:21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yield the produce for three years,

Lev 25:22 and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year's produce - old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year's produce, you may eat old produce.

Lev 25:23 The land must not be sold without reclaim because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me.

Lev 25:24 In all your landed property you must provide for the right of redemption of the land.

Lev 25:25 " 'If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold.

Lev 25:26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers and gains enough for its redemption,

Lev 25:27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, refund the balance to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property.

Lev 25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund a balance to him, then what he sold will belong to the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert in the jubilee and the original owner may return to his property.

Lev 25:29 Release of Houses

" 'If a man sells a residential house in a walled city, its right of redemption must extend until one full year from its sale; its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year.

Lev 25:30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended, the house in the walled city will belong without reclaim to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee.

Lev 25:31 The houses of villages, however, which have no wall surrounding them must be considered as the field of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee.

Lev 25:32 As for the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess, the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption.

Lev 25:33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem - the sale of a house which is his property in a city - must revert in the jubilee, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.

Lev 25:34 Moreover, the open field areas of their cities must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.

Lev 25:35 Debt and Slave Regulations

" 'If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, you must support him; he must live with you like a foreign resident.

Lev 25:36 Do not take interest or profit from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you.

Lev 25:37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.

Lev 25:38 I am the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan - to be your God.

Lev 25:39 " 'If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must notsubject him to slave service.

Lev 25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; he must serve with you until the year of jubilee,

Lev 25:41 but then he may go free, he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.

Lev 25:42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.

Lev 25:43 You must not rule over him harshly, but you must fear your God.

Lev 25:44 " 'As for your male and female slaves who may belong to you - you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.

Lev 25:45 Also you may buy slaves from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property.

Lev 25:46 You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly.

Lev 25:47 " 'If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member of a foreigner's family,

Lev 25:48 after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption. One of his brothers may redeem him,

Lev 25:49 or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or anyone of the rest of his blood relatives - his family - may redeem him, or if he prospers he may redeem himself.

Lev 25:50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him.

Lev 25:51 If there are still many years, in keeping with them he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption,

Lev 25:52 but if only a few years remain until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption.

Lev 25:53 He must be with the one who bought him like a yearly hired worker. The one who bought him must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

Lev 25:54 If, however, he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go free in the jubilee year, he and his children with him,

Lev 25:55 because the Israelites are my own servants; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

To be able to do all this required keeping meticulous records, and genealogies were extremely important . For example, take Ruth: her husband had owned land in Israel which she didn't even know had existed. Her now-dead husband's closest relative had the first option to redeem it:-

Rth 2:19 Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz."

Rth 2:20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be rewarded by the LORD because he has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!" Then Naomi said to her, "This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian."

Rth 3:12 Now yes, it is true that I am a guardian, but there is another guardian who is a closer relativethan I am.

Rth 4:3 Then Boaz said to the guardian, "Naomi, who has returned from the region of Moab, is selling the portion of land that belongs to our relative Elimelech.

Rth 4:4 So I am legally informing you: Acquire it before those sitting here and before the leaders of my people! If you want to exercise your right to redeem it, then do so. But if not, then tell me so I will know. For you possess the first option to redeem it; I amnext in line after you." He replied, "I willredeem it."

Rth 4:5 Then Boaz said, "When you acquire the field from Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the wife of our deceased relative, in order to preserve his family name by raising up a descendant who will inherit his property."

Rth 4:6 The guardian said, "Then I am unable to redeem it, for I would ruin my own inheritance in that case. You may exercise my redemption option, for I amunable to redeem it."

The northern kingdom had rejected God and wanted nothing to remind them of Him, such as the Jewish Laws, Holy Days, Festivals, and times such as the Jubilee year. One of the Laws they did not want to be reminded of would have been the right

of female inheritance:-

Num 27:1 Special Inheritance Laws

Then the daughters of Zelophehad .....: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Num 27:2 And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,

Num 27:3 "Our father died in the wilderness, although he was not part of the company of those that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons.

Num 27:4 Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among the relatives of our father."

Num 27:5 So Moses brought their case before the LORD.

Num 27:6 The LORD said to Moses:

Num 27:7 "The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. You must indeed give them possession of an inheritance among their father's relatives, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

Num 27:8 And you must tell the Israelites, 'If a man dies and has no son, then you must transfer his inheritance to his daughter;

Num 27:9 and if he has no daughter, then you are to give his inheritance to his brothers;

Num 27:10 and if he has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his father's brothers;

Num 27:11 and if his father has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his relative nearest to him from his family, and he will possess it. This will be for the Israelites a legal requirement, as the LORD commanded Moses.' "

Gods' Law was that women were to be given equal inheritance rights to men, that there was both men and women had inheritance rights: to protect these rights maternal genealogies had to be kept, for example in the House of Judah. However, in other countries, now including the House of Israel, only the sons had inheritance rights: women didn't. Because property was passed down the male line, from father to son, only a paternal genealogy was required : the name of the mother was of no legal use and so was not usually recorded at all.

Unlike the phrase "I will come again" which Jesus himself mentioned, there is no mention in the Bible of the word "rapture", nor does Jesus ever speak of such an event.

Jesus said His return (ie His second coming) would be absolutely unmistakeable:-

Mat 24:1, 3, 21-24, 26-31 MKJV And Jesus went out and departed from the temple. .... [v. 3] And as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ... And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?[Jesus then gave the signs of the end of the world]... [v. 23] Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ! Or, There! Do not believe it. [v. 24] For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders... [v. 26] Therefore if they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the desert! Do not go out. Behold, He is in the secret rooms! Do not believe it. [v. 27] For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. ...[v. 29] And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. [v. 30] And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory.

The Apostle John also saw this Second Coming in vision on the Isle of Patmos and described it:-

Rev 19:1-21 MKJV And after these things I heard a great sound of a numerous crowd in Heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and the power to the Lord our God! [v. 6] ... For the Lord God omnipotent reigns! [v. 7] Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. [v. 8] And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,.. [which represents].. the righteousness of the saints. [v. 9] ... Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb [ie Christ].... [v. 10] ...Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. [v. 11] And I saw Heaven opened. And behold, a white horse! And He sitting on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war. [v. 12] And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head many crowns. And He had a name written, one that no one knew except Himself. [v. 13] And He had been clothed in a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. [v. 14] And the armies in Heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. [v. 15] And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, so that with it He should strike the nations. And He will shepherd them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the anger and of the wrath of Almighty God. [v. 16] And He has on His garment, and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. [v.17] And I saw one angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birdsthat fly in mid-heaven, Come and gather together to the supper of the great God, [v. 18] so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of strong ones, and the flesh of horses, and those sitting on them, and the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great. [v. 19] And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, being gathered to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army. [v. 20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone. [v. 21] And the rest were slain by the sword of Him who sat on the horse, it proceeding out of His mouth. And all the birds were filled from their flesh.

However, what about the Rapture? What is it?

"The Popular Encylopedia of Bible Prophecy" [1995] by Tim Lahaye in the article Rapture" p. 310 says:-

The English word 'rapture' comes from the Latin word 'raptus', which in Latin Bibles translates the Greek word 'harpazo' [meaning] "to suddenly remove or snatch away" [and] is the perfect word to describe God suddenly taking up the church from earth to heaven at the first part of Christ's second coming

The word 'Rapture' is a bit like the word 'dinosaur' which was created in the 19th Century from the Greek words for 'deinos' [fearful] and 'sauros' [lizard] and replaced having to use a phrase such as "an extinct terrestial reptile with gigantic bones from the Mesozoic era - you know what I mean" . Although this more-convenient word 'dinosaur' was new, their skeletons were not: they had obviously been around for ages long before this phrase-replacing word was created: dinosaurs didn't suddenly spring into existence at the creation of a word describing them as they had been there all along; it didn't really matter what they were called. In the same way, before the relatively-modern word 'rapture' was coined a descriptive sentence had to be used instead. For example in his Commentary on Matthew 24 , John Darby (1800-1882) in his "Synopsis of the Old and new Testaments" doesn't use the word 'rapture' at all, but had to use a paragraph to describe fully what was meant when we encapsulate it all in one word:- :-

[This ] judgment that falls upon Jerusalem and its inhabitants.. consequent upon her rejection of the Messiah, and her contempt for the testimony [of Jesus Christ]; and then the universal overthrow at the end of those days... ended by the appearance of the Son of man, and the gathering together of the elect of Israel from the four winds [of the earth]...[at] the Lord's coming and the gathering together of the elect in Israel [when] all believers are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. They will afterwards return with Him. ... But the saints [ie Christians: not just Saint XYZ] who shall be caught up and return with the Lord ... will go up to heaven to be with Him there, before He returns to the earth...This [occurs in] the last days, the last three years and a half before the judgment which will be suddenly poured out at the coming of the Son of man. The Lord will come suddenly as a flash of lightning, as an eagle to its prey,....[when] immediately after the tribulation of those last three years and a half, the whole hierarchical system of government shall be shaken and utterly overthrown. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ...

Darby mentions that at Christ's Second Coming that Christians will return with Him. Jesus said much the same thing, that He had to go to heaven in the first place to be able to return.-

Joh 14:1-3, 18, 27, 29 MKJV Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. [v. 2] In My Father's house [ie in heaven] are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go [ie have to leave earth] to prepare a place for you [ie the mansions in heaven]. [v. 3] And if I go and prepare a place for you [ie the mansions in heaven], I will come again [doesn't say how or when] and receive you to Myself, so that where I am, you may be also. [v.18] I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

[v.27]... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. [v. 28] You have heard how I said to you, I go away and I am coming to you again. ...

Paul gave more details of what came to be called the Rapture in his writings :-

1Co 15:50-58 MKJV And I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. [v. 51] Behold, I speak a mystery to you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed; [v. 52] in a moment, in a glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. [v.53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [v. 54] But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. [v. 55] O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" [v. 56] The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law. [v. 57] But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [v. 58] So that, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not without fruit in the Lord.

1Th 4:13-18 MKJV But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you be not grieved, even as others who have no hope. [v. 14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. [v. 15] For we say this to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not go before those who are asleep. [v. 16] For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. [v. 17] Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. [v. 18] Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Although the word 'Rapture' is new, it is not a new belief that was suddenly invented by John Nelson Darby (1826-27) as is ofter erroneously claimed. . It was taught by:-

- the New Testament church (ca. 50-100),

- Barnabus (ca. 100-105)

-Papias (ca. 60-130)

-Justin Martyr ( 110-165)

-Irenaeus (120-202)

-Tertullian (145-220)

-Hippolytus (ca. 185-236)

-Cyprian (200-250)

-Lactantius (260-330)

-Ephraem of Nisibus (306-373)

-Brother Dolcino (d. 1307)

-Joseph Mede (1586-1638)

-Increase Mather (1639-1723)

-Peter Jurieu (1687)

-Philip Doddridge (1738)

-John Gill (1748)

-James Macknight (1763)

-Thomas Scott (1792)

-Morgan Edwards (1722-1795)

-William Witherby (1818)

-John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)

etc

In his book (op. cit. p. 313) Tim Lahaye says there are:

at least eight significent contrasts or differences... [demanding] that the rapture at a significently different time from Christ's [second coming]:

1. At the rapture: Christ comes in the air and returns to heaven

At the [second coming]: Christ comes to earth to dwell and to reign

2. At the rapture: Christ gathers His own

At the [second coming]: Angels gather the elect

3. At the rapture: Christ comes to reward

At the [second coming]: Christ comes to judge

4.At the rapture: resurrection is prominent

At the [second coming]: resurrection is not mentioned

5. At the rapture: believers depart the earth

At the [second coming]: unbelievers are taken away from the earth

6.At the rapture: unbelievers remain on earth

At the [second coming]: believers remain on earth

7.At the rapture: Christ's kingdom on earth is not mentioned

At the [second coming]: Christ has come to set up His kingdom on earth

8.At the rapture: believers will receive glorified bodies

At the [second coming]: survivors will not receive glorified bodies

The Second coming of Christ is the Rapture as shown very clearly in 1 Corinthians 15.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

First note these words 'afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.' the resurrection that comes after Jesus' being raised from the dead is the one that happens at His coming. It is not a partial coming as some have said but it is His only Second coming and that time equates with the parable of the Tares and Wheat where the wicked will be among the righteous until His second coming where the harvest of souls takes place. That is the only Rapture and it is on what the Bible calls the last day. Death will end with the judgement of the wicked and the earth will disappear from the Lord's face.

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

Mat 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

Mat 13:41 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;

Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Next note in 1 Corinthians 15:24 'then cometh the end' The one resurrection of the saints comes at the end of time. Death is conquered forever and there is no place found for the wicked so they go into a spiritual lake of fire forever.

When you look at the parable of the Tares and wheat it is impossible to derive a resurrection from a rapture before the 'end of the age' or better the end of time as described in that parable. All the righteous will wait till that end time harvest of souls and then wicked will be separated from the righteous which includes those to whom He was speaking and it all happens on the Last day.

The Second Coming of Christ is not the same as the Rapture by Christ.