Leaving Left Behind
After a good period of time preaching several sermon series, I decided to return to the Revised Common Lectionary this fall. As I was planning out these sermons I couldn't help noticing that 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 shows up as the lectionary epistle reading for this Sunday, November 9. With the very recent release of a remade Left Behind movie starring Nicolas Cage, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to preach it this week. Before doing so, I would like to go into a little more detail about this form of eschatology and spare having to do so much during the sermon itself.
The doctrine of a "secret" rapture of the church is almost an article of faith in some circles today. Drawing in part on this portion of 1 Thessalonians, it holds that Jesus will return twice. The first time is secret and snatches up the church, believers, leaving the rest of humanity to suffer through seven years of tribulation before Jesus returns in glory to usher in the Kingdom. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 says that those who are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and will be with him always. On the face of it I suppose one could draw a secret rapture from this verse even though it isn't really taught there.
The difficulty comes from reading the rest of the passage. The whole point of the passage preceding this verse is concern about the dead, not the living. The good folks at Thessalonica were gentile converts. They didn't have the Jewish understanding of the Day of the Lord upon which to draw, nor did they have the distinctly Jewish understanding of resurrection of the dead. They had apparently been taught that Jesus would return one day and, like most in the very early church, they thought this return would be imminent. What they didn't know was the fate of their saints who had died before Christ returned. Would their dead saints miss the party?
Paul's response succinctly describes resurrection day. With a trumpet blast from on high, the shouts of the archangel, Jesus will return. The dead would rise and then he would snatch up the living saints. Let me offer a couple of notes about this. First, there doesn't appear to be anything secret about it. Biblically, heavenly trumpet blasts and and shouts of the archangel aren't the sort of thing that go unnoticed. For something like this, think of God descending upon Mount Sinai, which was anything but secret. The other thing to point out is this. The Greek term for "meeting" the Lord in the air in vs 17 was used in the first century to refer to a delegation going out to meet a returning king or conqueror to usher him back into the city. The clear implication is that they don't wisp off to Heaven, but return to earth, but more on that later.
The doctrine of the rapture is one that is surprisingly modern and, considering that most of its proponents are very strong Biblical inerrantists, very difficult to actually find. This actual view of eschatology seems to have originated with John Nelson Darby, an Irish minister in the early 1800s. It would have been unfamiliar to Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley. It never gained any popularity in the U.S. until the late 1800s. Two developments occurred that made this doctrine become almost unquestioned dogma in some churches. First, Cyrus Scofield used it in his wildly popular study Bible. Second, this popular study Bible had a great influence on the founding of Dallas Theological Seminary. Late in the 20th century, it became the basis for Hal Lindsay's popular book, The Late Great Planet Earth. Then in the 1990s it became the basis for the Left Behind books and movies. The fact this system of interpretation is surprisingly modern doesn't necessarily make it wrong, however.
The greater problem with it, is that it is very difficult to actually find and explain Biblically. No one verse or passage actually explains it. In my own reading of the New Testament, I would never would have thought such a thing existed unless someone else told me it was there. In other words, only if you have a complex eschatological framework in mind will you find this doctrine. In my opinion, the whole concept of a pretribulational rapture requires so much in the way of complicated charts and cross referencing between Daniel, Revelation, Matthew 24, and 1 Thessalonians to actually dig up that it loses credibility. Assuming that the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets and apostles who wrote the Bible, I have a hard time envisioning God intentionally hiding a doctrine that so many think is so important. In my own experience, I believed in this system of eschatology up until I actually read the New Testament for myself.
Eschatology is not merely an academic exercise, though. We in the church cannot wait to be "beamed up" (to borrow a phrase from Star Trek) to escape tribulation. Scripture never teaches that we will be spared tribulation, in fact Jesus says in the Upper Room discourse that as his followers we can expect persecution and tribulation. Additionally, we must understand that the future isn't our souls floating in bliss in the ethereal regions somewhere. Rather, our future and our hope is resurrection and recreation of the heavens and the earth. Looking at the end of Revelation which also describes the Lord's return and the resurrection of the dead, you find the wonderful and shocking notion that it isn't we who go to Heaven, but that it is Heaven that comes to earth. The physical world, our physical bodies are indeed important to God. So important that all of it was redeemed on the cross and will be recreated on the Last Day. "And so we will always be with the Lord, therefore comfort one another with these words," concludes 1 Thessalonians 4. Those are indeed words of great hope and comfort, but it is here in a remade creation in bodies that are remade to be incorruptible and imperishable that we are ever with our Lord Jesus. That is some hope in my book!
The doctrine of a "secret" rapture of the church is almost an article of faith in some circles today. Drawing in part on this portion of 1 Thessalonians, it holds that Jesus will return twice. The first time is secret and snatches up the church, believers, leaving the rest of humanity to suffer through seven years of tribulation before Jesus returns in glory to usher in the Kingdom. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 says that those who are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and will be with him always. On the face of it I suppose one could draw a secret rapture from this verse even though it isn't really taught there.
The difficulty comes from reading the rest of the passage. The whole point of the passage preceding this verse is concern about the dead, not the living. The good folks at Thessalonica were gentile converts. They didn't have the Jewish understanding of the Day of the Lord upon which to draw, nor did they have the distinctly Jewish understanding of resurrection of the dead. They had apparently been taught that Jesus would return one day and, like most in the very early church, they thought this return would be imminent. What they didn't know was the fate of their saints who had died before Christ returned. Would their dead saints miss the party?
Paul's response succinctly describes resurrection day. With a trumpet blast from on high, the shouts of the archangel, Jesus will return. The dead would rise and then he would snatch up the living saints. Let me offer a couple of notes about this. First, there doesn't appear to be anything secret about it. Biblically, heavenly trumpet blasts and and shouts of the archangel aren't the sort of thing that go unnoticed. For something like this, think of God descending upon Mount Sinai, which was anything but secret. The other thing to point out is this. The Greek term for "meeting" the Lord in the air in vs 17 was used in the first century to refer to a delegation going out to meet a returning king or conqueror to usher him back into the city. The clear implication is that they don't wisp off to Heaven, but return to earth, but more on that later.
The doctrine of the rapture is one that is surprisingly modern and, considering that most of its proponents are very strong Biblical inerrantists, very difficult to actually find. This actual view of eschatology seems to have originated with John Nelson Darby, an Irish minister in the early 1800s. It would have been unfamiliar to Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Wesley. It never gained any popularity in the U.S. until the late 1800s. Two developments occurred that made this doctrine become almost unquestioned dogma in some churches. First, Cyrus Scofield used it in his wildly popular study Bible. Second, this popular study Bible had a great influence on the founding of Dallas Theological Seminary. Late in the 20th century, it became the basis for Hal Lindsay's popular book, The Late Great Planet Earth. Then in the 1990s it became the basis for the Left Behind books and movies. The fact this system of interpretation is surprisingly modern doesn't necessarily make it wrong, however.
The greater problem with it, is that it is very difficult to actually find and explain Biblically. No one verse or passage actually explains it. In my own reading of the New Testament, I would never would have thought such a thing existed unless someone else told me it was there. In other words, only if you have a complex eschatological framework in mind will you find this doctrine. In my opinion, the whole concept of a pretribulational rapture requires so much in the way of complicated charts and cross referencing between Daniel, Revelation, Matthew 24, and 1 Thessalonians to actually dig up that it loses credibility. Assuming that the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets and apostles who wrote the Bible, I have a hard time envisioning God intentionally hiding a doctrine that so many think is so important. In my own experience, I believed in this system of eschatology up until I actually read the New Testament for myself.
Eschatology is not merely an academic exercise, though. We in the church cannot wait to be "beamed up" (to borrow a phrase from Star Trek) to escape tribulation. Scripture never teaches that we will be spared tribulation, in fact Jesus says in the Upper Room discourse that as his followers we can expect persecution and tribulation. Additionally, we must understand that the future isn't our souls floating in bliss in the ethereal regions somewhere. Rather, our future and our hope is resurrection and recreation of the heavens and the earth. Looking at the end of Revelation which also describes the Lord's return and the resurrection of the dead, you find the wonderful and shocking notion that it isn't we who go to Heaven, but that it is Heaven that comes to earth. The physical world, our physical bodies are indeed important to God. So important that all of it was redeemed on the cross and will be recreated on the Last Day. "And so we will always be with the Lord, therefore comfort one another with these words," concludes 1 Thessalonians 4. Those are indeed words of great hope and comfort, but it is here in a remade creation in bodies that are remade to be incorruptible and imperishable that we are ever with our Lord Jesus. That is some hope in my book!
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