The doctrine of the
Pre-Tribulation Rapture teaches that the Rapture of the church (i.e., the sudden
removal of true believers worldwide) happens shortly before the start of the
Tribulation. The Tribulation (also known
as “the time of Jacob’s trouble”) is a seven-year period of extreme chaos,
death, destruction and punishment such as the world has never seen coming upon
this unregenerate and evil society.
So, what is the origin of the
Pre-Trib doctrine? Is it biblical, or is
it something made up by man?
What Do Catholics Say?
Many Catholic apologists
claim that John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was the originator of this teaching. We know of no official
statements from the Catholic Church claiming this, but there is an article on
this topic over at Catholic Answers making this claim. The article has no specified author, but it does have the nihil obstat and imprimatur,
which are the Catholic Church’s seals of approval, so that certainly gives the
article some weight (according to the Catholic Church). It says that “…all Christians agreed that the
rapture… would occur immediately before the Second Coming, at the close of the
period of persecution… But in the 1800s [refering to the time of Darby], some
began to claim that the rapture would occur before the period of persecution…”
and that “…no Christian had heard of it in the previous 1800 years of Church
history.” See here:
Author and former editor of
(Catholic) Envoy Magazine Carl Olson says that “John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)…
formed the dispensationalist system… the concept of a pretribulation Rapture
was unheard of prior to that time” and that it was Darby who “solidified the
belief in the 1830s…” and that the Pre-Trib Rapture was “the modern creation of
Darby…”:
Catholic apologist Tim Drake
writes, “This theory [the Pre-Trib Rapture doctrine] traces its roots to the
1830s and John Nelson Darby…”:
Popular Catholic author and
apologist Steve Ray also claims that “The Rapture is a new Protestant
doctrine…” and that it “was never taught in all of church history until the
mid-1800’s when two women had an ecstatic vision…” (which is allegedly where
Darby got the idea of a Pre-Trib Rapture):
The people at the
CatholicBridge.com website also tell us that “John Darby… put forth the
Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory around 1830 after traveling to northern Scotland
to meet with Margaret McDonald, a woman who had a ‘vision’ during a serious
illness…”:
And the highly popular,
internationally known Catholic author and speaker, James Akin, who is a senior
apologist at Catholic Answers, also claims that dispensationalism (which ties
in closely with the Pre-Trib Rapture) “was started in the 1830s by an
Englishman named John Nelson Darby”:
These are just some of many Catholic apologists who
make this claim concerning Darby and the Pre-Trib Rapture.
Pre-Trib Is Pre-Darby
But it can be demonstrated
that at least some concept of a Pre-Trib
Rapture existed long before Darby’s
time. For the record, it is not just
Catholics that have fallen for the idea that Darby started the concept, but
some Protestants have, as well. For
instance, Dave MacPherson wrote concerning this topic, but his work has been refuted
by articles such as these:
According to the links just
above:
· Dave MacPherson wrongly attributes the origin of the
Pre-Trib Rapture to (occultic influenced) Margaret McDonald, from which Darby
supposedly stole the idea.
· Mac Pherson’s work is lacking in historical method,
and his book, The Rapture Plot is
defective, lacking in substance, and it distorts history.
· His attack on the Pre-Trib view is described as ridiculous
· MacPherson overlooks the fact that Darby developed his
concept of the Rapture in the winter of 1826-1827, three years before he even met Margaret McDonald.
· McDonald’s handwritten account of her “Pre-Trib”
prophecy actually has nothing at all
in it that suggests a Pre-Trib Rapture!
· There is no hard historical evidence that McDonald,
Edward Irving (a Scottish minister who allegedly influenced Darby), or his
followers (the Irvingites) ever held to pretribulationism, so how could they be
the very source of Darby’s Pre-Trib view?
· Darby’s understanding of the Pre-Trib Rapture was the
product of the development of his personal interactive thought with the text of
Scripture.
It is true that the modern
Pre-Trib concept was highly developed
and popularized by Darby, but to say
that a Pre-Trib idea was “unheard of” before Darby is simply false. The following sources promoted, or at least
mentioned, some type of pretribulationism before the time of Darby in the 1800s:
Morgan Edwards (1722-1795)
Thomas Collier (1615-1691)
Brother Dolcino (1250-1307)
Pseudo-Ephraem (4th
to 8th Century)
The Apocalypse of Elijah (3rd
Century)
Irenaeus (140-202 A.D.)
The Shepherd of Hermas (140
A.D.)
See here:
http://baptistbulletin.org/the-baptist-bulletin-magazine/is-the-pre-trib-rapture-a-recent-invention/
Champions of History?
Catholics are almost always
the ones to point to history when trying to prove their point, but according to
the articles linked above, history does not at all support their case
concerning Darby being the creator of the Pre-Trib Rapture.
In fact, we would strongly
assert that the Pre-Trib Rapture is indeed a BIBLICAL concept. See here:
Some Questions
So, if the Pre-Tribulation
Rapture is not the correct view, then
perhaps it is the Post-Tribulation view (where the Rapture happens after the Tribulation, at the time of
Jesus’ literal return to earth, also known as the Second Coming). This is the view of the Catholic Church (as
well as some Protestant groups).
But if the Post-Trib view is
true, then:
- Where is the imminency? Where is the concept that Jesus could appear at any time?
- Where is the “business as usual” idea?
Matthew 24:36-39 and Luke 17:26-29 tell us that Jesus’
coming (of which the time is unknown)
will happen during a time in which people will be experiencing a “business as
usual” status (i.e., people will be doing the normal, everyday stuff - building,
planting, marrying, etc.). But the Bible
also tells us:
Immediately after the tribulation of
those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken:
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven… (Matthew
24:29-30)
Sorry, but we can hardly call
this “business as usual.” At this point
will be many supernatural and frightful events happening. The Bible clearly tells us of a coming with unknown timing, a time of relative peace
and prosperity (Matthew 24:36-39 and Luke 17:26-29), and another coming with
incredible disasters and heaven-shaking signs and events (Matthew 24:29-30), which
is a time that can be calculated and determined. These two cannot
be the same event. So, either Jesus is contradicting
Himself… or, there will be two separate events, or phases, of his coming. We prefer to believe the latter.
- If Post-Trib is true, then at what point do the resurrected believers enjoy their mansions of which Jesus spoke?
In My Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3)
Jesus said that He would go
(to Heaven - where God’s house is) and prepare a place for us. He then said He would come to receive us (to
be with Him), obviously, in this context, to enjoy the mansions that He
prepared for us. We need to go to Heaven
to enjoy our mansions, right? But if He
only comes back after the Tribulation, when He touches down on the Mount of
Olives (Zechariah 14:4) and sets up His kingdom here… then we don’t get
to live in our mansions in Heaven, do we?
In the Pre-Trib view, the
church (all true believers) are taken up to our mansions (as promised) before
the Tribulation. And we will be in
Heaven while the “earth dwellers” (Revelation 3:10; 6:10; 11:10; 13:14)
are enduring the wrath of God for their rejection of Him. And while in Heaven, we will enjoy the
Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9) before we come
back to earth with Him to reign. This
makes much more sense in light of His promise about the mansions.
- If the church of Jesus Christ must go through the Tribulation, then why does Jesus make the Tribulation conditional for the church of Thyatira?
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and
them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, EXCEPT they
repent of their deeds. (Revelation 2:22 - NASV)
Apparently, those repenting
of their sins would not have to go into “great tribulation.” Those repenting would be part of the true
church of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the
church does not go through the Tribulation.
Furthermore, another of the
seven churches that Jesus addressed, the church of Philadelphia, is promised
the same thing:
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. (Revelation 3:10)
The “hour of temptation which
shall come upon all the world” is none other than the seven-year
Tribulation. Jesus Christ, Himself,
promised to keep the church, the true believers, FROM (Greek “ek,” meaning “out
of”) that temptation.
- If the church has to go through the wrath and judgment of God (in the Tribulation), then why was the angel who was bringing judgment to Sodom and Gomorrah restricted? Why did he tell Lot that he and his family had to first be removed from Sodom before its judgment?
Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot
do any thing till thou be come hither… (Genesis 19:22)
In other words, the angel is
saying, “I can’t destroy this place until you and your family are safely out of
the area.” The righteous are sometimes disciplined by God, but they are never
to partake of God’s wrath and judgment.
Remember, Jesus used the
picture of Lot escaping Sodom as an example of His coming:
As it was in the days of Lot… (Luke 17:28-30)
- If the Tribulation comes first, along with the antichrist, then what was it that was hindering the antichrist from appearing?
2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 gives us a hint that something is now holding back
the antichrist from appearing. If it’s
not the church of God, or the Holy Spirit’s influence in the church, then what
exactly is it that is holding this false messiah back. Something significant is now preventing the
antichrist from appearing on the scene, and we believe it is the true church,
because Christians are salt and light in this wicked world (Matthew
5:13-16).
- If the Pre-Trib Rapture is not true, then why were the Thessalonians shaken and confused when they thought that the Day of the Lord (the Tribulation) had come upon them? (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)
They already knew that
Christians must suffer persecution (2 Thessalonians 1:4). Paul had already warned them, so that was not
an issue with them. What troubled them
is that someone wrote a false letter to them, forging Paul’s name and saying
that the Day of the Lord had come. They
were troubled because they knew that they
were not supposed to go through the Day of the Lord / Tribulation. That false letter contradicted what Paul
had told them about the Rapture in his first letter (1 Thessalonians).
- Also, could not the Rapture, itself, be the very cause, or catalyst, that triggers the Tribulation, and a perfect time to usher in the antichrist to present “solutions” to the chaos of millions of people on earth missing?
See these articles suggesting
the Rapture as the cause or beginning of the Tribulation:
The U-Turn To Earth
One argument that
Post-Tribbers use is that Jesus will come in the clouds and the church will
rise to meet Him in the air and then we will all make a U-turn and come back
down to earth with Jesus. They say this
because some claim that the Greek word for “meet” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is a
technical term used to describe the people of a city going out to meet a
conquering king or dignitary approaching the city. And the people would then accompany him back
to the city. Post-Tribbers see this as
what should happen when Jesus returns to earth.
But in the following link,
the author points to Michael R. Cosby, a Post-Trib
Professor of New Testament and Greek, who at first believed the same thing, but
then experiencing a “disturbing exercise in scholarly honesty,” discovered, to
his horror, that applying the term in this way was wrong and was simply
eisegesis [i.e., reading something into the text, rather than letting it speak
for itself]. See here:
Conclusion
One last thing. The Tribulation period is about God’s wrath. Never are God’s people (who are faithfully
following Him) the objects of His wrath! This punishment is not for the church (the
bride of Christ). And no good husband, especially Jesus Christ, would
thoroughly beat his bride till bloody before taking her out to eat. But that would be a proper analogy of the
Tribulation and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb if the Post-Trib view is true.
Remember, the Tribulation is
called the “time of Jacob’s trouble.” God re-named Jacob “Israel” (Genesis
32:28). So, the Tribulation is mainly about the nation of Israel and God’s dealings with them (Daniel 9:24), it is not
about the church.
Of course, there are other
views of what will happen in the end times.
Unfortunately, all the details are not conveniently found in the same
chapter of a single book in the Bible, therefore one must do some research to
put the puzzle pieces together. But
taking Scripture together as a whole, we believe that the Pre-Trib position makes the most sense of all the data.
So, since the concept of the
Pre-Trib Rapture is biblical and historical, the false idea that Darby
“started” this concept is indeed a deception.
