The Rapture

Before a coming seven-year tribulation, Christ will secretly return and 'rapture' all true believers off the earth. The living will vanish, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, and the world will be left behind. Those who remain will face the rule of the Antichrist. After seven years, Christ returns again — visibly — to establish His kingdom.

John Nelson Darby (1830s Plymouth Brethren), popularised by the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), and cemented in popular culture by Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) and Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series (1995–2007).

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 is the cornerstone text: 'For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.' This event is not silent. It is announced with a shout, an archangel's voice, and a trumpet. There is nothing secret about it.

Matthew 24:30–31 describes the same event: the Son of Man appearing in the clouds with great power and glory, sending His angels with a great trumpet to gather His elect from the four winds. Paul's language in 1 Thessalonians exactly mirrors Jesus' language in Matthew 24. The Bible describes one Second Coming — not two separate returns separated by seven years.

Acts 1:11 — 'This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go.' He left visibly. He returns visibly. John 6:39–40 — Christ raises the righteous 'at the last day' — one resurrection event. Revelation 1:7 — 'Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.'

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.”

The rapture doctrine as a distinct pre-tribulation event was first taught by John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren movement in the 1830s. No church father, Reformer, or theologian before Darby ever taught a secret, pre-tribulation rapture. The entire Protestant Reformation tradition knew nothing of it.

Darby's system was popularised in America primarily through the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), which embedded dispensational footnotes alongside the Scripture text — training generations of pastors and laypeople to read the Bible through a rapture lens. The doctrine was further popularised by radio preachers in the mid-twentieth century and mass-market novels in the 1990s.

Historians have documented that an early form of the pre-tribulation rapture idea appeared in a vision received by Margaret MacDonald, a young Scottish charismatic, in 1830 — shortly before Darby developed his full system. Whatever its precise origin, the rapture is demonstrably modern and post-Reformation.

Scripture consistently describes one Second Coming — visible, audible, and unmistakable. The righteous dead are raised and the living righteous are transformed in a moment (1 Cor 15:51–52). Both groups meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess 4:17). This is not a secret event. It ends human history as we know it.

Revelation 7:14 describes saints who 'came out of great tribulation' — not future survivors, but the faithful throughout history who suffered for their faith. The tribulation is the experience of God's people in a hostile world (John 16:33), not a seven-year geopolitical event after everyone disappears.

The rapture doctrine encourages disengagement from the world ('we'll be gone anyway') and focuses prophetic expectation on geopolitical news rather than personal faithfulness. Scripture's call is to endure, watch, and be ready — not to wait for an exit.

Christ's return is not a secret evacuation — it is the culmination of redemption history. Every eye will see Him. Every knee will bow. The One who was crucified publicly is coming back publicly, in glory. The hope of the Second Coming is not escape from tribulation but the final vindication of every saint who trusted Him through it.