What if there is no rapture. The title of this column was inspired by Adam Hunter’s Christian Post article, Imagine there’s no rapture.
What if there is no rapture
I don’t intend to comment on the article in detail, just the gist of it as far as I can tell. Firstly, note that Hunter’s column focuses on a specific rapture timing view, namely the pretribulational position. He’s really asking, “Imagine there’s no [pretrib] rapture.”
He sets it up asking the reader to imagine apocalyptic scenarios wreaking havoc over the earth. Then he writes:
Meanwhile, the Church sits on the edge of its seat, eagerly awaiting the rapture. “How long, oh Lord, will you keep us here? The world is crumbling around us in ways we had never expected to happen. When will you take us to heaven, as the Great Tribulation is at our doorstep?”
Hunter has concerns. He asks, “…what happens if we “pre-tribulation folk” are wrong about the rapture, and the Church lives through the seven-year tribulation?”
His “biggest concern” is whether Satan has used the [pretrib] rapture doctrine to lull western Christians into complacency believing in a “get out of Hell on earth for free” card and a safe ride to Heaven.
Hunter appears to assume most western pretribbers believe they’ll be shielded from intense persecution. I don’t know who he’s been listening to but that isn’t my experience. He wonders how many Christians in America will stand firm no matter what happens.
Well, I see many Christian churches in America and elsewhere capitulating to cultural demands. Most don’t hold to pretribulationism or premillennialism. Perhaps I’m mistaken but I detect a bias here.
Do you want to come with Me or stay?
Hunter posits a hypothetical question from Christ to the church:
OK, I’m offering you a choice. I can rapture you to heaven to escape the coming “hell on earth.” Or, I can leave you on earth to be My ambassadors, My brightest light amid the coming darkness and chaos…
The rest of the article came across as a little preachy, assuming to worst of someone who holds to pretribulationism. Hunter might spend some time getting to know pretribbers a little better (e.g., MacArthur, Lawson etc).
Anyway, I’m reminded of Paul’s conundrum.
But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. Phil 1:22-24
Then there’s Thomas Goodwin
In his book, The Lord of Psalm 23, David Gibson refers to John 14:3 and Thomas Goodwin (The Heart of Christ):
It is as if he [Christ] had said, The Truth is, I cannot live without you, I shall never be quiet till I have you where I am, that so we may never part again; that is the reason of it. Heaven shall not hold me, nor my Father’s company, if I have not you with me, my heart is so set upon you; and if I have any glory, you shall be part of it.
Gibson also notes that:
For Goodwin, Christ is like a husband who first makes everything ready in his father’s house and then comes in person to fetch his bride…
Read that again. Does this not amaze and encourage? It does me.
If we find ourselves in the Great Tribulation
Finally, in response to Hunter’s question regarding what happens if Christians find themselves in the tribulation: well, that’s been the course of the church throughout history. So we must endure and suffer until the end – not through our own (prideful?) means, but through Christ’s sustaining power (Rom 8:38-39)
In the interim, you and I must resolve, and encourage ourselves, to live for God’s glory; to pray for revival in our lives, the church and the nations. And we must be prepared to die for Christ’s sake.
But all this does not preclude our hope and joy in being united with Christ, either by death or through the rapture.
Maranatha!
Further reading
On Expecting Christ’s Second Coming
Apostasy the Danger of Pretribulationism
Sharing is caring!
