The Rapture: 1 Thessalonians 4

On Sunday evenings we have been doing an eschatology study. Though I have not blogged about it, I have been putting forth what is called "Inaugurated Eschatology." I will post a future blog summarizing this theory. For now, I want to provide a reference point for my church in understanding some of the exegetical difficulties created by belief in "The Rapture."

The Rapture is an idea that really started taking shape in the 19th century. According to this theory there is a future, secret day when Jesus will come take those who believe in him up to heaven. This event occurs before the 7 years of tribulation, the establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine, the return of Jesus for a war which established his millennial rule, and then the final battle at "Gog and Magog" before the heavenly city Jerusalem descends to the New Earth.

This idea has been popularized through fiction, movies, and song (Left Behind, The Late Great Planet Earth, Thief in the Night, and Wish We'd All Been Ready). And the majority of North American Evangelicals believe in this theory. My hypothesis is that most evangelicals believe this simply because they have never been taught to critically engage the Biblical passages which dispensationalists say support their theory.

1 Thessalonians 4

The first passage cited to support the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. The idea hinges on 4:17 which says, "Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever." The latin translation uses the word raptio for "caught up" and that is where we get the word rapture. (1)


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If we have heard of the rapture, then this passage seems to be evidence for the idea. When dispensationalists hear this passage they interpret it as saying that Jesus to stops mid air and waits for those alive to meet him in the air. The Jesus changes direction and together they all go to the heavens and exist there forever.

Clearly the verse does not say that Jesus stops mid air. It does not say that Jesus turns around. It does not say that the "alive" will be in heaven. All of that is added. This interpretation is more focused on the human beings than on Jesus. Rather than the alive meeting Jesus on his descent, Jesus is meeting the alive on their ascent.

A better way to interpret this passage is that Jesus is descending to the earth. The alive meet him in the air and join his descent to the earth where they will be with the Lord forever. This interpretation assumes that Jesus' descent does not stop until the earth. It also assumes that in meeting Jesus, the alive join in his direction.

To get this idea, we should look at another passage that speaks of Jesus' return. In Acts 1:11 Luke writes,  “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” If Jesus is coming again in the same way He went, then we should expect Jesus to descend all the way to the earth. That is where Jesus' ascent began. And the "new" earth is the final goal. Even dispensationalists agree that heaven is not the final destination for humanity. The final destination for human beings is The New Earth. This is clearly demonstrated by Isaiah 65:7 (2),  2 Peter 3:13 (3), and Revelation 21:1-2 (4) Since life on the New Earth is the true end, why would anyone supplant a "rapture?" This is about Jesus' second (and final) coming.

Furthermore, 1 Thessalonians 4:15 speaks of Jesus coming. The word used for coming is "parousia." J. Richard Middleton argues, "parousia often refers to an official divine or imperial visit... a matter of great celebration, with much pomp and ceremony"(5). This coming of Jesus is a big deal, it would not be a secret occasion as the Rapture is often treated. Additionally, the parousia would typically be met with apantesis  (meeting) "which was almost a technical term that described the custom of sending a delegation outside the city to receive a dignitary who was on the way to town" (6).  

The better way to understand this meeting of Jesus in the air, then would not be that we turn around and go to heaven, but that we meet him as a delegation welcoming Jesus to the new earth. It would almost be like we were ambassadors. We should think of our meeting Jesus in the air like the prodigal father running to meet his son when the son was a long way off (7).  Or we should think of Jesus' triumphal entry when the large crowd placed branches and cloaks on the road. This happens before Jesus enters Jerusalem. This crowd acted as an ancient Near East population would have normally acted at the arrival of a dignitary. They did not wait until Jesus was in the city, they met him outside the city and joined him as he went into Jerusalem. 
This is what will happen when Christ returns. We will meet Jesus in the air and join Jesus' descent to the earth where we will be with him forever.

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1. Rossing, Barbara. The Rapture Exposed, 22.
2. For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
3.  But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
4.  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
5. Middleton, J. Richard A New Heaven and A New Earth, 223.
6. Green, Gene. Thessalonians, 226.