PURPOSE

The Left Behind series, pretribulation Rapture or similar concepts present a wrong vision of how The Return of Christ will take place. The danger of the error is that many of the Elect will think that they are in “the wrong group” and despair may ensue. In this document, we will show how the myth can be separated from the truth with very basic observations from the Gospels.


DETAILS

We will address this topic as a response to a question from a cooperator and regular reader.


From T @ USA

Does this portion of scripture, in fact, prove the concept of the rapture?
[underline by The M+G+R Foundation]



Our Response

But first, some background

Thank you for asking! We assume that you are referring to the concept of “the rapture”, associated with the concept of “the left behind”, which is relatively popular in the United States and in certain Evangelical or Protestant circles. For those hearing it for the first time:


We will refer to that concept as “anticipated rapture”, since simply saying “rapture” can be confused with the real “they [his angels] shall gather together his elect from the four winds” [Mt 24:31] that will indeed take place after the tribulation and coinciding with the Glorious Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.


The answer

God has provided us with an answer that dismantles this imagined rapture, not only regarding the cited passage of Matthew, but regarding any passage of Scripture that one could allege to “prove” such an anticipated rapture (that is, previous to the tribulation).

Said answer is found in the same Chapter 24 of Matthew:


In modern English:


Now, see that, if the “anticipated rapture” were to happen, it would not be necessary to “shorten those days”, it would be enough to increase the number of those who are taken away in the supposed “anticipated rapture”. This point is enough by itself to completely dismantle the “anticipated rapture” theory once and for all.

Is there still a possibility that a part of the elect will be taken away in an anticipated rapture, with the rest of the elect being saved by the shortening of “those days” (and thus taken away in the final judgment)? No, because He clearly says: “if those days were not shortened, no one would be saved” – which means that:



Some details

For the more detail-oriented: Obviously, when saying “no one would be saved”, He is referring to the chosen ones of that generation (the generation living on earth at the End of These Times, which is now), not to the totality of the Elect who have lived throughout the centuries. It is the generation that is referred to a few verses later:


Regarding being saved at His Glorious Coming: Of course, that does not mean that if anyone of “this generation” crosses the veil before the final judgment they will not be saved (2). Nor is it a question of whether the life of the physical body will be saved for some or for others. When talking about the time shortening, what He is talking about is the general mechanism provided at a global level so that the soul of the chosen ones of “this generation” are not lost in the collective trap prepared for all (1).


The true “rapture”

The true “rapture” is the one that will take place after the tribulation and coinciding with the final moment of His Second Coming. Jesus tells us about it, through Matthew, in the same Chapter 24 – and it will be glorious, not a passing event along the way:


For clarity, and to illustrate the angle about being a global judgment, this great event is repeated in Chapter 25:


And it is also anticipated in Mark:



In closing, think about this:

When the evangelist Matthew is taking so much care to state these facts with the utmost clarity in Chapters 24 and 25 (even with an abundance of parables), it does not fit, in this spirit, that such an important and serious matter as a “rapture prior to the tribulation” would be a secret just hidden as an enigma between words.

Do you not think that, if there were another global judgment prior to the tribulation, it would deserve to have been explained with the same clarity by Matthew? Remember, the alleged anticipated rapture would be a global judgment, for (a) being intended for a large number of His elect worldwide at once and (b) being a final sentence (of eternal salvation) for those who are taken away.

For Matthew, who, backed by the Holy Spirit of God, collected the related discourses of Jesus in such a teaching manner, it would be a lack of charity to exhort us to “pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day” [Mt 24:20] (meaning, “pray that the tribulation will not come at the worst time when we are materially less prepared”) but not to exhort us to “pray to be taken away in a rapture before the tribulation”.









En Español:  ¿Qué es el Arrebatamiento? ¿De verdad está predicho en las Escrituras?

Originally Published on January 11th, 2023 in For Your Information and Reference