Is the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Biblical?

Where did Rapture Theory Come From?

Overall Concept:
The origin of dispensationalism began in the 19th century and its modern concept of a pre-tribulation “Rapture”. We aim to clarify how this theology emerged, gained popularity, and its implications within Christian thought.

Highlights on Dispensationalism:
1. Origins in Glasgow: The concept of dispensationalism began in the early 19th century with a teenage girl named MacDonald who claimed to have a vision of a pre-tribulation Rapture. 🌌
2. Reverend Darby’s Influence: Reverend John Nelson Darby, who heard MacDonald’s vision, became a key figure in promoting this theology and helped establish the Plymouth Brethren denomination. 📖
3. Connection to Dwight L. Moody: Darby’s teachings reached the United States through Dwight L. Moody, a prominent evangelist of the time, who helped disseminate dispensationalist beliefs widely. 🌍
4. Early Novels: Early novels, such as “Jesus is Coming,” which popularized the dispensationalist theology before the well-known “Left Behind” series. 📚
5. The Scofield Reference Bible: CI Scofield’s Bible introduced headings and study notes that reinforced the idea of the Rapture, making it accessible to ordinary readers. 📖✨
6. Establishment of Theological Institutions: The founding of the Dallas Theological Institute in the 1920s aimed to provide scholarly support for dispensationalism, leading to the creation of Dallas Theological Seminary. 🎓
7. Modern Implications: Conclusion: dispensationalism is a modern phenomenon unique to certain Protestant groups in the west and lacks a strong biblical foundation, suggesting that this theology should be reconsidered. ❗️

Key Insights:
– Dispensationalism emerged in the 19th century, marking a significant shift in Christian eschatology, after 1800 years of consistent belief. ⏳
– The pre-tribulation Rapture concept was not part of Christian belief for the first 1,800 years of church history. 🚫
– The spread of dispensationalism was significantly influenced by key figures like Darby and Moody. 👥
– Popular literature and study resources played a crucial role in embedding dispensationalist beliefs in modern Christianity. 📖
– This theology is predominantly found within certain Protestant sects and is not recognized in Catholic or Orthodox traditions. ⛪️
– A critical examination of dispensationalism reveals its lack of strong biblical exegesis, raising questions about its validity. 🔍
– We advocate for a reevaluation of the Left Behind theology, suggesting it should be “left behind.” 🕊️

The Origins of Dispensationalism

If you belong to a mainstream American Protestant church, you probably don’t realize that you may believe in what’s called “dispensationalism”. This is a fairly new theology, a little less than 200 years old. Most evangelicals are familiar with this theology. It is based on dividing the scriptures into 7 historical eras known as “dispensations”.

A dispensational reading of the Bible didn’t exist before the 19th century, in fact it didn’t exist before about the 1830’s. It really began in a little revival in Glasgow, Scotland. There was a teenage girl named Margaret MacDonald who claimed to have had a vision of a pre-tribulation “rapture” of the church out of this world and into heaven.

This concept might not have left much of a mark on the church, except that there was a certain reverend named John Nelson Darby who heard about her fevered “vision” and became convinced that that this theology was correct. As an “utterance” it should have been held up to Biblical proof texts. It wasn’t. So Darby had to create a new hermeneutic theology that backed into this belief in order for it to make sense.

Along with Edward Irving and John Pusey, they created the hermeneutics of dispensationalism which adopted the visions of the teenage girl along with the writings of a 16th century Jesuit Priest called Ribera. Irving, a Presbyterian Minister, translated Ribera’s writing, including MacDonald’s secret rapture utterance, preaching from his writings. This eventually led to his dismissal from the Presbyterian Church. C.I. Scofield also joined them, incorporating the view into his notes in his Scofield Reference Bible.

Now again this might have been a flash in the pan, merely a very small Christian sect with a peculiar belief that nobody in the first 1800 years of Christian history had believed in; except that Darby took his Gospel of the Rapture to the United States.

The Spread of Dispensational Theology to the West

There he came in contact with a famous preacher of the day, his name was Dwight L. Moody, founder of the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Press. Moody became a worldwide disseminator of this theology of Dispensationalism and a pre-tribulation Rapture on both sides of the Atlantic for a long time.

Next, novels were written. Novels that pre-date the “Left Behind” series. One was called “Jesus is Coming” written by a Chicago entrepreneur who had become enamored with this Theology of Dwight L Moody.

C.I. Scofield is the person who came up with this idea of not merely having a study Bible with chain references in the margin, but actually putting headings in the biblical text like “Jesus predicts the Rapture” and then having study notes at the bottom of the page so that the ordinary person who buys a Bible would think, “Well look it’s right there in my Bible. The heading in the middle of Matthew says Jesus predicts it so it must be true!”.

So now we’re really cooking with gas in the early part of the 20th century with the Scofield reference Bible and other resources. This was a lay movement, not based on the study of the Greek New Testament or the Hebrew Old Testament but a lay theological movement that spread throughout the United States and in various places around the world.

Somewhere in the mid-1920s, there was a felt need to shore up this theology with scholarly support and scholarly exegesis, since it really had none. And so you had the Dallas Theological Institute founded in the 1920s by a presbyterian Minister. This eventually became Dallas Theological Seminary.

Now there were two major centers of study of dispensationalism in America. One in Chicago and one in Dallas, both in the Midwest of the United States. If you study the history of Dallas Theological Seminary, you’ll discover that many of the leaders at the seminary continued to propagate the gospel of dispensationalism by writing books.

Books like “Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis” by Professor Walvoord and then of course the famous Timothy LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins series “Left Behind” which led to the most recent movie about a pre-tribulation Rapture and the Left Behind phenomena

Modern Rapture Theory is not Biblical

What you need to understand is that for 1,800 years of church history nobody believed this theology or thought it was an accurate way of interpreting the Bible. Today when we look at it we can realize it’s a relatively modern phenomenon and as a modern phenomenon, it’s unique to the western church.

It’s not a Catholic theology, it’s not an Orthodox theology and only a minority of Protestants have embraced this theology worldwide. What we need to say about this is that if it’s not well grounded in the exegeses of the Bible then it should not be embraced and in fact it isn’t.

There is no theology of a Rapture in the New Testament. In fact our Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth himself, says as recorded in Matthew chapters 24 and 25 several parables of what happens to the faithful as opposed to the wicked.

The scriptural examples show those who do not obey God are taken away and destroyed.

In the parable of the wheat and tares, He speaks of how the tares will be gathered up first then burned. (Matthew chapter 13). The Israelites were not taken out of Egypt until after all the plagues, they were instead protected in the midst of them. Likewise, Noah was not removed from the earth, rather the wicked were removed. Noah was protected in the midst of wickedness and subsequent flood punishment.

As western believers we are grafted in as children of God, we are his people known as Israel. Israel is made up of 12 tribes. Descendants of the tribe of Judah (Jews) who believe in Messiah are also part of that family (Israel) as natural branches. We may suffer tribulation, but not God’s wrath. We believe according to His word that we will be protected in the midst of tribulation, before he gathers us.