Rapture today?
Jesus said; "For this reason you be ready too for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will." Matthew 24:44
For about two months now a group led by Harold Camping has been claiming that today is the today of the rapture. He marks a date in October as the date of the second coming. I'm not really sure how he came up with those numbers. But, the sad thing is that some people actually believed him and sold house and property and left jobs and followed him to tell people of Jesus' return. This is despite the fact that Jesus himself said that he didn't know the date or hour.
There were believers in Paul's day in Thessalonians who were confused about this issue also. They had become lazy and sold houses and businesses and sat around waiting for his return. Paul wrote some of 1 Thessalonians dealing with this. For example:
Now as to the times and the epochs breathren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, Peace and safety! then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." 1Thess 5:1-3
So, according to these verses it will be a time of optimism, when people are declaring themselves safe and not expecting his return that Jesus will come back. Then there is the whole other issue all together, that many people don't agree that the rapture and the second coming are seperate events to begin with either. Where did the idea of a rapture come from? One reference is in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Many teach the rapture and say that the rapture is done in secret or people will simply disappear. But, that is not what this passage teaches either. In fact, I use to believe in the rapture because that is what many taught when I was a young believer. But, the verses in 1 Thessalonians aren't actually teaching a rapture at all. The word rapture means "caught up" and though those words are used in this passage, this is clearly a time when the Lord visibly returns with a shout. Graves start opening up and the dead in Christ rise and I have a hard time believing that would happen secretly.
I think it is a shame that so many people were misled by Mr.Camping and his predictions. I imagine that for some this prediction will cause a crisis in they're faith. It says something about the state of the church that so many are being misled. Hopefully, the church will use this as an opportunity to teach what the Bible does actually teach and what it doesn't. For this man's predictions could actually be turned into a teaching opportunity to educate people about what the Bible actually says.
Jesus told us not be misled by man people who claim to be him. He told us that many would claim to be Jesus and mislead people. He didn't claim that he would come invisible to those on the earth. Rather he said,
"If therefore they say to you, Behold, He is in the wilderness, do not go forth, or, Behold, He is in the inner rooms, do not believe them, For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." Matthew 24:26-27
For about two months now a group led by Harold Camping has been claiming that today is the today of the rapture. He marks a date in October as the date of the second coming. I'm not really sure how he came up with those numbers. But, the sad thing is that some people actually believed him and sold house and property and left jobs and followed him to tell people of Jesus' return. This is despite the fact that Jesus himself said that he didn't know the date or hour.
There were believers in Paul's day in Thessalonians who were confused about this issue also. They had become lazy and sold houses and businesses and sat around waiting for his return. Paul wrote some of 1 Thessalonians dealing with this. For example:
Now as to the times and the epochs breathren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, Peace and safety! then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." 1Thess 5:1-3
So, according to these verses it will be a time of optimism, when people are declaring themselves safe and not expecting his return that Jesus will come back. Then there is the whole other issue all together, that many people don't agree that the rapture and the second coming are seperate events to begin with either. Where did the idea of a rapture come from? One reference is in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Many teach the rapture and say that the rapture is done in secret or people will simply disappear. But, that is not what this passage teaches either. In fact, I use to believe in the rapture because that is what many taught when I was a young believer. But, the verses in 1 Thessalonians aren't actually teaching a rapture at all. The word rapture means "caught up" and though those words are used in this passage, this is clearly a time when the Lord visibly returns with a shout. Graves start opening up and the dead in Christ rise and I have a hard time believing that would happen secretly.
I think it is a shame that so many people were misled by Mr.Camping and his predictions. I imagine that for some this prediction will cause a crisis in they're faith. It says something about the state of the church that so many are being misled. Hopefully, the church will use this as an opportunity to teach what the Bible does actually teach and what it doesn't. For this man's predictions could actually be turned into a teaching opportunity to educate people about what the Bible actually says.
Jesus told us not be misled by man people who claim to be him. He told us that many would claim to be Jesus and mislead people. He didn't claim that he would come invisible to those on the earth. Rather he said,
"If therefore they say to you, Behold, He is in the wilderness, do not go forth, or, Behold, He is in the inner rooms, do not believe them, For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." Matthew 24:26-27
