The rapture is the belief that Jesus will return to take his faithful followers to heaven before the end of the world. The word rapture is not in the Bible, but it comes from a Latin word raptus” meaning “a snatching away” or “abduction”. The main biblical passage for the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, where Paul describes how the dead and living believers will meet Christ in the air:
“But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
Different views exist on when and how the rapture will happen, such as pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation rapture.
The Rapture is not taught by most denominations. The theory cannot be found in history prior to 1830. All Christian denominations prior to 1830 reject the idea. The Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Quaker, etc., reject the idea.
The official position of the Catholic Church is: ‘The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the ‘intrinsically perverse’ political form of a secular messianism.’[i]
Even some post-1830 denominations reject the idea, including, the United Church of God, Seventh Day Adventists, and others. No denomination has taken an official position in favor of a rapture. Most denominations allow their pastors to teach whatever their convictions including Methodist, Baptists, Assemblies of God, and most others.
When, you attend Holy Mass you will hear the Memorial Acclamation: ‘Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.’[ii] At the end of the world Christ will come again in glory and pronounce judgment. This belief is an Article of Faith for Catholics.
The Apostles Creed states ‘From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.’ The other Catholic Creeds agree. The Nicene Creed added the words, ‘in glory.’
Many of the Epistles of the Apostles contain indications of the second coming of the Lord Jesus foretold that he would return at the end of the world: ‘For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.’ [iii]
The purpose of the Second Coming is the re-awakening of the dead and the granting of reward to those who have been faithful.[iv]
The writings of the Early Church Fathers are unanimous. The last two lines of the Didache state: ‘The Lord shall come and all his saints with him; then shall the world behold the Lord coming on the clouds of heaven.’[v]
“The Catholic understanding of 1 Thes 4:17 is that those believers who are alive during Christ’s second coming will not experience death, but rather, will be gloriously transformed and join the saints already with Christ. Nowhere in 1 Thessalonians does St. Paul teach a secret coming of Christ. Furthermore, St. Paul states that Christ’s coming will be announced by the cry of an archangel and by a trumpet blast. St. Paul is describing the resurrection of the dead that will take place at Christ’s second coming. It appears, when reading 1 Thessalonians that Christians at the time were worried that those who died before Christ’s second coming would not share in His triumphant return. Paul assures them that when the time comes, they will join the resurrected to meet the Lord and will share in Christ’s triumphant descent from heaven to earth.”[vi]
It is a revealed truth that the present world of space and time will come to an end. It will be on the day when the dead will rise from the grave and Christ will appear in his majesty, to judge the human race. As to the manner of the world’s destruction or its time, nothing definite can be said whether from natural science or from the Christian faith. The idea of destruction by fire (2 Peter 3:7; 10; 12) can be taken simply as a current mode of expression to state that the present world will be dissolved and a new world will come into existence.[vii]
Catholics believe that the ‘End Time’ began with the death of the Apostle John.[viii]
Scripture is quite clear on this matter. Our Lord said that various signs would mark the event: Mankind would suffer from famine, pestilence and natural disasters. False prophets who claim to be the Messiah will deceive and mislead people. Nations will wage war against each other. The Church will endure persecution. The faith of many will grow cold and they will abandon the faith, even betraying and hating one another.[ix] St. Paul describes a “mass apostasy” before the Second Coming, which will be led by the ‘son of perdition,’ the ‘Man of Lawlessness,’ the ‘adversary who exalts himself above every so-called god proposed for worship.’ This ‘lawless one’ is part of the work of Satan, and with power, signs, wonders and seductions will bring to ruin those who have turned from the truth. However, ‘the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and annihilate him by manifesting His own presence.’[x]
“The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms, ‘God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the last judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world’ (§ 667).
Our Lord will come suddenly. ‘The Son of Man in His day will be like the lightening that flashes from one end of the sky to the other.’[xi] St. Peter predicts, ‘The day of the Lord will come like a thief and on that day the heavens will vanish with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and all its deeds will be made manifest.’[xii]
Jesus left the time of his return indeterminate. At the conclusion of his Parousia speech mentioned in Mark’s Gospel[xiii] he declared: ‘But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’ Shortly before his Ascension into heaven. Jesus declared to his disciples: ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.’[xiv]
“The pretribulation Rapture, and dispensationalism[xv] are long on promises and short on biblical, historical, and theological evidence.
We must live holy lives, so that no matter when Christ comes for us, we are ready to meet him.
[i] Catechism of the Catholic Church §676
[ii] The Memorial Acclamation is an acclamation sung or recited by the people after the institution narrative of the Eucharist.
[iii] Mt 16:27; See also: Mk 8:38; Luke 9:26.
[iv] 2 Thes 1:8. See also 1 Cor 1:8; 1 Thes 3:13; 5:23.
[v] 16:7-8.
[vi] What the Catholic Church Teaches About the Rapture | The Catholic Company.
[vii] Hardon, S.J., Modern Catholic Dictionary, p. 187.
[viii] The Second Vatican Council’s “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” states, “Already the final age of the world is with us and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real though imperfect” (§ 48).
[ix] Cf. Matt. 24:4-14; Lk 17:22-37.
[x] 2 Thes 2:3-12.
[xi] Lk 17:24.
[xii] 2 Pt 3:10.
[xiii] Mk 13:32.
[xiv] Acts 1:7.
[xv] Dispensationalism is a belief in a system of historical progression, consisting of a series of stages in God’s self-revelation and plan of salvation. Dispensationalism is often associated with a literal interpretation of biblical prophecy and a premillennial view of the end times.