The Rapture - Jesus' return
The "rapture doctrine" advocated by some Christians deals with what will happen to the church at Jesus' return - at the "second coming", as it is usually called. The teaching says that believers experience a kind of minor ascension; that they will be "caught up" to meet Christ sometime at His return in glory. The rapture believers essentially use a single passage as reference:
1. Thessalonicher 4,15-17:
"For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and first the dead that have died in Christ will rise. After that we who are alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds in the air to meet the Lord; and so shall we be with the Lord always."
The rapture doctrine appears to date back to a man named John Nelson Darby in the 1830's. He divided the time of the second coming into two parts. First, before the tribulation, Christ would come to His saints ("the rapture"); after the tribulation he would come with them, and only in this did Darby see the real return, the “second coming” of Christ in splendor and glory. Rapture believers hold different views as to when the rapture will occur in view of the “great tribulation” (tribulation): before, during, or after the tribulation (pre-, mid-, and post-tribulationism). Additionally, there is a minority opinion that only a select elite within the Christian church will be raptured at the outset of the tribulation.
How does Grace Communion International (GCI / WKG) feel about the rapture?
If we 1. Thessalonicher 4,15-17 In retrospect, the Apostle Paul seems to be saying only that at the sounding of the "trumpet of God," the dead who have died in Christ will rise first and ascend together with the living believers "in the clouds into the air to meet the Lord." There is no mention of the entire Church—or any part of the Church—being raptured or transported to another place before, during, or after the tribulation.
Matthäus 24,29-31 It seems to speak of a similar event. In Matthew, Jesus says that the saints will be gathered “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” The resurrection, gathering, or, if you will, “rapture” takes place summarily at Jesus’ second coming. From these passages, the distinctions made by proponents of the rapture doctrine are difficult to understand. For this reason, the Church advocates a factual interpretation of the aforementioned passage and does not see a specific rapture taking place. The verses in question simply state that the dead saints will rise and be united with those who are still living when Jesus returns in glory.
The question of what will happen to the church before, during and after Jesus' return remains largely open in Scripture. On the other hand, we have certainty about what the Scriptures say clearly and dogmatically: Jesus will return in glory to judge the world. Those who have remained faithful to Him will rise again and live with Him in joy and glory forever.
by Paul Kroll
