In this clip of Catholic Answers Live, Tim Staples and Edgar Lujano respond to a caller asking about the Rapture and its place in Christian theology. They explore the origins of the Rapture doctrine, whether it aligns with Scripture, and what the Catholic Church teaches about the Second Coming of Christ.
Transcript:
Caller: Well, I grew up Protestant, and I grew up at the time during the whole Left Behind series that was on TV and stuff like that. Where did the Protestants, and why did they come up with the concept of the Rapture? And really, was it just a scare tactic?
Tim: Right, right. Yeah, it’s a good question. And remember, as far as a time frame, some people say John Nelson Darby created it in the 1870s. I would argue that he popularized it. There is some evidence there were guys, Manuel de Lacunza in the 18th century, who first had the conceptual idea.
And so I don’t think it’s necessarily just a scare tactic. I think what happened is guys like Lacunza, and he didn’t have the full sort of theology that Darby would come up with. This kind of was batted around for 100 years or so, and it developed over time, but it was rooted, really, I believe, in a misapplication of key biblical texts.
As you know, Luke 17:31. It’s also in Matthew 24, but the famous Left Behind text, right? The two will be in the bed, one taken, the other left behind. And then, of course, couple that with 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the trump of God, the voice of the archangel, and the dead shall rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
And anyway, I’m going off memory here. I don’t know if I got that exactly right there, but I know you know those texts. But the understanding of those texts was universally understood by Protestants and Catholics to be simply the second coming.
But the bottom line is, John, I think the key is understanding. This began as a misunderstanding of a relatively few biblical texts that talk about the second coming and use language, obviously, when you’re describing a mystery or you’re describing something that’s going to happen in the future that you and I know, John.
Scripture tells us, 1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, ear is not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.” We’re talking about something that is beyond our conceptual range right this side of the veil. We just cannot fully comprehend what is exactly going to happen.
I like the way John says it in 1 John 3:1, 2. He says, “Brethren, we do not yet know what we shall be, but we know this: we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” In other words, we don’t know, but we know this. We’re going to be like him in some sense, and we can dive into that as well, John.
But here’s the bottom line. That misconception is rooted in 1 Corinthians 15:51. And I mentioned Luke 17:31, 34 and the other key biblical texts, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:51. These texts, if you look at them a little bit closer and scrutinize them, it becomes obvious that it’s not talking about a Rapture; it’s talking about the second coming.
And for lack of time here, I’ll just give you one among many examples that I could give you, brother, and that is from 1 Corinthians 15:51, 54, because you notice when it says, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, this mortal nature will put on immortality.” And then it says the scripture will be fulfilled which says, “Death, where is thy sting?” Right. Death will be swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is thy sting?” Right.
In other words, what’s being described here is the end of time, where death will be no more. But my friend, according to Mr. Darby and Mr. Scofield and Hal Lindsey and all the Rapture folks today, are you kidding? When the Rapture happens, death is just going to get started. Because of course, after the Rapture, you have Armageddon, you have billions of people dying, right? That’s what the whole Left Behind series is about, where the Rapture people, at least with the pre-tribbers, right?
But even the post-tribulation Rapture people, there’s still going to be a thousand years where people will be born during the millennial reign. They’ll live an extra long period of time, but they’ll still be dying and so forth. And so, you know, death is just getting started. No, folks, that’s the end.
And so, you know, I find that to be one of the ways I help my Protestant friends who are caught up in this false theology to kind of get the foot in the door. Hey, you know, that does make sense. How in the world are billions of people going to die after the Scripture says death will be swallowed up in victory? Hey, the reason is because these texts are talking about the second coming of our Lord. That happens at the end of time.
Cy: Well, John, thanks so much for your call. We got to get to some other callers.
Tim: Actually, you know what, John, I want to send you a little booklet that we have on 20 Answers called the End Times. We’ll send that to you because it’s got great information on there. So hang on the line and Siobhan will take your information and send you out that book.