THE AFTERLIFE THE RAPTURE, THE MILLENNIUM,

AND THE NEW EARTH AND THE NEW HEAVEN

Since the 19th century, the discussion around Revelation 20-22 has been done under the presence of the concept of the rapture.

These chapters deal with tossing Satan into the pit for 1000 years, the 1000 years (millennium) of peace, release of Satan and Satan, death, and hades thrown into the lake of fire, followed by the New Jerusalem, new heaven and new earth.

Let’s take a look at the historical origin of the concept of the rapture as well as what the Bible has to say about it, so we can see how it fits or does not fit into the final three chapters of Revelation.

In 1830 in Glasgow Scotland, a young girl names Margaret MacDonald has a vision of about a two-stage return of Christ.

A British Evangelical preacher named John Nelson Darby heard the story and spread it far and wide that Jesus would come first in secret to rapture the church out of the world and up to heaven, then after 7 years of tribulation, Jesus would return to establish dominion of the earth.

The word rapture does not appear in the Bible, but comes from the Latin word raptio which is a translation of the Greek word meaning caught up found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:17.Darby based the idea of the secret first coming rapture on this verse.

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.Does this sound like a secret coming.

Darby’s concept of the rapture may have remained obscure in the British Isles except he made several trips to America between 1859 and 1877.

Darby won many American converts to his rapture theology because he caught them at a vulnerable time, pre Civil War, during Civil War, and post-Civil War.

Darby created the concept of dispensations, although the concept goes all the way back to Iraneus in the 2nd century.

Dispensations are a series of chronologically successive dispensations of Biblical history. The seven and eight dispensation schemes are often closely associated with the announcement or inauguration of certain Biblical covenants.

7 or 8 Dispensational Scheme

Innocence or Edenic Gen. 1-3Conscience or Antediluvian Gen. 3-8Civil Government Gen. 9-11Patriarchal or Promise Gen. 12 – Ex 19Mosaic or Law Ex. 20 – Acts 1Grace or Church Acts 2 – Rev. 20Millennial Kingdom Rev. 20:4-6Eternal State or Final Rev, 20-22

Once again, these concepts would have probably faded away except they were picked up by Dwight L. Moody (late 1800’s) and the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909.

In 1924, Lewis Chafer established the Dallas Theological Seminary as a dispensationalist training center which impacted Hal Lindsey, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Tim LaHaye, John Hagee and other popular televangelists.

The author says that these people had popular TV shows and/or best selling books because biblical illiteracy of the culture as well as the church. He says that American Christians are looking for the theological equivalent of comfort food and escapist entertainment and this type of theology meets those needs.

How do you feel about those statements?

Read Revelation 4:1-2

This is the description of John having a visionary experience which is true of the remainder of Revelation and uses metaphorical language to explain it.

Read Matthew 24:29-44

This is another text used to support the concept of the rapture.

Look at verses 29-31, does that sound like a secret coming?

Reread Matthew 24:39-41

In the days of Noah, who was taken away, good guys or bad guys?

In the days of Jesus, say in the garden of Gethsemane, was the one taken away or the ones left in the garden in trouble?

In those days, being taken away meant judgment.

No where in these verses does it say taken to heaven, but it is used to support the concept of the rapture.

There are many parallels between Matthew 24and 1 Thessalonians 4-5. These two sections refer to the second Coming of Christ and Paul uses it to reassure the church about the fate of their loved ones.

So now, how do you feel about the concept of the rapture?