Left Behind? A Catholic Perspective on the "Rapture"

By Mark A. McNeil

Mark McNeil teaches theology at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston.  He previously taught college-level philosophy and was a minister in the Assemblies of God prior to becoming a Catholic.  He was educated at Texas Bible College (3 yr. Theology Degree), Luther Rice Seminary (B.A., M.A. in Biblical Studies), and the University of St. Thomas School of Theology (M.A. Theological Studies).  He has also studied Philosophy at the Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas.

Introduction

I remember the scene clearly: an electric razor dangled from a washstand, while the early-seventies-sounding song, "I Wish We’d All Been Ready," played in the background. So began the movie, A Thief in the Night. While shaving that morning, a man had been suddenly "caught away" by Jesus Christ, as his wife slept unknowingly. The film depicted her struggle to come to terms with her husband’s disappearance. She watched television and discovered that the same thing had happened to millions of others. She listened as "experts" began to speculate on the possible causes—including the suggestion that aliens had mysteriously captured such people for unknown purposes. She remembered her husband telling her that this would happen at the return of Christ—and she recalled her husband’s many efforts to convince her to be a Christian.

The rest of this movie and three sequels portrayed a terrifying future in which the book of Revelation is literally fulfilled. Great locusts creep over the surface of the earth, people have computer chips bearing "666" placed on their hands and foreheads so they can purchase food and clothing, Christians are slaughtered for refusing to cooperate, a Jewish Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem, etc.

This movie was but one attempt to dramatize a view of the last days accepted by many Evangelical Protestants known as the "Rapture theory"—itself but a piece of a broader theological concept known as Dispensational Premillenialism. Today, the Left Behind series of novels by Tim LaHaye is the most popular medium for these teachings, but the most important would be Hal Lindsay’s classic, The Late Great Planet Earth.

In this paper, I want to introduce the Catholic reader to the basic ideas behind these beliefs that have become so popular. I have spent many years hearing, studying, and teaching them, but I came to believe that they lacked sound biblical and historical support. Part of my goal here is to introduce the reader to the vocabulary and broader context of these teachings, to provide a setting in which they can be soundly evaluated.

What is at issue here is more than a mere quarrel over how to interpret a few verses of Scripture. At stake is a whole approach to Scripture, its proper interpretation, and even the very meaning of the Church in the modern world. The Christian hope is also at stake, for how we view the future will have a dramatic impact on how we live in the present.

The Case for the Rapture

It must be understood from the outset that the Rapture theory does not stand alone, but is part of a much larger set of assumptions. It is founded on an approach to Scripture that is fundamentally opposed to the theology of the Roman Catholic Church. It is an approach to Scripture that is contrary to the entire history of Christian reflection, and is also implausible and flawed when considered on its own merits.

"Rapture"

The term "Rapture" is derived from a Latin root and simply means "caught away." Dispensational Premillenialists teach that the Rapture is a "secret" coming of Christ to take His faithful out of this world. This event is from the Second Advent of Christ, which will be evident to all. The Rapture, they teach, will take place before a seven-year period of great tribulation and wrath that God will pour out upon the earth by God. When the Rapture occurs, it is claimed, the Church Age has ended; God will resume His original "program" with the Jewish people that was "postponed" because of their rejection of Christ during His earthly life. This is a vital point. For Dispensational Premillenialists, the "Church" is an alternate program, unknown to the Prophets of the Old Testament, that is a parenthesis in God’s plan for this world. The Church and the Jewish people make up two distinct covenant people that follow distinct destinies.

The Apostle Paul, writing of the resurrection of the dead at the return of Christ, says that we who are alive "will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Believers in the Rapture theory will quote this text, but it does not support their view for several reasons.

First, this "catching away" of those on the earth happens at the same time as the resurrection of the dead, an event that clearly takes place at the end of the age and just prior to the final, general judgment (John 5:28-29, Revelation 20:11-15).

Second, the return of Christ described here is not a "hidden" coming noticed only by believing Christians, followed by the continuation of history. Rather, the "shout" of the archangel and the divine trumpet that herald this event suggest that it is visible and audible; it signals the disruption of history and the beginning of a new era. We find a remarkably similar description of the Second Advent in Matthew 24:27-31. The context is clearly "after the tribulation" and just prior to the judgment. It is most natural to see the events described in Thessalonians and Matthew 24 as identical.

Third, the other elements of Dispensational Premillenialism that give the Rapture its unique character are simply not present here.

"Dispensational Premillenialism"

We should look a bit more carefully at what is meant by Dispensational Premillenialism before proceeding. The word, "Premillenialism," means that Jesus Christ will return before the millennium—a one thousand-year reign by Christ upon the earth. After the thousand years are completed, there will be a judgment of the wicked that have died as well as of those who have lived through this thousand-year period.

What would be the purpose of such an earthly reign? We can understand the "purpose" of the present reign of Christ as, at least in part, a period of evangelization, conversion, and growth in faith and community. In the case of Premillenialism, however, why is there an extension of history and a further period of judgment following it, unless there still the possibly of sin and rebellion against God and His kingdom?

The answer to this question is twofold. First, Dispensationalists believe that God has made certain irrevocable promises to the Jewish people that have not been fulfilled and that can only be fulfilled through the establishment of an earthly kingdom over which Christ will rule as Messiah and King. God promised Abraham, for example, that he would possess the land of Palestine (Genesis 12, 15). Additional promises of an earthly "kingdom" are given throughout the Old Testament, especially in the Prophets (see, for example, Isaiah 11). There will be a rebuilt Temple, according to their interpretation of the prophet Ezekiel, that will involve the reestablishment of animal sacrifices, supposedly as a reminder of Christ, the perfect sacrifice. All of these events, and many besides, must take place, it is claimed, or else the specific promises made to the Jewish people will be unfulfilled.

Second, Dispensationalists believe that it will be possible during the Millennium, and especially at its end, to choose to side with the Devil and against God. The visible experience of the direct rule of Christ on the earth will not be enough, it is claimed, for some to overcome temptation. The Millennium will end with the victory of Christ over this opposition, which will be followed by a resurrection of the wicked and a great judgment.

One Covenant or Two?

As mentioned above, the key point in understanding Dispensationalism is the belief that there is not a single covenant or relationship established between God and His people. Instead, Israel and the Church follow distinct paths and have distinct promises and futures.

"Dispensationalism" gets its name from the idea that God relates to His people at different periods of time or "dispensations" according to different promises and expectations. It holds that recognizing these distinct dispensations is the crucial interpretive "key" to the Bible. One cannot, it is claimed, understand the content of the Bible unless he discovers which sections apply to Israel or the Jewish people and which apply to the Church.

For example, the leading spokesmen of this theory believe that the "kingdom of God," about which Jesus speaks frequently, refers to the Jewish kingdom promised by the Old Testament Prophets. Because these passages are speaking of this Jewish kingdom, they would say that the parables of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount apply to it, and not to the Church. Jesus came, they say, to offer the promised "kingdom" to the Jews. When they rejected it, God created a new reality—the Church. While the Jewish kingdom was to be based on "law," as presented in the Old Testament and the Sermon on the Mount, the Church is based on grace and faith. Some have gone so far as to suggest that none of the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels apply to the Church; the only Scriptures that apply to it are the letters of Paul and some portions of the book of Acts.

The Rapture is, at its core, a deduction from this theory. If God is to resume His covenant program with the Jews during the Tribulation period before the Second Advent, it follows (so it is claimed) that the Church must be removed from the earth before this happens in order to avoid confusion of covenants.

A Catholic Response

The discerning Catholic should be alarmed at the teachings we have just seen. The greatest problem with the Dispensationalist theory is its failure to see the unity of the Scriptures and of the divine covenants. The Church is not a parenthesis in God’s plans, a temporary "alternate" plan until He can continue with His the bigger plan of the Jewish covenant. No! The Church is the inheritor of the old covenants. The Church is the fulfillment of the Old Covenants!

We may see these claims throughout the New Testament. In Matthew 16:17-19, Christ promises the establishment of His Church and gives to Peter at the same time the "keys of the kingdom of heaven." The kingdom proclaimed by Christ to the Jews is clearly not something different from the Church but was in fact an expression of the same reality.

Additionally, we find in the writings of St. Paul indications that, although there is still a distinction between Jews and Gentiles, they are nonetheless part of the same covenantal program (Romans 11:13-36). Gentiles have been "grafted into" the "olive tree" from which the Jews, as a whole, were "cut off." The Gentiles have not formed a new, different reality, but have been incorporated into the same covenant program.

Also, the view of Dispensational Premillenialism that the Church is a sort of unexpected, temporary "back-up" plan does not do justice to the great view of the Church as the climax and goal of history that we see in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Paul writes concerning the "eternal purpose" which God determined before the creation of the world to "gather up all things in Him (Christ), things in heaven and on earth" (1:10). Because of Christ, the divisions that existed between Jew and Gentile have been destroyed and God has created "one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross" (2:15-16). In other words, for the New Testament, God’s eternal purpose was to make the human family one through Christ. Paul is fond of speaking of this as the great "mystery" that the Old Testament writers could only see partially. Glimpses of this mystery are found in the Old Covenant but they awaited its full unveiling in and through Christ and His Apostles. The Church, both in heaven and on earth, comprises this unified reality that was as yet imperfect in the Old Testament period. The biblical vision of the future is not a return to the imperfect hints of the past but the perfection of what has already begun.

Unity of Scripture

Far from saying that the covenants established with Israel are no longer valid, the Catholic Church affirms their ongoing validity. The difference is that the Church affirms that these covenants and their promises are fulfilled in a much greater way than could have been foreseen by the prophets of old.

For example, the promises of land made to Abraham are expanded to "the meek shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). We long for a day in which all people will share in the great salvation purchased by Christ. The promises of a great new "Temple" in Jerusalem are fulfilled in the great tabernacle in which God dwelt with us—the incarnate Christ (John 1:14). The Church as the "Temple of the Holy Spirit" continues this new and surpassing mode of divine presence in this world (1 Corinthians 3:16). The covenant God established with Abraham and his descendants was extended in the New Testament to encompass the entire world. At each stage the extent and greatness of the promises have reached beyond what could have been expected. This is the beauty of Christianity as the fulfillment of God’s progressive revelation of Himself and His plan through history. Christ is the great king Who will establish a universal kingdom that will never end. This kingdom will consist of a "family" made up of people from all nations and languages. Dispensationalism, through its failure to appreciate this unity of biblical revelation, fundamentally misinterprets the Bible and its covenants and therefore seriously damages its symmetry and beauty.

Proof-Texts

Many of those who espouse the theories described above are not aware of the real origins of the theory historically or biblically. For myself, I first defended the idea of the Rapture by appealing to certain "proof-texts" in the Bible that I thought implied that belief. Luke 21:36 was my favorite. Here Christ admonishes His disciples to continue in prayer so that they may be "accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." Revelation 3:10 reflects a similar idea.

Neither of these texts teaches the Rapture, however, as the means of "escape." To the contrary, both the book of Revelation and the Olivet Discourse of Luke 21 speak of the "saints" enduring on the earth throughout the Tribulation that will precede the coming of Christ (e.g., Revelation 13:7, Luke 21:16). We can see why it is so important that Rapturists make a strong distinction between the Jewish people of God and the Church as the people of God—the Rapture theory would fall in a moment if one believed these "saints" persecuted during the Tribulation were members of the Church. But Luke 21:36 and Revelation 3:10 speak of deliverance from the final judgment or special protection within the periods of Tribulation coming to the earth. They do not suggest or teach that there will be a physical removal of Christians from the earth before the Second Advent. See Galatians 1:4 for an example of this use of the word "escape."

There are numerous other biblical texts that are used in the same fashion. The Apostle Paul refers to the appearance of a man of sin (Antichrist) brought to power by a "spirit of lawlessness" only after "the one who restrains it is removed" (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8). Most interpreters have seen the "restrainer" as the force of just law that would at some point in the future collapse, allowing unrestrained evil to take charge of the world in the person of the Antichrist. Others work with the difficult original text underlying these words and argue that the restrainer is the Antichrist or spirit of evil ("lawlessness") throughout the passage. In any case, the Rapturist sees here a removal of either the Holy Spirit or the Church, presumably before the rise of Antichrist and the end-time tribulation. In either case, the Church must be removed since God could not be expected to take the Holy Spirit from dwelling in believing Christians. The obvious problem is that this is only one of more than thirty attempted interpretations of this text and is seemingly the most implausible of them because of how much it must read into the text. One would naturally look for a clearer text to confirm this very questionable interpretation.

Rapturists also refer to texts in the teachings of Christ that suggest that He would return unexpectedly (Matthew 24:36-51). From this it is argued that Christ’s coming is imminent or could take place any moment. In view of the fact that Christ elsewhere gives many "signs" that would precede His coming, it is argued that He must be speaking of "two" comings, one secret and the other public. The signs would then point to the visible, final coming while the secret coming would not be preceded by signs.

This argument suffers from the same weaknesses found above. It fails to consider carefully the contexts of the relevant texts. When Christ speaks at the end of Matthew 24 about "watching" because no one knows the "hour" of His return, the entire warning follows the list of signs. There is no indication that He is describing a different event from the Second Advent, only that it was quite possible to fail to heed the warning signs and spiritually fall to sleep in our waiting. There is no necessary conflict between both aspects of the "end," and this is the most natural interpretation of the text since there is no distinction made concerning different comings of Christ in the discourse itself.

The Millennium

Revelation 19-21 describes a series of "visions" in which Christ comes with the hosts of heaven to destroy evil and establish the kingdom for 1,000 years. At the end of the thousand years, Satan, who had been bound for the duration, is released for a short time to deceive people throughout the world. This is followed by his destruction, the resurrection of the dead, a final judgment, and the appearance of a new heavens and a new earth.

The interpretation of these chapters has been disputed throughout the history of the Church, because of the difficult context of these chapters. They are not written in normal historical narrative as we might find in the Gospels. These chapters are written in Apocalyptic, a genre or kind of writing that is found in some Old Testament Prophets (Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah) as well as various Jewish writings mostly from the Hellenistic period (e.g. The Book of Enoch). These writings are highly symbolic and visionary. They set forth a view of human history from a divine perspective, usually interpreting history through and with heavenly creatures that are believed to be involved with the course of history. Apocalyptic books appear normally at times of great suffering and persecution and provide a source of encouragement and hope.

The Book of Revelation clearly has as its context suffering and persecution. One cannot read the book without seeing the suffering of the saints throughout. The problem is that the book uses a great deal of imagery and symbolism. It is filled with symbolic numbers (like "666") as well as beasts and dragons that represents political powers and persons that oppressed the saints of God. Very few have attempted to interpret the book literally simply because of the absurdities this would entail (e.g., Christ is pictured as a slain lamb with seven eyes and seven horns who walks up to the throne of God and takes a scroll in his hand).

It is not surprising, then, to find a diversity of interpretations when it comes to Revelation 19-21. The dominant understanding through most of history has been to see the coming of Christ described in Revelation 19 as the First Advent of Christ during which He, through the Cross and Resurrection, defeats the devil and establishes the divine kingdom in this world. The "first resurrection" of the just refers to the new life offered by grace through Christ to the world. The "thousand years" would then be symbolic of a long period of time during which Christ reigns in the Church while building His kingdom. We are currently living in that time. The end of this period will be heralded by a great increase in evil and the emergence of an evil figure, the Antichrist, who will lead a great deception throughout the world. This brief period will end with the Second Advent and the resurrection of the dead and the final judgment.

This interpretation has the advantage of easily harmonizing with what we find throughout the rest of the New Testament. This approach is most attractive also because it follows the more reasonable method of allowing the clear texts of the New Testament to interpret the more obscure, a description that is certainly fitting for the Book of Revelation.

Conclusion

We have traveled fast in this brief paper. My goal from the outset was to provide an introduction to the Rapture theory by expressing the associated beliefs about the interpretation of Scripture and the meaning of the Church in the present age. I also tried to introduce related concepts like the Millennium, the Tribulation, and the Antichrist. By necessity we have avoided other complex problems like the interpretation of the whole book of Revelation or the entire context and fulfillment of the Olivet Discourse.

Hopefully the reader has seen that the belief that there will be a return of Jesus Christ bodily and visibly to this world is fully consistent with and even demanded by Catholic faith. Each Sunday we profess together that Jesus Christ will "come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end." Catholics should live in view of this hope and also see it as an aspect of our faith that should cause us to examine how "alert" we are to the coming end of human history. This faith should cause me to see that this world alone is not the "end" or goal for which we act. Our attempts to relieve suffering and bring salvation and healing to the world are not because we believe that God’s kingdom is identical with this age. No, we labor in this world to help reveal to the world a glimpse of what can only be fully accomplished through the visible advent of the Son of God. We do not withdraw from service and evangelization but do such things all the more as we await Christ’s return. Further, Catholics are not to be escapists. We are to labor as if there will be a tomorrow, but examine our lives before God as if there will not.

Our biggest concern was regarding the way in which Rapturists interpret Scripture. The destructive and arbitrary division of biblical texts without seeing the inner unity and consistency of the progressive unfolding of divine revelation is to be rejected. It leads to a lowered view of the significance of the Church both in the present and in the age to come.

Although there is so much left untouched in this paper, it is hope that the reader will be able to more carefully examine the popular claims and theories concerning the end of the age that are offered all about us today.