Among Lutherans, the theology concerning the Second
Coming was relatively simple. It
consisted and can be summed up in two lines from the Apostles Creed:
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at
the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and
the dead:
In other words,
Lutheran eschatology teaches that on the Last Day Jesus will return in glory
and judge all who are and all who have ever been--unbelievers will be condemned
and believers will be received into His wonderful kingdom of Heaven. The theology is rather short and sweet. In this fashion, Lutheran eschatology mirrors
historic Catholic and Eastern Orthodox eschatology.
Today, thousands of
Christians have come to believe in something summed up in the term "The
Rapture". the long and short of it
is that Jesus will return (the first time) and catch up all who believe in Him
and leave those who are not Christ behind to face a tumultuous age of disasters
and tribulations on earth. After a time
(various theologians differ how long this age will be), Christ will return (a
second time!), the earth will be destroyed, and the final judgment of mankind
will be done.
One of the central
images of the Rapture is one day during every day events some people (the true
believers) will suddenly disappear and cars will be suddenly driverless, out of
the blue planes may be without pilots, and those (left behind) will abruptly
not be able to find their spouses and children.
(Rapture theologians differ on whether all children who had not attained
"age of reason" will be taken or whether only believing children will
be united with Jesus.)
Another common feature
is a focus on prophecy. While Jesus
Himself said that even He did not know the day nor the hour of the End of Days--only
the Father knows--( Matthew 24:36), Rapturists strongly believe God provides signs
for believers to discern and predict the time of His Return. Much verbal diarrhea among Rapturists about
the End occurs in relating current events to passages in the books of Daniel
and Ezekial along with the Revelation of St. John.
In reality, Rapture
theology is of relativity vintage. John Nelson Darby,
an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, developed the Rapture end-times theory during the
1830s which was widely popularized in
the 20th century by footnotes
in the Scofield Reference Bible. It must
be noted that many if not most Rapture theologians hold that various forms of
teachings about the Rapture in pre-date Darby.
Nevertheless, popular present day Rapture theology originates directly
from Darby.
Principle Rapture
teaching centers on two Biblical passages.
Thessalonians
4:17: After that, we who are still alive
and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
And
Matthew 24: 37-41: As it was in the days of Noah, so
it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For
in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and
they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them
all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken
and the other left. 41 Two women will be
grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
By
entwining these two passages, one has almost the entirety of Rapture
theology. The first objection to Rapture
theology one may note is that in Protestantism it is commonly taught that no
major doctrines should be derived from less than three Biblical passages. Another objection, of course, is that, with
their original contexts in mind, these two passages cannot and should not be so
interlaced.
As
to Thessalonians 4:17, a
closer reading of the entire forth chapter--particularly verses 13 through 18,
shows that the real subject is about believers who had died before Christ's
return.
Post
resurrection, first century Christians had often expected Christ's return
within their lifetimes. Soon, however,
Christians all over the known world were met with death. The fear was that believers who had died
would miss Christ's return and then would dwell forever in Hell or some sort of
oblivion because they were not present to meet Christ on the Last Day.
The
concern which persuaded Paul to write to the Thessalonians was the grief they
were suffering for the loss of their Christian family members, friends as well
as those of churchly fellowship who had died often in martyrdom from the hands
of violent persecutors.
In
his epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote that the Thessalonians anguish was
misplaced: But we do not want you
to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve
as others do who have no hope.
The
dead will be released from their graves.
On the Day of the Lord: …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 a word from the Lord] that we who are
alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who
have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord
himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an
archangel, 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, will be caught up together with them [the
dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (Thessalonians 4:14-17)
Thus
Paul affirms that those in Christ--both the living and the dead--will be
received into Christ's kingdom.
The
image Paul uses (…will
be caught up together … in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we
will always be with the Lord…) was
derived directly from contemporary Jewish apocalyptic literature--imagery in
which the Messiah would come like a rightful king or a triumphant military
general into Zion.
Given its full context
and Paul's intended message, the contemporary notion of the Rapture is at best
fanciful and does not bear scrutiny.
This. of course, will not satisfy advocates of Rapture theology; but
within historic Lutheranism it has no Biblical standing. It least as far as this passage is concerned.
But what about Matthew 24: 37-41? It
reads: As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be
at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people
were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah
entered the ark; 39 and they knew
nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of
Man. 40 Two men will be in the
field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two
women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Boy. Look on the web and you will find tons of
commentary on this passage. Quite a lot
of it very intricate with a myriad of references to Bible passages one would
not normally associate with the End of Days let alone with The Rapture. Many commentaries are absolutely dizzying in
their complexity--particularly those which put forth the "Pre-tribulation"
theology. There are commentaries which
are convinced the Church will suffer the tribulation along with the rest of
mankind. Others hold that the Church
will be taken from the world before the tribulation. Some believe only the "righteous"
Christians will be taken in The Rapture.
And many assert that Christ's return will not be a single event but will
occur in two stages. (I am sure I'm
leaving out many others.)
But
from a Lutheran point of view, every one of these make an crucial mistake--an error
so foundational that it renders all them entirely a waste of time. The mistake concerns just who is it Matthew
says will be "left behind" and what Matthew means by "left
behind".
The
reading of "40 Two
men will be in the field; one will be taken and
the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill;
one will be taken and the other left."
by Rapture theologians is that those righteous in the Lord will be taken and
the unrighteous will remain. The fact
they-- the men and women--Matthew refers to are doing normal activities gives
rise to these images of cars careening over roads and highways because the
drivers are suddenly gone and planes flying aimlessly and possibility crashing
because no one is at the controls. And
by inference, many will not be able to find family members because they were
inexplicably secreted away supernaturally.
But
one has to read Matthew 24:40 in the context of the whole passage and that
context is that Matthew is comparing the Day of the Lord to Noah and the flood: As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be
at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people
were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah
entered the ark; 39 and they knew
nothing about what would happen until the flood
came and took them all away.
In
Matthew, Christ talks about the Last Day by comparing it to the day the rains
came and Noah and his family were saved through the Ark God commanded him to
build. The "they" who were
taken away were not Noah and the those in the ark--it was the unrighteous. Noah was "left behind". It was those
who were saved from the flood who were not taken..It is when we understand
that Christ is speaking of His
return "as in the days of Noah" that we understand the true import of
the rest of what He is saying. Being saved from the waters of the flood and being
saved from the wrath to come are exactly corresponding to each other. His return "as in the days of
Noah" that we understand the true import of the rest of what He is
saying. Being saved from the waters of
the flood and being saved from the wrath to come are exactly corresponding to
each other. return "as in the days of Noah" that we understand the true import of
the rest of what He is saying. Being saved from the waters of the flood and being
saved from the wrath to come are exactly corresponding to each other. His return
"as in the days of Noah" that we understand the true import of the
rest of what He is saying. Being saved from the waters of the flood and being
saved from the wrath to come are exactly corresponding to each other.
Thessalonians
and Matthew are not related the way Rapture theology assumes. Nor is there a hitherto secret link between
them the Church did not see nor understand before modern times. From the Scriptures and from the consistent
teaching of the Church (from the apostles in Jerusalem, the ecumenical
councils, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, through the Churches of the
Reformation, the Second Coming of Christ will be a singular event. It will be an event , sudden unmistakable and
seen by all: So, if they
say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look,
he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and
shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever
the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall
from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of
Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son
of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And
he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24: 26-31)
Many
"orthodox" theologians believe Rapture theology is closely related to
the Chiliastic heresy condemned by
the The Second Ecumenical Council in 381.
While the Council did not specifically address Rapture theology (the
Council rejected the literal interpretation of thousand-year
Kingdom of Christ found in Revelation), all contemporary versions of Rapture
theology are deemed heretical by implication.
Nothing annoys Rapture
theologians as bringing up The Second Ecumenical Council. Which is a little odd since they belong to
that branch of Christianity which assigns no value or standing to the
traditional teachings of the Church. As
a matter of course, many such Protestant denominations have nothing but
contempt for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches--more than a few times that disdain
extends to Lutherans and Anglicans as well.
They even will teach that these historic Churches are not Christian at
all. Thus one would think they wouldn't
care whatever the early Church and these "apostate" denominations
have to say about the matter. But they
are rather touchy when authorities they don't regard as really Christian in the
first place return the favor and pronounces many of their favorite doctrines as
heretical. After all, as they see it, the
pronouncement of doctrinal heresy concerning The Rapture as such isn't directly
made by Scripture itself.
While Lutheranism holds
to the Scriptures as the sole authority in matters of faith, it is not that it
assigns no value to tradition. When the
teachings of tradition are consistent with Scripture, it provides guidance into
how the forbears of the faith read the Scriptures and believed. As with such doctrines as the Trinity and the
full humanity and divinity of Jesus, the early Councils brought these Biblical
doctrines into sharper focus--either rejecting as in error or accepting as
definitive the various and often disputed doctrines found among the diverse
community of the faith. (No Council
condemned any Christian who believed an erroneous doctrine in ignorance--only
those who still hold to those errors in malice after being instructed in the
Church's faithful correct teaching.)
As heresies go, The
Rapture is relatively harmless. It is
difficult to see how any belief in modern doctrine of The Rapture would
endanger any Christians salvation. But
faithfulness to Scripture is not a trifling matter. How one reads and uses Scripture in any
dispute establishes how one reads and uses Scripture for others.
Heresies have a way for
leading to other heresies. Churches who
separate themselves from "historic" Christianity at times have become
critical of the central doctrines such as the Trinity and the two natures of
Christ--refusing to subscribe to the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian
Creeds--and teaching that all these are false man-made traditions the Bible
appears to warn against. Such destructive
developments have a long "rap-sheet" within the history of
Christianity.
Lutheranism had long
found that many Churches are allergic to what the doctrine of "saved by
grace alone" really means. Indeed,
such is our fallen, sinful nature, all of us (including Lutherans) have to be
reminded again and again we are not saved by our works, thoughts or
feelings. We know we are saved because
God tells us we are. We are saved
because God saves us. Without the
intervention of the Lord, we cannot choose such a God. Even if it were possible, we would not choose such a God.
The proclamation of the
Gospel is more than enough for the Church to carry to our fallen world. Like many things, an obsession with the Last
Days has a way of obscuring our mission to go out into the world and make
disciples.
The common wisdom taught to Christians young and old
is that doubt is not the opposite of faith.
Doubt and faith are companions in the Christian life. In fact, doubt can propel one into deeper
faith as one explores the meaning of uncertain doctrines of Christianity. (Although so few actually do.) Some advise that one can take the deeper
meanings of dubious articles without accepting them literally. Absent that, some even advise that even if
one cannot believe wholeheartedly in matters like the Nicene Creed--one should
keep them as heirlooms of the faith of the Church--much like buying a home already
furnished with antiques.
in spite of ourselves and undermines the kind of man of God we want to
be. Many times unbelief appears in our
thoughts and desires we do not understand--but are known unto God. The good news is that God's grace is more
than enough to cover our imperfect faith.
The Lord will save us as we are--unbelief as well as our sins. Instead of feeling guilt and unease in our
doubts, we should find peace in His loving grace. He takes us to Himself in His righteousness
and Truth with all our imperfections.
Battling our unbelief is often our desire to justify ourselves. Beware, dwelling upon our unbelief can turn
into a festering poison which can kill and destroy.
