Writings of early church leaders, some admittedly of
disputed authenticity, others of uncertain translation and background texts,
that have come down to us expressing belief in the premillennial return of the
Lord Jesus Christ and a Translation of the church which we call popularly the
Rapture include writings attributed to Papias, Shepard, Irenaeus, Lactantius,
Victorinus, Cyprian, Ephraim the Syrite, Commodianus, Origen, Tertullian, and
Justin Martyr. While some of them also include implications and clear
statements that the church will not see the wrath
to come but will be removed beforehand others are ambiguous and uncertain
in meaning.
This does not prove, of course, that either doctrine is true
but just that they are not new doctrines, either the premillennial view or the
translation of the church, but that these early church leaders, the viewpoint
of the Apostles who knew Christ, and the Scriptures can point in this
direction.
The dominant viewpoint of the Roman Catholic Church after
Augustine was that there was no millennium, in that references to a thousand
year reign were allegorical and that the Roman church was ruling the world in
Christ’s place as his proxy. The Reformation called that into doubt. The
dominant viewpoint in early America up to the turn of the 20th
century among evangelical Protestants was called postmillennial, in that the
church would rule the world with Christ reigning spiritually through it, as men
became more righteous and more Christian in appearance and practice.
The American Theological Review, in 1859, said that
postmillennialism, whereby a millennium would be set up and the religion of
Christ would be everywhere and, “his spiritual reign would be universal,” and
that would be followed by Christ’s physical return was the, “commonly received
doctrine,” in the 1800’s. While admitting that this was not what the early
church believed, as the early church said and we believe, He will return first
to rule and then the millennium, the thousand year reign, will come, the author
goes on to say that the early church was simply wrong.[1]
Christians today who do not believe in the Translation of
the church, popularly called The Rapture,
will say that preacher of the early 1800’s, John Nelson Darby, invented the
doctrine. He did popularize it in a world that regarded evolutionary progress
as truth and that mankind and Christians in particular were headed toward a Golden Age of righteousness and peace.[2]
But he obviously did not invent the doctrine, merely gave it
his own twist. As John Reeve wrote two
centuries before Darby’s, in the 1600’s, “Then shall the Elect, by the Decree
or Voice of Jesus Christ, the Archangel, first
appear out of the Graves, and, in the twinkling of an Eye, with all the Elect
that are then living, as one Man, with a glorious Shout, shall, with distinct
immortal Bodies, like unto their God, ascend to meet the Lord in the Air, and
with him and his mighty angels, as swift as Thought, enter into that vast new Heaven and new Earth above the Stars….[3]
My intent here is not to approve of any preacher’s
particular doctrines or idiosyncrasies or even personal opinions or heresies
but simply to show that the doctrine of The Rapture was not invented by Darby,
as some would say. Only the timing of when it would happen, before the Great
Tribulation mentioned in Matthew and Revelation, during, or at the end of it
were in contention among those that believed in it. Although I have not read
his work there is supposedly another pretribulation rapture commentator named
Morgan Edwards from the century prior to Darby.
Other references to the idea of the church being physically
removed are from such diverse preachers and commentators as Jesuit priest,
Francisco Ribera, in 1590, Puritan Cotton Mather in the 1600’s, and John Gill
in the 1700’s.[4] In the first decade of the 1700’s Matthew
Henry even uses the phrase, “rapture in the clouds,” in his commentary on
1Thessalonians 4:17 which is so commonly free on the internet I don’t need to
give you directions here.
Again, the issue is when that happens and how close it is to
the general judgment of the dead. Darby’s view was that it must take place
before the return of Christ. The Bible seems to indicate that then there is the
thousand year reign of Christ and the general judgment follows.
My point in bringing all of this up is to only say that a
doctrine can exist in the Bible and either be misunderstood, not be known by
most believers, or that those against it or for it may misrepresent it to
justify their own beliefs. The Jews believed that Israel would be restored to
its past greatness, not seeing the Cross or the Resurrection of their Messiah.
Many Christians believed they would turn the world over to Christian principles
and values without Christ present. We must always remember that our
understanding is incomplete until we stand before our Saviour.
[1]
Henry Boynton Smith, ”History of Opinions Respecting the Millennium,” The American Theological Review (Boston:
Charles Scribner & Son, 1859), 642.
[2] J.N. Darby, “The Rapture of the
Saints,” in The Heavenly Hope, or, What
is the Hope of the Christian? What is the Hope of the Church? (Dublin:
Dublin Tract Repository, 1844).
[3] John Reeve, “An Epistle to a
Kinsman,” in Joyful News from Heaven (London:
Francis Cosinet, 1658), 60.
[4] Mal Couch, ed., Dictionary of Premillennial Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel
Publications, 1996).
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