Verse 1 of Chapter
4 in Revelation is often linked with the doctrine known today as The Rapture which Biblically is called
the Translation, which in English
also means to transport something from one place to another. John, a type of
the church, is removed to Heaven. But, in our time, when does that happen? This
will be a question that must be answered. Rapture
comes from a form of the Latin rapto,
to seize violently and carry away, as in the Latin Bibles in;
Matthew
11:12 And from the days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent
take it by force.
MAT11.12
a diebus autem Iohannis Baptistae usque nunc regnum caelorum vim patitur et
violenti rapiunt illud.[1]
The Greek word harpazo for take it by force is also the word used in 1Thessalonians 4:17 as shall be caught up. This is not the
general resurrection of the good and the bad spoken of by Daniel in 12:2. This
is a forceful removal, a translation.
All that being said, it is more important what the Bible says in English than
in Latin or Greek.
It is important to
note that doctrine exists even if the majority of people do not understand or
believe it. If it is true, it simply is, regardless of opinion. As an example,
the early church was premillennial, in that they believed in chiliasm (kill e as
um), believing that Christ would return to rule physically on earth for a
thousand years. Historical writers like Will Durant, in his epic eleven volume The Story of Civilization noted this.
“The apostles were
apparently unanimous in believing that Christ would soon return to establish
the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.”[2]
With this belief came the
understanding that the church itself, the people, would be removed or
translated from the world before Christ’s return, based on several verses in
the Bible beginning with Enoch being physically removed without dying in verse 24;
Luke 17:34-36 and the
passages in Matthew 24 but are often used as evidence of it;
Luke
17:34 I tell you, in that night there
shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be
left. 35 Two women shall be grinding
together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall
be taken, and the other left.
1Thessalonians 4:13-17;
13
¶ But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even
as others which have no hope. 14 For if
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. 18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
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