Yep, it came up at the Bible study last night that I don’t believe in Scofield’s theological system. People were shocked. We keep reading in the Minor Prophets about the “Day of the Lord” and I asserted that in most cases the day of the Lord is history not a near coming, future event.
The study leader rightly asked me about 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18. I know this is a difficult passage to discuss so I told him that I would have an answer for him next week. He agreed. Below is my attempt to address his question.
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.1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.
As pointed out during my research, the better question is not what is my understanding of I Thessalonians 4, but what is the Bible’s understanding? My frustration is that people cannot deal correctly with the Scriptures when they already have their minds made up as to what it means. You cannot find the Darby/Scofield/Dispensational/Premillennial view in Scripture unless you assume it ahead of time and then cherry pick passages to support it; part of this is by excluding or dismissing passages that conflict with these assumptions.
Three Often Cited Proofs of Rapture
While I Thessalonians 4 is used as a proof text of the Rapture doctrine, it is often coupled with a portion of Matthew 24 and an observation about Revelation. You can think of these as the three legs of the stool supporting the Rapture.
I will comment briefly on Matthew and Revelation and then return to I Thessalonians.
Usually, followers of Scofield couple the belief in the Rapture with this passage in Matthew 24: 37-42.
37 But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Matthew 24:37–42.
In Noah’s day, the righteous were preserved in the ark while the evil men were literally washed away. During the Exodus, the evil men died in the wilderness and the righteous entered the promised land. The New Testament repeatedly promises the world to the righteous and not after the end of all things. The meek will inherit the earth not the wicked. This is a consistent theme in Psalms. Thus, the Matthew passage really says that the evil folks will be done away with (raptured if you will) and the faithful will remain on the earth.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5.
But the meek shall inherit the earth; And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Psalm 37:11.
It is ours to enjoy now not in the afterlife. We rule and reign with Christ, now not after death.
For evildoers shall be cut off: But those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
Psalm 37:9-10.
Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
Psalm 37:34.
Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.
1 Corinthians 4:8–6:2.
We, as believers, will judge the world and even angels.
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
1 Corinthians 6:2–3.
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2 Timothy 2:12.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star.
Revelation 2:26–3:21.
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Revelation 5:10.
These are now promises, not something for the afterlife. Believers rule the world with Christ now.
Just because Christians do not believe the Bible does not make it’s promises untrue. Unbelief is a denial of God’s promises. Sadly, too many followers of Christ think our world belongs to Satan, a defeated foe by the power of the Cross. Jesus is ruling and reigning now. How people miss the importance of the Ascension of Christ is truly remarkable. How they can think Jesus is on the throne now but not ruling is horrifying. Why else were we commanded to pray that, “Try will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
The third leg of the Rapture stool is literally an argument from silence; namely, the church is never mentioned in the book of Revelation after chapter 3. John only mentions local congregations in chapters 2 and 3 and makes zero references to the Universal Church anywhere in Revelation. The word “church” never appears again in Revelation but clearly the church is mentioned throughout the book by other names. To claim that the Church no longer exists or is annihilated after chapter 3 is nonsense. Arguing a doctrinal proof on the basis of a word not being in the text is stupid. Here are a few other examples of this fallacy.
Love is never mentioned in the book of Ruth.
God is never mentioned in the book of Esther.
Sex in never mentioned in the Song of Solomon.
Church is not mentioned in the first 15 chapters of Romans.
Thus, whether the word “church” (ecclesia meaning assembly) is mentioned throughout Revelation, the book is clearly about Christ and His Bride the Church.
Appeals to Matthew 24 commenting “.. as in the days of Noah …” or missing the word “church” after a certain point in in Revelation, do nothing to strengthen claims that the Bible teaches the Rapture doctrine. Can we let Scripture interpret Scripture and using only the Bible find a better explanation as to what is happening in I Thessalonians 4?
What is Not Found in I Thessalonians 4
I found two great quotes on the topic that I wish to cite here.
In a debate on eschatology with Dave Hunt, I challenged him to point to one verse that taught a pre-tribulation rapture. He immediately appealed to I Thessalonians 4:16-17. Read it for yourself. The idea of a pre-tribulation rapture must be assumed by the reader and imposed on the text. Sound biblical interpretation, however, requires textual proof before a doctrine can be formulated.
Most postmillennialists and amillennialists teach that I Thessalonians 4:16-17 relates to the general resurrection of the saints. The text simply describes the raising of those who are “in Christ.” No mention is made of the church being raptured either before, during, or after a tribulation period. Nothing in the text points to a tribulation period.
[Last Days Madness, Gary Demar (2024), page 223.]
Even pre-tribulation dispensationalists admit the novelty of this position [the rapture]:
It is scarcely to be found in a single book or sermon through the period of 1600 years! If any doubt this statement, let them search … the remarks of the so-called Fathers, both pre and post Nicene, the theological treatises of the scholastic divines, Roman Catholic writers of all shades of thought, the literature of the Reformation, the sermons and expositions of the Puritans and the general theological works of the day. He will find the “mystery” conspicuous by its absence.
[Harry A. Ironside, The Mysteries of God (1908), p 50.]
Here is a dispensationalist admitting that there is “scarcely” any historical evidence to support the position. He’s too generous. There is no evidence. So where does a dispensationalist get this doctrine? Thomas Ice, a fervent proponent of dispensationalism, writes that the theory is based on “deduction”:
A certain theological climate needed to be created before premillennialism would restore the Biblical doctrine of the pretrib Rapture. Sufficient development did not take place until after the French Revolution. The factor of the Rapture has been clearly known by the church all along; therefore, the issue is the timing of the event. Since neither pre nor posttribs have a proof text for the time of the Rapture (unless the promise made to the church in Rev. 3:10 is an exception which promises deliverance—the Rapture—from the future tribulation before the seven-year period begins), then it is clear that this issue is the product of a deduction from one’s overall system of theology, both for pre and posttribbers.
[Thomas D Ice,The Origin of the Pretrib Rapture Part II (1989), p5.]
What an admission! A pillar doctrine of dispensationalism does not have a single text to prove it. Dispensationalism’s process of “deducing” the rapture theory is this: First, create the system; second, create the doctrines to make the system work; third, claim to have restored “the Biblical doctrines of the pretrib Rapture,” which is based on a “deduction from one’s overall system of theology” because there are no verses that teach it; fourth, imply that the early church, the “apostles of the apostles,” knew nothing of this foundational doctrine. Bizarre. Millions of Christians today hold to a system of interpretation (dispensationalism) that does not have one verse to prove one of its foundational doctrines, the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, the concept that makes dispensationalism dispensational. This system of interpretation is a theological house of cards.
[Last Days Madness, Gary Demar (2024), page 224-225.]
Folks, Ironside and Ice are heavy hitters in the dispensationalist camp, The admissions that they make are not to be lightly dismissed.
If you don’t know Thomas ice, here is some relevant info from Wikipedia.
Ice is a proponent of dispensational premillennialism. He was the executive director of the Pre-Trib Research Center on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The research center was founded in 1994 by Tim LaHaye and Ice to research, teach, proclaim, and defend pre-tribulationism. The center currently sponsors prophecy meetings and conferences and provides speakers for the purpose of discussion and lecture on the topic of pre-tribulationism.
If you don’t know Harry A ironside, here is some relevant info from Wikipedia.
(October 14, 1876 – January 15, 1951) was a Canadian–American Bible teacher, preacher, theologian, pastor and author who pastored Moody Church in Chicago from 1929 to 1948.
Ironside believed that the church is parenthetical, which was something not revealed in the Old Testament, and at some point God will rapture the church before the great tribulation, during which he will again focus on the nation of Israel.
Along with others such as Cyrus Scofield, he was influential in popularizing dispensationalism among Protestants in North America. Despite his lack of formal education, his mental capacity, photographic memory and zeal for his beliefs caused him to be called “the Archbishop of Fundamentalism”.
Ironside was one of the most prolific Christian writers of the 20th century and published more than 100 books, booklets and pamphlets, a number of which are still in print. One editorial reviewer wrote of a 2005 re-publication, “Ironside’s commentaries are a standard and have stood the test of time.”
So what did Scofield claim about I Thessalonian 4?
Scofield, asserts in his only footnote on I Thessalonians 4:
(4:17) This central passage on the blessed hope of the Church includes: (1) reassurance (vv. 13-14); (2) revelation (vv. 15-17, setting forth the return of Christ, the rapture of the Church, and the reunion of all believers); and (3) comfort (v. 18).
Scofield is very silent on a doctrine that is a cornerstone of his theological system. Weird. The chief proof text of the Rapture is given one footnote of one sentence in his Bible. No mention of judgment, great tribulation, antichrist, or any of the other things often talked about in the wake of the Rapture. Scofield just assumes it. Thomas Ice deduces it.
If not The Rapture, Then …
If I Thessalonians 4 is not the Rapture of popular understanding, then what is happening in this text?
Not much if the Westminster Confession of Faith is any metric.
Chapter XXXII
Of the State of Men after Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead
Article II
At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up, with the selfsame bodies, and none other (although with different qualities), which shall be united again to their souls forever.
This Confession, which I suspect is like many others from the Reformation era, simply cites I Thessalonians 4:17 as a proof text for resurrection on the last day. This article of the Confession parrots part of the Nicene Creed.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
This more traditional view is echoed by David Chilton in Days of Vengeance.
There is thus to be a resurrection at the end of history, at the Second Coming of Christ on the Last Day (John 6:38-40, 44, 54; Acts 24:15; 1 Thess. 4:14-17). But before that final resurrection there is another, a First Resurrection: the resurrection of “Christ the first fruits.” He rose from the dead, and resurrected all believers with Him. Note: St. John does not say that the believer himself as such is resurrected, but that he has a part in the First Resurrection. He is sharing in the Resurrection of Another-the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[David Chilton, Days of Vengeance (1987), p. 517.]
The Hope of Israel and the Nations
It seems that many non-dispensational folks don’t expend a lot of theological energy on I Thessalonians since all it says is Jesus will come back some day, raise sleeping saints, and then the living will join him. Often it is assumed that this will happen at the end of all things but there is another possibility.
I found a transcript of a different and more nuanced point of view on this passage. The paper is linked here and cost $2.95. The paper makes a biblically defensible argument for a third possible understanding of the Thessalonian passage. Participants are Gary DeMar as interviewer and Kim Burgess as guest.
Burgess’ point of view is that the Old Covenant is types and shadows; materials representations of spiritual reality, while the New Covenant is the spiritual reality. Burgess cites examples of the New Covenant being spiritual as John 4, the woman at the well “you will never thirst”; John 3, “ye must be born again”; and John 6, “labor for meat that endureth to everlasting life.” The spiritual reality of the New Covenant is illustrated in Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Galatians 4:22–31.
In the paper, they argue for the nearness of the coming of the Lord in judgment. Part of that coming involves the Old Covenant saints being released from Sheol and being brought into heaven. (The subject of 1 Corinthians 15.) Further that the meeting with the Lord in the air or in heavenly places is a transfer in status from the Old to the New Covenant order.
Kim: In the transition to the New Covenant order we see that a switch has taken place from the physical or material hermeneutic (e.g., the physical and visible temple or mountain) to the “Spiritual” or “heavenly” hermeneutic (cf. the heavenly Jerusalem and Zion of Hebrews 12:22). Paul uses these two modifying terms quite deliberately in 1 Corinthians 15:44-49. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16 we still have the language of “the Lord coming down” in Exodus 19:20 (see also “the glory of the Lord” resting on Mt. Sinai in Ex. 24:16-17), but the text does not actually say He came down to Earth in the flesh or that He was to appear there physically/bodily. That is an assumption that we read into the text while hardly being aware that we are doing it. He was to “come down or descend” and the saints—the dead and the living—were to go to “a meeting” with Him “in the air.” We will come back soon to the meaning of “in the clouds” and “in the air.” The point for now is that this is the Spiritual and heavenly reality (the antitype) of what was formerly, in the Old Testament, a physical type.
Kim: It is the all-too-common physical (bodily) rapture mentality of Dispensationalism that tends to get hold of us if we are not careful and re-wires our brains to think that Paul is describing people being moved bodily from point A to point B geographically, in this case from earth to heaven, but it is just not so here in 4:17. It is a spiritual transition from death to Life (i.e., eternal Life in Christ) that is in view.
Kim: Let’s get back to verse 17. The English translation I am using (NASB) reads “to meet the Lord in the air,” but, in the Greek, it is actually a noun and not a verb: “to a meeting of the Lord in the air.” That noun is ἀπάντησις (apantēsis) and refers to “a meeting.” Do you know where else this same noun is used? It’s in Matthew 25:1 and 6 about the five foolish and five wise virgins going out to “a meeting of the bridegroom.” This is the same “meeting” as in 4:17. It is a wedding theme. See Revelation 19:5-9 for more detail. This “meeting,” I believe, is what John calls “the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Gary: Mike Sullivan brings out the wedding parallels found in Matthew 24-25 and 1 Thessalonians 4-5 in the section below from his extended chart on the topic.
Paul’s use of the trumpet and the cloud in I Thessalonians 4:16 is a direct reference to the Glory Cloud in Exodus and also the arrival of the Holy Spirt on Pentecost (Acts 2). David Chilton, quoted earlier, called the Glory Cloud “God’s mobile home” and cites Merideth Kline’s Images in the Spirit which documents the Cloud’s appearance in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.
As added support to the claim that 1 Thessalonians 4 is about an event in the First Century, look also at II Thessalonians Chapter 1.
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 1:6–12.
Paul promises the Thessalonians that they, in the First Century, will get relief from persecution. Using language typical of biblical prophets, Paul promises that Jesus will use flaming fire to take vengeance on the godless who will be punished with everlasting destruction and simultaneously, the saints will be glorified. So, did the Thessalonians get relief as Paul promised, or did he lie?
Another passage also says Jesus will deliver Paul’s Thessalonian readers from the wrath to come.
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 1:10.
The Thessalonians were promised deliverance from the “wrath to come.” It was a near event, not one two thousand years away. These promises of relief are very similar to those given to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
Conclusion
Using only Scripture as your guide, there is zero biblical warrant for the Rapture doctrine. Only by bringing a pre-existing system to the pages of Scripture can you assume a Rapture doctrine exists somewhere in the Bible. Thomas Ice admits that the Rapture is “deduced” and not actually found in the Bible. If you say something loud enough and often enough people tend to believe it. Its just as true in theology as it is in politics or the media.
The trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, as shown by Mike Sullivan’s chart, is the same as the trumpet in Matthew 24:31. Kim Burgess elsewhere states that the trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and Revelation’s 7th trumpet are the same event as well. Four passages, same trumpet, same event. Whether past or future, I think Burgess is correct about all four verses are the same event.
I think there is a good argument, that during the coming of Jesus in the judgment of 70 AD, that 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17 was fulfilled. Others believe the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 occurs at the end of time. Either way, there is no need for a Rapture as understood in the Premillennial/Dispensational system. When the central event of a theological system must be assumed because there are no proof texts for it, then it is time to reevaluate the position.
As for my opinion on the text, I’m inclined to go with DeMar and Burgess. Jesus judged Jerusalem in 70 AD but continues that rule and judgment today. It is an ongoing process that will culminate in a final resolution in the future.
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14.