Can We Still Believe in the Rapture?
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Today, the hope that all believers on earth will be “caught up” to heaven is being challenged in new waves of criticism. Is the rapture really taught in the Bible? Can we really expect Jesus to gather up His followers before the Antichrist is revealed?
In this well-reasoned and thorough defense, prophecy authors Mark Hitchcock and Ed Hindson examine the concept, context, and consequences of the important and long-expected event known as the rapture. Discover the answers to such questions as…
- What is the rapture—and is there any historical precedent for it?
- Why do some believers object to the idea of a rapture?
- Does the timing of the rapture really make a difference?
As you explore what Scripture says about the end times, you’ll get a grander glimpse of your glorious future and the deepest hope of every follower of Jesus.
This is a Logos Reader Edition. Learn more.
- Explains what God’s Word teaches on this topic
- Presents helpful information from today’s best research
- Seeks to help readers understand the fallacies inherent in the attacks against the rapture
- Rapture Under Attack
- Separating Fact from Fiction
- Raptures in the Bible
- Rapture Views—It's About Time
- History of the Rapture Doctrine
- The Rapture and the Return
- Bringing the Future into Focus
- Is the Rapture Imminent?
- Not Destined for Warth
- The Necessity of an Interval Between the Rapture and the Return
- Does It Really Matter?
- Are Your Ready?
Top Highlights
“All views of eschatology (except full preterism) believe there will be a rapture of living believers and a simultaneous resurrection of dead believers. The only real difference between the views is the matter of the timing of the rapture.” (Page 15)
“In this chapter, we will survey various historical references to the rapture, thus establishing these significant facts: (1) Christians have long believed in the fact that there will be a rapture; (2) the earliest Christian writers believed in the imminent return of Christ; (3) most of them were premillennial; and (4) there are multiple examples of belief in a pretribulational rapture prior to 1830, or prior to Darby.” (Page 82)
“Third, for some people, the concerns of this world (Matthew 13:22) have taken priority over the pursuit of spiritual maturity.” (Page 21)
“The second factor is the growing resurgence of Reformed theology in evangelical circles.” (Page 22)
“In short, prewrath rapturism contends that the rapture will transpire about three-fourths of the way through the tribulation (about five-and-a-half years into the tribulation). The turmoil in the first three-fourths of the tribulation is viewed as the wrath of man and Satan, not the wrath of God. According to this view, the outpouring of divine wrath (the Day of the Lord) is not inaugurated until the seventh seal judgment in Revelation 8:1. Proponents say that believers will be raptured to heaven between the sixth and seventh seal judgments.” (Page 78)