The Second Coming (3)

The object of this piece is to help, if possible, those who think that a rapture of the Lord’s people is incredible.

If we were walking along by a placid stream and then suddenly the stream was covered by what looked like dimples caused by raindrops and that from these emerged a mass of small flying insects we would probably be very surprised. Now this would not be a rapture, but probably the nearest thing to one in nature. Let us therefore look at what David Attenborough says. He is an evolutionist so there can be no idea that he would be biassed in favour of a rapture.

“Mayflies are found in freshwaters throughout the world. There are about three thousand different species of them, but one of the biggest occurs in a few rivers in central Hungary. Unlike many mayfly species which emerge from their aquatic larval life at different times throughout the warm summer months, these Hungarian mayflies emerge simultaneously in vast swarms on just a few occasions in midsummer.

The day before they do so, there may be little if anything to suggest the scale of the swarming to come. The river, fifty metres or so across, slides quietly between its willow-lined banks. A kingfisher perches on a low branch beside its nest hole. A wagtail hunts for mosquitos in swooping circuits. Dragonflies hawk up and down among the reeds and male frogs stutter their honking mating calls. A couple of local fishermen drift downstream in their dinghy, occasionally striking the surface of the water with a cone-shaped instrument that makes the dull thudding noise that they believe attracts the carp that they seek. But they have a resigned air, for they know that the mayfly emergence is due any day - and then their fishing will be pointless. When that happens, the fish in their river will have so many insects to feast on that none will be tempted to take their hooks.

As afternoon cools into evening, dimples appear on the river surface. You can see, through binoculars, that they are made by large pallid insects pulling themselves free from their larval skins which are left floating on the surface. They have a pair of long filaments trailing from the back tip of their abdomen. That tells you they are mayflies. But you will have to be quick to spot them for they are not likely to be there for long. Either there is a splash as a fish leaps from the water to snap them up before they have even left it or the kingfisher will have flashed down in a blue streak to collect them. But within minutes, the surface of the river is pockmarked with dimples as thickly as if there were a rainstorm...

By now the blizzard of insects is so thick that it is difficult to see across the river to the opposite bank.” (Life in the Undergrowth by David Attenborough, pages 74-76).

I have here only quoted the pieces relevant to the rapture of the Lord’s people. What this shows is (1) the change that takes place when the larvae emerge from the river. This corresponds to the change that will take place when the Lord comes for his own (1 Corinthians 15: 51/52) and (2) the catching away of the saints as spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. If people were being raptured away all the time then no one would be sceptical about such a thing happening. It is the unusual nature of the event that fuels scepticism (see 2 Peter 3:4). It is true that there are quite a number of reports that individuals have disappeared and been apparently been taken from this earth, but how much weight should be given to these reports is uncertain. Going to nature to find analogies to the resurrection is not out of accord with Scripture for Paul himself does so (1 Corinthians 15:35 et seq.).

It may then be asked how will the Lord know who to take. One may answer this by saying: “[The] Lord knows those that are his” (2 Timothy 2:19). See also John 10:14. Apart from this we know that the Lord’s people have God’s Spirit as Paul says: “But if the Spirit of him that has raised up Jesus from among [the] dead dwell in you, he that has raised up Christ from among [the] dead shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of his Spirit which dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11). Here the presence of the Spirit in believers sets them apart from others and is the power in the persons that answers to Christ’s assembling shout. It is one reason for the Spirit’s presence in us, that is, it is the mark that we are the Lord’s. In Scripture it is called sealing (2 Corinthians 1:22). See also Ephesians 4:30. Incidentally, it is also said of Christ Himself (John 6:27). We have a similar thought in the Old Testament - a mark was set on those who felt the abominations that were done in Jerusalem so that judgment was not executed on them (Ezekiel 9:1-7).

One would mention here that in Revelation there are those that came under judgment because they received another sort of mark - the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16-18; 14:9-12).

God has not left us without witness of his ability to take persons off the earth. For examples we have Enoch (Hebrews 11:5), Elijah (2 Kings 2:1) and Christ Himself (Luke 24:50/51). Apart from these we know that Paul and John were both taken to heaven for the purpose of hearing/seeing things (2 Corinthians 12:1-4; Revelation 4:1/2). Philip was also transported from one place to another (Acts 8:39/40). In Ezekiel we have the prophet taken to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:2-4). In Revelation we have persons taken to heaven in the visions (Revelation 11:12 and 12:5). One would say that it could be uncertain in some cases whether persons were in the body or out of the body when they were taken up to heaven. For instance, Paul was uncertain (2 Corinthians 12:2).

There is also the solemn side. We have, for instance, persons going down alive into Sheol (Numbers 16:28-35).

Finally, one would make the point that there is more than one heaven. Paul speaks of the third heaven (paradise). However, one would not think of the heaven spoken of in Revelation as being that (consider for example Revelation 19:17/18). When the Lord’s people are raptured away they will in a certain sense be in heaven in that they will be off the earth, but it does not mean that they will then be in the Father’s house (John 14:1-4). The matter is of some importance as the question has sometimes been asked whether those spoken of as being before the throne in Revelation 7:9-12 were actually on the earth or in heaven. The answer I believe is that the heaven spoken of was the one in contact with the earth and that the throne was in the presence of those on the earth.

April 2008.