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Given that some Evangelicals believe the Rapture will happen one day during Israel’s High Holidays, now’s a good time to consider what the Bible really says
JERUSALEM—The Bible describes a remarkable event that will take place during the “last days” of history before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
It is most often referred to as the “Rapture” and it involves the sudden “catching away” or “snatching away” of true, born again followers of the Lord Jesus.
On Monday, I wrote a column about why some Christians and Messianic Jews believe the Rapture will happen one day on our around the Jewish High Holidays in the Fall.
Today, in Part 4 of this “Wake Up Call” series, let’s look more closely at the Biblical basis for the Rapture, especially since many Christians don’t understand it or even believe that it will really happen.
Why?
Because as darkness falls on our world, and as apostasy threads throughout much of the Church around the world – including here in Israel and the Arab/Muslim world – true followers of Jesus need to wake up, to be alert, to be living lives of holiness and Great Commission impact before the Lord comes back to get us.
And those who don’t yet have a personal relationship with the Messiah need to get one before it’s too late.
IS THE RAPTURE FICTIONAL OR REAL?
In the 1990s, two Evangelical authors – Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins – wrote the Left Behind series of novels, selling more than 65 million copies in the process.
The novels depicted what the authors imagined it would feel and look like if those in the world who follow Jesus suddenly disappeared “in the twinkling of an eye.”
They also imagined what might happen to everyone else, to people who are not followers of Jesus, to people who will be “left behind” as the End Times judgments described in the ancient Hebrew prophets, as well as in the New Testament Book of Revelation, begin to unfold.
While the Left Behind novel series was a work of fiction – as well as a publishing phenomenon, selling more books than any other Christian book in history beside the Bible – the theology of the Rapture is real and rooted in the Biblical Scriptures.
