THE RAPTURE IN THESSALONIANS
By ROBERT GOVETT, M.A.
It
will be observed, that Paul is silent as to the multiple rapture, or the
discriminating of the saints. Can such omission then be accounted for, or
does not Paul’s omission throw discredit upon the doctrine?
To
which it must be replied - First, that if
a doctrine be once made out from Scripture, the silence of the other sacred
writers does not in the least weaken it.
Secondly,
we may discern why the apostle omitted to notice it. For the questions
treated of by him are mainly two, and they are consolations addressed to quiet
certain vain fears. (1) The first of these was,
a fear lest the dead saints should have no part in the [Millennial] Kingdom. (2)
The second was a fear that the living saints were already in the
day of the Lord, and would have to make their way through the tempest.
(1)
Now in order to answer the first it was enough to reply, that, as death did not
hinder Jesus, the head of the coming kingdom, from entering upon it, so neither
would it prevent the saints, who were one with Jesus, from entering it
also. He appends also further intelligence respecting the mode of the
resurrection; which proves that the living, far from being alone in the
kingdom, would not be even first in it.
Such
a mode of reply then did not require, and could hardly admit, any notice of
distinguishing rapture. Whether the rapture takes place at thrice or at
once, the same assertion holds good, that the living and dead will be jointly
partakers of the ascent.
(2)
But with regard to the other fear, the case was different. The apostle
might have treated the question so as to bring the discrimination into
view. He might have said - ‘The watchful
saint will escape that day of terrors; the unwatchful will have
to pass through it.’ But then it must be remembered that he had to
meet the alarm of saints, who were persuaded that though
they were watchful, the day of dread had come upon them. To tell them,
then, that some of the saints would have to endure the perils and
sorrows of that day, would hardly have tended to allay their
fears. All at Thessalonica were not only watchful, but in full
expectation; and therefore the
cautionary view would manifestly be less needed, than where the saints were
ignorant or asleep on this
momentous topic.
Again
it was not proposed to Paul, as an inquiry, whether any of the
Even
the unruly of the Thessalonians - were still watchful, and would be partakers
of the first rapture, though, if they continued in their unruliness, they would
be subject to rebuke after their ascent. For every
distinct offence of the saints has
its answering and distant recompense.
The
main subject of Paul is the Presence and this is but one, however
many of the saints’ entrances into it may be. He takes up the
raptures only as relating to, and introducing to, the Presence; and he treats
of the Presence only as referring to the life or death of the saints (1 Thess. 4.), or as
taking the watchful saint out of
the Day of the Lord.
Thus
we may see the reasons why our Lord brings it forward; and why the apostle does
not. Paul viewed only the physical
difficulties; and hence gives the rapture only as seen from the point of God’s
power to surmount them. These difficulties abide the same, however
often the rapture may be repeated. But
Jesus presents the moral aspect of the rapture or God’s
requirements from man. Jesus
puts forth warning to the careless; Paul, comfort
to the terrified. Thus the one wisely omits what the other had as wisely disclosed.
Paul’s
omission on this point is parallel by another omission of a like kind. Jesus views both the Church and the Jews as of
two classes: and presents the escape of the one, the trials and woe of the
other. Paul recognizes but the one
class of the Jews, and but one of the Church. The Jews with him were
wholly impenitent; the Church wholly watchful.
Yet,
in spite of the acknowledged omission, an attentive eye may, I believe, gather
hints confirmatory of the doctrine even from the Epistle before us. For what says the fifth chapter of the first
Epistle? The Apostle there is setting
forth as one view the contrasted positions of the Church and the world. The Church is awake and sober, the world is
sleeping and drunken; and answerably thereto, the one is seized on by the Day
as by a thief, the other escapes. But
would it not follow from such a principle, that if the believer have left the characteristic and holy position of
safety in which the Church is to stand, that he also might be overtaken by that
day as a thief? After describing the
terrors of the day of the Lord, Paul warns the saint to be unlike those on whom
that day will come; (1 Thess.
5: 6-8). And he winds up the epistle with a prayer,
that they might be found
blameless in body, soul, and spirit, in the Presence (verse. 23). He does not assume, as it constantly is assumed by many, that all ‘the Church’ will be ready. All the Thessalonian Christians indeed were awake to the return of
the Lord. But that is not true of believers now; and even to these Paul drops a
word of exhortation, not to resemble the world in its slumbers and drunkenness.
Else, it is implied, if they were so
overtaken, they would be dealt with as of the world.
But
he closes on a note of reassurance. "Who died for
us, in order that whether we keep awake or lie down to sleep, we may together
live with him" (1 Thess.
5: 10). Many Christians,
especially of those who despise prophecy, are spiritually asleep. They are pursuing, with full bent of soul,
the world’s prizes. And thus they are blind to the effects of the Saviour’s return. Here,
then, we obtain a reply to the momentous question: ‘Is
it perdition of such to give themselves up to spiritual slumber?’
And the reply, in grace is: ‘No!’ The Saviour has died; and disobedience to this
command will not be their
destruction. Those spiritually alive in Christ shall not be for ever mixed up with the spiritually
dead.
* * *
* * *
* *
CONDITIONAL RAPTURE
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
The
ever-deepening shadows of coming judgment around us, which - as we have several
times ventured to predict - are certain to modify the views of multitudes of
Christians on prophecy, have now been reinforced by an ambitious and elaborate
volume,*
favourably reviewed by all the leading evangelical journals to an
astounding degree, which assures us that all Christians must pass
through the Great Tribulation. So
this old problem, so terrific in its consequences, is once again upon us, whether
we will or no; and every opening of a fresh year makes the knowledge of what
exactly is going to happen more urgent - more desperately urgent - for us all.
[* The Approaching Advent of Christ, by Alexander
Reese.]
TWO DOMINANT VIEWS
Now
two understandings of Scripture divide the
CONDITIONAL RAPTURE
This startling alternative makes the victory of
either group morally impossible. For how is it conceivable that saints of God so able and
devoted as J. N. Darby and Dr. Torrey on
the one hand, or else Dr. Tregelles and George
Muller on the other, could be totally wrong on the great subject of
Scripture study, totally astray in the exposition of the plain and explicit
Scriptures? Both sides can produce explicit Scriptures and powerful
arguments. There must
be a compromise, and there is. The gradual removal of the Church by successive raptures, according
to the ripeness of the grain, is the golden mean between two blank
contradictions, a golden mean which accepts, on their face value, unaltered and
unmodified, all the
Scriptures that bear on rapture. It
is significant to note at once that ‘the rapture of the Church’
is a phrase unknown to Scripture, for the simple reason that there is no such a
thing as a simultaneous removal of the whole Church, either
before the Tribulation or after it.
A MORAL DISTINCTION
Now
we are at once arrested by an outstanding fact. Between the two dominant
views on the one hand, and the Scripture statements concerning rapture on the
other, the fundamental
difference is a moral one. The
two current views throw the entire responsibility of what is coming to us upon
God; whether we escape the Tribulation, or pass through it is the
sovereign act of God: whereas
the Scripture lodges the responsibility foursquare upon the shoulders of
the believer himself. The current views dissociate rapture
completely from all sanctity in the believer. In the first view, the
grossest backslider is flashed into sudden glory; in the second view, the
saintliest character must undergo the coming judgments; the Scripture, on
the other hand, explicitly states the reverse of both these statements;
for it establishes rapture on a moral basis. All moves - including the great Day of the
Lord - towards the perfecting of the saints. Those rapt before the Tribulation, kept watchful by the warnings they
heeded, escape; while the terrors of the Day of the Lord, which they
experience, will stab wide-awake all Christians who are now plunged in
unbreakable slumber.
RAPTURE A REWARD
Now
what the truth is can at once be determined by discovering exactly what rapture
is. If rapture is of grace, it is a gift; if it is a reward, it is of
works; and one word of our Lord is decisive:- "Watch ye" - he is actually
addressing apostles - "and pray that ye may
be ACCOUNTED WORTHY to escape all these things that shall come to pass"
(Luke 21: 36): the escape (He says) is contingent on the worthiness: that is, the
escape is not a gift of grace, but a reward conditional on watchfulness and
prayer. It is most significant that in the great galaxy of faith
in Hebrews Eleven, the sole hero of faith associated with reward is Enoch, the rapt; and his rapture is explicitly stated to be the fruit of his
walk, not of his standing. "He
was not found, for before his translation he hath had witness borne to him THAT
HE HAD BEEN WELL-PLEASING UNTO GOD", who "is a REWARDER of them that diligently
seek him" (Heb. 11: 5).
Thus we learn why, as the exact date of
the Advent is hidden, so the Scripture is totally silent on the degree
of sanctity demanded for rapture: the date is concealed in order to produce
perpetual watchfulness; the standard of worthiness is concealed in order to
produce perpetual preparation.
THE DAY OF THE LORD
Now
this discovery of what rapture is - namely, a reward - completely disarms both the opposing camps. For what is the
central argument of both, supporting the removal of the whole Church at or in
the Tribulation? The first group denies that any believer can incur the
terrors of the Day of the Lord; the second group denies that what all
Christians will pass through is the Day of the Lord; that is, both groups seek to avoid, at all costs, all that conflicts
with grace. But
rapture occurs in the day of justice, not in the day of grace - the day
in which the Lord says - "I know thy works":
the withdrawal of ambassadors is not the last act of peace, but the first act
of war; and the withdrawal of God’s ambassadors is an action of the Day of
Wrath. So far as the Day of Wrath being impossible for a child of God, wrath already occurs in principle, and can
occur in fact. For the Church is directed by the Holy Ghost, in the case
of a believer guilty of one of the excommunication sins (1 Cor. 5: 11), "TO DELIVER SUCH A ONE UNTO SATAN FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
FLESH" - an exact summary of the Day of Vengeance; but, not in
order that he may be eternally destroyed, nor to prove that he has never been
born again, but "that the spirit [of the believer thus excommunicated] may be saved in the
day of the Lord Jesus" - when, from the Judgment Seat, our
Lord opens His reign on earth. It is exactly so in the days that are coming. It is the descent of Satan, occurring after the rapture of the Manchild, that creates the Great Tribulation, and he
sets out (Rev. 12: 17) to exterminate the ‘remainder’ who ‘hold the
testimony of Jesus".
A CONDITIONAL PROMISE
No
passage is plainer or more decisive than our Lord’s promise to the
Philadelphian Angel, and none more critically overthrows both views dominant in
the Church. "Because thou" - it is no promise to the whole
church in Philadelphia, much less to the whole Church throughout the world, but
a promise to a selected church officer for the action he has taken - "didst keep the word of my patience"
- here is no
privilege whatever based on the new birth, but a promise to a selected believer as a
reward for a definite doctrinal action - "I also will KEEP THEE" - therefore
without the ‘kept
word’ no believer
will be correspondingly ‘kept’ - "from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole [habitable earth,] to try them that dwell upon
the earth" (Rev. 3: 10). Words are meaningless if a promise so sharply
conditioned is to be enjoyed by all believers, freed from all conditions
whatever; and equally
impossible is it to reconcile it with being kept safely through the
Tribulation. For the Angel is dead. As a matter of
fact, he can never be kept through the Tribulation, for he can
never be in it, and such an exposition would only make our Lord’s
promise false: whereas, since he is to be kept out of the Trial,
his death has already fulfilled the promise; a promise which will cover all the
living also who fulfil its conditions.
A CONCRETE FACT
So
now, in the Apocalypse, we see conditional rapture in concrete fact. "I saw, standing on
[* There is no article before ‘firstfruits’, for it is but a
section - the body escort of the Lamb.]
PRAYERLESSNESS
The
practical consequence of this unfortunate dual error is that, while both
groups, it is astounding to know, accept (for the most part) our Lord’s commanded
prayer for escape as addressed to the Church, both so interpret Scripture that that prayer is never prayed, and can
never be prayed. For if we all must escape, or if we all must pass
through the Trial, in either case such a prayer is merely unbelief: therefore,
on one ground or another, the prayer to escape, the only subject on which our Lord ever commanded perpetual prayer
- "PRAY ALWAYS"
- is never prayed - at Second Advent meetings, or Conventions
such as Keswick, or (with rare exceptions) in any of the Churches of God
throughout the world. But individuals pray the prayer. The writer has prayed it daily for thirty-six
years. The prayer may not, by
itself, ensure our rapture - much depends on the watchfulness that is to
accompany it; but it must enormously increase the likelihood. Is it
not safest to follow in the counsel of the Lord?
-------
[FOOTNOTE. Rapture before the Tribulation (Luke 21: 36), cannot be the same as rapture at its
close (Matt. 24: 29, 30; cf. 1 Thess
4: 16, 17): the distinction is not being made today, and the former is,
without doubt, conditional.
There
is nothing definite stated in Scripture (as far as I can find) to suggest more
than two raptures. After the first removal, the next will occur at ‘the end of the Age’: that is, at the end
of the Great Tribulation; and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.]
* * *
* * *
*
REWARD
"It is astonishing how men will attack a citadel the very
ground plan of which they have never attempted to master. Some critics
(happily but few) of reward according to works urge that it is a Roman doctrine
and a variety of Purgatory by which salvation is to be won. The exact reverse is the fact. The truth
on reward takes out of the hands of Rome the Scriptures on which she rests to
establish [eternal]
salvation by works; the works that Rome puts before salvation,
reward puts after it, so making [eternal] salvation by works for ever impossible: it isolates
foundation from superstructure, salvation from reward, gift from prize, resting
from wrestling, and thus completely establishes evangelical truth while as
carefully safeguarding Christian responsibility; and it delivers from the very
error the critic deprecates - an Arminianism
(sacerdotal or otherwise) in which works done after faith are a condition of [eternal] salvation.
No man can meet
RESPONSIBILITY
"For
only in the double revelation is there the perfect balance of truth. Justification
is instantaneous on a simple act of faith once for all: reward follows on
sanctification through a lifetime of service. That a believer’s sins, if
unconfessed and un-abandoned, will be judged by our Lord on His return is clear
from 2 Cor. 5: 10:-
"We must all be made manifest before the
judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
Is there a believer anywhere in the world who denies that ‘bad things’ done in the body are ‘sins’? but if this is
conceded, the discussion is closed. Moreover, it is to ‘receive the things
done,’ that is, (in the case of evil) their punitive consequences: as
Paul says elsewhere (Col. 3: 25) - "He that doeth wrong shall RECEIVE
AGAIN FOR THE WRONG that he hath done, and there is no respect of persons":
“no plea that the offender is a believer, or a very
distinguished believer, will avail ought."
* * *
* * *
*
ACCOUNTED WORTHY TO ESCAPE
By G. H.
PEMBER, M. A.
Upon
the vexed question of the translation of the Church there has been much
controversy. One large party has
pronounced that all her living members will be removed from the earth before
the Tribulation: another, that the whole number of them will have to remain
here until the end of the same dread season: a third, that those of the living
saints who, through their walk and behaviour after conversion, are found
worthy, will escape the Tribulation; while such as the Lord finds living in
ease and carnal security will have to be cleanses from worldly lusts by passing
through the trial. This last mentioned
view seems to us to be the true solution of the problem; while, at the same
time, it suggests a probable origin of the others.
But
we would pray for power to remember that over-confidence and dogmatism are
altogether out of place in the discussion of subjects so profound and solemn. With chastened and humbled hearts must we
enter the Holiest, sprinkled with the Blood of our slain Lord, and leaning, not upon our own wisdom, but upon
the aid of that Spirit Who Alone knows the mind of God and Alone can reveal it. And if
these be our conditions, there will be found in us none of that vain
self-reliance, at times bordering upon arrogance, which is so often conspicuous
in discussions even of the most solemn themes.
A vital passage is Luke
21: 36, which runs as follows:-
"Watch
ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to
stand before the Son of Man."
Now
in the ten verses immediately preceding these words, the Lord has been
describing the Great Tribulation, which shall come as a snare "upon all them that dwell upon the face of the whole
earth." Evidently, then, there is but one way of escaping a trouble so
universal - namely, by a previous translation from the earth. And
the last clause of the verse reveals that those who are thus translated will
find themselves in the presence of "the Son of Man
Which is in Heaven." We have, then, to discover who
these favoured ones are, and, with that purpose in view, most carefully mark
what the text tells us respecting them.
First,
then, (1) they must be sought only among those who will be alive at the time of
the end. (2) They must belong to the
same class as the disciples whom the Lord was addressing. (3) They must be persons who know and believe
that the Tribulation is impending, and
who pray without ceasing for deliverance from it. (4) They
will have to win this great favour by being accounted worthy of it. Bare
faith in God, or Christ, will not procure it for them: it is not a gift, but a
prize to be won, in the strength of the Lord, by the fruits of faith, by
conduct and works after
conversion. And (5) they are to be translated from earth to Heaven where the Lord Jesus is, and to remain
with Him while their brethren are being harassed and slain by harlot and Beast
in succession.*
[* The old idea that the title, ‘Son of Man,’ indicates a Jewish connection is
untrue. The title is one of deep humility, and, therefore, with a single
exception was used only by the Lord Himself. The other mouth that uttered
it was that of Stephen, a Christian believer. And how could we ever
forget the intimate association with ourselves? For was it not the Son of
man that our Lord died, and redeemed us from all our iniquities?]
In
the fourth chapter of the Revelation a change of Dispensation becomes
manifest. The very word ‘church’ is never
again found, until the prophecy has ended in chapter
22: 5. The Sanctuary of the Lampstands
has disappeared, and its place is taken by the Throne, before which stand those
heavenly things which were the patterns of the Tabernacle-furniture. (Rev. 4: 2, 5, 6; 8: 3.) Presently the Lord
appears as a Jew, "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah,
the Root of David." (Rev. 5: 5).
Then again, we have the martyrs crying
for vengeance, (Rev. 6: 9-11), the sealing
of twelve thousand from each of the twelve Tribes of Israel, (Rev.7: 1-8) the Two Witnesses destroying all who
would hurt them, (Rev. 11: 5) and other
signs that the Church-period has gone by, and the final Seven Years of Israel’s
probation have commenced. And, since this great change occurs immediately
after John’s ascent to heaven, (Rev. 6: 1)
we cannot but regard the latter event as indicating the moment when the Firstfruits will be removed and the Church upon earth
broken up, so far as her official character is concerned.
Thus
the great controversy as to whether the then living members of the Church will be removed before or
after the Tribulation appears to have
been founded upon a mistake that all of them would be removed at the same
moment.
* *
* * *
* *
FAITHFUL WITNESS
By R. J.
CAMPBELL,
No
true Christian can go right through life without sooner or later, on a small
scale or a great, finding himself misunderstood and
opposed by fellow-Christians, some of whom may be personally dear to him.
Faithfulness to one’s vision is sure to involve a trial of this kind, and it is
no light one. Sweet friendships are often sundered thereby, tender
affections wounded to the quick; it is a heart-piercing thing to see a beloved
face turned from you, to perceive cordial trust alienated at the very moment
when you are in greatest need of it; it is hard to keep silence on the subject
that is first in your thoughts, because it happens to be just the one subject
that has divided you from your circle or your closest friend. Seldom are
such breaches thoroughly healed in this world.
Be vigilant therefore lest you be seduced to betray
your soul or be less that true to what the Spirit of all truth requires of you.
Neither by silence nor by speech seek to win commendation by seeming to agree where you do
not agree or to admire what you conscientiously feel to be wrong. The
temptation may be sore to win an advantage by concealing your true convictions
when the temper of your company is hostile to them, but to yield to it is to be
guilty of the sin of quenching the Spirit, which none can do without harming
others as well as himself.
To
speak the truth in love is often hard, but grace is afforded to him who makes
the effort in faith and humility. It is hard to blame when you long to
praise, to point out a shortcoming or wound a proud man’s self-esteem; but when
it has to be done, do it without fear or falsity as though you stood before the
judgment seat of Christ, and leave the outcome to Him. Be gentle, modest,
and strong, and your Lord will sustain you. Let there be no smallest trace of self-seeking
or self-righteousness in any difficult thing that you have to say or do in the
name of Jesus, and you will have no cause to regret the stand you take whatever
you have to suffer for it. For in the
long run it is better to hold the respect of Jesus than that of fallible man,
and even in the sadness of a lonely hour His whispered word of peace is worth
more than all the adulation of the world.
* * *
* * *
*
COURAGE AND HONESTY
Henry VIII, deeply incensed with a sermon by
Bishop Latimer, order him to
apologize on the following Sunday. The Bishop began: - 'Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom
thou art to speak? To the high and Mighty Monarch, who can take thy life,
therefore take heed. But
consider well, Hugh - upon whose message art thou sent? Even the great
and mighty God, who is all-present, and who is able to cast thy soul into Hell. Therefore, take
care that thou deliver thy message.' He then repeated the
same sermon, but with greater intensity. The Court trembled. The King,
summoning the Bishop, asked sternly how he dared to be so bold. Latimer,
falling on his knees, said that he had done his duty to his God and his
Prince. Henry, rising, took
the Bishop by the hand, exclaiming, - 'Blessed
be God I have so honest a servant!' "
-------