Copyright © 2024 Michael A. Brown
The previous blogs have
established the truth of the pre-tribulation rapture from the New Testament
where it is clearly taught, together with its theological foundations. Many commentators believe that teaching about
the rapture cannot be found in the Old Testament scriptures. However, when we take a closer look, we can
certainly see several prophetic allusions to it, so it is not entirely absent
from the Old Testament. Several passages
are considered below.
Enoch and Elijah
Both Enoch and Elijah provide examples of
men who were raptured up into heaven.
Enoch was taken by the Lord, and he could not be found anymore. The prophet Elijah, when his time came, was
suddenly taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, separating him from his
servant Elisha who witnessed this visible event. Elijah was taken, whereas Elisha was left on
earth to succeed him in his prophetic ministry:
‘Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away... By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.’ (Gen. 5:24, Heb. 11:5)
‘As
they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and
horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to
heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this
and cried out, “My father! My
father! The chariots and horsemen of
Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more.’ (2 Ki. 2:11-12)
Isaiah 26:19-21
‘But
your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise – let those who dwell in the
dust wake up and shout for joy – your dew is like the dew of the morning; the
earth will give birth to her dead. Go,
my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for
a little while until his wrath has passed by.
See, The LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the
earth for their sins. The earth will
disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.’ (Isa. 26:19-21)
These verses in the so-called ‘apocalypse
of Isaiah’ clearly describe the context of two specific end-times events,
namely the resurrection of dead believers, and the time of tribulation in which
God’s wrath will be poured out on planet earth.
However, it is very interesting that it is in this end-times context
that the Lord tells his people to ‘enter their rooms’ and to shut the doors
behind them, to hide and not to emerge again until the time of his wrath has
passed. The Hebrew noun cheder
used in v.20 and translated ‘rooms’ in the NIV means ‘an apartment’ or more
specifically ‘a bedchamber’ or ‘a wedding chamber.’
This end-times context suggests that it is
reasonable to see the words of v.20 as a prophetic allusion to the rapture in
which the bride of Christ will be taken away from the end-times pouring out of
God’s wrath, and she will be kept safe in heaven to enjoy the wedding supper of
the Lamb during this time. The bride
will ‘emerge’ again when Christ returns to earth at his Second Advent after the
end of the great tribulation. These
words cannot mean that believers will somehow be kept safe on earth during the
tribulation simply by hiding in their bedrooms with their doors closed and
locked. That would be nonsense, and it is not taught anywhere in
the New Testament! No, they are a
prophetic allusion to the rapture.
The order of events described here is
clearly the resurrection of the Lord’s people (which therefore includes the
rapture, cf. 1 Thess. 4:16-17), the bride of Christ kept safe in heaven during
the tribulation, enjoying the rooms prepared for her by Jesus (cf. John
14:2-3), and the bride emerging again after the time of God’s wrath.
Song 2:10-13
‘My
beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with
me. See!
The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of
singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the
blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.’ (Song 2:10-13)
The Song of Solomon is seen by many
commentators as being prophetic of the relationship between Christ and his
bride, and this passage in particular as an allusion to the rapture. The bride is called by her beloved to arise
and come away with him. The context of
these verses suggests the season of Spring, leading some to believe that the
rapture will therefore happen sometime during the Spring season, although we do
not know the exact day or hour, of course.
Zephaniah 2:3
‘Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just
commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the
day of the anger of the Lord.’ (Zeph. 2:3)
As we saw in blog 6, the prophet
Zephaniah presents God’s judgement on Israel during the time of the Babylonians
as a prophetic foreshadow of his end-times judgement on the world. The words in v.3 above exhort the Lord’s
people to seek him, and to seek righteousness and humility, in the living hope
that they will be hidden and therefore protected in the day of the pouring out
of God’s wrath. The Hebrew verb sathar
translated as ‘hidden’ means ‘to conceal something by covering it up,’ ‘to be
absent,’ or ‘to keep close to oneself.’ In
line with what my other blogs present, these meanings are evidently
a prophetic foreshadow of the rapture of the bride of Christ away from the
end-times tribulation.
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