Thirteen Scholars Answer Tough Questions about the Rapture, Tribulation and the Second Coming – Program 2

By: Dr. John Walvoord, Hal Lindsey, Dr. Zola Levitt, Peter LaLonde, Dr. David Breese, Dr. Renald Showers, Dr. John Feinberg, Dr. Paul Feinberg, Dr. Earl Radmacher, Dr. Randall Price, Dave Hunt, Dr. Elwood McQuaid, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung; ©1996

Imminency means that Jesus’ return is near. What does the Bible teach us about when Jesus will return and the events that will surround that time?

Contents

What Does the Bible teach about the Imminency of Jesus’ Return?

Introduction

Dr. John Ankerberg: As we reach the end of this century, people want to know more about biblical prophecy, especially the sequence of the many important events that the Bible says will occur during the end times. Today and in the weeks to come, you will meet and hear thirteen of the most respected and knowledgeable professors and teachers of biblical prophecy in the United States. They will explain in depth some of the key passages concerning end-time events. My guests will be: Professor Dr. John Walvoord, Dr. Zola Levitt, Dr. David Breese, Dr. Earl Radmacher, Dr. Randall Price, Dr. Elwood McQuaid, Peter Lalonde, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, Dr. Renald Showers, Dr. Paul Feinberg, Dr. John Feinberg, and best-selling author Dave Hunt. We invite you to join us.

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Ankerberg: Welcome. In this series we’re answering questions that our audience has submitted concerning prophecy. One of the questions you have constantly asked us is, “What do you mean when you say the return of Jesus Christ is imminent? What is an imminent event? Where does the Bible teach imminency? And how does the biblical teaching of imminency impact my life today?”

Well, we’re going to answer all of these questions today, but I also want to relate this information to the question we answered last week, namely, “Where does the Bible teach that Christ will someday rapture all Christians off planet earth?”

Well, last week we saw in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, verses 16-18 the Apostle Paul taught, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” Now, the doctrine of the Rapture is taught in verse 17 where Paul says, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.”

The phrase “caught up” comes from the Greek word harpazo. It literally means “to snatch out” or “to seize.” Christ is going to snatch out of the world, or seize, all Christians living on earth at some future moment. But why do people call this event the Rapture? It’s because the Greek word harpazo was translated in the writing of the Latin Bible, the Vulgate, as raptus from which we get the popular word Rapture. Harpazo, raptus, rapture all mean the same thing. Believers will be caught up, snatched out of the world at the moment Christ comes.

And second, last week we also saw where Christians will be taken after Christ comes for us. In John Chapter 14, verses 2 and 3, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Where is the Father’s house? It is Heaven. That’s where Jesus is building a place for us. And Jesus says He’s going to come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is, Heaven, there we’re going to be also. So when Jesus comes to rapture the Church, these words can only teach He will take us back to heaven to be with Him.

Then, third, we saw that the Rapture will happen quickly. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 52, “Behold, I show you a mystery”—that is, something not previously known but now revealed by revelation from God. Paul says, “We shall not all sleep”—that is, not all die—”but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.” When the Bible says we’ll be changed, the meaning comes from the Greek word allasso, which literally means to be transformed. Believers will be instantly given new bodies, that is, new spiritual bodies like the Lord Jesus.

How quick will this transformation of our bodies take place? “In the twinkling of an eye.” We get this phrase from the Greek word atomos from which we get the word atom. It means something so small that it cannot be divided any further. The Rapture will occur so quickly and suddenly that the time frame in which it occurs cannot be humanly divided. These verses answer the questions: “Where does the Bible teach the doctrine of the Rapture? Where will Christians go when Christ comes for us? And how quick will the Rapture take place?”

In today’s program, we want to answer another question that many of you have asked; namely, What does it mean when preachers and teachers say that the Rapture is an imminent event? What does that mean? Where does the Bible teach it? Why is the whole concept of imminency important for those of us who live today? Before I give you the full definition of imminency, I’d like you to listen to some of the “Who’s Who” in biblical prophecy as they have used this word. See if you can tell how this word should be defined and why it is important. First, we’ll listen to Dr. Earl Radmacher who is chancellor of Western Theological Seminary:

Dr. Earl Radmacher: Well, if I were to narrow it down to one thing that is most convincing to me in the Scripture for the pretribulational Rapture, as a theologian who speaks on doctrine regularly, it would be the doctrine of the imminent return of the Lord; that is, the fact that there is no prophecy that needs to be fulfilled before Jesus Christ returns for His Church.

Now, it’s interesting to me that this has been believed as the teaching of the Scripture, both by those who don’t believe the Scripture, and by those who do. For example, I could go to a liberal commentary like C. K. Barrett’s Commentary on John, and he says, “There is no question about the fact that all of the apostles believed in the imminent return of the Lord.” Now, he said they were wrong, and, of course, that’s often a liberal argument to say that they believed that and they were wrong. But we need to start with: What did they believe? What does the text teach?

So, when you come to a passage like James Chapter 5, and he is warning the Christians concerning their attitudes towards those who work for them and he says, “Remember, the judge stands at the door.” That is, it can happen immediately. It may not happen for a long time, but it can happen immediately. So, there is no prophesied sign that needs to take place before the Lord Jesus comes.

Ankerberg: Next, I’d like you to listen to Dr. John Walvoord, Chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary and author of many books on prophecy, and especially the Rapture:

Walvoord: I’ve been teaching prophecy for more than 50 years at the seminary level. It’s a very precious truth and a very practical one, but it’s more than just a doctrine to me. The idea of being able to see Christ perhaps any day, face to face, is an amazing, electrifying anticipation. And I believe that’s what the Bible teaches and I believe that’s what God wants us to realize and to hope for. And so as I’m dealing with this subject perhaps from a theological, biblical standpoint, it is also from the standpoint that if you really love Christ, you’re going to love His appearing, and this is going to be a precious truth to you.

Ankerberg: Next, do you remember the events surrounding the Gulf War? Well, right about that time we held a huge television taping on prophecy in Orlando, Florida, and here is what one of my guests, Dr. David Breese, said about the Rapture:

Dr. David Breese: Well, I think, John, first of all in response to the skeptics, we ought to note the word of assurance that we have in Scripture that “we have a more sure word of prophecy unto which you’d do well to take heed as to a light that shines in a dark place until the day is gone and the day star arises in your hearts” (1 Peter 1:19). The only way we can know the future is to look into the prophetic Word.

And then, as relates to the coming of Christ, perhaps we need to establish the fact that when we think of the return of Christ, we need to think of His Return in two senses: first of all, Christ comes at the end of the Church Age for His Church and then the body of Christ is taken out of the world to heaven. That period is succeeded by the Tribulation which is the first part of the Day of the Lord, and at the end of that seven-year period of Tribulation Christ comes with His saints.

When He comes for His saints, Paul describes that as saying, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

There is a generation of Christians that will not die. “Behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Now, in that we look forward to the Rapture of the Church which is the time when the Body of Christ is taken from the world, we need to remember that the signs that are given to us in Scripture basically apply to the return of Christ in power and great glory. But like some prophetic scholars have said, “If Christmas is coming, Thanksgiving is coming sooner”—that is, the signs that point to those days of the Tribulation certainly imply that the Rapture, coming sooner, should be the object of our expectation.

Ankerberg: Now, I’d like you to listen to Dr. Paul Feinberg, Professor and teacher at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, talk about imminency, that is, Christ could return at any moment:

Dr. Paul Feinberg: What characterizes a pre-tribulational Rapture position is that for a pre-tribulationist, the next event that must occur on God’s prophetic calendar is the catching away of the Church to meet the Lord in the air—1 Thessalonians 4:14-18. This is a time when Paul says “the dead in Christ,” those who have been a part of the Church from the time of Pentecost to the Rapture, will be resurrected, “caught up to meet the Lord in the air, then those of us who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord will be caught up to meet them and we will be forever with the Lord.”

John 14:1-3 gives the destination of those who participate in the Rapture of the Church, we are going to the Father’s house. And in the Father’s house there literally are many rooms, and Jesus told His disciples that if He went away, He would prepare a place and He would come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is, there we may be with Him also.

So we are commanded in the New Testament, I believe, not to look for signs, not to look for wrath or the judgment of God, but to look for Jesus Christ who is going to appear in the air to take us to be with Him. And that may happen at any time. We need to be ready at any moment to face our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ankerberg: Finally, Dr. John Walvoord summarizes some of the events that the Bible teaches will occur at the Rapture:

Walvoord: Now, the doctrine of the Rapture—Christ coming for His own—is a very particular doctrine. As we’re going to see in our study of the Scriptures, it predicts that Christ is going to come bodily from heaven; He’s going to cause Christians who have died to be resurrected; living Christians to be instantly changed to rise from the earth and meet the Lord in the air and then go to heaven. Now, Christ introduced this for the very first time in John 14 and the disciples were struggling with the idea He’s going to leave and He said, “If I go”—verse 3 of John 14—”and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Now, this fell on absolutely deaf ears for the disciples because they were confused about the first and second coming.

Everybody was confused in the Old Testament and the Gospel. They put the first and second coming of Christ together as if it is one event and they thought He was going to fulfill the promises relating to His second coming. And of course, He wasn’t, and now He introduced this additional element. He’s going to come and take them to heaven. This wasn’t their foreview at all. They were looking for a kingdom on earth. And so He introduced the subject here and then later on through Paul He gives us a further exposition of it.

Ankerberg: What is the full definition of imminent? Now, the English word imminent comes from the Latin verb imminere, which means “to over-hang; to project over.” The English word imminent means the same; it means an event always “hanging over one’s head” or “something constantly ready to befall a person,” or “an event so close at hand it could happen at any moment.”

Now, let me give you an example of imminence. I have two wonderful nephews, age 10, Jeff and Ryan, who live in Chicago. This summer they showed me a little plastic ball which was quite unique. They could throw it at a wall or a refrigerator and that plastic ball would stick for a moment and then drop off. One time they threw it up and it hit the ceiling and stuck there right over their heads as they were gazing up, waiting for it to fall into their hands, I thought, that’s the idea of imminent. They knew the plastic ball was going to fall and it could fall any second. They just didn’t know the exact second.

Christ’s coming to rapture all believing Christians off of the earth is the same. It is imminent—it could happen any moment. We’ll prove this from Scripture in just a moment, but I want to say three other things about the biblical definition of word imminent. First, if something is imminent, we cannot count on a certain amount of time transpiring before that imminent event happens. Therefore, we should always be prepared for it to happen at any moment. Second, we cannot set a date for an imminent event to happen. Why? Because as soon as we set a date for an imminent event, we are thereby saying that a certain amount of time must transpire before that event can happen. But the time that must pass by before the imminent event can happen destroys the whole idea of imminency. An imminent event could happen at any moment. Third, we cannot say that an imminent event will happen soon. Why? The term “soon” implies that shortly after a particular point of time, specified or implied, the event will happen. Once again a certain amount of time must take place before we reach the point specified as soon. But in contrast, an imminent event may take place within a short time, but it does not have to do so in order to be imminent. No period of time needs to pass—it could happen in the next moment.

So when you hear some teacher or religious leader say that Christ is going to come on some specified day, at such and such a time in the future, that cannot be correct because then the Rapture would not be an imminent event. They would be teaching, contrary to the Bible, that Christ cannot come back until the time between now and their date passes. Only then can Christ return. But that is not imminency.

Now where does the Bible teach Christ could come back this very next moment? I’d like you to listen to Dr. Renald Showers as he documents the idea of Christ’s imminent return from 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Listen:

Showers: One of the passages that indicates that to us is 1 Thessalonians 1:10 where the Apostle Paul is talking about an outlook or attitude that the Thessalonian Christians had in the first century. He indicates of them that they were “waiting for His Son,” God’s Son, “from heaven whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus.”

It’s interesting that the tense of the verb “wait” here is that of a continuous action. They were continually waiting for Jesus to come from Heaven. And the words translated “to wait” literally means “to wait up for.” The analogy is that Paul was implying that people will wait up for the arrival of an individual if they are convinced that individual could arrive at any moment. They will not go to bed at their normal time. They will wait up for him to arrive because they are convinced that he could come at any moment. If they knew he could not come, say, for another five hours, they wouldn’t wait up for him beyond their normal time to go to bed. They’d go to bed. They’d sleep for the five hours, and then have their alarm wake them up five hours later so they’d be awake whenever he would come.

And so the concept is that the Thessalonian Christians had the understanding that they should be in essence constantly waiting up for the Lord Jesus to come from Heaven to take them to be with Him and the reason they should have that constant attitude is because He could come at any moment and take them out of the world to be with Him. That is the idea of imminency.

It’s very interesting that Paul did not tell the Thessalonians that they were wrong to have that concept of the imminency of the Lord’s return; in fact, if you read the whole context, the implication comes across he was commending them for having that attitude that the Lord could come at any moment.

Now, as soon as you say that He cannot come, say, for another three and a half years. Say He cannot come until the middle of the Tribulation, since the seven-year Tribulation hasn’t started yet, then you’re saying, “Well, He can’t come for at least another three and a half years,” that destroys the concept of imminency because you’re saying, therefore, He couldn’t come today. He couldn’t come at any moment. He can’t come for another three and a half years. If you’re going to say that He can’t come for about three fourths of the Tribulation period, again, that destroys the concept that He could come at any moment. Or if you’re going to say as some sincere Christians do that He can’t come until the Second Coming after the Tribulation period, in other words, you’re saying that He can’t come for another seven years, that destroys the concept of imminency. Really, the only view of the timing of the Rapture of the Church that fits the New Testament concept of imminency is the pre-Tribulation Rapture view which says, although many things may happen before the Lord comes, biblically there’s nothing that must happen. He could come at any moment. We can’t count on any time period between now and the Lord’s coming and therefore, we should be ready every moment, moment by moment, for the Lord to come and we meet Him face to face. So imminency of the Lord’s coming is one of the reasons why we believe that the Lord will rapture the Church out of the world before the seven-year Tribulation period begins.

Ankerberg: Now, if the Bible teaches that Jesus could return from Heaven and rapture all Christians off of the earth at any moment, how should this affect my everyday living? the Bible says, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). The Bible says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-15).

How does “looking for that blessed hope” affect our everyday life? Let me see if I can illustrate this. A mother taught her two little boys that Jesus could come back to earth any minute and rapture us to be with Him in Heaven. She noticed that the next week the cookies in the cookie jar weren’t disappearing as usual. And so she asked one of her sons, “Why is it that you aren’t taking the cookies out of the cookie jar and eating them like you usually do?” Her son said, “Mamma, we didn’t want Jesus to come back and to catch us doing something wrong.”

That’s why the Apostle John says, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as He is pure.”

But Christ’s imminent return is also to comfort us. The Apostle Paul teaches, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together”—that is, raptured—”with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Then Paul says, “Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” This world is not our final home. We’re traveling toward heaven. As Jesus said in John 14:1,2, “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Next week we’re going to answer the questions, “Will Christians go through the Tribulation? Will any of the judgment of God fall upon us? Will we be delivered in the midst of tribulation and wrath? Or be kept entirely from that time of tribulation?” Part of the answer we’ve already given today. If the Rapture is an imminent event, we can be comforted in knowing Christ could come at any moment to rapture us to take us to the Father’s House. I think when we taped one of our programs in Dallas, Texas one of my guests, Peter Lalonde, captured the excitement and importance of our living in light of the imminency of Jesus Christ’s return. Listen:

Peter Lalonde: I think the entire idea that we have discussed and been in agreement here is imminency. The Lord could come at any moment. There’s nothing that has to precede it. At any moment. We don’t have to wait for some invasion from the north or some other thing that’s going to tick off the time when it is. We have to be ready and living and expectant at all times. The idea of the marriage ceremony that Zola has been talking about is so accurate, because when we became a Christian, we said we died to our own wills, we were buried in the death of Christ and raised in newness and life in Christ. Our whole life as the bride is to await the Bridegroom. That’s the importance of prophecy as a whole. It is to take our eyes off this world and put our eyes back on the skies—and that’s where the Lord wants our eyes and our focus at all times.

And you know, some people say, “Well, why study prophecy? Why study all of this stuff?” The post-tribbers say, “Why get on all this Rapture stuff? If the Lord comes, He comes; if He doesn’t, He doesn’t. We’ll both go anyway. We’re both believers.” And they’re right. I’m just concerned they’ll have a heart attack on the way up, you know.

But the fact of the matter is, when the disciples came to Jesus and said, “What will be the sign of thy coming and the end of this age?”

He gave them great detail. He didn’t say, “Don’t worry about it—if I come I come.” It was great detail. We’re to be expectant at all times.

And what we see now in the world today are signs of the Second Coming of Christ—which is seven years after the Rapture. And if those signs are beginning to come to pass, how much closer the Rapture must be! So that gives us a sense of urgency. But it’s always been imminent since the time of Christ and we’re to just be excited and expectant because in a moment—if we as Christians could come to grips with this—in a moment we’ll be in the presence of our Lord forever, how differently it would transform our lives. And I think that’s what the teaching is there for.

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