Left Behind
This is the title of a book published in 1995 by authors Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye that eventually became a series of books which have remained on the list of best-sellers ever since. The original book, as well as 2 other subsequent books of a 16 book series, was made into a motion picture in 2005.
The original “Left Behind” volume is a fictional “end-times” story, depicting what dispensationalists theologians refer to as “the rapture event,” in which true believers are suddenly caught up off the earth to heaven, leaving behind all the unbelievers in the world.
The opening scene depicts a commercial airline flight departing from NYC, headed over the Atlantic ocean when the rapture happens, leaving seats where people have been raptured with nothing but their clothes remaining. Of course, there is confusion and pandemonium on the plane and the same thing is happening on the ground, with massive pile-ups occurring on the highways and freeways where cars are left without their raptured drivers.
The pilot, whose wife and son had been preaching the rapture to him, realizes what is going on and turns the plane around, and heads back to NYC. He hurries home to, of course, find his wife and son gone. The rest of the movie is about him and other unbelievers, which includes a church pastor, who have been “left behind,” and their quest to get people to repent of their unbelief and be saved.
To begin, let me establish that I believe in this event referred to by Evangelicals of the dispensationalist persuasion as “the rapture.” I also believe, as do the authors of this series of books, that this rapture or “catching-up” of the body of true believers will be followed by what the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew chapter 24, verse 21, describes as “great tribulation,” which according to the book of Daniel, is a seven-year period of time, broken down into two three and a half year sub-periods–the first half being the period in which the anti-Christ deceives the Jews, ((with the exception of a 144 thousand of them, who will not take the “mark of the beast” and be martyred as a result. Ref Rev. chapters 6 & 7)) the last half being “the wrath of God,” which is comprised of a series of horrible events, including the overrunning of Israel by a 200 million man army, all of which is described in the book of Revelation. ((Rev. chapters 9 thru 16)) I believe this period, referred to in Jeremiah chapter 30 as “Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble,” will be followed by a 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, during which Satan will be bound with a chain in the bottomless pit. ((Rev. 20:1-6)).
So, what is the problem with Messrs Jenkin’s and LaHaye’s narrative?
Let’s look at the operative scriptures that I believe support the rapture doctrine, the first of which is the description of the event itself in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 4, verses 13-18:
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
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.
And then 1 Corinthians 15:40-53
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, 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.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
And then 2 Corinthians 5:1-8
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
And finally, Philippians 4:20-21
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Let’s establish exactly what these passages of Scripture are and are not saying:
- The rapture, or catching up, of the body of Christ, is NOT the re-gathering of the new covenant saints described in the narrative of Matthew 24:29-31, Mark 13:24-27, and Luke 21:25-27.
Traditional Christian theologians routinely conflate the two, but this is in error for the following reasons: 1.) The four gospel accounts are a fulfilment of prophecy; the rapture is a part of “the mystery,” and the first principle of right division ((2 Timothy 2:15)) is to strike a sharp distinction between the two. In other words, they are not to be blended. 2.) Note from the gospel passages listed that the re-gathering of the saints in these passages happens AFTER “the tribulation of those days.” In other words, this event FOLLOWS the seven-year “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21) these saints will be subjected to; the rapture of the body of Christ will precede it. 3.) The angels of the Lord do the gathering of the saints in these passages; the Lord himself does this in the rapture event. - Some theologians attempt to conflate the rapture event with the “valley of the dry bones” event described in Ezekial 37. 1.) Again, this is a part of the prophetic scriptures concerning Israel, not the church of the mystery. 2.) IMO, this is the earthly, bodily resurrection of the faithful saints of the old covenant into the prophecied earthly kingdom, not the celestial event described in 1 Thess. 4.
- The gospel accounts say that the coming of the Lord in the re-gathering of the tribulation saints from the four corners of the earth will be witnessed by “all the tribes of the earth…who shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” and will “mourn” over it. 1.) There is no indication in the passages from Paul’s epistles that I listed above, that anyone other than members of the body of Christ will see the Lord descending from heaven. 2.) The gospel re-gathering of the tribulation saints will be preceded by “signs.” ((ref. Matt. 24:29,30)) During the dispensation of grace, aka “the mystery,” the parenthetical interruption of the prophetic program of which the gospel accounts are a part, signs and wonders are suspended, ((Ref. 1 Cor. 13:8-10; 2 Cor. 5:7)) thus there will be no “signs” from heaven preceding the rapture.
- There is no indication from the above passages that the mortal, “corrupted” vessels in which we as members of the body of Christ exist here on earth, are what is going in the rapture. It is plain as day to me from these passages that we have a heavenly body with which we are going to be clothed, and the “we” is our “spirit,” not our mortal body or our corrupted, sinful soul.
Considering these points, the “Left Behind” series claims three things about the rapture that simply don’t line up with the scripture, rightly divided:
- The narrative has the world witnessing the departure of believers in that it removes their human bodies from the scene, leaving behind only the clothes they were in. As I point out in the final bullet point above, these bodies we’re in are not going in the rapture.
- I see no indication that the rest of the world will know we’re gone. Since it is our spirit that is going to be clothed upon, what happens to the body it is in? One of two things might happen to it. 1.) It will simply perish and the memory of us will perish with it in the minds of those who are left behind, or 2) It will remain here and be re-inhabited by an antichrist spirit that preaches salvation by grace, which will be a lie since that opportunity ends with the end of the dispensation of grace.
- The narrative claims those “left behind” will be given the opportunity to repent of their unbelief and be saved. Not so. According to 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12, the rapture ends this opportunity:
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
“The man of sin, the son of perdition,” who presents himself as God, (verses 3,4) is the antichrist (1 john 2:18), who cannot be revealed until what Paul refers to as “he” is taken out of the way (verse 7). I believe the “he” in this verse is the body of Christ, which Paul characterizes in his letter to the Ephesians as “the one new MAN.” In other words, it is the body of Christ on the earth that is preventing the antichrist from appearing on the earth and working his deception. It is true, according to that verse, that “the mystery of iniquity” was in effect then and has remained so for the last 2000 years. But the antichrist himself cannot be revealed to work his evil until we are raptured. When Paul says to these Thessalonians that he had already apprised them of these things in verse 5, he was referring to what he said to them in the first letter he wrote to them:
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ… (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9)
The “wrath” that he is addressing in these verses can be none other than “the wrath to come” the Lord spoke of in Matt. 3:7 and Luke 3:7, and which John spoke of in Rev. 6:16,17, which he referred to as “great tribulation” in Matt. 24:21. This fact, along with the fact that the antichrist cannot appear until the b of C has departed the earth, are the proofs that the rapture must precede the seven year tribulation.
Finally, contrary to what the authors of “Left Behind” present in their narrative, the opportunity to be saved and become a member of the body of Christ, and be assured that you are going to be in that number who are caught up in the rapture is now. There will be no second chances after the rapture, for it says that those who are left behind will be given a “strong delusion, believe a lie ((most likely that they can be saved by grace, apart from the law, which will not be possible once the present dispensation ends)) and be damned.” Therefore, to have that blessed assurance of the rapture, if you’ve never done so, trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, believing that he died for your sins and was raised again the third day….believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Amen.
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