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I’ve watched too many 30-second reels on Biblical eschatology making the point that the word “rapture” isn’t mentioned in the Bible. This is both true and false. Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 4:17…
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (ESV, emphasis added).
The Greek word for “caught up” is “harpazo,” which means “seized or caught up” by force. In the 4th century, a scholar named Jerome translated the Greek into Latin using the Latin word “rapturo,” which, of course, means “seized or caught up.” And from “rapturo” we get the English word “rapture,” which means “seized or caught up.” So, three words in three languages — Greek, Latin, and English — all having the same definition of “seized or caught up.”
Now we understand why the statement, “The word ‘rapture’ isn’t found in the Bible,” can be both true or false, as the original Greek word “harpazo” and Latin word “rapturo” can be translated in English as “rapture” and without too much exegetical difficulty “harpazo” can be translated as “rapture” in any English version of the New Testament because the Greek, Latin, and English words all mean the same thing.
And let’s add a jot and tittle (Matthew 5:18, KJV) to my three-language “rapture” rampage that the statement “not found in the Bible” isn’t technically true, as it is found in the Latin Vulgate Bible, which is a translation from Greek just as the KJV, NASB, and NIV are translations as well.
Why is this discussion important?
Why do e-speakers in reels on Facebook® try to make a point that the “rapture” isn’t in the Bible? Because they do not believe in the sudden “seized” or “caught up” or “harpozo” or “rapturo” or “rapture” that many believe will happen just before the seven-year tribulation in the end times.
Claiming the word “rapture” doesn’t exist adds weight to their denial of a literal rapture — though, as we have just learned in my intricate illumination of the actual word from many languages and translations, that their argument is nonsense.
The more finesse argument is not whether a rapture occurs but whether it occurs before the seven-year tribulation, at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation, or at the end of the seven-year tribulation. These three viewpoints are known as pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib.
I’m pre-trib, but a good friend and ardent reader of Interruptions is mid-trib. In next week’s Interruptions, we will discuss the pros and cons of these three viewpoints. What an Interruption today, from three words in three languages to three tribulation viewpoints.
I hope you drank several cups of coffee before reading all of it.
The words “harpazo,” “rapturo,” or “rapture” aren’t mentioned in the following verse, but the verse has significant meaning when considering our being snatched away…
Behold! I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, ESV).
And will cats be raptured?
