Doctrine of imminency
A very popular prophecy doctrine of the last 200 years or so is the doctrine of imminency—the belief and hope that the very next event in prophecy is the rapture of the church, the return of Jesus to the air to claim His bride. The thinking goes that there is no prophecy that is stopping Christ from immediately returning and that we as the church could be instantaneously transformed in the twinkling of an eye and be raptured up to be with the Lord. We could hear the trumpet call any second now! I don’t want to particularly burst anyone’s bubble but I believe that is a false doctrine and is not true by any stretch of the imagination. It is pure fantasy perhaps popularised by the 1990’s series by Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind” series. I want to show you that the Bible teaches in many places both the Old and New Testaments that certain events must first take place. I would love it if this doctrine was true and that I could be whisked away at any moment but unfortunately I can confidently tell you that Christ won’t be returning this year, next year, or any time soon.
Post-tribulational return of Christ
My belief and studies in the Bible have shown me that Jesus will return at the end of the final 7 year tribulation period. This is known as the post-tribulation return of Christ. He returns at the end of the 7 years on New Year’s Day—the Feast of Trumpets to gather His church and then 10 days later returns to defeat the Antichrist with the armies of heaven and bride of Christ as His witness at Jerusalem. See my tribulation timeline. Furthermore, the early church fathers believed in the 6000 year theory in that Christ would return at the culmination of 6000 years of human history or 120 Jubilee cycles (120 cycles x 50 years = 6000 years).1 This was known as chiliasm according to Bible Scholar Tim Warner. Tim makes the case in his book, “The Time of the End”, that the Bible tells us that the earth’s history will total 6000 years towards the end of 2036. From creation to Abraham calculations of genealogies in Genesis show us that 2000 years passed, and then four lots of 500 year periods (500-Israel in Egypt, 500-judges, 500-kings, 493-Daniel’s seventy sevens prophecy) which brings us to Christ who died in AD 30 and then the final seven years from late 2029 onwards. That is 6000 years of human history in total. Genesis says that God will not contend with man forever but that He will limit man’s days to 120 years (Hebrew-Shannah which can mean cycles just as much as it can mean years).2 If “cycles” then 120 cycles of Jubilee years (50) equals 6000 years.
Prophecies that rule out the imminent return of Christ
Of course, if you think about it if the imminency doctrine was true then just one prophesied event prior to the rapture would cause pre-tribulationism to be a false doctrine. That is because the imminent return of Christ (the fact that Jesus could return at any moment) is one of the key arguments and pillars of pre-tribulationism. In this article I will now list several prophecies that effectively rule out the imminent rapture doctrine because the Bible indicates that certain events must take place before the rapture:
The Great Commission.
The Apostles were instructed by Jesus to make disciples of all nations, baptising and teaching them the gospel as they went all over the world.3 Furthermore, early on in the piece, they were commanded by Jesus to preach the gospel to all nations starting in Jerusalem then Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.4 Obviously, this would all take time and there were prescribed goalposts to be reached. The doctrine of imminence falls flat because if it was true then Jesus could have come back at any time after Pentecost maybe even before a single convert had been made in Judea or Samaria let alone the ends of the earth. So it either makes Jesus a liar or the doctrine as being false. And again Jesus says that the gospel would be preached in the whole world and then the end will come.5 So imminence is simply not true even now because the whole world does not know the gospel. There is still a lot more work to be done even though much progress has been made in the last generation. I doubt whether the job will be finished by man but will be finished either by the two witnesses, 144,000 Jewish ‘missionaries’ or the angel flying in midair with the eternal gospel.6
Jesus predicted Peter’s death.
Another prophesied event that had to occur was the Apostle Peter’s death as a martyr. In the book of John we see that Jesus predicted what kind of death Peter would experience so clearly Jesus could not return before the fulfillment of this prophecy about Peter.((John 21:19)) Peter was martyred in AD 66 some 36-37 years after Jesus would have said this to the young Peter perhaps in his 30’s. So in effect, there would have been a significant period when this doctrine just would not have held up to scrutiny because this event would need to be fulfilled. But for imminency to be true, it would have to be true since the birth of the church at Pentecost in May A.D. 30 and not from after the death of Peter.
The Thessalonians made the same mistake.
The early Thessalonian believers had made the same error in believing that Jesus’ coming was imminent. Paul replied by telling the Thessalonians the opposite—that Jesus’ coming would not be imminent and close but that certain signs would precede His coming as listed in 2 Thessalonians.7 These two major signs would be a great apostasy or falling away from the Christian faith and the revealing of the Man of Sin (Antichrist). The Thessalonians had given up working expecting Christ to return at any moment and this was in the AD 50s. Paul had to correct their erroneous thinking and urge them not to be idle but to work and earn a living.8 And fast forward two millennia to this very day—we should also not be idle and make the same mistake as the Thessalonians in expecting the Lord to return at any moment. We are still waiting to this very day for the same two major signs. We still have not seen the man of sin (an updated resurrected Hitler) and a great rebellion against God has yet to occur.
Destruction of Damascus
There is also the prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the total destruction and annihilation of Damascus in Syria.9 Damascus remains the oldest continuously inhabited city to this day and has never been totally destroyed. So the destruction of Damascus prophecy would need to occur before the rapture. Clearly, this is a condition that needs to be fulfilled thereby negating an anytime rapture.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can see that the imminent return of Christ has been impossible ever since the initial birth of the church in AD 30 because there have always been events and prophecies whether small or large that have had to be fulfilled. I haven’t even mentioned in this blog that Israel has had to see out four lots of 490 year punishment periods since the destruction of their system in AD 70 as a result of their disobedience (See my blog “Why 2030 is an important year“). This makes the doctrine that Jesus could return at any moment an error. We have seen the return of the Jews to their original homeland in 1948 and the birth of their nation in one day.10 Gradually we are seeing each one of these prophecies being fulfilled but not all as yet have been fulfilled. Jesus commands us to watch and pray for the signs of His coming and the point is that there are signs of His coming not that He will come unexpectedly. The world will see His coming as surprising like a thief in the night but that is because they are not expecting Him and they are scoffers of His return. But as Christians, we have that expectant hope and knowledge that He is coming soon so we are watching for the signs.
When the final seven-year calendar begins then we can almost calculate to the very day of His coming. Everything is timed to perfection and is a prophetic fulfillment of the feasts. Jesus will be returning after the tribulation on the Feast of Trumpets for the church and as king in glory on the Day of Atonement ten days later. The correct view I believe is the post-tribulation view.
So, what is my advice? Jesus will not be returning today or tomorrow or anytime soon but as soon as we see the two witnesses preaching and the start-up of the Jewish sacrificial system and the temple of the Jews being rebuilt we will then know that His coming is indeed ‘imminent’ (not in the pre-trib sense) and it will be ‘game over’ soon. I don’t think we will have very much longer to wait. Everything is adding up but we need to keep watching and praying particularly for our escape to the protected wilderness at the halfway mark.11
5 Responses
Thanks Steve. I lean toward a pre-tribulation rapture. But it should be said that believing in a ‘twinkling-of-an-eye’ rapture is not a necessary belief for a pre-tribulationist. In fact, Paul said Christians would be “changed…in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor 15:51-52), but not that the rapture would be in a split second. Nowhere does the Bible say that the rapture will be in the twinkling of an eye. I honestly don’t know where the ideas came from that the rapture will be [a] silent (which is contradicted by 1 Thess 4) and [b] split-second (no scriptural warrant). A belief in a pre-trib rapture does not require one to accept either of these beliefs. I expect the rapture to be a very noisy event, as Paul states there will be “a cry of command” + “the voice of an archangel” + “the sound of the trumpet of God.” (1 Thess 4:16). My point is that while pre-tribulationalists may be characterised as believing in a silent, instant rapture, not all necessarily do.
Thanks for doing this study. Will be doing my own research as there are many views, but this is a great starting place.
Kate
Thanks Steve, I always look forward to reading your blogs with interest and intrigue.
As a personal comment; I don’t hold fast to any particular interpretation of end times prophecy: I hear some compelling arguments for a pre-trib rapture… and you and others present convincing indications for post-tribulation return of Christ.
In general (i.e. not directing this at your blogs here Steve) one thing I personally don’t want to do is predetermine in my mind exactly what all the end times signs are going to look like. The Pharisees (and others) of Jesus’ day held preconceived ideas of what the coming Messiah would look like and how he would behave. Jesus didn’t match their preconceived expectations so consequently they MISSED him. My logic is that I don’t want to miss any of the end-times signs simply because I hold too strongly to a particular predetermined idea of how it’s going to pan out or exactly what a certain sign is going to look like. So if there is a pre-trib rapture, then, well and good. But if there is not, then we should all be prepared and look out for the signs (minus preconceived notions) that indicate that we are in the final seven years.
As you point out, Steve, there are biblical references to a safe place where the Antichrist will not be allowed.
I’d be interested to know your thoughts on how you think EVERYONE (who wants to) might be able to get to that safe place?… I’m thinking of the elderly or sick: e.g. those with dementia, those who require dialysis, those who may be in hospital after being severely injured in an accident… in general those who require high care. And what about the Christian carers of those people?… what should they do?
Our God is FOR the weak and oppressed… How do you think that is going to be evident if only the fit and healthy can make it to the safe place (Jordan)?
Perhaps you might address these issues in a future blog?
Thanks again Steve… best wishes, Col Pfeiffer.
I disagree. Lot was removed from Sodom prior to God’s judgement on it. Having read the awful judgements upon the earth during the Great Tribulation, I do believe the Church will be removed prior to that time. God has not appointed us to wrath. Christ bore the wrath of God on the cross. I have sat under many famous Preachers of Eschatology like Sidlow Baxter, Dwight Pentecost, Theodore Epp, Bill Thitchener, Dr Stephen Olford, etc and studied the subject at Bible School under John Ecob. All believed in the pretribulation Rapture.
Hi Tony,
Thanks for your comment. If you think about it the example of Lot being removed from Sodom better fits the description of fleeing to a safe place like described in Luke 21:36 and extensively covered in many of my articles in my Luke 21 website. Lot was urged to flee along with his wife and two daughters by the two angels and so they fled of their own free volition after heeding the warning of impending destruction (Gen. 19:15). The four of them fled on their own two feet to a place of safety and even then Lot’s wife was not stopped from looking back but she exercised her free will. And it will be the same for us in the end as well. I am not denying that we will be protected but in Isaiah 26:20 God instructs His people to go and hide. God expects us to flee and hide just as it says also in Rev. 12:6. The woman will be assisted but she has to do it (Rev. 12:14).
In summary it is a command in the active voice not something like the pre-trib rapture that is enacted upon us in a passive sense. That doesn’t happen until the end after the tribulation (Matt. 24:29). The whole point of the tribulation is that it is a sifting and testing period even for God’s people otherwise why are there so many warnings in the New Testament about the time to come? If we were to be raptured before it all then why all the warnings and instructions? The whole argument about God not appointing us to wrath is a moot point because we will be protected in the safe place in southern Jordan if we obey the call when it comes. God’s wrath does not come until the last half of the Great Tribulation anyway when those who listen will be safely in His care under His wings (Psalm 91:4). In my blog Pipe Dream I explain that God will keep the Philadelphian church from the hour of trial. The point is that we won’t be suffering at all if we are overcomers like the church at Philadelphia. Tim Warner in his article “Not Appointed Unto Wrath” makes the valid point that there are numerous times in biblical history where God has easily protected His people without removing them whilst judging the wicked at the same time – for example the Israelites while sending the plagues upon the Egyptians even though they were living nearby. Gospel Coalition writes an excellent article “9 Reasons We Can Be Confident Christians Won’t Be Raptured Before the Tribulation.“