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Thessalonians:  Left Behind?  No Way!

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

November 6, 2005

1. With these words, Paul unwittingly set off a heresy. He didn’t mean to, of course. He was trying to comfort them. Before Jesus died, he promised his disciples he would return. And he said he would "send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven" (Mark 13:26, 27). The moment Jesus ascended into the clouds, the time clock started ticking. Christians expected him to return in a couple of months, max. They got rid of everything they owned. Who needed all that stuff, anyway? They were leaving to join Jesus! But he didn’t come. (At least, not in the way they expected.) Time passed. Some of the first Christians died. By about the year 50, when Paul wrote this letter, some of the Thessalonians had begun to worry about those who had died waiting for Jesus to return. They started worrying that only those who were still alive when Christ returned would be among those whom he "gathered." They worried that their deceased friends and family would not be around for this "gathering." They would be left behind. So Paul wrote these verses to comfort them. (Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) Would Jesus leave them behind? No way!

2. Did Paul’s words stop the worry? Do you think the worry they had could be a worry for us, too? It’s becoming one! You’ve heard of "The Rapture," haven’t you? It comes from a Latin word which means to be taken away, snatched out. Some Christians take that word literally, even though it’s not anywhere in the Bible. They believe that they, and certain other Christians who have died, will have their bodies reconstituted and will ascend through the air, and meet Jesus Christ in the sky. This event will be followed by a second mass migration from earth to heaven of the born-again Christians who are currently living. They are serious about it. You’ve probably seen bumper stickers that read: Warning – When the Rapture comes, this car will not have a driver." The website www.raptureready.com is the second most popular site on the worldwide web. Others, however, are less serious about it. Their bumper sticker reads: When the Rapture comes, can I have your car?"

3. It’s becoming a major issue. Anticipation of The Rapture is gaining interest. Ten years ago, the first Left Behind book hit the newstands. It and it’s 12 or 13 sequels have sold sixty-two million copies. Their website provides on-lookers with daily quote from their "devotional" publication, Perhaps Today. The newest movie, Left Behind: World at War, premiered two weeks ago in churches, not in theaters. (They didn’t ask if we wanted to show it here.) Tim LeHay and Jerry Jenkins, its authors, think the Rapture and Tribulation could appear during the coming generation – and they are smiling all the way to the bank! "The Rapture" is big business these days!

4. Tim and Jerry didn’t pull "The Rapture" out of thin air; they didn’t dream it into existence. Because no human knew when Jesus would come again, all kinds of thoughts began to surface. During the second and third centuries, some Christians put together Paul’s words of comfort to the Thessalonians, and the idea that the "millennium" mentioned in The Revelation to John would follow Christ’s return. An Anglican minister by the name of Rev. John Darby reintroduced it in a modified form in 1830. And he called it "The Rapture." Darby invented The Rapture because he was convinced a seven-year period of terrible tribulation was coming and the church needed to be spared that misery. It was elaborate plan! He coined some new words – premillennial dispensationalism, to mention two. A little later, Fanny Crosby picked up the idea in a hymn she called "Near the Cross." The words to the refrain are: In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever; when my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river. From that point, The Rapture took off, if you’ll pardon the pun! In 1909, that early Christian heresy was fully resurrected and given wide publicity. C. I Scofield, an attorney, became enamored with Darby’s ideas, and published his Scofield Reference Bible with multiple references to The Rapture. And if you have read the Ryrie Study Bible, you’ve seen Darby’s ideas magnified by Scofield in a more modern publication.

5. Well, since Christ’s return was a problem for the early Christians, and one of the suggestions is becoming a problem for us, will their solution work for us? How did they solve it, anyway? The Church said "No!" Paul and John were both writing to comfort their readers, not frighten them! And they declared that particular notion a heresy! It had hardly any biblical support then, and it still doesn’t. But just because the Church declared it heresy, doesn’t mean it died on the spot. Through Darby’s imagination, The Rapture is alive gaining popularity. Although the Bible doesn’t speak about The Rapture, it does clearly teach that Jesus is coming again. The church around the world affirms it over and over in the Apostles Creed. We simply don’t know when. One person said "All we know is that we’re 2,000 years closer than when Jesus first promised he would return." Tony Campolo says, "When it comes to the 2^nd Coming, I'm on the welcoming committee, not on the planning committee." That's good thinking!

7. You may be still wondering why you’ve not heard much about The Rapture from any Presbyterian or Methodist or Lutheran or Christian (Disciple’s) Church. It’s because all of us look at the clear message of the whole of scripture; we take all of scripture together. We are more concerned with caring for those left behind by selfish people: the poor, the hungry, the homeless. We Presbyterians look at scripture and our Confessions. They say, without a doubt, that one day Christ is going to return. But when he returns, it will not be to leave people behind! It will be a day of grand reunion. We will be with him forever!

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