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Pre-tribulation rapture

Apocalyptic Spirituality in the Early Middle Ages

August 13, 2015 by Frank Leave a Comment

The Pure Flame of Devotion:  The History of Christian Spirituality, edited by G. Stephen Weaver, Jr. and Ian Hugh Clary, was published recently.  It is a collection of essays on the history of Christian spirituality in honor of Dr. Michael Haykin.  My contribution to this book is Chapter 6 entitled “Apocalyptic Spirituality in the Early Middle Ages:  Hope for Escaping the Fire of Doomsday through a Pre-conflagration Rapture.”

We have all heard of the pre-tribulation rapture view, popular with many evangelical Christians, which says that seven years before Christ returns, the church will be caught up to be with Christ to escape the Great Tribulation.  The view which I hold is that the “catching away” of 1 Thess 4 is simply the resurrection of those Christians who are still living at the time of Christ’s Second Coming.  The purpose for this is so that the living as well as the resurrected dead will stand before the Last Judgment in both body and soul.  For, after the judgment, they will spend eternity in body and soul either in heaven with Christ or in eternal torment.

The essay “Apocalyptic Spirituality…” presents a view of the rapture, held by many Christians in the early middle ages, called the “pre-conflagration rapture.”  This view says that one of the purposes of the catching up of the saints is to protect Christians from the grand conflagration, a big word for a big fire: the burning up on the present heaven and earth that accompanies the Second Coming of Christ.  I hope you enjoy the essay.

Read the complete article in PDF.

To order a copy of The Pure Flame of Devotion follow these links:

Reformation Heritage Books

Amazon.com

Happy reading.

Frank

Filed Under: Eschatology, Medieval theology Tagged With: Anselm of Canterbury, Basil of Caesarea, Calvin, conflagration, early middle ages, G Stephen Weaver, Great Tribulation, History of Spirituality, Ian Hugh Clary, John Bunyan, Last Judgment, Luther, Michael Haykin, Pilgrim's Progress, Pre-conflagration rapture, Pre-tribulation rapture, Pure Flame of Devotion, Rapture, spirituality

The Rapture in the Apocalypse of Elijah

August 13, 2014 by Frank 2 Comments

hotoffthepressesSome people claim that the teaching of a pre-tribulation rapture is a recent construction of John Nelson Darby, and has only been taught in the Christian Church for the past two hundred years.  In other
words, it is a novel doctrine whose historicity is questionable.  However, I came across an early Christian text, the Apocalypse of Elijah, which appears to have teaching similar to modern pretribulationism.

The Apocalypse of Elijah is a third century text from a group of millennarian Christians in Egypt.  Their document claims that when the Antichrist is persecuting the saints, Christ will have compassion on his people and send angels to carry them to the “holy land” where they will eat from the tree of life, wear white robes, and be safe from Antichrist’s wrath.  After that transport occurs, all sorts of catastrophes happen on earth, including the murder of the two witnesses.  Later, says the text, Christ returns with his saints and they reign on earth for a thousand years.
Rapture in the Apocalypse of Elijah, Gumerlock 1

In an article published by the journal Bibliotheca Sacra, I explain the provenance of the Apocalypse of Elijah, discuss its rapture passage, and compare and contrast its views with those of modern pretribulationists.  Regardless of your position on when those “who are alive…will be caught up… to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:16-17), I hope you enjoy reading about this text, which, in my opinion, deserves a place in the discussion over the history of the pre-tribulation rapture teaching.

To read the article, click here.

Filed Under: Early Christian Studies, Eschatology, Millennialism, Patristics Tagged With: Antichrist, Apocalypse of Elijah, Bibliotheca Sacra, John Nelson Darby, Millennialism, Pre-tribulation rapture, Rapture

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