Rapture: Joyous, No Secret

[The following was originally published here on 7/18/12.] 

"Rapture" is not a word that is found in Scripture, but it is a summary of an eschatological concept. ("Eschatology" meaning "the study of the end-times.") "Rapture" comes from a word meaning "caught up." Theologian R.C. Sproul defines "rapture" as "the miraculous transportation of all living Christians to Heaven at the return of Jesus."

A key biblical text for understanding the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Notice what this passage teaches about the rapture:

1. The rapture will not be secret: it will be announced with "a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God" (1 Thess 4:13). [NOTE: this is the "last trumpet" mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52–a parallel passage.]

2.  Again, there is no hint in this text that the glorified Lord will be invisible or concealed when He returns to rapture His people; also, compare Acts 1:11b, "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into Heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven." [Emphasis added.]

3. The historical background of this rapture passage seems to refer to the people of a city rushing out to meet their conquering king, joyfully joining him as he parades victoriously into the city.

[HT:: "What is the Rapture" by R.C. Sproul]

The ACTS Model Prayer and Jacob's Prayer in Genesis 32

The ACTS model for prayer is a summary of elements commonly found in prayers within the Bible. ACTS stands for:

• Adoration [Psa 150]

 

• Confession [1 Jn 1:9]

 

• Thanksgiving [1 Thess 5:18]
  
  
• Supplication [Phil 4:6]

 

This model for prayer is based on the principles found in the Lord's Prayer (and other prayers in Scripture) as well as the specific verses mentioned above.

 

To employ this model for prayer, it is helpful to ask the following questions:

 

·      What is one thing that you know about God that you should love Him for?

 

·      What sin or sins have you done today that you need to confess and ask God forgiveness for?

 

·      What is something you have done–or something that has been done for you–that you can thank God for?

 

·      What is one thing that you or someone else needs that you can ask God for? 

 

Jacob's prayer in Genesis 32 is the longest prayer recorded in the book of Genesis. It contains all the elements from the ACTS model. Here is the text of that prayer:

 

⁹ And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹² But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” 

Verse 9 is "adoration," verse 10 is "confession/thanksgiving," and verse 11 is supplication, with verse 12 claiming a specific promise from God's Word. 

Tendencies Characterizing Antinomianism

Legalism, simply defined, is the belief that a person gains a right standing with God through keeping the law (or some set of rules). Legalism is a false teaching, which is based on a failure to understand sinners' desperate state before a holy God (that we are depraved and morally unable to keep His law). Legalism denigrates God's grace and the work of Christ on behalf of sinners, who must not rely on their own works, but on what Jesus has done for us, in our place.

As Christians avoid legalism, there is another ditch we must avoid as well. That ditch is antinomianism. The word "antinomian" literally means "against law." David Como identifies seven tendencies characterizing antinomianism:

• "a propensity to argue that the Mosaic Law, including the Decalogue, was in some sense abolished, abrogated, or superseded for Christians" [emphasis added] 
• an "aggressive polemical posture" against the "mainstream godly divinity" that emphasized "sanctification,... zealous application of the means of grace, and continuing repentance for transgressions"
• "the propensity to use images and motifs common to puritanism to attack mainstream puritanism"
• "against the strenuous, active faith of mainstream puritanism,... the total passivity of the believer" in salvation and assurance
• "a...tendency to claim that believers...were transformed into exalted (and sometimes supernatural) beings"
• the inclination "to pronounce believers in some sense free from sin"
• "the...crucial characteristic of antinomian religiosity–the propensity to offer believers a sense of assurance and joy that was more total, more satisfying, and more final than anything to be found in mainstream puritanism"

[The above is cited in James Renihan, For the Vindication of the Truth, 86.]

Christians should guard against modern day antinomianism. We should sing with the psalmist, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97). We should hear the words of Christ: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

Rights Retained Under Romans 13

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Romans 13:1-2 ESV)

Fear God. Honour the king. (1 Peter 2:17b KJV)

A bare reading of Romans 13 and related texts might lead someone to conclude that all commands from any governmental official must be obeyed without question. However, the general submission/nonresistance/honor we are to show to governmental authorities does not mean we lose all rights or that we must neglect competing responsibilities. In light of other biblical texts, we see that, while submitting to government Christian citizens retain the following rights (at least).

1. We have the right (and responsibility) to proclaim the good news of who Jesus is and what He has done for sinners, regardless of government restrictions on evangelism.

The classic text on this is from Acts 4. The "rulers and elders and scribes" in Jerusalem charged the apostles Peter and John "not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus" (Acts 4:18). But Jesus had instructed and commanded the apostles,

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV)

Therefore Peter and John responded to the authorities,

"Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20 ESV)

Likewise, Christians today are under the ultimate authority of the Great Commission text of Matthew 28:18-20, regardless of any governmental commands against evangelism.

2. We have the right (and responsibility) to obey God's moral law.

What is chiefly true of the Great Commission is true of other scriptural commandments more generally as well. When a governmental authority issues a command in direct violation of God's commandments, we have the right (and responsibility) to disobey that governmental authority. One key text for demonstrating this is in Exodus 1. The Hebrew midwives were blessed by God when they disobeyed Pharaoh's command to kill the Hebrew baby boys. Though the ten commandments had not yet been published, the midwives knew that such murder was against God's moral law and that they should obey God rather than Pharaoh. A more recent example would be communist China when the "one child policy" was in effect. If a couple disobeyed a Chinese governmental command to abort a child, that couple would NOT be in violation of Romans 13.

3. We have the right to insist that governmental officials obey the stated laws of the land. 

In the Apostle Paul's time, Roman citizenship came with certain rights under the law. When government officials violated those rights, Paul was not afraid to call them to account.

• In Acts 16:35-40, city magistrates had Paul beaten publicly, then they attempted to release Paul from jail secretly. Paul insisted on a public release and what amounted to a public apology.
• In Acts 22:22-29, a Roman tribune was about to have Paul flogged, and Paul cited his Roman citizenship to stop the flogging from taking place.

In neither of these situations did Paul feel that his commitment to honoring government required him to passively accept the decisions of governmental officials standing before him when those decisions ran contrary to the stated laws of the land. He felt he had the right to at least appeal those decisions.

4. When injustice is being done at one level of government, appealing to another level of government is not a violation of Romans 13.

In Daniel 1, when Nebuchadnezzar was going to have Daniel and his friends eat meat and wine from his table–food that had apparently either been sacrificed to false gods or was otherwise offensive to Jewish religious sensibilities–Daniel appealed to the chief of the eunuchs (the person standing before him as a government representative) in order for him and his friends to get an exception to the dietary requirement.

In Acts 25:9-12, when the Apostle Paul did not believe that his rights as a Roman citizen would be upheld by regional officials, he appealed to Caesar.

In these examples, we see that appealing to one level of government–whether a higher or lower level–may be appropriate when an objectionable action is taken by another level of government.

Conclusion

Romans 13 and related passages should inform the Christian conscience. Christians should "if possible, so far as it depends on [us], live peaceably with all" (Romans 12:18), and we should honor governmental authorities. However, we must always acknowledge that God is our ultimate authority, and our conscience belongs to Him.