The Repture Rupture

Rumors of the great apocalyptic event known as “the Rapture” seem to be popping up everywhere. The talk is both confusing and scary. Just the other day, I heard a woman remark to her coworker, “It seems like the world is getting worse and worse. I think we're very close to the Rapture.” What, if anything, is the Rapture?

The word “rapture” comes from the Latin rapiemur. It was translated by St. Jerome from the original Greek word harpazo, meaning “caught up.” The idea of being “caught up” appears in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

The idea of “the Rapture” began in the 1830s with an ex-Anglican priest named John Nelson Darby. Today the Rapture is taught as a doctrine primarily in fundamentalist and evangelical Protestant churches. Although there is still some debate over the timing of the Rapture, the basic idea goes like this: True believers will be taken up to Christ in the clouds (raptured), leaving behind all unbelievers to endure a time of great tribulation. After “the Tribulation,” Jesus will physically return to conquer the Antichrist in the battle of Armageddon and rule from the temple in Jerusalem for 1,000 years in the millennial kingdom (Revelation 20).

The Catholic view is a little different. While Catholics do not typically use the word rapture, we do believe that Christ will come again in glory to gather his Church and that, at that time, he will judge the living and the dead and usher in his eternal kingdom (see the Catechism, Nos. 673-682).

To Catholics, the 1,000-year reign described in Revelation 20 has long been understood, like the rest of Revelation, as symbolic language. It means a long period of time, an “age.” This age is not to be literally 1,000 years long; rather, it is the present period of Christ's rule of both heaven and earth at the right hand of the Father. As St. Peter says: “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

The main rupture in the theology of the Rapture is the idea that the Rapture (Jesus gathering his Church) and the second coming (Jesus’ triumphant return in glory) are two events separated by a span of several years. This is a problem — first, because Jesus never said he would return twice and second, because Scripture teaches that there will be no separation of good and evil until Christ returns. In the parable of the “weeds of the field,” the good seeds represent believers and the weeds represent unbelievers. Jesus said, “Let them both grow together until the harvest.” At the close of the age, the weeds will be gathered and burned with fire and the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father (Matthew 13:24-43).

Don't let rumors about “the Rapture” get you down. Take St. Francis as an example: While weeding his garden, he was asked, “What would you do if you knew that the world would end right now?” St. Francis replied, “Continue weeding my garden.”

Christina Mills writes from Eugene, Oregon.