The danger for the Church is not in being left behind, but in being caught off guard.
Is the Church prepared to encounter the Antichrist before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?
Years ago, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins wrote a book titled, Left Behind. It was a very popular prophetic novel on the second coming of Christ, which became the first in a series of novels and movies under the “Left Behind” banner. The book sounded a legitimate evangelistic warning that those who do not accept Christ will be “left behind” at His coming. At the same time, with its pretribulational emphasis of imminence – Jesus can come at any moment– it set the Church up to be caught off-guard and spiritually ambushed by the Antichrist.
Unfortunately, this “any-moment” rapture idea (though unbiblical) remains a deeply engrained dogma within many of our evangelical churches today.
At the Lord’s coming, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, and the one generation of believers living at that time – both the resurrected and the raptured – will be caught up in the air to be forever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Either resurrection from the grave or rapture is the believer’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). It is that hope which can keep God’s elect on an even keel no matter how severe the raging storms of life may become.
The prospect of encountering the Anti-christ does not in any way infringe on the blessed hope. The sometimes-heard pretribulational battle-cry, “I’m looking for the upper-taker [Jesus Christ], not the under-taker [the Antichrist],” is like a broken cistern which holds no water, or a cloud which produces no rain. They hold out false promise which will never come to fruition.
The Scriptures clearly teach that the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation will precede the Lord’s coming. The Church should be constantly watching for her Lord’s coming, but fully cognizant of the fact that it is the emergence of the Antichrist which will indicate the Lord’s emergence is near. Believers still living at that time will be removed from the earth by rapture before the outpouring of God’s wrath during the Day of the Lord (the trumpets and bowls of the Book of Revelation), but they will not be exempted from the difficulties associated with the Antichrist.
The Church is not going to be whisked to Heaven on beds of ease as historic pretribulationism teaches. Because of unfolding world events and rightly perceived looming dangers on the horizon, some pretribulationists have begun suggesting that difficult days may come to the Church before she is raptured. This alarm, though welcome, will not suffice to prepare the Church for the specific danger which lies ahead as the Antichrist, empowered by Satan, persecutes true believers who will not give him their allegiance as he seeks world domination.
If the Church believes she will be out of here before the Antichrist emerges, she will be caught off-guard and unprepared when he appears to deceive the world.
It is the manifestation of the Antichrist in connection with the abomination of desolation at the rebuilt Temple on Mount Moriah which will indicate the Lord’s soon return. And far from infringing on the blessed hope, the manifestation of the Antichrist will attest to its soon realization.
The Rapture is not a signless, any-moment event. Contrary to popular pretribulational teaching, the coming of Christ will not be as “a thief in the night” for the believer. There will be very specific and prophesied events which precede His coming.
For the Church, the danger is not in being left behind, but in being caught off guard.
The Early Church Fathers
In the year A.D. 325, the Council of Nicea convened. It was an important council of Church leaders. The Church fathers who lived and taught before the council were called the Ante-Nicene Fathers. They lived and ministered during the approximately 300-year period following our Lord’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Some of them were taught by the Apostles themselves.
It is certainly true that the Church fathers did not always agree and not all of their views were to be embraced. However, as a general principle, the closer one lived to the time of the Lord, the more important his testimony. When there is great unity among the Church fathers, their testimony – like a cord consisting of many strands woven together – is all the more unbreakable.
Those premillenarians who believe the Son of God will return to Earth to establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom (and I am among them) rightly cite the Church fathers as a source of important evidence to support their position. In dramatic contrast, however, they cannot appeal to the same Church fathers for support of a signless, any-moment Rapture because the Church fathers did not teach it. This is a glaring inconsistency.
Not a single Ante-Nicene Church father supports a signless, any-moment Rapture. Quite the opposite, they uniformly teach the Antichrist must appear before Christ’s coming for the Church and that the Church should be watching lest she be caught off guard. Listen carefully to what the Church fathers taught.
Justin Martyr wrote: “The man of apostasy [Antichrist] … shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians …” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 110).
The Pastor of Hermas wrote: “Happy are ye who endure the great tribulation that is coming …” (Vision Second).
And again he wrote: “Those, therefore, who continue steadfast, and are put through the fire, will be purified by means of it. … Wherefore cease not speaking these things into the ears of the saints.
This then is the type of the great tribulation that is yet to come” (Vision Fourth).
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles states: “Watch for your life’s sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh … for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if ye be not made perfect in
the last time … then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders. … Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself” (Chapter xvi).
Irenaeus wrote: “And they [the ten kings] shall … give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight” (Against Heresies, V, 26, 1).
And again he wrote: “But he [John] indicates the number of the name [the Antichrist, 666] now, that when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware who he is” (Against Heresies, V, 30, 4).
He also places the resurrection of the Church and the Old Testament saints after the revelation (appearance) of the Antichrist (Against Heresies, V, 34, 3; V, 35, 1).
Hippolytus wrote: “Now concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary [he has been speaking of the Antichrist and the Antichrist’s persecution of the saints] ... That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days [the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week] during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church” (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, 60, 61).
Melito of Sardis wrote: “For with all his strength did the adversary assail us, even then giving a foretaste of his activity among us which is to be without restraint [in context, referring to the removal of the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8] …”
Tertullian wrote: “Now the privilege of this favor [to go without dying at the Rapture] awaits those who shall at the coming of the Lord be found in the flesh [those who are still alive], and who shall, owing to the oppressions of the time of Antichrist, deserve by an instantaneous death [Tertullian’s way of describing the Rapture], which is accomplished by sudden change, to become qualified to join the rising saints [those who had already died in Christ]; as he writes to the Thessalonians” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, xli).
And again he wrote: “That the beast Antichrist with his false prophet [Revelation 13] may wage war on the Church of God … Since, then, the Scrip-tures both indicate the stages of the last times, and concentrate the harvest of the Christian hope in the very end of the world …” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, cf. Scorpiace xii).
Cyprian, commenting on the tribulation in the Olivet Discourse, wrote: “With the exhortation of His foreseeing word, instructing, and teaching, and preparing, and strengthening the people of His Church for the endurance of things to come ...” (Treatise VII).
Commodianus placed the resurrection of the Church after the appearance of the Antichrist and his tribulation, but before the Millennium (Instructions xliv, lxxx).
The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles states: “And then shall appear the deceiver of the world [the Antichrist], the enemy of the truth, the prince of lies, whom the Lord Jesus ‘shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth, who takes away the wicked with His lips; and many shall
be offended at Him. But they that endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven;’ and afterwards shall be the voice of a trumpet by the archangel; and in that interval shall be the revival of those that were asleep. And then shall the Lord come, and all His saints with Him” (Constitutions VII, ii, xxxi, xxxii).
Victorinus speaks of Elijah the prophet, who ministers during the times of the Antichrist [and gives a lengthy discussion of the persecution of the Church by the Antichrist] (Commentary on the Apocalypse VII, 351 ff.).
Lactantius clearly believed that the coming of the Lord to resurrect the righteous was to take place after the Great Tribulation (Institutes VII, xv-xxvii; cf. Institutes IV; and Epitome lxxi, lxxii).
The early Church fathers not only consistently warned that believers would encounter the Antichrist before the Rapture, but called for watchfulness, purity, and steadfastness.
It is not Prewrath Rapturism which has strayed from the orthodox position of the early Church, but Pretribulation Rapturism.
For the Church fathers, the danger to the Church was not in being left behind, but in being CAUGHT OFF GUARD.
Years ago, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins wrote a book titled, Left Behind. It was a very popular prophetic novel on the second coming of Christ, which became the first in a series of novels and movies under the “Left Behind” banner. The book sounded a legitimate evangelistic warning that those who do not accept Christ will be “left behind” at His coming. At the same time, with its pretribulational emphasis of imminence – Jesus can come at any moment– it set the Church up to be caught off-guard and spiritually ambushed by the Antichrist.
Unfortunately, this “any-moment” rapture idea (though unbiblical) remains a deeply engrained dogma within many of our evangelical churches today.
At the Lord’s coming, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, and the one generation of believers living at that time – both the resurrected and the raptured – will be caught up in the air to be forever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Either resurrection from the grave or rapture is the believer’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). It is that hope which can keep God’s elect on an even keel no matter how severe the raging storms of life may become.
The prospect of encountering the Anti-christ does not in any way infringe on the blessed hope. The sometimes-heard pretribulational battle-cry, “I’m looking for the upper-taker [Jesus Christ], not the under-taker [the Antichrist],” is like a broken cistern which holds no water, or a cloud which produces no rain. They hold out false promise which will never come to fruition.
The Scriptures clearly teach that the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation will precede the Lord’s coming. The Church should be constantly watching for her Lord’s coming, but fully cognizant of the fact that it is the emergence of the Antichrist which will indicate the Lord’s emergence is near. Believers still living at that time will be removed from the earth by rapture before the outpouring of God’s wrath during the Day of the Lord (the trumpets and bowls of the Book of Revelation), but they will not be exempted from the difficulties associated with the Antichrist.
The Church is not going to be whisked to Heaven on beds of ease as historic pretribulationism teaches. Because of unfolding world events and rightly perceived looming dangers on the horizon, some pretribulationists have begun suggesting that difficult days may come to the Church before she is raptured. This alarm, though welcome, will not suffice to prepare the Church for the specific danger which lies ahead as the Antichrist, empowered by Satan, persecutes true believers who will not give him their allegiance as he seeks world domination.
If the Church believes she will be out of here before the Antichrist emerges, she will be caught off-guard and unprepared when he appears to deceive the world.
It is the manifestation of the Antichrist in connection with the abomination of desolation at the rebuilt Temple on Mount Moriah which will indicate the Lord’s soon return. And far from infringing on the blessed hope, the manifestation of the Antichrist will attest to its soon realization.
The Rapture is not a signless, any-moment event. Contrary to popular pretribulational teaching, the coming of Christ will not be as “a thief in the night” for the believer. There will be very specific and prophesied events which precede His coming.
For the Church, the danger is not in being left behind, but in being caught off guard.
The Early Church Fathers
In the year A.D. 325, the Council of Nicea convened. It was an important council of Church leaders. The Church fathers who lived and taught before the council were called the Ante-Nicene Fathers. They lived and ministered during the approximately 300-year period following our Lord’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Some of them were taught by the Apostles themselves.
It is certainly true that the Church fathers did not always agree and not all of their views were to be embraced. However, as a general principle, the closer one lived to the time of the Lord, the more important his testimony. When there is great unity among the Church fathers, their testimony – like a cord consisting of many strands woven together – is all the more unbreakable.
Those premillenarians who believe the Son of God will return to Earth to establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom (and I am among them) rightly cite the Church fathers as a source of important evidence to support their position. In dramatic contrast, however, they cannot appeal to the same Church fathers for support of a signless, any-moment Rapture because the Church fathers did not teach it. This is a glaring inconsistency.
Not a single Ante-Nicene Church father supports a signless, any-moment Rapture. Quite the opposite, they uniformly teach the Antichrist must appear before Christ’s coming for the Church and that the Church should be watching lest she be caught off guard. Listen carefully to what the Church fathers taught.
Justin Martyr wrote: “The man of apostasy [Antichrist] … shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians …” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 110).
The Pastor of Hermas wrote: “Happy are ye who endure the great tribulation that is coming …” (Vision Second).
And again he wrote: “Those, therefore, who continue steadfast, and are put through the fire, will be purified by means of it. … Wherefore cease not speaking these things into the ears of the saints.
This then is the type of the great tribulation that is yet to come” (Vision Fourth).
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles states: “Watch for your life’s sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh … for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if ye be not made perfect in
the last time … then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders. … Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself” (Chapter xvi).
Irenaeus wrote: “And they [the ten kings] shall … give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight” (Against Heresies, V, 26, 1).
And again he wrote: “But he [John] indicates the number of the name [the Antichrist, 666] now, that when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware who he is” (Against Heresies, V, 30, 4).
He also places the resurrection of the Church and the Old Testament saints after the revelation (appearance) of the Antichrist (Against Heresies, V, 34, 3; V, 35, 1).
Hippolytus wrote: “Now concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary [he has been speaking of the Antichrist and the Antichrist’s persecution of the saints] ... That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days [the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week] during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church” (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, 60, 61).
Melito of Sardis wrote: “For with all his strength did the adversary assail us, even then giving a foretaste of his activity among us which is to be without restraint [in context, referring to the removal of the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8] …”
Tertullian wrote: “Now the privilege of this favor [to go without dying at the Rapture] awaits those who shall at the coming of the Lord be found in the flesh [those who are still alive], and who shall, owing to the oppressions of the time of Antichrist, deserve by an instantaneous death [Tertullian’s way of describing the Rapture], which is accomplished by sudden change, to become qualified to join the rising saints [those who had already died in Christ]; as he writes to the Thessalonians” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, xli).
And again he wrote: “That the beast Antichrist with his false prophet [Revelation 13] may wage war on the Church of God … Since, then, the Scrip-tures both indicate the stages of the last times, and concentrate the harvest of the Christian hope in the very end of the world …” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, cf. Scorpiace xii).
Cyprian, commenting on the tribulation in the Olivet Discourse, wrote: “With the exhortation of His foreseeing word, instructing, and teaching, and preparing, and strengthening the people of His Church for the endurance of things to come ...” (Treatise VII).
Commodianus placed the resurrection of the Church after the appearance of the Antichrist and his tribulation, but before the Millennium (Instructions xliv, lxxx).
The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles states: “And then shall appear the deceiver of the world [the Antichrist], the enemy of the truth, the prince of lies, whom the Lord Jesus ‘shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth, who takes away the wicked with His lips; and many shall
be offended at Him. But they that endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven;’ and afterwards shall be the voice of a trumpet by the archangel; and in that interval shall be the revival of those that were asleep. And then shall the Lord come, and all His saints with Him” (Constitutions VII, ii, xxxi, xxxii).
Victorinus speaks of Elijah the prophet, who ministers during the times of the Antichrist [and gives a lengthy discussion of the persecution of the Church by the Antichrist] (Commentary on the Apocalypse VII, 351 ff.).
Lactantius clearly believed that the coming of the Lord to resurrect the righteous was to take place after the Great Tribulation (Institutes VII, xv-xxvii; cf. Institutes IV; and Epitome lxxi, lxxii).
The early Church fathers not only consistently warned that believers would encounter the Antichrist before the Rapture, but called for watchfulness, purity, and steadfastness.
It is not Prewrath Rapturism which has strayed from the orthodox position of the early Church, but Pretribulation Rapturism.
For the Church fathers, the danger to the Church was not in being left behind, but in being CAUGHT OFF GUARD.
Middle East Peace Will Prevail
October 22nd, 2024
Unquestionably, the Bible teaches there is coming a specific time of great adversity and divine judgment upon the earth, but along with it we are given the promise that one day there will be true and lasting peace in the Middle East....
The Believer's Glorious Future
October 9th, 2024
What a great, glorious, and perfect future God has planned for all believers!...
The Vantage Point of End-Times Prophecy
September 20th, 2024
People love to predict what will happen in the future, but you know how that goes. Nobody gets it all right, for no man or woman can accurately forecast the future....