The pledge of Yahushua’s return to establish Yahuwah’s kingdom on earth, has been a cherished promise for nearly 2,000 years. It has strengthened martyrs and comforted the lonely and heartbroken. Yahushua wants His people ready for His soon return. He has warned everyone to watch and be ready and given signs to look for as harbingers of His return. Satan wants people taken by surprise. He tries to keep people from getting ready so that Yahushua’s return will take them by surprise and they will be lost.
One of Satan’s most successful lies has been that there will be a “Secret Rapture.” Those who advocate this doctrine teach that Yahushua will return secretly, taking His people from the earth. It is believed that following the “rapture of the righteous,” the entire earth will be plunged into seven years of great tribulation during which Anti-Christ will reign and exercise great power on earth. This is a very dangerous belief. Not only is it NOT found in Scripture, but it leads people to assume they have more time to accept salvation than they actually do. Rather than diligently searching their hearts and repenting of every known sin, people who believe in the rapture have a false sense of security believing that if they don’t make the “secret rapture” they can still repent later during the “Great Tribulation” following the rapture.
Scripture states unequivocally that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of Yahuwah.” (See Romans 3:23.) Heaven has already graciously granted everyone who has heard the good news of Yahushua and His coming kingdom, a chance to choose whom he or she will serve and that chance ends at death. At some future point, the Saviour will announce:
“He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to give to every one according to his work.” (Revelation 22:11, 12, NKJV)
When He comes, He brings His reward with Him. The idea of a “secret rapture” is based on a few Bible verses, taken out of context:
"Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your [Master] is coming." (Matthew 24:40-42, NKJV)
These verses cannot be used to support the idea of a secret, pre-tribulation rapture because they are merely a summarizing statement of an illustration Yahushua had just used! Yahushua explained that there would be two classes of people at the end: those who were saved and those who were lost. He likened it to time before the flood when everyone, by their own choices, determined whether or not they would be saved.
 |
|
Those left outside the ark were not given a second chance. |
"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
"Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your [Master] is coming." (Matthew 24:37-42, NKJV)
Yahushua drew a comparison between the days of Noah and His return. In the days of Noah, those who chose to obey were saved in the ark. Those who refused to obey were left outside and were lost. They had all been warned by Noah and had taken their decision, so their probation had closed and they were destroyed in the flood. In a parable, He explained that both the “wheat” and the “tares” (or poisonous weeds) would:
“Both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:30, KJV)
So that there would be no confusion whatsoever, Yahushua explained:
“The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
“As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
“Then [at that time] shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:38-43, KJV)
 |
|
The secret rapture contradicts Scripture by teaching that before the end of the world, the righteous will be taken out. |
The order of events, as given by Yahushua Himself, is that the righteous and the wicked remain together until the very end of the world. Then, at that time, the wicked are first gathered together in bundles for destruction. Then, and only then, after the wicked have been separated out, will “the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:43) The secret rapture contradicts Scripture by teaching that before the end of the world, the righteous will be taken out. Yahushua knew that His faithful followers would be in the world until the very end. There would be no secret coming to whisk them out before the great Time of Trouble. It was for this reason that His last recorded words before ascending to Heaven were the loving assurance, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20, KJV) The “secret rapture” doctrine teaches that only after the righteous have been whisked off the earth will the Anti-Christ appear. This completely contradicts the Bible. Scripture teaches that Yahushua will not return for His waiting people until after the anti-Christ is revealed. Then and only then will the righteous be caught up to meet him in the air and escort him back to earth to reign with him for 1,000 years in Yahuwah’s kingdom on earth.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: Who opposeth and exalth himself above all that is called Elohim, or that is worshiped; so that he as Yahuwah sitteth in the temple of Yahuwah, showing himself that he is Yahuwah. . . . And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom Yahushua shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders . (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 8 & 9.)
Revelation contains a precious promise for the faithful and righteous who remain upon the earth until he returns.
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Revelation 3:10, 11, KJV)
This text has been used to support the idea of a secret rapture, but is actually a powerful affirmation of His sustaining presence WITH His people clear to the very end. The evening before Yahushua was crucified, He prayed for all who should believe on Him down to the very end of time:
“Now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” (John 17:13-15, KJV)
It is because the righteous will not be taken from the earth that such powerful promises have been given. No one should delay obeying the divine law until some future, more convenient date. That time will never come. Now is the day of salvation! The return of Yahushua will change life as we know it on Earth. It will mean eternal death for all who have rejected the Saviour and the beginning of life eternal for all who have accepted Him.
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2, KJV)
Choose you this day whom you will serve.
Related Content: