The other day, one of my friends and occasional Watchman’s Warning contributor, Stephen Hayes, messaged me about one of the chapters in my newest book, Simply Dispensationalism, to discuss rightly dividing prophecy and mystery. After trading some texts back and forth, we eventually made our way to the subject of the Rapture. One of the statements he made caused the wheels in my mind to start turning almost immediately. He said, “The rapture is not part of the prophetic program, it belongs to the mystery Church Age. When you understand that, all debate about whether the rapture is pre-Trib dissolves away . . . The pre-Trib rapture is an issue of ecclesiology, not eschatology.”
That last statement particularly caught my attention. Certainly, the Rapture can be discussed under the heading of eschatology because it concerns future things. However, the foundation of the doctrine is ecclesiological. Before we ask when the Church is caught up, we must understand what the Church is. If we fail to understand the character, calling, and position of the Church, we will inevitably have difficulty understanding where she belongs in relation to the prophetic events concerning the earth. The timing of the Rapture is not an isolated doctrine that can be separated from the nature of the Church itself.
My research led me to the writings of J. N. Darby. In The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant, Darby clarifies, “The church is associated with Christ already gone, is not of the world as He was not, is risen with Him, has its life hid with Him in God. There is no earthly event between it and heaven.” Darby’s argument is considerably deeper than simply determining where the Rapture should be placed on a prophetic chart. His argument begins with the present position of the Church. Christ is in heaven, and the Church is associated with Him there.
This is precisely how Paul describes our position. God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). Our blessings are “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Our “conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). We are commanded to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” because we are dead and our “life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). The Church has a heavenly Head, a heavenly position, heavenly blessings, a heavenly citizenship, and a heavenly hope. This is not incidental to the doctrine of the Rapture. It is the very foundation upon which the doctrine rests.
Darby therefore continued, “It is this conviction, that the church is properly heavenly, in its calling and relationship with Christ, forming no part of the course of events of the earth, which makes its rapture so simple and clear; and on the other hand, it shows how the denial of its rapture brings down the church to an earthly position, and destroys its whole spiritual character and position.” This is perhaps the most important statement in the entire discussion. To Darby, denying the Rapture of the Church before the resumption of God’s prophetic dealings with the earth was not simply an error in prophetic chronology. It confused the character of the Church itself.
The Church does not belong to the prophetic program concerning the earth. That program was revealed long before the mystery of the Church was made known. Peter spoke in Acts 3:21 of those things “which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Paul, on the other hand, spoke of “the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began” (Romans 16:25). Here we find two things that cannot simply be blended together. One was spoken by the prophets; the other was kept secret. One concerns the prophetic purposes of God openly revealed concerning the earth and Israel; the other concerns a previously unrevealed heavenly body in which Jew and Gentile are made one in Christ.
Daniel’s seventieth week belongs unmistakably to the former category. Gabriel told Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city” (Daniel 9:24). Daniel’s people are Israel, and Daniel’s holy city is Jerusalem. The seventieth week does not suddenly become a prophecy about the body of Christ simply because the Church happens to exist before its commencement. Its character remains Jewish and earthly. This same character appears in the Lord’s description of the Tribulation in Matthew 24. We find Judaea, the sabbath day, the holy place, Daniel the prophet, and the abomination of desolation. These are not the distinctive characteristics of the mystery body of Christ revealed through Paul. They belong to the prophetic program concerning Israel and the earth.
This is why placing the Church within Daniel’s seventieth week creates a problem much greater than the timing of the Rapture. It takes a people whose calling is heavenly and places them into a program whose character is earthly. It takes the body of Christ and places it into a period expressly determined upon Daniel’s people and Daniel’s city. In Darby’s words, it “brings down the church to an earthly position.” The post-Tribulation position therefore does not merely move the Rapture from one side of the Tribulation to the other. It necessarily places the Church within a prophetic program from which her heavenly calling distinguishes her.
Darby condensed the entire distinction into a few remarkable sentences: “The Christian’s hope is not a prophetic subject at all. It is the promise that Christ will come and receive him to Himself, that where He is the Christian may be also.” Darby’s point is that the hope of the Church does not belong to the earthly prophetic course. Our expectation is not the arrival of Antichrist, the rebuilding of a temple, the abomination of desolation, the gathering of the nations against Jerusalem, or any other earthly prophetic development. Our expectation is a Person: “to wait for his Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
The Church’s hope is not to watch the prophetic clock until enough events have occurred that Christ is finally permitted to come. Our hope is Christ Himself.
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Absolutely excellent
Thank you
Great article. I think you’ve hit on the most important, and in my opinion (and Darby’s) irrefutable, argument for the pre-Trib rapture of the Church. Well done.
This is great Biblical insight. And it’s consistent. I like how you said the foundational doctrine concerning the Rapture is Ecclesiological vs Eschaotological. Israel is the primary subject of prophecy. Understanding this reconciles all the passages concerning the Tribulation and the Millennium.
Very insightful article.
Great job brother, you broke down a complex subject that abounds in confusion and conflicting views and made it accessible and congruent.