Did Jesus Say People of His Generation Would be Raptured?
I was recently having a friendly discussion about end-times eschatology. I believe the Bible communicates a pre-tribulation rapture of believers before an actual 7 year tribulation followed by a literal thousand year reign of Jesus on Earth before Armageddon and the Great White Throne Judgement. My friend said he thought the rapture had happened around 70 AD. I had never heard anyone make that argument, so I asked for scriptural evidence. He gave me these three verses:
“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28)
And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” (Mark 9:1)
But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:27)
These three verses do sound like some of those standing before Jesus will be raptured, although the words are “see the kingdom of God.”
I always seek to know what I believe and why I believe it and to make sure that I am not misled about anything regarding the Bible, so I stopped and thought and listened. I know that most of the Bible strongly suggests that the rapture happens immediately before the tribulation, but these verses seem to contradict that conclusion. God gave me the following passage of a discussion between Peter and Jesus right after Jesus told Peter how he would die:
Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” (John 21:20-23) {emphasis mine}
Jesus’s statements made His disciples think that the Apostle John would live until Jesus returned, but that wasn’t what Jesus was communicating. I think this misunderstanding is similar to the one in the three verses above. John did live longer than any of His other disciples. Near the end of John’s life, after all of the other disciples had passed away, Jesus brought him to heaven in the spirit:
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. (Revelation 1:9-16) {emphasis mine}
In this vision, before John’s death, he saw “the kingdom of God” in heaven. This alone would fulfill Jesus’s statement, but there is more.
Then slightly later in Revelation:
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. (Revelation 4:1-2)
In this passage, John is called up to heaven to see “what must take place after these things.” What does John see about what is to come? He “see[s] the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”(Matthew 16:28b)
John was listening to Jesus’s promise that “there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Mark 9:1) In his old age, he was temporarily called to heaven to see the “the kingdom of God” and “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” John did see the things that Jesus promised before he “tasted death.” It wasn’t that Jesus came back or raptured the church before John died. It was that Jesus brought John into heaven in the spirit to see what would later come to be. Jesus then returned John back to earth to live out what remained of his life.
When I asked my husband to review my post, he made another explanation of the original three verses. I’ll use Matthew for this explanation.
28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28)
The very next verses are these:
Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:1-5)
The transfiguration was the initiation of Jesus reign and Peter, James, and John were able to see Jesus in His glorified form. Since this happened 6 days later, it stands out as a fulfillment. You could argue that both my idea and my husband’s are a fulfillment of Jesus’s promise.
It also does not make sense that the church was raptured in Jesus’s generation because Jesus’s kingdom did not come at that time. The evil in the world from His ascension to today is clearly not His kingdom. Also, nowhere in Revelation is the church mentioned (although people do come to know Jesus). This is because God took His church home to be with Him.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
The seven year tribulation is the wrath of God poured out on those who rejected their Creator and Savior. “God has not destined us for wrath.”
There will be a wonderful, literal thousand year reign of Jesus. Satan and his demons will be bound and will no longer being leading people away from Jesus. It will be a time of peace for 1000 years. Sadly a large number of people who live during the millennium will not put their faith in Jesus, but will rebel against Him when Satan is released one last time. Their rebellion will lead to their physical death and eternal torment.
Reading all of these verses, I once again see that even when there seems to be a contradiction, there is none. I still believe the rapture is yet to come and will occur shortly before the seven year tribulation. I still believe that the rapture and the tribulation are coming soon. I’m also glad that I took the time to look at the evidence, consider it logically, and consider the Bible in its entirety instead of blindly digging in my heels and claiming fiat, “I am right.”
I guess I should also share the two most explicit passages in the Bible on the rapture, so you can fully understand what is being talked about in this article:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) {emphasis mine}
This verse means even more when we look back at Jesus’s ascension:
And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11) {emphasis mine}
The other most explicit passage on the rapture is this:
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) {emphasis mine}
In the New Testament, the Bible always calls the death of believers “sleep,” because it is not an end. It is a new beginning. I hope you are looking forward to the day when believers “will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”
God is good! All of the time! I hope to meet you all when we are called up to meet Jesus in the air.
Trust Jesus.
your sister in Christ,
Christy
I know this article is a bit different because it documents my whole thought process rather than just speaking clearly what I believe God’s word says. I hope it has been a blessing to you and I’d love feedback.
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