Historical Roots of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Doctrine

We're saying that the rapture of the church, where Jesus comes back for his saints, is a separate event from Jesus returning with his saints in the second coming. In other words, the rapture occurs before the tribulation period. That's why we say pre-trib, right? And the second coming happens when the tribulation ends. Now, there are many who disagree with this for various reasons, and I am dealing with these objections. [00:00:13]

Was pre-tribulationalism around before John Nelson Darby? And the answer is yes. It seems there were those teaching this view some 1,700 years before John Darby walked this earth. And now let me say this before we even start, that most of these pre-tribulational teachers believe the tribulation period didn't start until the abomination of desolation in Revelation 13, which occurs three and a half years before the Lord's return. So some would argue these early pre-tribulational teachers were mid-tribbers. [00:01:11]

But not necessarily, because they believe the entirety of the tribulation was three and a half years. So in their thinking, the church was taken out before the tribulation began. Now I believe there are good arguments for the tribulation period being seven years, but that's not the emphasis of this video, so we won't get into that. Now with all that said, let's move to the references, and we have to go all the way back to 140 AD to find our first one. And there we find what was considered a very important document in the early church. The Shepherd of Hermas. In it, he clearly speaks of escaping from the church. [00:01:46]

You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast. Go therefore and tell the elect of the Lord his mighty deeds and say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is coming. If then ye prepare yourselves and repent with all your heart and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it. So way back in 140 AD, we have what seems to be the seeds planted for the doctrine of a pre-tribulational rapture. Next, we have Pseudo-Ephraim. [00:02:21]

For all the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins. So in this sermon, and you can find it online, Pseudo-Ephraim gives us a clear understanding of his end-time beliefs. He describes the rapture as an imminent event and teaches a separation between it, the rapture, and the second coming of Christ. He also believed the tribulation period would follow the departure of the saints. [00:03:34]

Now, Brother Docino led the Apostolic Brethren movement in Italy. After he died in 1307, a document titled The History of Brother Docino was written, which defines his end-time beliefs. He taught that he and his followers would be transferred into paradise. Now, that word transferred in the Latin is the same word used by the church to describe the rapture of Enoch into heaven. [00:04:20]

Now, the purpose of this transfer, or rapture, was to protect the people from being persecuted by the Antichrist. But after the Antichrist is dead, he and his followers would descend to earth to preach Christ to those who were alive on earth. Now, some interesting thoughts on that. Did you notice the time gap between the transfer of the saints into heaven and their return to earth? It appears Brother Doceno believed these were two separate events. So, he taught a rapture followed by a time of tribulation, then the raptured saints returning at the second coming. [00:04:44]

In 1663, he wrote the earliest known English-language commentary on the book of Revelation entitled The Image of Both Churches. Joseph Mead, from 1586 to 1638, is considered the father of English premillennial thought. Mead was a professor of Greek at Cambridge, and he referred to the rapture as early as 1627 to describe the saints meeting the Lord in the air. Then we come to the 1600s, and there are more you can look up. Thomas Drakes, Barton Holyday, Ephraim Hewitt, William Sherwin, and Samuel Petto. All seem to teal. [00:05:57]

Then there was the French reformer, Peter Giroux, who taught of a secret rapture where Christ would come in the air to gather the saints prior to his coming back in glory to judge those gathered against him in Armageddon. Well, let's move to the 1700s, still a hundred years before Darby. We have the commentaries of Philip Doddridge and John Gill. Both use the term rapture and speak of it as being imminent. And what we mean by imminent, it means nothing has to happen as a warning before it occurs. Jesus will come as a thief in the night. [00:06:32]

So, it is clear in the commentaries they authored that they understood the rapture would occur prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ. The purpose being to preserve believers from that time of judgment. Then there is James McKnight and Thomas Scott who taught that those in Christ would be caught up into heaven where they would be secure until the time of judgment was over. [00:07:07]

Well let's finish then with Morgan Edwards, who moved to America from Wales in the 1700s. He was a great Baptist preacher and founded Brown University, so no lightweight, right? Now Thomas Ice provides the following recap of Edwards' teaching. He taught the distance between the first and second resurrection will be somewhat more than a thousand years. Somewhat more, because the dead saints will be raised and the living changed at Christ appearing in the air, 1 Thessalonians 4.17, and this will be about three and a half years before the millennium. [00:07:47]

But will he and they abide in the air all that time? No. They will ascend to paradise, or to some one of those many mansions in the Father's house, and disappear during the foresaid period of time. The design of this retreat and disappearing will be to judge the risen and changed saints. For now the time is come that judgment must begin, and that will be at the house of God. [00:08:21]