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The Rapture was a historical event that occurred in the Left Behind universe on an unspecified date at 12 AM (midnight) Eastern Standard Time when all Christian believers prior to the Tribulation were taken into Heaven, and where they would receive a glorified body. The physical bodies of both living and dead believers disappeared, so any clothes that the believer was wearing, as well as any glasses, hearing aids, false teeth, and any form of prosthetic device such as pacemakers were left behind in the spot where the person was taken. The teaching comes from 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Theological and Eschatological Significance

There are differing opinions on when the Rapture will occur. The authors of Left Behind, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, support a Dispensationalist, Premillennial, Pre-tribulation point of view, and thus the story of Left Behind follows this view.

Contrary to what one's initiation impression may be, the Rapture does not initiate the seven-year Tribulation, which is regarded by the authors to be Daniel's Seventieth Week of Daniel 9:24-27. The Tribulation starts when the Antichrist mediates a seven-year peace treaty between the nation of Israel and his world government.

The event is described as Jesus coming back to get His own people. In other words, Jesus is the one who is responsible for the Rapture. Since the Rapture can be described as Jesus returning, Jesus' physical appearance during the end of the Tribulation is not referred to as His "Second Coming" (as is usual for Christians who are not premillennial dispensationalists when talking about eschatology) but rather the "Glorious Appearing".

Genesis 5:21-24 mentions the antediluvian patriarch Enoch, the father of Methuselah. He lived for 365 years before "he was no more because God took him away" as he walked faithfully with God for three hundred years of his life. In contrast, the synopsis of the other patriarchs of Genesis 5 mentions the number of years they had lived and concludes the synopsis with "and then he died". Enoch is among the Biblical patriarchs commemorated in Hebrews 11 for exhibiting faith in God. The account of Enoch there specifically says that he "did not experience death" and was "taken from this life". Hebrews 11 does not mention the prophet Elijah who was also assumed into heaven.

Thus, the Rapture is similar to the assumption of Enoch where one who is faithful to God would not experience death and be taken from the earth, even though the Left Behind series does not mention the Biblical character of Enoch. Irene Steele, the wife of Rayford Steele and a ardent believer, looked forward to the Rapture with anticipation, partly because of the prospect of not having to die. Days before she was raptured, she said to Rayford, "Can you imagine, Rafe...Jesus coming back to get us before we die?" Fred Clark lambasted the authors of the series for that quote on the occasion of Tim LaHaye's death.

Jesus' words to the Church of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7–13) can be construed to support the author's view of a pre-Tribulation rapture where the church of believers are raptured before the start of the Tribulation. Since the Church of Philadelphia had been judged to keep Jesus' words patiently and not denied His name (v. 8, 10), Jesus would keep them from the hour of trial that would test the inhabitants of the whole world (v. 10). Some historist interpretations of Revelation regard the Seven Churches of Asia Minor as referring to historical periods of the Western church. Thus, the Church of Philadelphia can be construed as faithful churches of the "church age" dispensation living near the end times who were spared from the Tribulation.

Effects of the Rapture in the Novels

While in the story the adults that were true believers along with children that have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior were taken in the Rapture, there were also newborn babies as well as unborn children that were taken in addition to other children who were too young to fully accept accountability for their actions.

The event caused all sorts of disruptions among humans, as manned vehicles were found without operators and residences where people were cooking meals on stoves were found catching fire with no one to turn off the heat. Telephone lines were jammed with people making so many phone calls at the same time (due to the limited bandwidth of mid 1990s telecommunications technology).

After she became a Christian, Yasmine Ababneh warned her estranged Muslim husband Abdullah, in a letter, that the Bible predicts the Rapture of the true believers. In the letter, she hopes that Abdullah would convert before the ensuing chaos of the Rapture. She also says that she would pray that he would not lose his life in the aftermath of the Rapture before he would have opportunity to become a Tribulation saint. If that is the case, then survival after the Rapture and salvation during the Tribulation would be a matter of moral luck, as the factors related to the outcome of becoming a believer are beyond the influence of one's character and a product of external circumstance. In the Kids Series, Ryan Daley's parents, for example, were killed in disasters caused by the Rapture a few hours after Rapture, and they never had an opportunity to become believers.

Following the Rapture, there were many speculations about what had taken place. Some among unbelievers thought it was aliens with advanced transporting technology to take those who offered least resistance away with them. Nicolae Carpathia postulated that it had something to do with the presence of nuclear missiles and other unexplained natural phenomena working together to cause the disappearances to happen. Enigma Babylon One World Faith spiritual leader Peter Mathews believed that it was God removing "the chaff" from "the wheat", allowing only those who were considered good in His eyes to remain (possibly referencing "the wheat and the tares" parable in Matthew chapter 13, that "the tares" were removed first to be bundled and burned).

However, to those who knew the truth, who thought they were Christians but found themselves to be hypocrites when they were left behind, the Rapture became a startling revelation and the start of a mighty work of salvation formed in the nucleus of a small group called the Tribulation Force.

A "Second Rapture"

In Left Behind: Rise Of The Antichrist, a "second Rapture" supposedly happened six months after the first event. However, with a little help from his friend Dirk Burton, Buck Williams realizes that the "second Rapture" was most likely a fabrication from the powers-that-be so that they could instill fear in the general populace and install a one-world government with Nicolae Carpathia as its leader to allay people's fears.

The Rapture in Other Fictional Works

In James BeauSeigneur's Christ Clone Trilogy, the Rapture happens in a different manner. Instead of people being transformed from their earthly bodies into their heavenly bodies on Earth before meeting the Lord in the air, the Christians all die and leave their earthly bodies behind on Earth to receive their heavenly bodies. This contradicts what Paul the apostle said in 1st Corinthians 15:51-52, saying that "we shall not all sleep [meaning die], but we shall all be changed -- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet". It also contradicts in the literal sense what Jesus said in the Gospel of John, that "he who believes in Me, though he were dead, shall live, and he that lives and believes in Me shall never die".

Known People Raptured

Appearances

Trivia

  • The date of the Rapture is never specified in conjunction with the Bible passage: "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36), but the literal 'hour' was revealed to have been around 12 midnight Eastern Time in the first installment of Left Behind: The Kids.
  • Dates and months given throughout the Left Behind series suggest that The Rapture in the series occurred in the month of February.
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