Imminency And The Any-Moment Rapture
Pastor Dale Morgan
Written by:Dr. Thomas Ice
We believe that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ could come in the
clouds at any-moment and take His church to be with Him to His Father's
house (John 14:1-3). What a great hope, that while you are reading this
article, our Lord could return and rapture His church. We have come to
call this any-moment hope of the rapture an imminent event.
The English word "imminent" (of Latin derivation) can be used in many
ways, it is used to note the New Testament teaching that Christ could
return and rapture His church at any-moment, without prior signs or
warning. Use of the term "imminency" entered the lexicon of American
Evangelicalism around the end of the last century in contrast to the
dominate, but waning, postmillennialism which taught that Christ's
coming was not imminent. Postmillennialism held that Christ's return
must first await the Christianization of the world by the Church. By the
1930s, it was common to pack into one theological
expression-imminency-all of the many New Testament ways in which
Christ's coming for His Church is said to be possible at any-moment.
Thus, imminency and the any-moment return of Christ became synonyms for
the pretribulational rapture of the church.
In fact, imminency is such a powerful argument for pretribulationism
that it is one of the most frequent and fiercely attacked doctrines by
our opponents. Non-pretribulationists sense that if the New Testament
teaches imminency, then pretribulationism is virtually assured.
DEFINITION OF IMMINENCY
What is the biblical definition of imminency? Four important elements
contribute to a pretribulational understanding of imminency. First,
imminency means that the rapture could take place at any moment. While
other events may take place before the rapture, no event must precede
it. If prior events are required before the rapture, then the rapture
could not be described as imminent. Thus, if any event were required to
occur before the rapture, then the concept of imminency would be destroyed.
Second, since the rapture is imminent and could happen at any moment,
then it follows that one must be prepared for it to occur at any time,
without sign or warning.
Third, imminency eliminates any attempt at date setting. Date setting is
impossible since the rapture is signless (i.e., providing no basis for
date setting) and if imminency is really true, the moment a date was
fixed then Christ could not come at any moment, destroying imminency.
Fourth, Renold Showers says, "A person cannot legitimately say that an
imminent event will happen soon. The term 'soon' implies that an event
must take place 'within a short time (after a particular point of time
specified or implied).' By contrast, an imminent event may take place
within a short time, but it does not have to do so in order to be
imminent. As I hope you can see by now, "imminent" is not equal to
'soon.'"1 A. T. Pierson has noted that, "Imminence is the combination of
two conditions, viz.,: certainty and uncertainty. By an imminent event
we mean one which is certain to occur at some time, uncertain at what
time."2
IMMINENCY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
The fact that Christ could return, but may not soon, at any moment, yet
without the necessity of signs preceding His return, requires the kind
of imminence taught by pretribulationism.
What New Testament passages teach this truth? Those verses stating that
Christ could return at any moment, without warning and those instructing
believers to wait and look for the Lord's coming teach the doctrine of
imminence. Note the following New Testament passages:
• 1 Corinthians 1:7-"awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus
Christ,"
• 1 Corinthians 16:22-"Maranatha."
• Philippians 3:20-"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we
eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;"
• Philippians 4:5-"The Lord is near."
• 1 Thessalonians 1:10-"to wait for His Son from heaven,"
• 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18-"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,
shall 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 shall
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. Therefore comfort one another with these words."
• 1 Thessalonians 5:6-"so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us
be alert and sober."
• 1 Timothy 6:14-"that you keep the commandment without stain or
reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
• Titus 2:13-"looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus;"
• Hebrews 9:28-"so Christ . . . shall appear a second time for salvation
without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him."
• James 5:7-9-"Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the
Lord. . . . for the coming of the Lord is at hand. . . . behold, the
Judge is standing right at the door."
• 1 Peter 1:13 -"fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to
you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
• Jude 21-"waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to
eternal life."
• Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20-"'I am coming quickly!'"
• Revelation 22:17, 20-"And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And
let the one who hears say, 'Come.'"
"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming quickly.'
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."
It is significant that all of the above passages relate to the rapture
and speak of the Lord's coming as something that could occur at
any-moment, that it is imminent. This is why believers are waiting for a
person-Jesus Christ-not just an event or series of events such as those
related to the tribulation leading up to Christ's second advent in which
He returns to the earth and remains for His millennial reign.
IMMINENCE AND PRETRIBULATIONISM
Contemplation of the above passages indicate that Christ may come at any
moment so that the rapture is actually imminent. Only pretribulationism
can give a full, literal meaning to such an any-moment event. Other
rapture views must redefine imminence more loosely than the New
Testament would allow. Dr. Walvoord declares, "The exhortation to look
for 'the glorious appearing' of Christ to His own (Titus 2:13) loses its
significance if the Tribulation must intervene first. Believers in that
case should look for signs."3 If the pretribulational view of imminence
is not accepted, then it would make sense to look for signs related to
events of the tribulation (i.e., the anti-Christ, the two witnesses,
etc.) and not for Christ Himself. But the New Testament, as demonstrated
above, uniformly instructs the church to look for the coming of Christ,
while tribulation saints are told to look for signs.
The New Testament exhortation to be comforted by the Lord's coming (John
14:1; 1 Thess. 4:18) would no longer have meaning if believers first had
to pass through any part of the tribulation. Instead, comfort would have
to await passage through the events of the tribulation. No, the church
has been given a "Blessed Hope," in part, because our Lord's return is
truly imminent.
MARANATHA!
The early church had a special greeting for one another, as recorded in
1 Corinthians 16:22, which was "Maranatha!" Maranatha consists of three
Aramaic words: "Mar" ("Lord"), "ana" ("our"), and "tha" ("come"),
meaning "our Lord, come." As with other New Testament passages,
Maranatha only makes sense if an any-moment or imminent coming is
understood. Such an understanding supports the pretribulationism.
No wonder these ancient Christians coined such a unique greeting which
reflects an eager expectation of the Blessed Hope as a very real
presence in their everyday lives providing a motivation for godly
living, evangelism, and world wide evangelism. The life of the church
today could only be improved if "Maranatha" were to return as a sincere
greeting on the lips of an expectant people. Maranatha!
ENDNOTES
1 Renald Showers, Maranatha Our Lord, Come! A Definitive Study of the
Rapture of the Church (Bellmawr, N.J.: The Friends of Israel Gospel
Ministry, Inc., 1995), pp. 127-28.
2Arthur T. Pierson, Our Lord's Second Coming as a Motive to World-Wide
Evangelism (published by John Wanamaker, n.d., cited in Showers,
Maranatha, p. 127.
3 John F. Walvoord, The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), p. 273.