Rapture

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term hyugeo (携擧) is a Sino-Korean word meaning "to lead and lift up." It refers to the event in which, at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, living believers are caught up into the air to meet the Lord. In English it is called the "rapture." The word derives from rapiemur, the term the Latin Bible (the Vulgate) uses to render "caught up" in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

Biblical and Historical Background

The principal biblical text is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. First Corinthians 15:51-52 and Matthew 24:40-41 are also cited. Views differ on when the rapture will occur.

• Pretribulation rapture: The church is caught up before the Great Tribulation, the period of intense suffering at the end of the age.
• Midtribulation rapture: The rapture occurs in the middle of the tribulation period.
• Posttribulation rapture: The rapture occurs together with the Second Coming, after the tribulation.

Pretribulationism was systematized in the nineteenth century by the Englishman John Nelson Darby, chiefly within the Brethren movement. It is generally understood to have spread widely throughout the English-speaking world through dispensationalism and the Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909. Those in the Reformed and covenant theology traditions, as well as adherents of amillennialism (the view that the millennium is not a literal thousand-year reign), hold a different view. They generally do not regard the rapture as an event distinct from the Second Coming, and they interpret the passage in 1 Thessalonians as describing a single scene of Christ's return. For further discussion, see the articles Millennium and Eschatology.

The Rapture in Korean Churches

In Korea, pretribulationism became widely known among ordinary churchgoers through revival meetings and expository preaching on the Book of Revelation. Emphases vary by denomination and seminary.

• Among Presbyterians, those who follow Reformed theology often hold historic premillennialism or amillennialism. From this standpoint, the rapture tends to be understood as occurring simultaneously with the Second Coming.
• The Holiness Church has emphasized faith in the Second Coming, upholding the Fourfold Gospel of regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming.
• In some Full Gospel and Baptist churches, as well as some independent churches, dispensational pretribulationism is reportedly a frequent subject of preaching.
• Views differ among pastors even within the same denomination. Denominational confessions of faith rarely go so far as to specify the timing of the rapture.

In 1992, Lee Jang-rim, pastor of the Dami Mission, announced that the rapture would take place on October 28 of that year. Nothing happened, however, and the episode is regarded as a prime example of "date-setting eschatology" (claims that fix the date of the end). Since then, warnings within the Korean church against predicting a specific date for the rapture have grown stronger, often appealing to Mark 13:32 ("But of that day and that hour knoweth no man").