Page 242 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture in I Corinthians
quotation is from Isaiah 25:8. Paul went on to say, “‘Where,
O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” The
second quotation is from Hosea 13:14. All agree that the rap­
ture of the church is a partial fulfillment of Old and New
Testament anticipations of resurrection. To jump to the con­
clusion that this makes clear that there can be only one fulfill­
ment of it and that this requires identification of the Rapture
with the second coming of Christ is going beyond what the
text justifies.
Any student of quotations of the Old Testament in the
New Testament soon discovers that fulfillment is sometimes
partial; and in this case the resurrection of the church, while a
fulfillment of the general promise of resurrection, does not
justify the conclusion that all people are raised at the time of
the Rapture. For instance, Revelation 20:4 speaks of the resur­
rection of the tribulation dead and pictures it as occurring
considerably later than the event of Christ’s coming from
heaven to earth in His second coming. Even if the Rapture
were posttribulational, the resurrection of Revelation 20:4
comes later in the sequence of events, as the context demon­
strates. The error of posttribulationists here is the assumption
of what they are trying to prove, that all resurrections occur at
the same time.
Another element in the revelation in 1 Corinthians
15:51-58 is the exhortation that is attached to the doctrine of
the Rapture. In verse 58 Paul stated, “Therefore, my dear
brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give your­
selves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that
your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” The doctrine of the
Rapture, whenever mentioned in the Bible, is always related
to practical application. In John 14:2 it is to the point that we
should not be troubled in view of the coming of the Lord. In
1 Thessalonians 4 it is a comforting or encouraging hope. In
1 John 3:2-3 it is a purifying hope. Here the Rapture is used as
an exhortation to us to be faithful, standing firm in our faith,
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