Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind (57 page)

This antichrist will be impossible to resist without God’s grace: “The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish.… Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false” (2 Thess. 2:9–11).

The first-century Church certainly knew what persecution entailed: they endured the Great Tribulation! As a result, this theme of the antichrist loomed large in their faith. The author of the
Epistle of Barnabas
most likely had seen the Great Tribulation firsthand, and he stated, “The final stumbling block approaches.… Withstand … that the Black One may find no means of entrance.”

Yet even early on, the Church knew that the final confrontation would be similar, but worse than their experience. About halfway through the second century, Melito wrote, “With all his strength did the adversary assail us, even then giving
a foretaste
of his activity among us which is to be without restraint” (
DRE
, I, 8).

St. Athanasius fled before the persecution by the Arians. He said of the Church’s enemies, “They have not spared Thy servants, but are preparing the way for antichrist” (
HOA
, VIII, 79). This antichrist will do everything in his power to destroy Christ’s Church.

On one point we can agree with rapturists. We know how the battle with the antichrist ends up: “The lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by His appearing and His coming” (2 Thess. 2:8).

It will not be a long, drawn-out battle once Christ appears. The antichrist and his forces “surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from Heaven and consumed them” (Apoc. 20:9).

We have finally arrived at the actual second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. While it is certainly our job to resist evil at all times, the final victory cannot be won without Christ’s second advent.
The victory will be won at the glorious appearance of Christ
. Our responsibility is to endure and believe the Truth: “Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints” (Apoc. 13:10).

God’s mercy—in allowing time for more people to enter His Kingdom—is evident when we survey the series of events that transpire on the heels of the second advent. At the second coming, all people will then be resurrected. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul outlined a compelling argument refuting those who reject any future resurrection of the body. He completes his argument by saying, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:12–22).

Whether we are alive or dead at the second advent, we will be raised. “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with Him” (1 Thess. 5:9–10).

This second resurrection is being postponed in mercy to allow more people to experience the first resurrection. Pope John Paul II stated in his April 22, 1998 General Audience, “The resurrection of the dead expected at the end of time already receives its first, decisive realization in spiritual resurrection, the primary objective of the work of salvation. It consists in the new life given by the risen Christ as the fruit of His redemptive work.”

At the time of our resurrection,
everyone will face the final judgment
. The first-century Churchman Polycarp wrote, “Christ comes as the Judge of the living and the dead” (
EPP
, II). Although rapturists teach that Christians will not be judged at the Great White Throne, the Bible clearly teaches that they will. We examined this in the final vision of The Apocalypse, but first saw it in the Olivet Discourse. In Jesus’ parable, the Master rewards the works of His servants: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21). These are servants of the Master, not enemies.

The Church’s voice has been loud and clear concerning the certitude of judgment: “God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world” (
CCC
, par. 677). This final, general judgment does not negate the
particular
judgment that each of us will undergo immediately after death. As the
Catechism
clearly states, “The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in His second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith” (
CCC
, par. 1021).

Many of us shrink from a discussion of Hell and judgment, but Jesus spoke of Hell more than two dozen times. The wicked will spend
eternity without any good or God
. Rejection of God
now
leads to an
eternity
of anguish at being judged and sent out of God’s joyful presence forever. “Behold, the Lord came with His holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way” (Jude 14–15). “Those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus … shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He comes on that day to be glorified” (2 Thess. 1:8–10).

Hell was not designed for mankind. It was created for rebellious angels such as Lucifer. But “for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Apoc. 21:8). These will join the demons in Hell forever.

On the other side of the final judgment stands eternity. Time has been destroyed along with the old Heaven and earth. Those who have responded to God throughout their lives,
the righteous, will experience no more death
.

This is the consummation of God’s plan. In John 3:16, we read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus offered eternal life to everyone: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life” (John 5:24).

With death conquered, sorrow itself will also be overcome. God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Apoc. 21:4).

Just as Christ’s body was resurrected,
the righteous will now have glorified bodies
. This new body will still be ours, but glorified. The
Catechism
states our belief simply and succinctly: “After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign forever with Christ, glorified in body and soul” (
CCC
, par. 1042).

St. Paul is very thorough in his treatment of our eternal bodies: “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.… For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?’ ” (1 Cor. 15:42–44, 53–55).

Catholic theologians have discerned four qualities of the resurrected body described in this passage. If we follow St. Paul’s order, our new bodies will have incorruptibility, clarity, agility, and subtlety.

♦
Incorruptibility
is also known as impassability. Our new bodies will not be susceptible to the elements, as are our present bodies. Temperature, food, stress, and pain will no longer affect us. As St. John states, we “shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike [us], nor any scorching heat” (Apoc. 7:16).

♦
Clarity
. The second glorious aspect of our new bodies has been described as clarity. An example of this quality can be found in the Transfiguration of Christ. Jesus’ “face shone like the sun” (Matt. 17:2). It seems that the glorious joy of being with God overflows from the soul into the body. The body brims up with this joy and becomes virtually luminous! This is what awaits those who love God!

♦
Agility
. Our new bodies will have agility—that is, they will have powers that at present belong only to the mind. For example, presently we can imagine ourselves in a certain place instantaneously. After the resurrection, the body will accompany the mind at that same lightning speed. To think of being in another location will be no swifter than traveling there in our glorified bodies. The mechanics of this are hard to comprehend, but we know that Jesus moved at will through space in His glorified body. Our abilities will be similar, because our bodies will be like His.

♦
Subtlety
. Finally, our glorified bodies will have subtlety; that is, they will be spiritual. This does not mean they will not be physical, but that the physical will be completely controlled by the spiritual. The best illustration of this can be found in the body of the resurrected Christ. His body was able to pass through walls and doors, yet at another time He could eat fish. His body was real and physical, but did exactly what He demanded of it (John 20:19, 26). It might seem like a trivialization, but in a sense it boils down to “mind over matter.”

We should remember that it was no easier for the early Church to accept this on faith than it is for us. Irenaeus died around 200 A.D., after a lifelong battle with the Gnostics. Like modernists, the Gnostics rejected any supernatural resurrection of the body. In answering them, Irenaeus wrote, “If men think only of the weakness of the flesh, and do not consider the power of Him who raises it from the dead, they ignore the might of God. We ought to infer God’s power in all these things from a consideration of our beginning; God took clay from the earth, and fashioned man.… This was a task far harder, far more incredible, than to restore this creature when it had been created and then re-dissolved into the earth. If God gave existence, when He so willed, to those who did not exist, much more will He restore those who have come into being to the life which He gave them, if He so wills” (
AG
, V, II, 2–3).

It is our present responsibility to treat our body and its appetites in the knowledge of its future total subjection to the spirit. Every committed Christian is in a lifelong struggle to keep his body and its appetites in subjection to his will. As we become more and more like Christ, we should be more and more in control of our earthly appetites. St. Paul expresses this thought like this: “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you” (Col. 3:4–5).

What will happen throughout all eternity? Christians will live without fear of death and will
enjoy the Beatific Vision forever
. It is hard to imagine the joy that God’s presence will bring to Christians: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face-to-face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Cor. 13:12). But while this joy is ultimately inexpressible, we already know that it will never fade. It is a joy reserved for the purified righteous ones. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).

The
Catechism
quotes from St. Augustine’s
City of God:
“The New Testament uses several expressions to characterize the beatitude to which God calls man: the coming of the Kingdom of God; the vision of God; entering into the joy of the Lord; entering into God’s rest. ‘There we shall rest and see, we shall see and love, we shall love and praise. Behold what will be at the end without end. For what other end do we have, if not to reach the Kingdom which has no end?’ ” (
CCC
, par. 1720).

The prospect of this future joy
should cause us to be hopeful
in the present. In fact, this is the true meaning of the “blessed hope” of the Bible. The blessed hope is not some secret, private rapture designed to rescue believers from a Great Tribulation here on earth. Our hope awaits “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Our joy at His second advent will be evident and eternal; our hope will have been realized. We will see Christ as He is, for we will be like Him and with Him forever.

Not only should we be presently hopeful.
We should also be watchfully prepared
. This is the message of Jesus: “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come. Watch therefore—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch” (Mark 13:33–37). “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks” (Luke 12:35–36).