I surprised my wife when I said that I enjoyed Royal Tailor's new song "Making Me New". Look, sometimes I like listening to fun music for no other reason than it makes me happy. Don't judge. The song is happy, upbeat, and great for the car. I don't want to sing it in church. It would surprise Shelly even more if she listened to all of the lyrics. Yes, I can be very critical of Christian songs that portray sloppy theology, but this isn't one of those songs. This song just includes what I think to be a common and strange exegetical mistake: No warning signs, no sirens or flashing lights, This is Rapture language, and it is taken from several difference places in the Bible (let's be honest, though, this is probably more due to the pre-Left Behind Rapture movie, Like a Thief in the Night from 1972). The most common is Matthew 24:40-44: Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one left. Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into. This is why you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. The interpretation is that the thief comes and takes away the good person in the Rapture. As Royal Tailor put it, the thief came to rescue me. Apart from the slow-down-and-think-about-what-you-just-said approach to biblical exegesis, there are quite a few reasons why we want to tap the brakes on this very common Rapture-supporting interpretation. Let's start with what Jesus said a few verses before in Matthew 24:36-39: “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father only. As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be. Let's just say that I don't want to be taken away (in this context). Seriously, the people who were "taken" in Noah's day were those outside the ark. It would be strange if Jesus flipped direction midstream and in the next verses said that the good people were those taken away. How else did Jesus use "thief"? Think about the Sermon on the Mount - the thief steals the treasure that has been (foolishly) stored up on earth. Or John 10 where the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. In all cases, the thief does not come to do good things. I think this is most clear in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4: For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. You would think that for evidence this one-sided, it would be hard for anyone to develop a theology in which the thief comes to rescue. Well, there is one place where Jesus refers to Himself as a thief: “Look, I am coming like a thief. The one who is alert and remains clothed so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame is blessed.” Here's the "problem" (if you hold a thief-is-good theology): the context of Jesus' statement is the litany of bowl judgments in Revelation 16. In fact, Jesus makes this statement after the sixth bowl judgment. One of the great theological rocks of the Rapture framework is the idea that God will not pour out His wrath on believers (which is why He raptures them away before the Tribulation). But here, Jesus is comparing Himself to the thief that can defeat even the greatest human defenses and bring judgment on the most secure strongholds. In other words, the "thief" language is used as a part of the Tribulation. To make a long story short, and this is probably another post for another day, thief is always used in a negative sense against the enemies of God (or those persecuted by evil). It's not good to be taken away by the thief. I don't think that Royal Tailor or anyone else who comes to the conclusion that the thief rescues is a terrible Bible student, I just think they might be more influenced by a 1970s movie than careful exegesis. Yes, this does mean that I reject the dispensational idea of a pre-tribulation Rapture. So how do I handle the objection of God pouring out His wrath on Christians during the Tribulation? I don't need to. At what point have we gotten the sense that God is pouring out wrath on Christians in the Revelation? Even Left Behind acknowledged that there would be Christians on earth during the Tribulation (else it would have been a boring series). Someone would be converted by the residual witness of those "taken" in the Rapture. Someone has to stand against the armies of the Beast. What about them? Are they a second class of Christian because they waited until after the Tribulation to confess their faith in Jesus? I think not. Read the Revelation. Who are those given the white robes in heaven? Those Christians who were killed during the Tribulation. Clearly, God thinks very highly of His Tribulation martyrs. Ergo, there are Christians on earth during the Tribulation, and God did not pour out His wrath on them while unleashing His judgment against sin and rebellion.
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