The Effects of the Rapture

"The effect on others of the rapture has caused a great deal of curiosity and serious discussion among Christians. What is going to be the effect of the rapture? I don’t know anything in the Bible that says anything specifically about the effect on the world of the rapture. I am wondering what is going to be the effect on the world. Perhaps the effect of the voice that came to Paul when he met the Lord Jesus on the Damascus road illustrates it, for remember, when Paul heard from the Lord, others heard a sound but did not understand the voice that was spoken.

"Perhaps Michael when he gets on that trumpet of God shall make such a sound that people will hear a sound of some kind, but will not understand what it is, and we will go to be with the Lord. I do know this, that they will have an explanation for it. People will believe anything. All you have to do to see that is look at Candid Camera and the kinds of things that happened there and the beliefs that people have.

"I know one thing. I wish that it were possible for me to remain one week after the rapture. I have not prayed this prayer because that would be an unscriptural prayer, but you know, I would like to remain one week afterwards so I could attend about a half a dozen liberal churches to hear the explanations that are given for the rapture, but I’m sure that comes from my old nature." -S. Lewis Johnson

A Future for an Ancient City?

There are those who see the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy every time somebody butters their toast or orders a cup of tea somewhere in the Middle East. I'm not one of those people. However, I do believe that the Scriptures have a lot to say about the end times, and that the Bible means what it says.

Take Babylon, for example.

It would be difficult not to notice the fact that the city of Babylon is mentioned very prominently in the book of Revelation. Actually, it is mentioned 6 times: Rev. 14:8; Rev. 16:19; Rev 17:5; Rev. 18:2; Rev 18:10; & Rev. 18:21. Each verse foretells Babylon's destruction, and portrays it as a world power beforehand. Clearly, for the prophecies to be true, Babylon must first become great again, before it can be destroyed for good.



Could an ancient empire like Babylon once again become prominent in world events?

Yes it could, and there is an interesting parallel in recent history and that is the rebirth of Israel as a nation.

In the late 1800's, when Fundamentalism and Dispensationalism were in their early formative years, there was a series of Bible conferences held across North America, the most famous of which were the Niagara Bible Conferences, held annually from 1876 to 1897. The focus of these conferences was not primarily the study of prophecy, but papers on prophecy were presented. Some of those papers concluded that, since Israel plays such a large part in end-times prophecies, God would cause the nation of Israel to somehow be reborn.

The authors of those papers received scorn and ridicule. Israel hadn't been a nation since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and burned the Temple, in 70 AD. No nation, lost to history for such a long time, had ever been reestablished. But in the face of such criticism, these men just pointed to the Bible, and what it said. They were shown to be right when an amazing thing happened; in the wake of WWII and the Holocaust, Israel was reborn as a nation.
(Note: I need help documenting this. I've read some of these papers, I've read the critical reviews that they received. Do you think I could find any of them? Of course not! If someone could help me out, I'd be most grateful. Thanks! ~Squirrel)

Like the men 100 or so years ago, there have been those who have looked at what the Bible had to say, and reached the conclusion that Babylon, too, must be reborn. And, now it seems that Babylon has been in the news. And, guess what? The news says that the city of Babylon is being rebuilt!



For now, Babylon seems like nothing more then an Iraqi version of Williamsburg, Virginia, a place for tourists to see what life was like in ancient times. The Bible says that Babylon will be a center of commerce, religion, and politics at the time of it's destruction. Given Iraq's oil wealth, all it would take would be a few years of free enterprise, and the political will to re-establish Babylon as a modern city, and it could easily become a brand new very old major city.

Also, we should not loose sight of the fact that Babylon was an nation-state and an empire, not just a city. Babylon isn't all that far from Baghdad, the capital of modern Iraq, as this map shows, so it isn't inconceivable to consider that Iraq, in a sense, is Babylon! It is also not inconceivable to imagine a new, modern city of Babylon arising next to the ancient ruins.

I read what the Bible has to say, and I think, "Well, it certainly says Babylon." But often I'm told, "Yes, but it doesn't really mean Babylon." Many people see "Babylon" as a code word for something else. But what?

Throughout church history, Babylon in Revelation 17 & 18 has been interpreted to mean different things. Preterists usually equate the destruction of Babylon in Revelation with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, while most amillennialists follow Luther in identifying Babylon with Rome, and the Antichrist with the Pope. Others see "Babylon" as symbolic of all ungodliness that opposes Christianity. The problem with the whole "code word" idea is that nobody knows the key to the code, so everybody's got their own ideas of what the code means.

Well, here's a novel idea. Look, "Bethlehem" meant "Bethlehem" in Micah 5:2, right? And, in Jeremiah 25:11, "seventy years" meant "seventy years," correct? What if the Bible means what it says? What if, when the Bible says, "Babylon," it means, "Babylon"? Just a thought.

The End is Near?

I was having an e-mail exchange last night with a dear sister in the mid-west, discussing the current state of the church, and signs of apostasy that we had both noticed were getting worse. In the course of the exchange, she asked me, “Are we sitting right in the midst of "the" apostate church?” Good question; are we?

Now, I’m not a “date setter.” I have no respect for “date setters.” I believe “date setters” have done a lot of damage, both to the cause of Christ as well as to people’s lives, over the years. There can be an unhealthy fascination on the end times, to be sure.

But the Bible does clearly teach that there will be an end. And simply logic says that the end gets closer with every passing hour.

So, how close are we?

I believe that Bible prophecy gives us a fairly detailed look at what things will be like during the Tribulation period. When we look at the world around us, as it is today, and compare it to the descriptions we find in scripture, we can see some trends.

Revelation 13:17 says that only the followers of the Beast will be allowed to participate in the economy. We are nearing a one-world, cashless, economic system. The G20 meeting, which just wrapped up in London, imposes new, global, economic controls, and there was talk of a global currency. Since the advent of debit cards, I hardly every carry cash anymore; and I’m not alone. The only checks we write anymore are for our tithe at church, and the few bills that we don’t pay online. I can certainly see how this is setting the stage for the kind of economic control that the Antichrist will exercise over the earth. If all transactions are electronic, whoever controls the computers controls who can buy and sell.

Revelation 11:1-12 says that the whole world will watch the resurrection and ascension of God’s two witnesses. It is only recently, with satellite communications and with the internet, that this could be taken literally. Whenever something momentous happens in the world today, everybody watches it in real time. When the September 11 attacks occurred, all work stopped at the sawmill I worked at, and everybody gathered around the TVs in the lunchrooms, watching events as they happened some 2000 miles away. We also watched the invasion of Iraq in happen real time.

Paul told Timothy that the times would come when people would turn away from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:4-5). Sure, this has been happening since the beginning, but it is happening more rapidly, and is more widespread, today. It is happening so rapidly, now, that it is easily discernable to anyone who wants to look.

Many have seen, and commented on, the downward spiral that the church in America is in. Strong, Bible-believing churches that I have known have fallen on hard times, others have closed. Meanwhile, the Good-time Rock-n-roll Church of What’s Happinin’ Now has had to move into an old warehouse (or sports arena) because they needed more room.

Let’s use the Southern Baptists as an example (since I am one.) In the SBC, we have the Market-driven Warren-esque wing, the experience-driven, quasi-charismatic, Blackaby-esque wing, the ecumenical Finney-Graham-Land-esque wing, the Arminian Landmarkist Vines-Patterson-esque wing, and the growing Calvinist Mohler-Ascol-Dever-esque wing (the last is the only one that I hold much hope for.)

And it isn’t just the church, our society is falling apart. We are losing our freedoms, and ungodliness is becoming more emboldened every day. The political left has long recognized that it is the religious community, generally, and Christians specifically, that stand in the way of their agenda of abortion, homosexual marriage, socialism, and general immorality. How long before there is open persecution of Christians? Look at the hatred that was shown to those who opposed gay marriage in California after the last election. It has been more than 30 years since Ruth Graham said that, if God did not bring judgment upon America, He would need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

But we should not be frightened or worried by the world events that we see; all these things must take place. As Phil Johnson once said, “I’m not a pessimist, I’m a Calvinist.” We must always remember that God is sovereign!

Having said all that, I’m also an historian by training. I know that it has been really bad before. Right before the reformation, there were dark times. God, in his sovereign mercy, gave us Luther and Calvin and Knox. The Great Depression and World War II were dark times, but God brought us through. These are dark times, and we can see them getting darker. But dark times are often needed to strengthen faith. God can always bring revival to America, if it is His will.

But, if the time has grown short, and the end is upon us, we should welcome it. Romans 8 tells us that all of creation looks forward to release from the curse of sin.

Either way, we abide until He comes. So, be of good cheer! Our times are in His hands