WELS belief on Rapture

The false teaching of the Rapture is the idea that, prior to the end of the world, believers will suddenly be whisked out of this world to heaven.  The teaching is a gross misunderstanding of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.  That section of Scripture explains that on the Last Day Jesus will return visibly to this world, raise the dead and gather to himself the Christians who are still alive on the earth at his return.  Being “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” is what will happen on the Last Day not prior to the Last Day.

You can read more information on what the Bible teaches regarding the End Times by following this link to the appropriate section of our synod’s publication This We Believe.  You may also be interested in a recently-published book by Northwestern Publishing House titled End Times:  Jesus is Coming Soon.

Because of what awaits us as children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we too look forward to our Lord’s visible return on the Last Day and say, “Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).