Invisible Rapture

Dr. Couch, in R. C. Sproul's book The Last Days According to Jesus, he argues that the meeting with Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:17) is an expression used of a Roman general who returns in triumph to a given city. The general waits outside the city until the people are ready to "meet" him. How do we answer this? ANSWER: My answer is "So?" The context of the passage is clear no matter how a given word is used in some secular historical narrative. You need to quote all that Sproul writes on this issue in his lightweight book on pages 168-69. I have never seen a Bible teacher so confused and unclear as he is on this subject. To get rid of prophetic fulfillment he suggests that this rapture passage is but "apocalyptic imagery." He quotes several preterists to try to argue that way. He says, "The rapture imagery may have been designed to communicate that the people of Christ would join him in his triumphant return. The rapture imagery may be symbolic in this sense, in terms of what the rapture represents. But the rapture imagery is not symbolic in the sense that the rapture is altogether invisible" (p. 169). Thus, he teaches an invisible rapture of the church? What in the world did Sproul just say? What amazes me is that many Bible students do not want the solid grammatical goodies that explain the Bible. They run to a Sproul who is terrible confused. On this meeting I write in my technical Greek commentary (The Hope of Christ's Return, AMG, p. 128) on 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Going up into the sky, into the air (aera), is an unmistakable description. Jesus is not coming down to establish His kingdom nor to judge men on earth. The Church saints are going upward. The reasons seem to be clearly stated in 5:9—to escape the coming wrath or Tribulation that falls upon the earth. "To meet" is actually a prepositional phrase—"into [eis] a meeting" (apantesis) with the Lord. The word implies a nonhostile meeting, a civic, public welcome to rulers upon their arrival at a city (Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament). It means also a "going toward." On 1 Thessalonians 4:17, I further write: "Paul sets forth the results of the miracle of the Rapture. In Greek it reads, 'And so always [pantote] together with the Lord, we shall ourselves be [eimi, present middle indicative].' 'This rapture of the saints (both risen and the living who are changed) is a glorious climax to Paul's argument of consolation. … This is the outcome, to be forever with the Lord.'" (A. T. Robertson) This is quoting the great grammarian A. T. Robertson who does not hold to the rapture in the same sense as I do, but he still calls 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 a rapture passage. Remember in chapter 5 the apostle tells us the reason for the rapture. The judgment of the Day of the Lord is coming (5:1-4) and the church escapes that terrible period of wrath poured out on the world by the Lord. "For God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 9). I keep wondering what is wrong with the anti-rapture people. All of this is so plain and simple. What is their problem? I have come to a conclusion with two answers: (1) they are deep in their souls anti-Semitic because after the rapture comes the tribulation and then the restored Davidic Kingdom, and (2) the anti-rapture people have a fear of what is coming upon the earth. I can find no other reasons why they "protesteth so much" against the plain and obvious teaching of Scripture! Thanks for asking. Dr. Mal Couch