Dear John and Doves -

I think we've all heard the story that "the rapture doctrine was invented by John Darby in the 19th century" or similar assertions that the early church knew nothing of the idea that Christians would be taken from the world before God's wrath was poured out.

This excerpt is from the book of 2 Esdras.  Liberal scholarship says the book is about 1900 years old.  Internal evidence puts it at the time of the Babylonian captivity.  But even with the late date (which I think is incorrect), it's irrefutable that the idea of what we call a "pre-tribulation rapture" is NOT a recent invention, but was believed in the first century.

“Behold, the days are coming, and it shall be that when I draw near to visit the inhabitants of the earth, and when I require from the doers of iniquity the penalty of their iniquity, and when the humiliation of Zion is complete, and when the seal is placed upon the age which is about to pass away, then I will show these signs:

• the books shall be opened before the firmament, and all shall see it together.
• Infants a year old shall speak with their voices, and women with child shall give birth to premature children at three and four months, and these shall live and dance.
• Sown places shall suddenly appear unsown, and
• full storehouses shall suddenly be found to be empty; and
• the trumpet shall sound aloud, and when all hear it, they shall suddenly be terrified.

At that time friends shall make war on friends like enemies, and the earth and those who inhabit it shall be terrified, and the springs of the fountains shall stand still, so that for three hours they shall not flow.

“And it shall be that whoever remains after all that I have foretold to you shall himself be saved and shall see my salvation and the end of my world. And they shall see the men who were taken up, who from their birth have not tasted death; and the heart of the earth’s inhabitants shall be changed and converted to a different spirit.  For evil shall be blotted out, and deceit shall be quenched; faithfulness shall flourish, and corruption shall be overcome, and the truth, which has been so long without fruit, shall be revealed.”

- 2 Esdras 6:18-28

It takes little imagination to map this ancient prophecy to the things we see and the things we expect to see in the very near future.

My own carefully-developed conclusion is that this passage is scripture, and all of 2 Esdras could be.  It's consistent with the rest of the Bible, it was quoted by Jesus, and it claims to be the word of God.  The reasons it was removed from the canon are beyond the scope of this post, but if one just reads the book, it's not too hard to figure out why it's been generally suppressed.

Hope to see you soon.

Steve