Blending into One: The “Left Behind” Movie, the Book of Revelation and the Rapture
Michelle Fletcher
July 25, 2020
56 Comments
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The new Left Behind movie (2014) depicts the Rapture, which is often assumed to be clearly explained in the Bible, especially the book of Revelation. It’s more complicated than that, says author Michelle Fletcher.
It’s a day like any other, and then—bam!—everything changes. Millions of people disappear in an instant and all that’s left are piles of clothes, iPods and wallets. Panic and terror break out. This is the scene that viewers are faced with in the new Left Behind movie, directed by Vic Armstrong, and it’s Nicolas Cage’s job to find out what’s happened. But the viewers already know the answer: it’s the Rapture, of course! The Biblical prophecies have come true.
Or have they?
The Rapture is now commonly understood to refer to a time when believers will be snatched up to heaven by Jesus to escape the time of tribulation about to engulf the earth during the reign of the Antichrist. This chain of events has become so integral to some Christian eschatologies (end-time theories) that it’s often assumed they’re clearly explained in the Bible, especially the book of Revelation. But in fact it’s all slightly more complicated than that.
The idea of a “pre-tribulation” Rapture, where believers disappear and everyone else is left on earth to suffer, is actually a rather new one. This type of Rapture was first made popular by the work of John Nelson Darby in the late 1800s. It then spread with the release of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), and Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins sent it viral through their best-selling Left Behind book series. However, prior to this, “rapture” had referred to the second coming of Christ in general, rather than the supernatural escape from troubles as portrayed by Left Behind.
So how did this version of the Rapture come about?
The mention of an event where believers are “taken up” into the sky in the Bible primarily comes from Paul’s First letter to the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul is dealing with the fears of believers whose loved ones have died and who are afraid of what will happen when Christ returns. After telling them that the dead shall rise, Paul offers them this:
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:17
Sky yes, but no tribulation, no Antichrist.
Other passages from the Bible are seen as supporting this idea, for example, Matthew 24:40–1 and Luke 17:34–35, which speak of one person being taken and another left behind. However, these passages discuss the second coming of Christ (the Parousia), not an escape from the world. The “blink of an eye” idea is taken from is 1 Corinthians 15:51–52. But none of this is from Revelation. And none of it lays out a clear Rapture, tribulation, Antichrist plan.
The book of Revelation does not specifically mention this pre-tribulation Rapture prior to the Antichrist’s reign, either. Revelation 3:10 is the text most cited as describing it:
Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
Revelation 3:10
However, this occurs in a letter to a specific church, Philadelphia, rather than as part of the visionary material. References to this having any connection to “the Rapture” in scholarly commentaries are few and far between. And Revelation 3:10 doesn’t mention being taken up into the sky or the Antichrist.
Actually, the book of Revelation doesn’t use the term Antichrist at all. That term comes from 1 and 2 John. The beasts of Revelation are taken by many to be the Antichrist, as thought to be predicted in Daniel 7. But none of them is called Antichrist.
Other ascents to heaven by certain figures are mentioned in Revelation (John the Seer, the two witnesses, the child of the woman clothed like the sun), but these do not describe huge groups disappearing prior to the plagues, sufferings and terror which inflict the earth.
For more on Hollywood movies, read “Excruciating Exodus Movie Exudes Errors,” “Rock Giants in Noah” and “The ‘Gods of Egypt’ Movie: A Mess of Anachronisms and Exoticization.”
By this stage it becomes clear that the Rapture is far from an obvious and widespread concept in the Biblical text. Indeed, creating the idea of the Rapture, let alone its timeline, involves harmonizing many disparate parts of the Bible and presents the Bible as a prophetic tool. It involves reading the book of Revelation in relation to other texts, rather than reading what is contained in Revelation.
John Nelson Darby first popularized the idea of a “pre-tribulation” Rapture.
Left Behind’s Rapture, then, is more a product of how texts are read than the texts themselves. Reading the Bible as having a blueprint for the future held within it was attributed to Joachim of Fiore (1132–1202), who created a complex timeline of different ages leading to the second coming of Christ. But even he didn’t have a Rapture.
Darby, Scofield, LaHaye and Jenkins were inheritors of this tradition and put it into practice to create their own Rapturous chain of events, which is now often presented as the only possible version.
However, the idea that Jesus’ sayings, Paul’s teachings, John’s Letters and John of Patmos’s Revelation, not to mention the texts of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, represent the same branch of eschatology is something few scholars would maintain. These texts were written in different locations and time periods, to different people, with different goals. A “one end-plan fits all” attitude proves more than problematic, as richly diverse ancient texts are streamlined to an ordered modern timeframe of Rapture, tribulation and Antichrist.
What’s more, the “backbone” for all of this—the book of Revelation—frustrates its readers. It offers long pauses, contradictory timeframes and undisclosed declarations, and every time the end is announced, it never actually arrives. It is more apt to describe it as spiralling around an endpoint rather than marching toward one. It is, in essence, a text that defies any framework placed onto it.
Vic Armstrong’s Left Behind movie has been lambasted by critics as over-simplistic, formulaic and lacking all intrigue, with the Rapture in the middle as the only interesting part. The reality of the Rapture in the Biblical text is somewhat different. It’s the common concept of the pre-tribulation Rapture that is an oversimplification, a blurring of the complex texts and ancient worldviews. It is a modern creation assumed to be part of the final book of the Bible. But the book of Revelation doesn’t offer its readers the Rapture. It doesn’t even offer a clear ending. Rather, it offers wonder, awe and quite often bewildering strangeness. And that is why, unlike the new movie Left Behind, it’s so very, very intriguing.1
Notes
1. For a further introduction to the book of Revelation, see Ian Boxall, Revelation: Vision and Insight: An Introduction to the Apocalypse (London: SPCK, 2002). For further information on different readings of Revelation through history, see Wes Howard-Brook and Anthony Gwyther, Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001).
Michelle Fletcher is currently completing her doctoral research at King’s College London on the use of the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. She is particularly interested in the relationship between the book of Revelation and film. Her publications and conference papers cover such topics as Terminator’s use of the Apocalypse, Revelation’s females, Frankenstein films and Westerns as apocalyptic spectacle.
Learn more about the book of Revelation in Bible History Daily:
How the Serpent Became Satan by Shawna Dolansky
Can A Pre-Christian Version of the Book of Revelation Be Recovered?
Understanding Revelations in the Bible
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on October 14, 2014.
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Rapture:
Definition: The belief that faithful Christians will be bodily caught up from the earth, suddenly taken out of the world, to be united with the Lord “in the air.” The word “rapture” is understood by some persons, but not by all, to be the meaning of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The word “rapture” does not occur in the inspired Scriptures.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200274774
Excellent article, Michelle
I am not sure who has Revelation and the Bible more wrong. Yes Revelation is a difficult book (but not impossible) to discern but to claim “It doesn’t even offer a clear ending. ” and ” Reading the Bible as having a blueprint for the future held within it was attributed to Joachim of Fiore” as if Fiore invented the idea of the bible having a blueprint is profoundly in error.
Yes the rapture distinct from the second coming is off theologically but I detect a wiff of preterism in the piece – a theology which just entirely butchers Old testament prophecy
I think a final battle where the Lord defeats his enemies and the setting up of a New Jerusalem is a pretty clear ending and one that fits in with well with OT prophecies unlike the fanciful reinterpreting of it by Preterists.
@LeRoy says:Nonsense . That is absolutely right. Who was “John”? When did he live? Who wrote the Revelation? If you have the answer, you´ll see that all talking are pure nonsense and sick paranoic phantasies. “John” has never seen any Jesus. “His” works are strict anachronistic and even written by 3 or 4 persons, as the original texts differs in style and specially the revelation is totally different from “his” other works. Poor people believing in this horror myth.
Although Revelation is a record of what John saw and heard revealed to Him by Jesus, it is meant to give us an understanding of what will happen one day. It is believed that verse one is when the rapture happens because:
•It says “After this …”. After what? After the seven church ages are completed (Rev. 2-3). The last church age, as compared to the church of Laodicea, pictures perfectly how the majority of churches have become today. It is after God sees the last person has gotten saved, that He ends the church ages and starts a new era; an era of His judgments!
•“… a door was opened in heaven …” A door is a means to pass from one place to another. This “door” moves the dead and living in Christ from this earth to the next “room”; the “room” where God is! In Revelation 3:20 the door was where Jesus was last standing. He gave all an opportunity to trust Him as Saviour one more time during the indifferent, Laodicean church-age. No more answered His pleas, so He opened the door of Heaven and called His own home.
•The trumpet of God was sounded just like it was foretold it would be at the time of the rapture (I Thes. 4:16).
•A voice was heard calling John to heaven as it was prophesied (I Thes. 4:16) the church would be summoned up: “… Come up hither….”
•It was prophesied that the Lord would come again when the earth became like the days of Noah (Mat. 24:37-38. Luke 17:26). Those days are certainly here. After the Lord judged the world of Noah’s time He sent a reminder of His judgment: the rainbow. In Rev. 3:3, there was a rainbow around God’s throne. The judgment of Noah’s day preserved only God’s own who were inside the ark. The upcoming rapture will also have His own safely preserved( in Heaven), while God’s judgment of the tribulation takes place on earth.
•The church is no longer mentioned in what occurs on the earth from this time on, because the church is no longer here! The tribulation is mostly about Israel, not the church!
Since we are currently in the last church age, the rapture mentioned in Revelation 4:1 is the next event in God’s plan. It could be today or tomorrow. The big question is are you absolutely positively sure you will be included in the rapture? If not, now may be your last opportunity to trust Christ as Saviour and be saved!
Also, the second coming and the rapture are at completely different times. Most of the writings you referred to were mentioning what the Jews are looking for. They are looking for the 2nd coming, not the rapture. And, there are many early writers that looked forward to the rapture, it did not start in the late 1800’s like you claim.
– http://www.OpenThouMineEyes.com
Eschatology can only be rightly understood through correct application of the Tanakh.
This statement from the article: “However, the idea that Jesus’ sayings, Paul’s teachings, John’s Letters and John of Patmos’s Revelation, not to mention the texts of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, represent the same branch of eschatology is something few scholars would maintain. These texts were written in different locations and time periods, to different people, with different goals,” is only half right. There are only two kinds of people: Israel and strangers.
The whole “grafted in” and “formerly Gentiles and strangers” concept that is lost on hyper-dispensational replacement theologians. But, that is the least of their errors.
Here is what the book of Revelation is about:
Introduction – 1:1-9
This is the revelation, or revealing, of the Messiah. This revealing is for those who are the servants of Yeshua, not merely hearers of the Word.
The Day of YHVH and Appearance of Messiah. 1:10-18
The Day of YHVH is the topic of this entire book. It is not a euphemism for Sunday.
Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
1 Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
The instruction (1:19) to write what you have just seen, the things which are now (1:20-3:22) and the future (4:1-22:6).
The things as they are. The condition of the seven assemblies of Asia Minor are their current condition, and prophetic for the body of believers through history. 1:20-3:22
Each church is given a praise, a grievance, a warning and a promise.
Philadelphia is given no grievance.
Laodicea is given no praise.
Future events are from 4:1 through 22:6. They are broken down as follows:
The Throne Room of YHVH. 4:1-11
The phrase ‘in the spirit’ appears again.
The announcement that only the Lamb is worthy to remove the seals, and the removal of the first six seals. 5:1-6:17
Seal 1 releases a conqueror, probably political.
Seal 2 releases a conqueror, probably military.
Seal 3 is an economic collapse.
Seal 4 is the killing of one quarter of mankind by military power, controlling the food supply, genocide and biological weapons.
Seal 5 reveals a picture of the dead saints throughout history.
Seal 6 is an earthquake and heavenly signs. Stars could mean…
NOTE:
A pause in the chronology to explain the destiny of the believers. 7:1-17
144,000 are sealed. A great multitude sings praises to YHVH.
No more tears.
Seventh seal opened, seven trumpets introduced. 8:1-5
Trumpets 1 through 4 are blown, 3 woes announced. 8:6-13
Trumpet 1 is all out war. 8:7
Trumpet 2 is possibly a coastal city being nuked. 8:8-9
Trumpet 3 is possibly a nuclear blast inland. 8:10-11
Trumpet 4 darkness caused by the smoke of the wars. 8:12-13
Trumpet 5 is the release of a massive army. Destroyer is revealed. The first woe is past. 9:1-12
Trumpet 6 is the release of four angels which will kill 25% of the remainder of mankind. 9:13-21
Announcement of seven thunders. Instructions not to write what the thunders say. 10:1-4
Announcement that the seventh trumpet will bring the conclusion of the mystery of YHVH. 10:5-7
No more delay! The book tastes sweet but makes the eater sick. It describes the what is coming to the earth. 10:8-11
NOTE:
A pause in the chronology to explain the events in Jerusalem during the three and one half years. Jerusalem is in the hands of Gentiles. The second woe is past. 11:1-14
Seventh trumpet! The first resurrection and gathering of the saints. 11:15-18a
The wrath of YHVH is coming to the earth. 11:18b
The Temple is Heaven is opened. 11:19
NOTE:
A pause in the chronology to explain what is happening.
The promised seed. 12:1-6
War in heaven. 12:7-9, 2 Thess 2:1-7
The Kingdom of YHVH and the blood of the Lamb. 12;10-17
The beast government. 13:1-8
The mark of the beast. 13:9-18
The first fruits before the Throne. 14;1-5
The judgment of Babylon. 14:6-14
The Day of YHVH. 14:14-20
Preparing the wrath of YHVH. 15:1
The sea of fire and glass. 15:2-4
The Tabernacle in heaven is open. We see the Ark of the Covenant. (This is picking up after verse 11:19.) 15:5
Six bowls of wrath are poured out onto the earth. 15:6-16:12
NOTE:
A pause in the chronology to explain the events on the earth. 16:13-16
Seventh bowl. 16:17-21
The description of mystery Babylon. 17:1-18:24
Judgment of Babylon completed. 19:1-4
Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 19:5-10
Yeshua dresses for battle. 19:11-16
Calls the birds to a feast of the flesh of kings. 19:17-18
Battle for earth. 19:19-21
Satan bound. 20:1-3
The 1,000 year reign. 20:4-6
Final rebellion. 20:7-8
Final defeat. 20:9-10
Judgment Day. 20:11-15
Eternity 21:1-22:5
Words of encouragement 22:6-21
Daniel 12:11-12
There are 1,335 days from Purim (the revealing of the destroyer) and Hannukah, the dedication of the Temple in the Ne Jerusalem.
There are 1,260 days from Passover to Sukkot: from the abomination of destruction to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Hal Lindsey is a nice man. Clueless, but nice.
Luke 24:44 THE KEY!!!!
What I would like to know is this.
The people in Syria, Iraq, and other countries in the middle east that read the same version of the bible that some Americans do, do not get the same “Get out of Jail Free” card that Americans are supposed to. They are promised to be saved from a tribulation, yet they are facing beheadings (Revelation 20), Marking (Charagma “Oath of servitude”) Revelation 13, and other hardships, with no rescue from Jesus (Yeshua). Why do Americans get to be spared from something that is already going on? Where do we get the arrogance to think that we are better ‘Christians” that we get saved, when a Pastor in Egypt gets his head cut off in front of his congregation, while preaching the same “Pre-Tribulation” message?
Fact is… Yeshua said “Those who endure to the end will be saved”
Endure “WHAT”?
Another thing to contemplate….
As it was in the Days of Noah, or As it was in the Days of Lot…
In the days of Noah, who was left behind? In the days of Lot, who was left behind or saved?
In both instances, Gods people were the ones “Left Behind” and the evil people were “Taken away”. Wouldn’t you think that if we are to inherit the Earth, that we would be “left behind” to inherit it?
Just something to think about…
The pretribulation rapture is false doctrine. One that has been reborn in modern times thanks to the fictional Left Behind series, which speaks to those with itching ears, as Paul put it. I think it was an idea that first started in Paul’s time as he saw the need to write a second letter to the Thessalonians. Paul wrote, concerning the coming of the Lord and our gathering unto him, let no man decieve you. The man of sin comes first, calling himself God, whom the Lord will destroy and consume ant his coming. One second coming and that’s it. Jesus said when he gathers his elect. Even Paul calls the Thessalonians (who were mostly gentile), the elect of God. The pre trib rapture is the most unfortunate example of people using scripture to serve them, rather than reading scripture for what it actually says.
@Terry
You wrote: The Day of YHVH and Appearance of Messiah. 1:10-18
The Day of YHVH is the topic of this entire book. It is not a euphemism for Sunday.
Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
1 Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
I respond:
The phrase used in Rev.1:10 (The Lord’s day) is a different structure than what is used in the Joel, Malachi, and 1 Thessalonians passages you quoted (the day of the Lord). I know they are equivalent in English, but not in Koine Greek. The way Revelations says “Lord’s day” in Greek is exactly what we would expect if he meant Sunday. It is not a euphemism -it actually does means Sunday. The way Joel and Malachi say “day of the Lord” in the LXX and the way 1 Thessalonians says “day of the Lord” is not the word for Sunday. It is a different phrase (though obviously not unrelated). So, I do not think Revelations 1:10 is necessarily referring to the “Day of the Lord” mentioned in Joel, Malachi, and 1 Thessalonians, as much as it is referring to Sunday being the day he had the revelation. We have two different things being referred to here:
Day of the Lord (Joel, Malachi, 1 Thessalonians)
Sunday (Revelations)
For those interested, here are the phrases:
ἡμέρα κυρίου
vs
ἡ κυριακὴ ἡμέρα
Enjoy.