Dave Hunt: The Rapture: How Close Do You Want It To Be?

Is the Rapture truly imminent? In this powerful message, Dave Hunt unpacks Jesus’ promise in John 14, distinguishes the Rapture from the Second Coming, and makes a clear, Scripture-based case for pre-trib imminency. Along the way he presents legal-historical evidence for the Resurrection, answers preterism and kingdom-now claims, explains the Restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2, and calls the Church to readiness and love for Christ’s appearing.

You’ll learn

• Why John 14:1–3 implies Jesus will receive believers to Himself in heaven
• The difference between meeting the Lord in the air (1 Thes 4) and His feet on the Mount of Olives (Zech 14)
• How 1 Cor 15:51–53 describes instant transformation at the Rapture
• What (and who) restrains the man of sin (2 Thes 2:1–12)
• Why “this generation” in Matt 24 doesn’t mean A.D. 70 fulfillment
• How imminency purifies our lives (Luke 12:35–40; 1 John 3:3)
• Why a post-trib rapture undermines the Blessed Hope and “comfort one another” mandate

Key Scriptures
John 14:1–3 • 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 • 1 Corinthians 15:51–53 • 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 • Philippians 1:21–23 • 2 Corinthians 5:6–8 • Matthew 24; 25 • Luke 12:35–40; 17:26–30 • Zechariah 12:10; 14 • Revelation 13; 19; 20:4

Highlights

• Legal evidences for the Resurrection (Simon Greenleaf, Lord Lyndhurst)
• Answers to preterism & kingdom-now theologyA pastoral call to watchfulness, holiness, and longing for Christ

#Rapture #DaveHunt #BibleProphecy #PreTrib #Imminency #SecondComing #Thessalonians #BereanCall #BlessedHope

The Rapture: How Close Do You Want It to Be? — Dave Hunt

I got saved in 1976, and I heard this fellow speak. Probably the thing that struck me most when I first heard him was that he talked about the love of God. We have seminaries—virtually every denomination has one—and there are all kinds of Bible colleges. Yet not one of them has a major in love! If the very first commandment is that we’re supposed to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, why would that not be the focus of our education? I thought, “I like this guy,” because we’ve all met apologists who are pugilistic—ready to start a fight no matter what. Here was a man who focused on the love of God.

All right, we’re ready to start the final session of the morning. Obviously, Dave Hunt needs no introduction with this group, even though I kind of began earlier. I’ve heard over 200 of Dave’s talks—well over 100 in person, and many more on tape. But this is a message I’ve never heard before, so I’m excited. Here’s a message from Dave Hunt, entitled, “The Rapture: How Close Do You Want It to Be?”

Opening

I’ll try my best to be brief tonight. That would be a miracle! They tell a lot of stories about me in the United States—none of them true, of course. They claim I was going on and on, and a gentleman got up to walk out. Supposedly, I yelled, “Where do you think you’re going?” He said, “I’m going to get a haircut!” I said, “Why didn’t you get one before you came?” He said, “I didn’t need it then!” (Laughter.) Well, you know that’s not true. But I’ll try to be brief and get to the point.

Turn to John’s Gospel, chapter 14. This evening we’ve talked a bit about prophecies already fulfilled—most prophecy has been fulfilled—and that gives us confidence that the prophecies yet to be fulfilled will be fulfilled. Let’s talk a little about future fulfillment.

John 14:1–6:
“Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God; believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”
Thomas saith unto Him, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?”
Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

Some try to say Jesus was a good man, a good teacher, but not God. Nobody but God could make the statements He makes. A good man doesn’t say, “You believe in God; believe also in Me.” He’s either deluded, a liar, or He is who He claimed to be. The evidence is overwhelming that He was not deluded and not a liar—He is who He claimed to be.

Obviously, something is essential: if He’s going to come again—and He’s speaking of His death when He says, “I go to prepare a place for you”—then He must rise from the dead. Muhammad never said he would come again. Buddha didn’t say that. Confucius didn’t. But Jesus said it, and He left an empty tomb.

Before we get into the Rapture, let’s discuss that briefly.

Evidence of the Resurrection

We often sing, “I know He lives, because He lives within my heart.” That’s biblical—“The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God.” But that’s not enough for a sincere seeker who hears you say, “Jesus lives because He lives in my heart.” That’s subjective to them. Do we have evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? Yes—plenty. I’ll give a little.

In the United States, Simon Greenleaf—one of the founders of the Harvard Graduate School of Law—was known as the foremost expert on legal evidence. The Supreme Court quoted Greenleaf on Evidence. Law schools still study him. Some students challenged him: “Dr. Greenleaf, no one ever walked the earth making such statements as Jesus of Nazareth. You’re the expert on evidence—examine His life and claims: true or false?” He did, applying rules of legal evidence, and concluded there is absolutely no doubt—He is who He claimed to be: God who became a man, died for our sins, and is alive. Greenleaf added empirical evidence: Jesus said if you open your heart to Him, He will come in and never leave. Greenleaf said, “I received Him as my Savior, and He has changed my life.”

Lord Lyndhurst, a great English legal expert, said, “I know evidence, and evidence such as we have for the resurrection of Jesus Christ has never broken down in any court yet.”

From Scripture: whenever Paul is before the Sanhedrin, governors, or kings, nobody argues the facts. They don’t like the implications, but they don’t deny the facts. Israel is small; you couldn’t get away with lies. Jesus raised Lazarus of Bethany after four days. Someone could have said, “Lazarus is my uncle—he hasn’t even died!” Or, “He’s still in the grave.” On Pentecost, Peter preached the Resurrection—the heart of Christianity—and 3,000 Jews believed in Jerusalem. It’s a short walk to the tomb; they could have produced His body and ended Christianity. The Romans and rabbis would have liked to—but they didn’t. No one argued the facts.

People die out of loyalty to gurus or religions. But the apostles died testifying to facts: that He walked on water, raised the dead, fed 5,000, opened blind eyes, and is alive. No one is fool enough to die for what he knows is a lie. Not one of them recanted.

Acts 24:22, 25: Felix has “more perfect knowledge of that way.” When Paul reasons of righteousness, temperance, and judgment, Felix trembles. He knows it’s true but says, “When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” (Don’t wait for a “convenient season.”)

Acts 26:26–28: Paul to Agrippa—“This thing was not done in a corner.” Agrippa: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” He can’t argue the facts, but the cost is too high. Bad bargain: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

Galatians 1: Saul of Tarsus, zealous persecutor of Christians, sets off for Damascus with authority to imprison believers—and next thing you know, he’s a Christian! Why? “I met Him on the road to Damascus. He is alive!”

But that only proves Paul was sincere—not that he really met Jesus. Maybe he hallucinated. How do we know he truly met Jesus? Galatians 1:11–12: “I certify you… the gospel which was preached of me is not after man… neither received I it of man… but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul uses the language of certification. He didn’t get this from men, nor even from the Holy Spirit as the ordinary inspiration, but from the risen Jesus Himself—because Paul is the great witness to the Resurrection.

He details his former life (Galatians 1:13–14) and says he did not immediately consult the apostles. He went into Arabia and returned to Damascus; only three years later did he go to Jerusalem. In 1 Corinthians 11:23 he says, “For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you…”—the account of the Last Supper. Paul wasn’t there; yet Jesus Himself told Paul what happened. Paul even rebukes Peter (Galatians 2). The apostles recognized Paul knew what they knew—and more. You cannot escape it: Paul met the risen Christ.

Jesus said, “I’m going to go away, and I will come again and receive you unto Myself.” Where do we get the idea of a “Rapture”? From John 14:1–3—He will receive us to Himself that where He is, we may be also. That sounds like He takes us to heaven.

2 Thessalonians 2:1: “By the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Second Coming) “and by our gathering together unto Him” (Rapture). Two events lie ahead: at the Rapture, Christ comes for His Church; at the Second Coming, He returns with His saints.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18: “For the Lord himself shall descend… the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Paul also says in Philippians 1 he has a desire “to depart and to be with Christ,” which is much better—not “soul sleep.” 2 Corinthians 5—to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. At the Rapture, Jesus brings the souls and spirits of those who sleep with Him, to be reunited with their resurrected bodies.

1 Corinthians 15: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed… Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Denial of the Rapture & Kingdom Now

There’s increasing denial of the Rapture. Some say, “Christ can’t come until we take over the world and establish the Kingdom; then He’ll come to rule over it.” Serious problem: the real Jesus will catch us up and take us to heaven. If you meet a “Christ” and your feet remain on earth because he’s come to rule over a kingdom you established—you’ve been working for Antichrist. Antichrist will establish a kingdom. Some accuse, “Pre-trib teaching will set people up to accept Antichrist.” Really? Nobody will fool me into thinking he’s Jesus unless he takes me to heaven. Antichrist can’t do that.

At the Rapture, He meets us in the air (1 Thessalonians 4). At the Second Coming, His feet touch the Mount of Olives and He brings the saints from heaven with Him (Zechariah 14; Revelation 19). Therefore, He must have taken them up there earlier.

“Show me in the New Testament where it says there are two comings.” I say, “Show me in the Old Testament where it said there would be two comings.” It never explicitly says so, yet you must conclude two comings from prophecies that cannot fit one time frame: Isaiah 53:8—“cut off out of the land of the living”; Isaiah 53:10—“He shall prolong His days”; Daniel 9:26—Messiah “cut off”; Isaiah 9:7—endless kingdom. He must come first as the Lamb and later as the Lion. Likewise, NT passages show He comes at a time of peace (“as in the days of Noah and Lot”—buying, selling, planting, building) and also at a time of war (Armageddon). You can’t make those the same event. Matthew 24:33—when you see the signs, He’s at the door; v. 44—“At such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” Both can’t describe one moment—hence distinct events.

Luke 17:26–30; Luke 12:35–40, 45: Be watching; be ready; the Lord associates evil with saying, “My lord delayeth his coming.” The Bible teaches imminency.

Preterism Answered

Preterists say it all happened in A.D. 70, Nero was Antichrist. Impossible. Matthew 24:21—“great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world… nor ever shall be.” A.D. 70 saw ~1.2 million Jews die; Hitler murdered six million. Worse tribulation has occurred since; therefore, not fulfilled then. Matthew 24:22—unless those days were shortened, no flesh would survive. Only understandable in the nuclear age.

Matthew 24:30–31—Son of Man coming with power and great glory; angels gather His elect from the four winds. That’s not the Rapture (where the Lord Himself catches us up); that’s the Second Coming and regathering to Israel.

Matthew 24:34—“This generation shall not pass…” Either Jesus is lying (impossible), or “generation” refers to the persistent unbelieving, gainsaying, sign-seeking generation that will not pass till all is fulfilled. Israel in unbelief remains until they see Him—“They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). Then “all Israel shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:40–42—“Two in the field; one shall be taken, and the other left.” Many say “taken to judgment.” But judgment scenes gather all nations (Matthew 25). Here, people are snatched out of everyday life. Note the Greek: in v. 39 “the flood came and took them” (airen—removed), but in vv. 40–41 “one shall be taken” is paralambano—the same word Jesus uses in John 14:3 (“I will come and receive you unto Myself”). That sounds like the Rapture.

2 Thessalonians 2 and the Restrainer

2 Thessalonians 2:1–3: “By the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not… troubled… as that the day of Christ is now present.” (The KJV margin notes “now present” or “already come.”) Who would be troubled if Paul said, “The Day of the Lord is about to come”? Not mid-trib, post-trib, or pre-wrath believers. But if Paul had taught that the Rapture marks the beginning of the Day of the Lord, and you receive a letter saying the Day is already here—either Paul was wrong, or you’ve been left behind. Only a pre-trib expectation makes that troubling—thus a strong argument for pre-trib.

v. 3: That day will not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed. He’s revealed in that day—not before it begins as a precondition for watching for Christ. If Antichrist had to be revealed first, we wouldn’t be watching for Christ, contrary to Philippians 3:20; Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10; Hebrews 9:28; Luke 12.

vv. 6–8: “Now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time… he who now hinders will hinder, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed.” The restrainer is personal (“he”). No human can restrain Satan across ages. Only God can restrain. Yet God (or the Holy Spirit) cannot be “removed” in essence, being omnipresent. The solution: the unique indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church (since Pentecost—John 7:37–39) will be removed when the Church is caught up. The Spirit will still convict and save during the Tribulation, but the Church’s Spirit-indwelt presence, which would oppose and expose Antichrist, will be gone. Revelation 13:7—he is given to make war with the saints and to overcome them—but Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. Therefore, those are Tribulation saints, not the Church on earth. A post-trib rapture would be a non-event—no one left to rapture; those who refuse the mark can’t buy or sell and are killed.

2 Thessalonians 2:10–12: A strong delusion comes on those who “received not the love of the truth.” I once thought this delusion must be after the Rapture, but seeing current apostasy, I cannot explain what’s happening except as that delusion already at work.

Example: Peter Kreeft’s Ecumenical Jihad—claims pagans and leaders of other faiths are “crypto-Christians,” speaks of a “universal eucharist,” etc.—endorsed by J. I. Packer and Chuck Colson. How can this be? Apostasy indeed.

Exhortation: Loving His Appearing

I believe Antichrist is coming—and soon. But before he can be revealed, we must be taken out. The Rapture is very close and something we should look for at any moment. Sadly, many Christians are not looking. If the Rapture occurred today, it would interrupt lots of plans.

They tell of a pastor who asked, “How many of you want to go to heaven?” Every hand went up—except a little boy’s. Afterward: “Don’t you want to go to heaven?” “Yes, sir, I do.” “Then why didn’t you raise your hand?” “I thought you meant right now!”

Heaven is the place everyone wants to go—but not now. Yet we’re supposed to be the Bride. You’d better cancel the wedding if the bride isn’t eager for the day. The Bridegroom wants us there. He looks down and sees many who profess to be His Bride, but don’t want to be with Him yet. “Lord, we just retired; we’re taking a trip—we’ve never been to Hawaii.” “Lord, we’re getting married—at least let us have the honeymoon.” “I just started a new business; it’s going to be successful—couldn’t I make a little money first?” We have many plans that interfere with our desire to be with Christ.

So, two questions: “How close are we?” (I wrote a book by that title.) But the more important: “How close do you want it to be?” Are there things you love more than your Lord? We all have unsaved loved ones and want to see them come to Christ, yes—but other than that, is anything preferable to being with Him?

Closing Prayer

Prayer: Father, speak to my heart and to all our hearts. Lord Jesus, You told us to be ready. You said, “At such an hour as we think not,” You would come and catch us by surprise. John wrote that we should live so as not to be ashamed at Your coming. Father, may the coming of our Savior so motivate us—knowing He could come at any moment—that we live for Him and witness for Him, realizing we may not have next week or next month. And we say, “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come!” Lord Jesus, come! Help us to love You more, to long for Your coming, and, knowing it could be soon, to consider what manner of persons we ought to be. Help us, we pray, in Jesus’s name. Amen.