Look, every so often, we hear it. Someone, somewhere, claims to have figured out the date. They’ve read the signs, they’ve crunched the numbers, and today is the day. We’re all supposed to be raptured. The world as we know it is about to disappear, and we’ll be caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus.

But here’s the thing: we overcomplicate this. And in overcomplicating it, we miss the point entirely.

The whole concept of the rapture as a “get-out-of-jail-free” card for Christians before a tribulation period is, to put it simply, a modern invention. It’s a nineteenth-century idea that simply didn’t exist in the church for nearly 1,800 years. So if it’s as central to our faith as some people make it out to be, why did no one from the apostles to the reformation and beyond see it?

The modern doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture was popularized by a man named John Nelson Darby in the 1830s. It was a new interpretation, and a controversial one at the time. So where does the word “rapture” even come from? It’s not in the original Greek of the New Testament or in our English translations. The word itself comes from the Latin Vulgate, a 4th-century translation of the Bible. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, the Greek word harpazo (meaning “snatched” or “caught up” and is used for the idea of gathering to oneself) was translated into the Latin rapiemur. From this Latin word, we get the English term “rapture.”

But while the word “rapture” has a biblical root, the doctrine it now represents is a misreading. The verses most often used to support this idea, besides 1 Thessalonians 4, are taken out of context (and subject for a different article). Paul writes that we will be “caught up…to meet the Lord in the air.” This isn’t a one-way trip to heaven. The Greek word for “meet” (apantesin) was a technical term used for a dignitary arriving at a city. The citizens would go out to meet him and then escort him back into the city. Also, if you look at the verse before it, there is nothing secret or silent about it.

This isn’t a great escape; it’s a grand welcome.

Our hope isn’t in an invisible hand snatching us away. Our hope is in Christ’s triumphant return to Earth, to set things right, to establish His kingdom once and for all. He isn’t coming to destroy the world; He’s coming to restore it. The gospel is not about escaping this world, but about the King returning to His rightful throne on this Earth.

So, let’s stop checking our watches and looking for a way out. Our job is to be faithful in the here and now, to live in light of His coming, and to be a living sign of His kingdom that has already begun. The focus isn’t on a secret, sudden departure. The focus is on the glorious, promised return of our King.