There are many who mistakenly claim (or promote) the false idea that the doctrine of the Pretribulation Rapture is very recent, beginning in the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century. But that is simply incorrect.
Several of the Early Church Fathers (ecclesiastical writers from the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] to 4[SUP]th[/SUP] century), generally bishops and theologians in their cities, wrote about a Pretribulation Rapture as shown below.
Jesus had taught -- before His crucifixion and resurrection – that His coming for His own would be (1) at any moment, (2) sudden, (3) unexpected, and (4) unannounced. So Christ could come for His saints even today. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. (Matthew 24:44).
Irenaeus (130-202 AD) in Against Heresies 5.29:
“Those nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons “as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance — in fact, as nothing;” (1) so far useful and serviceable to the just, as stubble conduces towards the growth of the wheat, and its straw, by means of combustion, serves for working gold. And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, “There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.” (2) For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption.”
Cyprian (200-258 AD) in Treatises of Cyprian:
“We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by an early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent? Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home [John 14:1-3], which snatches us hence, and sets us free from the snares of the world and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.”
Ephraim the Syrian (306-373 AD) in On The Last Times, II
Why therefore are we occupied with worldly business, and why is our mind held fixed on the lusts of the world or on the anxieties of the ages? Why therefore do we not reject every care of worldly business, and why is our mind held fixed on the lusts of the world or on the anxieties of the ages? Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time... For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.
Several of the Early Church Fathers (ecclesiastical writers from the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] to 4[SUP]th[/SUP] century), generally bishops and theologians in their cities, wrote about a Pretribulation Rapture as shown below.
Jesus had taught -- before His crucifixion and resurrection – that His coming for His own would be (1) at any moment, (2) sudden, (3) unexpected, and (4) unannounced. So Christ could come for His saints even today. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. (Matthew 24:44).
Irenaeus (130-202 AD) in Against Heresies 5.29:
“Those nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons “as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance — in fact, as nothing;” (1) so far useful and serviceable to the just, as stubble conduces towards the growth of the wheat, and its straw, by means of combustion, serves for working gold. And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, “There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.” (2) For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption.”
Cyprian (200-258 AD) in Treatises of Cyprian:
“We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by an early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent? Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home [John 14:1-3], which snatches us hence, and sets us free from the snares of the world and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.”
Ephraim the Syrian (306-373 AD) in On The Last Times, II
Why therefore are we occupied with worldly business, and why is our mind held fixed on the lusts of the world or on the anxieties of the ages? Why therefore do we not reject every care of worldly business, and why is our mind held fixed on the lusts of the world or on the anxieties of the ages? Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time... For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.
