What is the rapture, and why does TikTok believe the end is coming?

This past week, a prophecy made the rounds on TikTok and social media. A South African pastor claimed that Jesus would return on the 23rd–24th of September, during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah. Maybe you saw it. Maybe you didn’t. Either way, it stirred up plenty of talk.

Now, you may not know what the “rapture” is. Not all Christians share a belief in it — I don’t. It doesn’t actually appear in the Bible. For those who do, it’s considered a moment when true believers are suddenly taken up into the air to be with Jesus before he returns to judge the world.

They often lean on 1 Thessalonians 4, which we’ve just studied together at church. But notice - Paul is describing Jesus coming back to earth to bring judgment and new creation. The believers meet him in the air, yes, but the picture is of citizens going out to welcome a returning king or general in victory, before accompanying him back in procession. It’s not about disappearing from earth, but about Jesus returning to reign.

The truth is, for 2,000 years people have been tempted to set dates for Jesus’ return. The first Christians thought it would be immediate - “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom?” they asked in Acts 1. Paul himself expected to be alive when Jesus came back (1 Thess. 4). But when some stopped working because they thought the end was right around the corner, he had to correct them (2 Thess. 3).

Rapture theology

The rapture is the first of two big ideas that Left Behind theology has added to the traditional Christian story of the end times. The second is the Tribulation. In this view, the rapture is followed by seven years of Tribulation on earth. This timeline is built on complicated interpretations of Daniel 9:24–27. The Tribulation is seen as the age of the Antichrist, a human figure who will rise as a global ruler, opposing Christ while pretending to be him. He is identified with biblical figures like “the beast from the sea with ten horns and seven heads” (Revelation 13:1), “the little horn” (Daniel 7:8), and “the lawless one” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). His number is 666 (Revelation 13:18).

Meanwhile, Christians who were raptured are safe in heaven, spared from the disasters, wars, famine, and persecution that the Antichrist unleashes. At the end of the seven years, Christ returns with his saints to defeat Satan, the Antichrist, and their forces at the battle of Armageddon. According to most who hold this theology, Christ then establishes a literal kingdom on earth, reigning from Jerusalem for a thousand years. He rules with his followers - both the raptured Christians and those Jews who come to recognise him as Messiah during the Tribulation.

What is our view on the rapture?

When we look closely at 1 Thessalonians 4:15–17, Paul describes the moment when, “at the trumpet call of God,” the dead in Christ will rise first and those still alive will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Notice what Paul does not say: there is no mention of part of the church being whisked away before, during, or after a supposed seven-year tribulation.

Jesus himself describes a similar scene in Matthew 24:29–31. There he makes it clear that the gathering of the saints happens after “the distress of those days.” In other words, believers are raised and gathered to Jesus at his second coming, not in a secret event before it.

On a straightforward reading of these passages, the “rapture” theory simply isn’t there. What Scripture teaches is that when Christ returns in glory, those who have died in him will be raised, and those still alive will be gathered to him.

As for the finer details - what exactly happens to the church before, during, or after that moment - the Bible doesn’t spell it out. But here’s what it is absolutely clear and emphatic about: Jesus will return in glory to judge the world, and those who belong to him will be raised to everlasting life, to share his joy and reign forever.

When Will Jesus return?

Jesus himself said, “About that day or hour no one knows” (Matt. 24:36). Every attempt to set a date is not only wrong, but often distracts us from the real point. Prophetic speculation can crush faith - when the date passes, people are disappointed, disillusioned, even walk away.

The point is not when Jesus returns. The point is whether we are ready when he does. So don’t get caught up in TikTok prophecies or internet countdowns. Instead, fix your eyes on Jesus. Because the truth is this: Jesus will return - and our job is to live today in the light of that certain tomorrow.

A Glossary OF Terms

• Millennialism. The belief in a period of the rule of Christ on earth. The most literal view understands this time as being 1,000 years.

• Amillennialism. The belief that Christ is already ruling on the earth.

• Premillennialism. The belief that Christ will return before his earthly reign.

• Postmillennialism. The belief that Christ will return after an earthly reign that does not require his physical presence.

OTHER Dates that failed

• During the great plague of Europe (1348-1352), prophets said the end was at hand and that Christ would appear within 10 years.

• The Roman Catholic Church has often figured in end-time scenarios. For example, John Wycliffe, a 14th-century reformer, said the Catholic mass was Daniel’s abomination of desolation.

• Martin Luther (1483-1546) believed the church’s final conflict with evil would pit it against the Turks and the pope.

• John Knox, in 1547, saw the pope in Daniel 7:24-25.

• In 1806, at Leeds, a hen laid eggs bearing the words, “Christ is coming.” Many visited the spot and “got religion.” Then someone discovered that the ink-inscribed eggs had been forced up into the chicken’s body.

• John Wesley said the end would come in 1836. Others suggested 1830 and 1847.

• Based on the text of Daniel 8:14, a New England farmer named William Miller expected the world to end in 1843 or 1844. His followers pinpointed Oct. 22, 1844. Unwilling to accept the Great Disappointment that resulted when Oct. 22 passed without Christ’s return, some explained that Christ began to cleanse the “heavenly sanctuary” on that date. They gave birth to the Adventist movement.

• Charles Taze Russell, whose Bible studies formed the foundation of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, said Christ had returned to earth in 1874 and would begin his visible reign in 1914. Jehovah’s Witness literature later spoke of “the Creator’s promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away.”

• A Korean prophet’s asserted that the rapture was set for midnight, Oct. 20 or 28, 1992. (In South Korea, 20,000 Christians left school or quit jobs to await the end.)