Dispensationalism has sold millions of books and shaped much of modern evangelical culture. Its foundation, however, is a distortion that undermines the gospel’s announcement of Christ’s present reign.
The system claims Jesus offered His kingdom to Israel, Israel rejected it, and the kingdom was postponed until a future millennium. To bridge the newly inserted gap, John Nelson Darby in the 1830s introduced a “secret rapture” in which believers are removed before tribulation. This was not apostolic teaching and was not historical church doctrine or belief. It was a nineteenth-century invention.
History shows this for us. Margaret MacDonald’s 1830 vision hinted at a secret coming but was vague and mystical. Scholars debate how much Margaret MacDonald influenced Darby, but Darby was the one who systematized the idea. C. I. Scofield then popularized it through his reference Bible, and American evangelicalism embraced it as if it were apostolic truth.
This new system fractures Scripture by splitting God’s people into two parallel tracks, Israel and the church, despite the Bible’s insistence on one olive tree, one people of God, and one new man in Christ.
This scheme also denies the plain words of Jesus and the vision of Daniel. Daniel saw the Son of Man coming on the clouds to receive the kingdom from the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13–14). Jesus applied that prophecy to Himself before the Sanhedrin, declaring, “You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). He was proclaiming His enthronement as King and judgment on Jerusalem. To claim the kingdom was postponed is to say Daniel’s vision and Christ’s own testimony were false.
Jesus said the kingdom arrived with His own ministry.
“If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:28)
From the start He preached the same.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
At Pentecost the apostles proclaimed that Jesus now sits on David’s throne.
“Because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne… this Jesus God raised up again… For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:30–36)
Matthew 24 is not a rapture chart or some mystical future event for us. In its plain sense it addresses judgment on that generation and the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Jesus said so.
“Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:34)
The Bible does not teach two returns of Christ in stages. Paul says the Lord will descend with a shout, the dead will rise, and the living will be caught up together to meet Him.
“The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God… and we will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)
Christ returns, believers are preserved in Him, the wicked are swept away, and the saints inherit the world (Matt. 13:41–43; Matt. 5:5). Christ’s already-inaugurated reign advances through the nations now, and His return will consummate, not postpone, His promises.
Semper Reformanda
Objection: “We are rightly dividing the Word by distinguishing Israel and the church.”
This claim fractures Scripture. Gentiles are grafted into Israel’s olive tree (Romans 11:17–24). Paul blesses the church as the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). In Christ, Jew and Gentile become one new man (Ephesians 2:14–16).
Objection: “Matthew 24 describes a future rapture timetable.”
Jesus placed the bulk of Matthew 24 within the horizon of His hearers. “This generation” signals judgment on Jerusalem in AD 70 and the end of the old-covenant order. The New Testament elsewhere describes a single, public return of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17; Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 15:23–26).
Objection: “The kingdom was offered, rejected, and postponed.”
Jesus announced the kingdom present and active in His ministry (Mark 1:15; Matthew 12:28). Peter preached Christ enthroned on David’s throne now (Acts 2:30–36). Postponement is not the apostolic message.
Objection: “The secret rapture is historic Christian teaching.”
The documented trail runs through MacDonald’s 1830 vision, Darby’s system, and Scofield’s notes. The church and the Reformers confessed a single visible appearing of Christ, not a secret extraction of the church.
Truth That Withstands
Christ reigns now. The kingdom arrived with His first coming and advances through Word and Spirit as the nations are discipled and taught to obey Him. Matthew 24 chiefly foretold judgment on Jerusalem, not a secret evacuation of the church. Scripture teaches one public return of the King, when the earth will be renewed and the meek will inherit it. To cling to postponement and secret raptures is to trade the gospel’s present power for a nineteenth-century invention of despair.