Jovial (26 July 2015)
"The Early Church and the timing of the rapture - part 6
THE 19th CENTURY PROPHETIC REVIVAL"

This series to date includes;

19th Century

The 19th century saw a significant increase in End Times interest. 

Manuel Lacunza (1731-1801) wrote La venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad (The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty) under a pen-name of Juan Josafat Ben Ezra, published in 1811 after his death. It was translated into English in 1827 by Edward Irving, a pre-trib supporter.  Lacunza is widely referenced as a pre-trib writer, but never with any quotation from the book.   In the preface, translator Edward Irving describes his view as "futurist posttribulational" (See his preface in The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty), not as pre-trib.  The confusion probably comes from the fact that the book was well promoted by someone who WAS pre-trib, but the book does not appear to be pre-trib itself.

Edward Irving liked Lacunza's book, despite the fact the two men disagreed over the timing of the rapture.  At the time, there were not many writings that discussed a pre-trib rapture for him to have used.  Even the prior works that did say something about it, such as Morgan Edwards, did not talk about it very much, and it was a small part of a larger discussion.

In the early 1830s, William Miller began teaching the second coming would come in 1843.  Miller calculated this by adding 2,300 years to 457 B.C. (date of decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia). When the 1843 date failed, he revised it to 1844.  While his prediction did not come to pass, he did generate an enormous amount of interest in End Times prophecy.

At the same time, John Darby started teaching the pre-trib rapture in England and France and came to America in the 1860s.  As Miller was increasing interest in the second coming, Darby was telling people they would not go through the tribulation.  So Miller sort of helped raise interest in the topic Darby was covering.  The sense of imminence created by Miller helped fuel the interest in the pre-trib rapture being taught by Darby, Irving, and others.

Darby wasn't the first to teach the rapture and he wasn't the only person fueling interest in the second coming.  But he did play a big role in raising public thought on these topics.

As we get closer to today, there is no doubt that more and more of the signs of the End of Age have become more and more apparent, and that too has raised interest in the second coming .

 

Shalom,

Joe