What I intend to do here is to examine to what degree the Bible teaches that the Rapture of the church is imminent. First, a definition of imminence as applied to the Rapture is in order.[1] In 1973, Robert Gundry wrote that "by common consent imminence means that so far as we know no predicted event will necessarily precede the coming of Christ."[2] John Sproule countered in 1974 that imminence is better defined as the belief that "Christ can return for His Church at any moment and that no predicted event will intervene before that return."[3] I have no reason to quarrel with either definition.Some post-tribulationists have responded to the doctrine of imminence by claiming that all the intervening signs have already occurred, and thus the final Parousia can indeed occur at any time. Others attempt to deny that the Bible teaches imminence in any sense. Most would prefer to redefine imminence along the lines adopted by Douglas Moo, who objects that the term does not necessarily mean "any moment," but rather only that the return of Christ "could take place within any limited period of time."[4]
In this paper I will follow the more strict definition, and will view any Biblical passage which teaches or strongly implies that Christ's return for the church can occur at any time without any predicted intervening signs or events as evidence for the imminence of the Rapture.