The Number

I notice that you stand with those who believe that the rapture does not have a set date, but instead a set number of believers who must be completed in order for it to take place….I was wondering if there were any clues given as to that number.

Q. I have just discovered your site and can not turn away. I have been what I would consider a student in end times prophecy since I was a child. Revelation is my fathers favorite topic of discussion and did I get an earful growing up.

I notice that you stand with those who believe that the rapture does not have a set date, but instead a set number of believers who must be completed in order for it to take place. I was wondering if there were any clues given as to that number. I only remember reading “a multitude that could not be numbered” for the saints that stand behind the Lord at the final white throne judgment. Thank you for your insight and praise God there are those like you who encourage steadfast Christians to think.

A. Thanks for the kind words. As far as I’ve been able to determine, there isn’t even a hint in Scripture as to what the total number in the Church will be. The largest number in the Bible is given as 10,000 times 10,000, which equals 100,000,000. In a vision of the end times Daniel saw this number of beings standing before God. (Daniel 7:10)

Some scholars believe that this was simply the largest number people in Daniel’s day knew how to express and that it shouldn’t be taken literally. In any case, I don’t know of anyone on Earth who’s been keeping track to tell us how close we are.