Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 17:1 (Spring 2013)
Article: John Nelson Darby And The Rapture
Author: Thomas D. Ice

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JMAT 17:1 (Spring 2013) p. 99

John Nelson Darby And The Rapture

Thomas Ice

Pastor/Teacher, Church Planter
Community Bible Church
Omaha, Nebraska

Introduction

Supporters of pretribulationism generally believe that John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) revived this lost New Testament teaching through intense Bible study during convalescence from a riding accident in December 1827 and January 1828. Evangelical opponents of pretribulationism often put forth theories that cast Darby in a bad light. For example, some say Darby got it from Edward Irving (1792–1834), while others say it originated from the prophetic utterance of a fifteen-year-old Scottish lassie Margaret Macdonald (1815–1840). Both sources are understood to be tainted since Irving was considered exocentric and heretical and Macdonald’s prophetic utterance is thought to be demonic. What is the evidence that Darby developed his view from his own personal study?

Early Life Of John Nelson Darby

John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) was born in his parents’ London house in Westminster, November 18, 1800. W. G. Turner writes, “He was the youngest son of John Darby, of Markley, Sussex, and of Leap Castle, King’s County, Ireland,”1 the eighth of nine children, six boys and three girls.2 Darby’s father

JMAT 17:1 (Spring 2013) p. 100

was a wealthy merchant who had married the daughter of an even wealthier merchant, Anne Vaughan, in 1784.3 In Darby’s lineage there is a mixture of service to the Crown, landed aristocracy, and business. Thus, Stunt correctly observes, “Darby was descended from gentry.”4

Fifteen weeks after his birth, J. N. Darby was baptized on March 3, 1801, at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church. His godfather was Lord Nelson, who was not present at the event. J. N. Darby clearly received his first name from his father and his middle name from his godfather, Lord Nelson.

On February 17, 1812, J. N. Darby entered The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, more commonly known as Westminster School in London. Even though young John lived only a few blocks from the school, he was a boarder there. All of J. N. Darby’s brothers had attended this school since it was considered one of the finest public schools in London. It was a school attended mainly by sons of the wealthy since its fees were too high for the poor. Weremchuk describes the school: “The instruction was given by clergymen, and the subject matter consisted almost exclusively of Latin and Greek, with some Englis...

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