Once again, the argument over the Rapture of the Church has surfaced and there are Bible teachers on both sides of the subject.
The word ‘rapture’ is drawn from the Latin term for ‘caught up’ which is ‘rapturo.’ In John 14:2-3, Jesus made a promise. “My Father’s house has many rooms, if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.”
In Acts 1:7-11, we read of what happened when Jesus was ready to return to the Father’s house. He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up to the sky as He was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men, of Galilee, they said, “Why do you stand here looking at the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” The word as He ascended out of sight was “He will be back.” I suppose the problem for many is that we don’t know when. Jesus said that piece of news resides with the Father. When He is ready, He will say to His Son – “Go get your bride, the church” and He will.
There are two main schools of thought about His return:
A. There is the pre-tribulation belief that He will come for His church before the time of tribulation.
B. The other view is that of post-tribulation, which says He will return for us at the end of the great tribulation.
Just so you know, I believe that Christ is going to come for His bride, the church, before the time of the tribulation.
Let me give you some reasons why I believe this to be true.
1. In the Book of Revelation, in chapters 2-3, Christ sends a personal message to seven different churches. From chapters 4-18, we are given insight into a series of judgments. There is no mention of the church during that period of time. Revelation 3:10 indicates that believers will be kept or protected from the hour of trial that is coming. Jesus declared, “Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I also will keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.”
The Apostle Paul, in Romans 5:9, says “Since we have now been justified by His (Christ’s) blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him (Christ).
In 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, the apostle wrote “For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
Further, in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Paul wrote – “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christians do not need to fear, because God has destined them for salvation and life, not death and wrath. Paul goes on in 1 Thessalonians 54:10 to say “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
2. The rapture is that blessed event in which Christ will descend from heaven, the dead in Christ will be resurrected first, and living Christians changed into their new bodies. Both groups will be caught up to meet Christ in the air at the same time, and He will take us back to heaven with Him.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 wrote — “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep (die), but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we (who are alive) will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’”
What a glorious prospect! Paul further elaborates on this truth in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the LORD, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the LORD Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive, and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the LORD forever.”
Note: In the rapture, Christ comes for His bride and will meet the saints in the air. In the second coming, at the end of the seven years of the tribulation, His saints will come with Him to earth.
3. Scripture shows that our God chooses to protect His people before judgment falls. 2 Peter 2:5-9, “If He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) if this is so, then the LORD knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.”
There is much more that could be shared, but I close with this thought —There are numerous signs given to us in scripture regarding Christ’s second coming to earth, following the Tribulation. There does not appear to be much in the way of signs regarding the Rapture of the Church. This means that Christ could return at any moment. We are to be ready for His appearance, at any time.
In Matthew 24:36, Jesus said, “But about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
In Matthew 24:44, He also said “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.
Brothers and sisters, I pray that you are ready because Jesus is coming and when he comes, there will be no time for last-minute changes.
Living expectantly,
Pastor Leonard
