The Rapture. What is the Rapture of the Church?
Rapture, The Rapture, Rapture
of the Church
Why Will Millions of People Suddenly Disappear?
The Rapture of the Christian Church
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Understanding Bible Prophecy
The "Catching Away" of the Saints
January 24, 2009
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"For
the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first"
(1st
Thessalonians 4:16
NASB)
"Then
we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the
Lord"
(1st
Thessalonians 4:17
NASB)
- Beam Me Up! -
Everybody familiar with the "Star Trek" series is certainly familiar with the preceding sentence. Whenever Captain Kirk was in trouble, or needed to get somewhere in a hurry, the Star Trek crew would rev up the Enterprise's Transporter Device. Instantly the Captain and crew (including an "insignificant" extra crew member who usually met with an untimely death!) would dematerialize and suddenly materialize elsewhere. Anybody who has ever been caught in a rush-hour traffic jam would immediately give a month's pay for such a device!
What may not be common knowledge is that the Bible speaks of this exact event. This event is known as the Rapture. The Rapture is described in several passages in the Bible and a major Rapture event is on the horizon. And in one instance, a famous Biblical character is transported from the desert to a major city instantaneously!
Surprise! The word "Rapture" isn't found in the Bible! But the event known as "The Rapture" is clearly there. You might also be surprised to learn that "Holy Trinity" isn't found in the Scriptures either; but no one doubts Their existence (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Let's examine the Scriptural basis for the Rapture.
Kept Out of That Hour - Revelation 3:10 (NKJV)
Have you ever seen a sign that reads "Keep Out!" posted? Sometimes it's there to protect you from danger. In this passage from Revelation Jesus is speaking to the Faithful Church at Philadelphia in Asia Minor. To be "kept from the hour of trial" means literally to be "out of that hour of testing" which shall come upon the whole Earth. Since this was a) written 1900+ years ago and b) all the members of the Church at Philadelphia are dead and c) the whole world has not experienced testing from God in one brief episode of time since then, we can conclude that this is a future event foretold. Existing churches at that time were used as models by God to represent the stages of the Christian Church down through history:
10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the Hour of Trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the Earth.
The First Rapture - He Was Not - Genesis 5:21-24 (NASB)
We've got a missing man! According to the Book of Genesis, Enoch was 65 years old when he became the father of Methuselah, the longest-living man in the Bible. During the next 300 years Enoch had other sons and daughters (300 years of child rearing!). And so, Enoch lived a year's worth of years: 365 years (though Biblical years are often 360-day years). History's first demonstrated Rapture event occurs as God takes Enoch directly to Heaven. One moment he's dwelling on Earth and in the blink of an eye he's translated to Heaven:
21
Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.
22 Then Enoch walked
with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he
had other sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of
Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 Enoch walked with God; and
he was not, for God took him.
The First Rapture - He Did Not Die - Hebrews 11:5 (NASB)
Not convinced that Genesis 5:24 demonstrates the Rapture of a living human being? Well, perhaps we'd better offer more proof, eh? And what better place for more Rapture proof than the New Testament?:
5
By Faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
The Second Rapture - Chariots of Fire - 2nd Kings 2:1-12 (NASB)
Rapture number 2 is found in the Book of 2nd Kings as the premier prophet of God has finished his Earthly ministry and is turning over his office to his protégé Elisha. Elijah, in his wisdom, knows Elisha's Faith will be tremendously strengthened by witnessing the taking of Elijah from Earth to Heaven right before his eyes:
1 AND
it came about when the LORD was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to
Heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2 Elijah said to
Elisha, "Stay here please, for the LORD has
sent me as far as Bethel". But Elisha said,
Snatched Away - Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40 (KJV)
There are several startling aspects to this passage of Scripture. First, an Angel of the Lord speaks directly to one of the early Apostles. The Angel tells Philip to head for the desert, apparently by conventional methods, most likely by walking. The Angel of the Lord knows that an Ethiopian is ready to receive the Gospel and needs someone (a believer) to share with him. When Philip sees the chariot and hears the man reading from Isaiah 53:7-8 (reading aloud was a common practice in those days to benefit the widely uneducated) the Angel of the Lord tells him to catch up with the chariot. When he does, Philip inquires of the Ethiopian if he comprehends the prophecy. After inviting Philip to enter the chariot and explain the prophecy concerning the vicarious Sacrifice of Christ, the Ethiopian then asks Philip to baptize him into the Body of Christ at a nearby body of water. Notice that although the Ethiopian believed in God, to receive the Gospel he had to believe with all his heart that Jesus Christ was the unique, Incarnate Son of the Living God (the Salvation "line of demarcation" according to 1st John 4:1-3).
So where is the Rapture event? In an often-overlooked passage, verses 39-40, Philip is supernaturally removed from the desert and materializes at the city of Azotus where he continues preaching the Gospel in several cities. In verse 39, we find the Greek word "harpazo" translated in the King James Version as "caught away". "Harpazo" means "to seize upon suddenly, with force" and is translated as "caught up" in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 where the Rapture joins believers, both dead and alive with the Lord in the blink of an eye. Thus, the first Rapture of the New Testament (after Christ that is! - Mark 16:19 KJV) is a SURPRISE, even to an Apostle!
26 And
the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, "Arise,
and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza,
which is desert."
27 And he arose and
went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace
queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to
Jerusalem for to worship,
28 Was returning, and
sitting in his chariot read Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet.
29 Then the (Holy)
Spirit said unto Philip, "Go near, and join thyself to this
chariot".
30 And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias (Isaiah), and said, "Understandest
thou what thou readest?"
31 And he said, "How
can I, except some man should guide me?" And
he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
32 The place of the
Scripture which he read was this, He
was led as a Sheep to the slaughter; and like a Lamb dumb before His shearer, so
opened He not His mouth:
33 In
His humiliation His judgment was taken away: and who shall declare His
generation? for His life is taken from the Earth.
34 And the eunuch
answered Philip, and said, "I pray thee, of
Whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other Man?"
35 Then Philip opened
his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36 And as they went on
their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, "See,
here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?"
37 And Philip said, "If
thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." And
he answered and said, "I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
38 And he commanded
the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip
and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
39 And when they were
come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the
eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was
found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came
to Caesarea.
The Rapture - We Will Not All Die - 1st Corinthians 15:50-54 (NASB)
In this passage, the Apostle Paul describes the transformation of the believer into the Heavenly Kingdom of God. A perishable, mortal human body cannot enter the Kingdom, therefore believers will be given new bodies that are imperishable and immortal. Paul reveals a mystery: every believer will not die but some will be translated into the Kingdom of God in the blink of an eye. During the Rapture, living Christians will enter the Kingdom directly without experiencing death! Paul uses the term "sleep" which is Greek idiom or a metaphor for physical death. But when a believer, either dead or alive is changed, they are immortal for eternity:
50 Now
I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God;
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Behold, I tell you
a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For this perishable
must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 But when this
perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on
immortality ...
The Rapture - Christians Taken Alive - 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NASB)
The Apostle Paul again uses the idiom for physical death, this time clearly explaining that those Christians who have experienced physical death will be resurrected by Christ. Here again we see the Rapture in the 17th verse, which is the Greek word "harpazo" translated into English as "caught up":
13 But
we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so
that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
14 For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have
fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to
you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming
of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord
Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are
alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort
one another with these words.
He Ascended to Heaven - Revelation 12:5 (NASB)
The Greek word "harpazo" is again translated into English as "caught up" in Revelation 12:5. Here it is used to describe the Ascension of Christ into Heaven; a demonstrated Rapture event:
5 And she gave birth to a Son, a Male Child, Who is to rule all the nations with a Rod of Iron; and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.
There He Goes - Luke 24:49-53 (NASB)
In the Gospel According to Luke, Jesus tells the Disciples to await the Holy Spirit of God, Whom Jesus would send unto them after He ascended to God the Father's right hand. The Disciples are ordered to stay in the city of Jerusalem until the Spirit comes upon them. In the city of Bethany, Jesus blesses His Disciples and Ascends into the Kingdom of God on high. His Rapture is found in verse 51:
49 "And
behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to
stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
50 And
He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
51 While
He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into Heaven.
52 And
they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53 and
were continually in the temple praising God.