The Rapture
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In our study of the End Times we have to make sure we understand the players as each player has a different role.
The key players are: God, Satan, The Anti-christ, the false prophet, the unbeliving, the church and Israel.
The Church and Israel have very different roles.
Today we are looking at the Church only.
The Bible tells that the Church will be raptured. T
Now where is this word in the bible?
The Word “Rapture” is not an english word, its latin.
When we take a word from one lauange and put it in another lauange its called: Translation.
But if you take a word and keep it in its origional lauange and put it in a different lauange its called: Transliteration.
We transliterate all the time.
The “Alpha” of the pack.
The monkey has a “prehensile” tale.
The doctor sais i have “pneumonia”.
These are all transliterations - words still in other lauanges that we use as-is in english.
So if you read an english bible you will not find any refrence to the word “Raprture” because its not an english word!
The Latin word Rapture is found in the Latin translation of the verse
17 Deinde nos, qui vivimus, qui relinquimur, simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Christo in aëra, et sic semper cum Domino erimus.
17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
So every single, bible beliving christian believes in the “Rapture” of the church, the only area of confusion is regarding “when”.
Will the church be taken up BEFORE the Tribulation or AFTER?
Now the Full Gospel Church and most others believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture and today i will explain why.
1: The Cross
1: The Cross
The first and most obvious reason is the cross itself.
Jesus died on the cross so that the price for our sin AND the satisfaction of God’s wrath against our sin will be forever settled.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace
By His blood we have forgivness but the blood also does something else:
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished;
Propitiation means “to satisy wrath”. So His blood forgives MY sins and His blood satisfies the FATHERTS wrath.
11 God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.
So what this means is that all who are washed by the blood are both forgiven AND have peace with God.
God is NOT angry at me or you or anyone in the church because His wrath has been satisfied.
Simple.
The problem is that the whole Tribulation is an outporing of God’s wrath.
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
Forgive and Hit
The tribulation is God pouring out His wrath, but He cannot pour out His wrath on the church because He has no wrath for the church.
The bible explicitly tells us this:
10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.
Jesus rescuid us from the wrath to come, so for the church to be under the judgment and wrath of God during the tribulation makes absolutly no sense.
2: The Restrainer
2: The Restrainer
The tribulation begins with the revealing of the Anti-christ.
18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
When will he be revealed?
The bible tells us that he will only be revealed when the one who is preventing or restraining him is taken away.
6 And you know what restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is removed.
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
So we have a person (He who now restrains) who will be removed, that is “taken out from the midst”.
This person is the Holy Spirit who is in the midst of the church.
The Holy Spirit will not be taken out of the actual world, but the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the midst of the world.
For this to happen the church itself has to be removed for the Anti-Christ to be revealed.
3: Half-a-Second Coming
3: Half-a-Second Coming
The bible is very clear on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
we have detailed descriptions of it!
4 On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west forming a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south.
When Jesus comes again in power He will descend from Heaven, land on the mount of Olives and the whole mountan will split in two!
Now compare that description to this description and see if they match:
15 For we say this 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, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Any mention of the mount of Olives? Any mention of Jesus even touching the surface?
No.
He descends to the air and asleep saints and living saints rise up to the sky to meet him there.
This is NOT the Second Coming. This is the RAPTURE.
No mention of the unbeliving, no mention of the Antichrist, no mention of Israel.
Just the Church.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
The Greek word “Harparzo” which is where we get Rapture from Latin is found in a few places in the NT.
In each of these occurences we get a slightly different image, which when combined help us see how beautiful the Rapture is:
“To catch away speedily.”
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
When the Lord returns in the air, we who are alive will be caught away quickly, in the twinkling of an eye. This means we should live each moment in the expectation of our Lord’s return, lest He come and find us out of His will.
“To seize by force.”
15 So Jesus, aware that they intended to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself, alone.
Does this suggest that Satan and his armies will try to keep us from leaving the earth? I trust it does not suggest that some of the saints will be so attached to the world that they must literally be dragged away. Like Lot being delivered from Sodom, they will be scarcely saved.
“To move to a new place.”
1 Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—
4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
Paul used this word when he described his visit to heaven.
Jesus Christ has gone to prepare a home for us (John 14:1–6), and when He comes, He will take us to that glorious place.
We are pilgrims and strangers in this world. Our true citizenship is in heaven.
“To rescue from danger.”
10 And when a great dissension occurred, the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, and he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.
This suggests that the church will be taken home before the time of Tribulation that will come to the world from God.
Will the unsaved world be aware of what is happening?
Will they hear the shout, the voice, and the trumpet?
First Corinthians 15:52 indicates that this will happen so suddenly that it will be over in the twinkling of an eye.
Since the shout, voice, and trumpet apply to God’s people, there is no reason to believe that the unsaved masses will hear them.
If they do, they will hear sounds without meanings.
Millions of people will vanish instantly, and no doubt there will be chaos and great concern. Except for those who know the Bible teaching, the world will wonder at what has happened.