PP: A Raptureous Ressurection

Caught Up Together

Last week we ended the message by saying that the End Times officially begins with the revealing of the Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2:2 NKJV

2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

But we also saw that the Antichrist cannot reveal himself because God has placed a “restrainer” on earth that prevents him from doing so:

2 Thessalonians 2:6 NKJV

6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.

But we saw that God will one day take this restrainer away from the earth:

2 Thessalonians 2:7–8 NKJV

7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

Who is this “restrainer”?

The Spirit filled, blood washed church of Jesus Christ.

What is the act of taking the church away called?

The Rapture.

Lets look more closely at this event:

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NKJV

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep 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 by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Verse 17 “caught up” in Latin is “Raptura” hence our word Rapture.

So when people say that the bible does not talk about a Rapture they are so wrong, it absolutely tells us that God will come and we will be caught up with Him.

The Rapture will be a single world wide event that will take place everywhere in a single moment.

Here is how Jesus described that day:

Matthew 24:36–42 NKJV

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Do not confuse the Rapture with the Second Coming.

We will look at the second coming of Jesus later in this series but for now note:

The Second Coming is so called because Jesus will return and walk on the earth again, a second time.

In fact Jesus ascended to Heaven from the top of the mount of Olives.

At His second coming Jesus will descend on the same mount of Olives, through the scene will be very different:

Zechariah 14:4 NKJV

4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

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Notice though that at the Rapture Jesus does NOT set foot on earth, but only comes as far as the clouds:

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 NKJV

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Why Rapture the Church?

There are many Christians who do not believe in the Rapture of the church.

Or rather they believe that the rapture will take place only AFTER the great tribulation and thus the Church will have to go through the Tribulation with the rest of the world.

So what does the bible say?

Will the church be taken up before the Tribulation or not?

These questions are more important that many realize even as we saw a few years ago with Covid.

When people were thinking about the vaccine i had so many calls and messages either asking me if the vaccine was the mark of the beast or people saying that the vaccine WAS the mark of the beast.

My answer was simple:

The vaccine cannot be the mark of the beast because the church will not be here when those events unfold.

So let me put all your minds at ease as the Apostle did to the Thessalonians.

The Church will not be subjected to the Tribulation, the Rapture will take place prior to it and we shall be in Heaven at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb whilst the 7 years of tribulation unfold.

How do we know this?

Evidence 1: There is no mention or reference to the church at all during the entire Tribulation Period.

The Book of Revelation details the events of the Tribulation, diving it up into 3 sections:

The Breaking of the 7 seals.

The Blowing of the 7 Trumpets.

The Pouring out of the 7 bowls of God’s wrath.

In Chapters 1-3 we have a series of letters written to different churches that represent different kinds of churches.

The prophetic and descriptive details about the Tribulation begin at chapter 4:1.

There is zero mention or reference to a christian or the church in chapters 4-18.

Only in chapter 19 do we see the church and it is already in Heaven with Jesus to join Him in His Second Coming.

Revelation 19:7–9 NKJV

7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Evidence 2: The Tribulation is God’s judgment on sin and evil - A judgment that the Church will not face on the basis of the blood of Jesus.

Isaiah 13:11 NKJV

11 “I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

The tribulation is a series of divine judgments represented by the breaking of 7 seals, the blowing of 7 trumpets and the pouring out of 7 bowls of God’s wrath.

For the church or for any born again, blood washed and thus forgiven and justified child of God to be on earth in this time would mean that they are being judged for sin and evil.

However this simply cannot be because God has promised that through Jesus we will escape this judgment and wrath.

John 5:24 NKJV

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 NKJV

10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

God will not judge the church with the wicked.

In fact we have an ancient biblical story that illustrated this:

When God wanted to judge Sodom and Gomorah God said that he will not punish the righteous with the wicked and in the end God took righteous Lot out of the way of the coming judgment.

Genesis 18:25 NKJV

25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Evidence 3: The purpose of the Tribulation is to bring the Nation of Israel to Repentance.

Remember that Jesus came to His own yet His own received Him not.

Because of their hardheartedness the Gospel came to the Gentile world and Israel was hardened in unbelief.

The Tribulation is what God will use to break the hardness of Israel.

Romans 11:25–26 NKJV

25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

Jeremiah 30:7 NKJV

7 Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

Zechariah 12:10 NKJV

10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

The Church has no need to be broken and repent because we are those who do believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and God.

Conclusion: