Rapture Realities

Perhaps you’ve heard people discussing the End-Times and getting into the deep woods. Maybe you’ve taken a deep interest and still come out a bit confused. Perhaps you’ve thrown your hands up with Amillennialism, Post Millennialism and Pre Millennialism and have simply become a Pan Millennialist. You know it will all work out in the end. Well, I’m here to say, all Christians should be Pan Millennialists in that we know who wins in the end. It will be Jesus.

You may not think the End-times matter and that we should only focus on doing good here and now. But if you seriously look at the Bible, you will notice that according to some leaders perhaps 25% of it deals with future events at the time of writing. And as we look at the 1st letter to the Thessalonians, you will notice that Paul ends EACH chapter referring to the Second Coming or the End Time Events.

So once again, I want to remind you that the Bible is not some bowl of theological soup of random words and phrases that we dip our philosophical spoon into and draw out our own meaning and sense. The Lord Himself identified Himself as the Supreme author of Scripture and the He using men inspired their writing. So despite cultural and temporal distance, there will be connectivity and continuity.

So when we come to the Bible we want to draw out our understanding and not dip our context into it and force a meaning upon it. Perhaps you have wondered why there seems to be a disconnect between how pastors, churches and people talk about the Second Coming. You will hear people talking about the signs of the time but then also you’ll hear them saying Jesus can come at any moment. Well yes! But how does that make sense? We will look at that today and you will see that the First Point is that the Rapture and the Second Advent are not the same thing. They are related and they both come as the DAY of the LORD. But they are distinct and deal with Two different groups, the one, Gentiles, the other the fulfillment to the promise of promises and prophecy for Israel.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NASB95

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.

Notice that Jesus does not touch the earth. He remains in the clouds and would be hidden from the people of the earth, not hidden from believers. We will be with Him and see Him.

John 14:3 NASB95

3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Remember in Acts 1 Jesus ascends to Heaven. This promise was to take His disciples to heaven. He knew that a new plan would be inaugurated and the time of the Gentiles would come. That is what gets referred to as the church age. Heaven does not touch earth until the end of the Book of Revelation. So we have some clues there. Now people may say why do you believe in a Rapture or “catching in the air” of the church. Where is that in the Bible? Well, it’s right there in the text. We also see the changing in the twinkling of an eye in

1 Corinthians 15:52 NASB95

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.

But there are a few clear examples of God removing people from impending wrath.

Truths about the Rapture:

Examples of God REMOVING His people from wrath:

Enoch.

Noah.

Lot.

Elijah.

There comes a day when sin and rebellion go so far that God in justice must bring about punishment. Remember concerning Noah, the Lord went 120 years warning the people. With Lot, God would have spared the cities had there been just 10 godly people. But only Lot’s family made the cut and even there barely.

There comes a point when God says, “Get your sippee cup because that was the last straw!” So,

The Rapture is Ready to Go! (v. 14)

The Second Coming and the Rapture are not the same thing.

When you hear the Tribulation period referred to casually would be more biblically termed, the time of Jacob’s trouble or Daniel’s 70th week. Notice that it’s Jacob’s trouble, not the church’s trouble. It’s Daniel’s 70th week not the Bride of Christ’s Anniversary. So the Tribulation refers to that time when God will fulfill His prophetic promise to Israel and the Messiah will confront the Devil concerning His elect nation, Israel. The Jews today wait for the Messiah to come. They don’t understand that He has come. He came first to forgive the sins of the world and offer His leadership to a repentant nation. During the Tribulation, the Lord will allow those who would not give their allegiance to Yahweh’s man to experience what Satan will do when he gets unleashed. The point is that they will see how good and kind God has been in restraining the Devil and spiritual powers and then flee to the Lord fully. Some will remain rebels. Thus when God judges, there will be no legitimate claim that people didn’t know.

There are no SIGNS before the Rapture.

There needs to be no other sign, just the Sound of His Trumpet. And that Trumpet blast comes specifically for the DEAD IN CHRIST. Remember when you as a Gentile came to Christ or even now for a Jew. We enter IN HIM. The Old Testament did not know His Name. They didn’t fully comprehend the plan. I can assure you that God has a plan for them. But this is the specific plan for those in Christ.

The Rapture refers to the Saints of the New Testament, the Bride of Christ.

God will remove His beloved Bride before He gives Satan reign and prepares to bring the world to it’s just reward for rebellion.

The Rapture Starts with a Return. (v. 16-7)

Jesus returns for His Bride at the Rapture; He Returns with His Bride when He brings Heaven and Earth together as He planned long ago.

Recognize that the Lord Himself comes, not the Holy Spirit, or an angel.

Make careful note that He remains in the air or the clouds. The Rapture will not be hidden to God or believers.

The theological term “Rapture” comes from the Latin translation of the Greek word harpázō [to seize], harpagmós [something to be grasped] where we see in English, “caught up.”

Sometimes, you will have someone who is educated but wants to trick you into believing their “system.” I hope no one here becomes beholden to a system. Remember, no matter how good a theological “system” appears, it’s still a man made system and it will never be as perfect and pure as the Word of God. So you need to let the text speak and wrestle with it like Jacob did with God.

But, I’ve heard men and women who know the text better claim that there is no word “Rapture” in the Bible. Well, if they claim to be studied, there is no other way to put it than to say they have practiced deceit, which is a lie. It’s fine that they don’t believe in the catching up, but such people simply use semantics to trick naive persons into a false idea. Rapture is simply the Latin translation for Harpazo or being Grasped up or caught. The same way the word Baptizo is the Greek word for Baptism. The Greek word means simply to immerse or dip under water. When the Bibles were translated and taught in church tradition that stopped baptizing the way the Lord Himself was baptized, they refused to translate the word properly so as to keep the people in the pews under their system and control. It’s not very complicated, and it’s a tough pill to swallow.

But its the same when someone denies the history and veracity of the Word of God because they have a theological and philosophical agenda they want to trick you into believing. By the way, I did not come to the Bible as someone who believed the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church. I had not attachment to the idea and was a pan-millenialist for a time. But as I dug into the bible and started to seek to rightly divide the Word, this bubbles to the top.

You say, what does dividing the Word mean.

Let me say this very clearly, “All of the Bible is written FOR you; not all of the Bible is written TO you.” That may upset some of you until you think about it. How many of you keep the Passover like the Jews? How many of you offer the first born of your flocks? Rigghht. How many of you keep Kosher?

See, you basically know that God has divided history, times and people into different ways in which He commands us to approach Him and express our faith.

So until God plans on wrapping up His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we live in the Age of the Church. Where we can eat bacon and go to Red Lobster all you can eat crab legs night. But, when He comes again, the Jews will begin to approach Him with the Old Covenant in mind.

So for those of us truly “IN CHRIST.” And by the way, just because you are here or listening doesn’t mean you are in Christ. There are those of you our spirit’s testify. And there are those of you where you agree with your head, but you haven’t given Christ your heart. I’d be worried. I really would not want to go through the Tribulation.

2 Corinthians 13:5 The Message

5 Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.

Christians will hear a Resurrection shout. (v.16-17)

See we have people who have lost loved ones. That’s sad. No one really wants to go with the under taker. That’s why I’m hoping to go with the UPPER TAKER!

4. Then there will be a Reunion forever!

a. We grieve and miss our loved ones now.

b. But we take comfort unlike those who don’t know the resurrection or the rapture.