The Rapture is Imminent
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 25, 2018
The Rapture of the Church: The Rapture is Imminent
Lesson # 3
The rapture of the church is “imminent” which means that the rapture could happen at any time.
There are several Scriptures, which teach the church to expect Christ to come back at any moment (cf. John 14:1-3; Romans 13:11-12; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Thess. 1:9-10; 5:1-9; Titus 2:13; James 5:7-9; Philippians 4:5; Hebrews 10:25; 1 John 2:28; 3:2-3; Revelation 22:7, 20).
The doctrine of the “imminent” return of Christ at the rapture of the church is supported by the fact that there are no signs preceding the rapture whereas there are many signs prior to the Second Advent of Christ, which terminates the Tribulation period.
Supporting the “imminent” return of Christ for His bride is that the Lord Jesus in John 14:1-3 first speaks of the rapture and does not mention any intervening events between preparing a place for His disciples in His Father’s house and receiving them to Himself.
John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (ESV)
In Romans 13:11-12, the apostle Paul refers to the imminency of the rapture as a motivation to live a godly life.
Romans 13:11 So then, all of continue making it your habit of practicing this because all of you are well aware of the significance of this particular period of history characterized by urgency and opportunity, demanding immediate action, namely that, it is now already the moment for each and every one of you to be awake from sleep because our deliverance is now nearer to taking place than when we believed. 12 The night has drawn to a close. Indeed, the day is approaching. Therefore, let us for the duration continue to lay aside for ourselves the activities, which characterize the kingdom of darkness. Indeed, let us for the duration continue to clothe ourselves with the weapons, which characterize those belonging to the kingdom of light. (Author’s translation)
This passage emphasizes not only the imminency of our Lord’s return at the rapture but also the urgency in that the believer must always stay spiritually awake by keeping short accounts with God.
This again is accomplished by confessing his sins in order to be restored to fellowship and maintaining that fellowship by obedience to the will of the Father, which is revealed by the Spirit through the Word of God.
The statement “the night has drawn to a close” teaches that the period in which the church age believer is not in his or her resurrection body and is living during a period of history in which Satan is the god of this world has drawn to a close.
The statement “the day is approaching” emphasizes with Paul’s readers that the period of time when each and every one of them is living in their resurrection body and is permanently delivered from living in Satan’s cosmic system is approaching or is imminent.
This period begins for the believer with the rapture of the church and will never end and will go on throughout eternity future.
1 Corinthians 1:7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)
“Wait” is the verb apekdechomai, which denotes the attitude of intense expectation or eager anticipation for the rapture of the church and the attention being withdrawn from all else and concentrated upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
The believer is eagerly waiting or waiting expectantly for the rapture of the church when the Lord Jesus Christ will snatch the believers alive on planet earth to be with Him in the first heaven, the earth’s atmosphere along with the dead in Christ (1 Th. 4:13-17).
The believer is not only to be waiting eagerly or expectantly but is also to persevere until His return at the rapture.
He is to be occupied with Christ until the rapture while eagerly anticipating the rapture of the church.
The Corinthians were to be “eagerly anticipating” Jesus Christ coming back for them at any moment, which means an imminent rapture.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 also speaks of the imminency of the rapture.
1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)
1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 teaches that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night meaning that it will take place unexpectedly.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. (NASB95)
The only way the day of the Lord could break unexpectedly upon the world is to have it begin immediately after the rapture of the church, which is imminent.
The thief comes at night when you least expect them.
So it is with the return of Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church.
James 5:7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. (NASB95)
Notice that James says that the coming of the Lord is near or in other words at hand, which speaks of the imminency of His return.
Brindle writes “If something must happen someday, and could happen today, then it can be described as ‘at hand’ and imminent. This event is therefore the rapture, and as such, James reminds us that ‘we are not separated from it by any known event at all.’ ”
Zane Hodges writes “The readers are thereby likened to a group of litigants or defendants, standing within a courtroom. Total silence is required out of respect for the judge who is just outside the courtroom door and about to step inside to take his place on the judgment seat. Like a Roman lictor announcing a judge’s impending entry, as it were, James cries ‘Quiet!’ His Christian readers must fully silence their complaints against one another in the realization that their Lord and Judge can at any moment appear and sit down on the Bema (Judgment Seat) in order to assess their lives (cf. 2:12-13; see also 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10-12).”
So James viewed the rapture as an imminent event with this description of Jesus Christ waiting at the door as Judge about to enter the courtroom to exercise his duties on the judgment seat.
Revelation 22:7 And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. (NASB95)
Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. (NASB95)
Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (NASB95)
Three times in Revelation 22, Jesus Christ declares that He is “coming quickly.”
“Quickly” is the adverb tachu (ταχύ), which means “quickly, without delay; in a short time, soon.”
BDAG lists the following definitions: (1) pertaining to a very brief period of time, with focus on speed of an activity or event (2) pertaining to a relatively brief time subsequent to another point of time.
If we interpret this word as meaning “quickly” then it would pose a problem since if we take Jesus’ promises literally, then it appears that He was mistaken when He said He was coming back “quickly.”
Its now over two-thousand years since He made this promise.
So it appears He is slow and not quick to return.
However, most interpreters realize that this Greek adverb means that Jesus could come back “at any moment.”
He will come suddenly for His bride.
The purpose of such imminency is that the church may be in a constant state of expectancy, always looking for and waiting for the coming of her Lord from heaven.
Not only is the hope of His return a source of comfort and encouragement to the believer, but also it is a very definite incentive for service and for holy living.
This is what John is saying in 1 John 3:2-3.
1 John 3:1 I solemnly charge each one of you to carefully consider what kind of love the Father has exercised toward each of us, namely each one of us have been effectually called to be God’s children. Indeed, every one of us are existing in this state. For this reason, the world never at any time recognizes any of us: because it never recognized Him. 2 Beloved, each and every one of us are God’s children. However, what state each of us will be caused to exist in, has not yet been revealed. Each one of us possess the conviction that whenever this state has been revealed (to us), we will be caused to exist in the same identical state as Him because for the benefit of each of us, we will see Him as He is presently existing. 3 Correspondingly, each one of us who does at any time possess this confident expectation because of Him, does purify himself just as He Himself is pure. (Author’s translation)