In the Twinkling of An Eye--The Rapture of the Church

"IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE": THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH Spring Valley Mennonite; April 3, 2022; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 It has been said that there are only two things we can count on: death and taxes! I won't speak about taxes, but I will speak about death. Of course, for the Christian, there are many other things of which we are assured, but death is something we cannot escape-or is it? Our topic this morning from 1 Thessalonians speaks about death, and the possibility that some believers will escape the sentence of death and go directly to heaven. I am speaking of what is called "The Rapture of the Church." As we begin, the Rapture is a somewhat controversial subject. While nearly all Christians who hold to a literal interpretation of Scripture believe in the resurrection of the body, the question of "The When" of the event creates divergent opinions. Many believe the verses speaking of the Rapture equate them with the Second Coming of Christ. I believe Scripture teaches that these are two separate events. I believe that Jesus will return for the Church, His Bride, before the Seventieth Week of Daniel's prophesy, what we call the Tribulation Period. We will be "caught up" (which is what "rapture" means) to meet the Lord in the air, while non-believers will remain on earth for the Tribulation. Jesus will return triumphantly to earth at the end of the Tribulation. I would add at this point that many sincere believers differ from this view. I believe that future events will prove them wrong, but such divergent beliefs should not be a barrier to Christian fellowship. There is little doubt in my mind that the pre-tribulational rapture of the church will create conditions making it possible for a world leader, called the Antichrist, to come to power. Imagine the chaos as cars traveling down the road are without drivers, planes drop out of the sky, all our homes and belongings are left behind to be fought over, economies are cast into turmoil, and governments struggle to recover. In the chaos resulting from the instantaneous disappearance of millions of people, I can imagine a strong political leader emerging with a world-calming solution. The main scriptural passage about the rapture is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, our text for this morning. Follow along as I read the whole passage. I. THE QUESTION ABOUT THE DEAD: ANSWER, THEY WILL RISE FIRST There has obviously been a question raised about the return of Jesus and those who will have died previous to His return. Paul had previously instructed these believers to expect the Lord to return unannounced at any time. This clear teaching is found in numerous other places in scripture: James, the half-brother of Jesus taught in James 5:7-8 "Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." Paul taught the Philippians "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory..." And Peter, in 1 Peter 4:7 wrote, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." The issue was whether those believers who had died would miss the return of Christ and the resurrection. A question within the question was, "When will Christians who die be resurrected?" These asking the question clearly believed they would receive new bodies; but what about those already dead? They were given assurance that those in the grave would be resurrected at this time also, in fact, they would be raised first! This is Resurrection Day for all believers! There is great comfort in these verses when a loved one dies. We rightfully grieve, as is natural when someone we love is no longer with us, but we are assured of a reunion: verse 17 says we will be together with those who have died in Christ. Jesus comforted His disciples in the upper room with the words of John 14:1-3: "Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you. And 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." This "coming again" also refers to the Rapture. When Jesus returns for His Bride, the Universal Church, He will bring the departed spirits of those who have died to be reunited with their resurrected bodies. When we die in Christ, our spirits join Christ (to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.) Our spirits in heaven await Resurrection Day, coming with Christ on the day of the Rapture to be reunited with our new bodies. We need to take a step back and examine the other scriptures that speak of the Rapture, and how they place the rapture of the church before the Tribulation Period. The question to be considered is: II. DOES SCRIPTURE TEACH A PRETRIBULATIONAL RAPTURE? Some have dismissed a pretribulational rapture as "wistful thinking," that we only believe this because we are seeking to escape the severe persecution of the Tribulation. Believers always have experienced persecution. I doubt torture and death for those who trust Christ in the last days will be much different than torture and death in any previous age. Our belief in a pretribulational rapture is based on Scripture that clearly teaches this truth. One of the most familiar scripture passages is 1 Corinthians 15:51-52: "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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 shall be changed." While speaking of the resurrection, the participants-"we"-the church-some will be alive and escape the experience of death, as will be true at the Rapture. The trumpet corresponds to the trumpet the Israelites heard summonsing them to gather. There are a number of reasons the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation Period: 1. Very significantly, The doctrine of the Imminency of Christ's Return demands If the Rapture is to occur after the Tribulation or even during it, then the Lord's Return is always at least 3 1/2 or 7 years in the future. The Tribulation has a definite beginning point when a world leader makes a covenant of peace with Israel. "Imminent" means "at any time" and that is what scripture teaches. 2. Christ promises that the Church will be kept "from" the hour of testing: 1 Thessalonians 1:10 We are "to wait for His Son from heaven, who He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come." 1 Thess. 5:9 "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through out Lord Jesus Christ." And very significantly to the church in Philadelphia, Revelation 3:10 "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth." The preposition "from" (Greek 'ek') literally means "out from," not "through" or "in". 3. The Rapture is to be a comfort to the believers, as verse 18 states-comfort and experiencing God's wrath is incompatible. The rapture spoken of in this passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is to be followed by the Day of the Lord spoken of in 5:1-6. 4. And, I find this tremendously significant: From Revelation chapter 6 through 18 there is absolutely no mention of the Church-not a single reference. Rather, the Tribulation is called "Jacob's Trouble" in Jeremiah 30:7; as God speaks to Daniel, He says it is "for your people" in Daniel 9:24 and 12:1. The Tribulation concerns Israel and the non-believing Gentile world, not the Church. In Revelation 7:4-8 the 144,000 Israelite believers, not the church, are the ones designated who will go out and witness to the world, resulting in a great multitude of believers who are martyred and who stand before the throne of heaven. It is not the Church who witnesses to these, but the 144,000 converted Jews. 5. If the rapture and the Second Coming are the same event at the end of the Tribulation, all believers are resurrected and all non-believers perish. There will be no one with mortal bodies to go into the Millennium to repopulate the earth. Also, the judgment of the Gentiles of Matthew 25:31-46 would be unnecessary, as believers would be separated already. Matthew 25 speaks of a judgment by Christ on the Davidic Throne, separating the sheep from the goats, a judgment based on how Gentiles have responded to the witness of the Jews, and their treatment of them. 6. Second Thessalonians 2:6-8 in speaking of the antichrist, "And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. 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. And then that lawless one will be revealed who the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming." I believe this "restrainer" is the Holy Spirit, and the removal of all believers indwelt by the Spirit will remove all restraints allowing Satan's antichrist to take power. 7. Second Thessalonians 2:1-2: "Now we request you brethren with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come." The church was undergoing intense persecution and suffering. Apparently, they had received communication, claiming to be from Paul, that the Day of the Lord had begun. Why would they be shaken unless they had been taught they would escape that Day; that they would be caught up with Christ previous to the Day of the Lord, as Paul had written in his first letter? They were shaken believing that the Rapture had happened and they had missed it! 8. The hope given the disciples in John 14 was for Christ to return to take them to the "Father's House" referring to heaven. The promised hope of Israel is for Messiah Jesus to return to earth to establish His Kingdom. These are two distinctly different "hopes." The hope of the church is to go to heaven, as the Bride to be forever with Christ. The hope of Israel is Christ's return to earth to reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem. 9. There are many distinct differences between the Rapture and Christ's Second Coming: RAPTURE SECOND COMING * Saints meet the Lord in the air Christ returns to Mt. of Olives * Secret to the world Triumphantly with Saints * Living saints taken to heaven Church returns to earth from heaven * Christ gathers the saints Angels will gather the elect * Believers caught up out from among Unbelievers, "tares" gathered out * unbelievers first (Matthew 24:31) * Christ/Saints go to heaven Christ remains to reign on earth * Earth not judged, sin continues Sin judged, righteousness reigns * Before the Day of Wrath After the Tribulation; its climax * Imminent event After definite prophesied events * Only in New Testament In both Old and New Testaments * Concerns only saved of this age Deals with both saved and unsaved * Deliverance for Saints Deliverance for Israel * Satan will not be bound Satan will be bound (Rev. 20:3) In view of these differences, as well as the other reasons, I believe in the pretribulational Rapture of the Church. It could happen at any time, so we should be prepared. The first preparation is to be sure you have been born again. If you are a believer, our priorities in life should be to be doing the will of the Lord, living by Scripture, loving all men, especially those of the household of the faith, leading quiet and productive lives as we wait for the upward call. 2