In looking at the end-time events that lead up to the Eternal State, the Rapture is the first major happening that should take place. And, as we will see later in this lesson, there are two parts to the rapture: those who have died in Christ will be resurrected, then those in Christ who are alive at the time will be taken up, all to be with Christ. So, we will look at these four things regarding this incredible event. First, what is the Rapture? Second, when will it take place? Third, why does it take place? Then, how does it take place?
I. What is the Rapture? In I Thessalonians 4:13-18 we see a description of what is called the “rapture”, though that specific word is not used in Scripture. We will look at this passage in more detail later in part IV, but for now we’re interested in a particular word used in verse 17. In the KJV you will see the words “shall be caught up”, a translation of the word harpazo. The literal meaning of this word is generally given as, “to strip, spoil or snatch”. In most expository dictionaries it is contrasted with the word klepto, which indicates something done in secret. Harpazo describes something done openly. In the context of I Thessalonians 4 Paul is describing the open, obvious “snatching away” of those in Christ from the earth. This is what has come over time to be known as the rapture.
When you imagine yourself in the midst of this event, it puts into perspective the definition of “rapture” found in the dictionary. Verse 16 of the passage above tells us that Christ Himself will come from heaven with a “shout” (keleusma, a command, in context of what is being described here, probably a command for the dead in Christ to rise, compare this to John 11:23-26, 43); with the “voice” of an archangel speaking (remember, this is an event that is done openly for all to see and hear); and the “trump” of God (the only other example of the trumpet of God is found in Exodus 20:18-19 where the sound shook the earth and terrified the people who heard it). Putting the sights and sounds of this event together with the fact that believers, both dead and alive, are “changed” (again, we’ll look at this later in part IV) you can understand Webster’s definition of rapture as “spiritual ecstasy”. And, as we will see in coming lessons, it will be ecstasy for those caught up to be with the Lord, but calamity for many of those left behind.
II. When is the Rapture? Of this question there are several opinions; however, I will not bother explaining these, since only one makes sense. And in this I will try to be brief. The key is found in Revelation 4:1 and the phrase meta tauta, which means “after these things”. The verse reads something like this: “After these things I looked and saw a door open in heaven. And the first voice I heard was like a trumpet calling to me, saying, Come up here and I will show you what must happen after these things. So, now we must determine the meaning of “after these things”.
When you look at the Book of Revelation it is broken down into four parts: Christ reveals Himself to John in chapter 1; the description of the condition of the churches (and the predicted corruption of “Christianity”) in chapters 2 and 3; the future events leading up to and including the tribulation, the millennium and the eternal state in chapters 4 through 22:5; and the conclusion of the book in 22:6-21. The words “church” and “churches” are found 19 times in chapters 1-3, but not once in chapters 4 through 22:5. Why? Because the events described do not involve the church, it has been taken from the earth. Therefore, the phrase “after these things” in 4:1 refers to after the churches. There are two main characters described in the events of Revelation 4:1 through 22:5, Israel and the enemies of Israel. The church is not part of either of these. The “elders” in Revelation are raptured saints and are always seen in heaven, and only mentioned after 4:1.
In describing the events of the tribulation period in Luke 21, Jesus says there will be those who will be counted worthy to escape “all these things”. Who could He be talking about, if not the church. And, let’s be clear, the church is not the Catholics, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the charismatics or any other religious institution or group, but those who are of the ekklesia, the “called out” ones, true believers who have a real relationship with God based on their experiences with Him and their submission to His plan and purpose, instead of the religious pretense based on activities, traditions and rituals.
A similar promise is found in I Thessalonians 5:1-11 where the context is the tribulation period, and it is said in verses 9-11 that God has not appointed the saints to this “wrath”, but to obtain deliverance through Christ so they could live with Him. Verse 11 says we should comfort one another with these words. How could we comfort one another if we had to look forward to future tribulation and the awful destruction of that time? God’s attitude towards His ekklesia is always one of love, mercy, goodness and faithfulness.
III. Why does the Rapture take place? For the answer to this we must look at II Thessalonians 2:7. “For this mystery of lawlessness (the widespread rebellion against God’s authority) is already at work in the world, but it will be restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way.” The 2nd chapter of II Thessalonians is talking about the rapture (verses 1-2) and the coming of antichrist (verses 3-4). Then Paul clearly says that something is restraining the antichrist from being revealed (verse 6) and that the antichrist cannot come until “he” is taken out of the way (verse 7). So, we must determine who “he” is.
There are two supposed possibilities: the Holy Spirit or the church. It cannot be the Holy Spirit, as Scripture never indicates that the Holy Spirit will ever be taken from the earth (John 14:16). Acts 2:16-21 repeats the prediction of Joel 2:28-32 that during the tribulation period the Holy Spirit will be active on the earth and many will come to Christ. Revelation 6:9-11 describes those who are martyred during the tribulation period for their belief in Christ.
Can the “he” of II Thessalonians 2:7 be the church? Some wrongly assume it cannot be because they mistakenly believe the church is referred to in Scripture as the bride of Christ, that the church is called a virgin and that the church is referred to by the use of feminine pronouns. However, look as long as you like and you will not find in the Scriptures one example of the church being referred to with feminine pronouns. And a woman never symbolizes the church. Ephesians 2:15 and 4:13 refers to the church as a man. The church is never called the bride of Christ. Revelation 21:9-10 clearly tells us the bride of Christ is the city that comes from heaven, the New Jerusalem. And, the church is never called a virgin. This is based on a misunderstanding of II Corinthians 11:2, where Paul states that he was jealous over his own converts because he wanted to present them to Christ like a chaste virgin is presented to her husband. Of course, his meaning here is clear, he didn’t want them to be soiled or defiled by their participation in the world’s false religions.
The church is called the “body of Christ” in Ephesians 1:22-23, hardly a feminine reference. In fact, the only place found in Scripture where this symbolism could even be considered is antithetical; the world’s false, religious institutions (including those called “Christian”) are called “the great whore”, and their destruction is described in Revelation 17. All things considered, it would be safe to conclude that the true church is masculine and the man-made religions of the world, those institutions that are never described in Scripture and that God will eventually destroy, are feminine.
IV. How does the Rapture take place? Now we’ll look at the literal description of the rapture and how it is described in two major passages, I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and I Corinthians 15:51-54.
In the first passage found in I Thessalonians Paul talks about the rapture in verses 13-18. For our discussion we want to look at the last part of verse 16 and then verse 17. This gives us the order of events in the rapture. We’ve already talked about the Lord descending from heaven, the shout or command, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet blast earlier in part I. Then at the end of verse 16 Paul says, “the dead in Christ shall rise first”. In verse 15 he has already said that those who are alive in Christ at this time will not “precede” (the KJV says “prevent”) or “go before” those who “are asleep”. And in verse 17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” So, this gives us the order of events, but what I have always found especially exciting about this verse is the last phrase, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”.
Now we can turn our attention to I Corinthians 15 (you should read verses 35-58). To keep this somewhat brief, we’ll limit ourselves to verse 53 where Paul talks about “change”. Here, he describes this change in two ways: from corruptible to incorruptible (some translations use perishable to imperishable) and mortal to immortality. The word translated “corruptible” is from phthartos, and means, “subject to decay”. This always carries with it the idea of eventual destruction, or in this case, death. Of course then, “incorruptible” is the opposite. Aphtharsia begins with the negative article a, and means, “incapable of decay”. This is the word that is generally used to describe the resurrection body. And it would be appropriate to mention here the principle of resurrection: what is resurrected is always better than what had died. The new is always better than the old, because the new is like God (read the article “Enemies of the Cross” on the website for a more complete explanation).
Then, we have the contrast of mortal and immortality. The “mortal” of verse 53 is thnetos, and means, “subject to death”. This word always describes the irreversible process of dying. This is contrasted with “immortality” translated from the word athanatos, again beginning with the negative article a, and means, “incapable of death”. In I Timothy 6:16 this word is used to describe the nature or life of God. It is this deathlessness that He has promised and this life He has authorized His Son to give (John 5:26-29).
And, I can’t talk about change without going into a little more detail about just what this change involves. Earlier in I Corinthians 15:44 Paul says there are two kinds of bodies: one is natural (psuchikos, led by earthly passions, sensual, depraved, constantly leading the battle against the spirit as explained by Paul in Romans 7:14-25); the other is spiritual (pneumatikos, as defined in the verse, the spiritual body is the result of resurrection). To see what the spiritual body is like, read the article “The Shape of God”. As stated earlier, believers will be given a (spiritual) body that is like Christ’s resurrection body (Philippians 3:21).
I’ll wrap this up by listing some purposes for the rapture, some obvious, maybe some not so obvious.