What About The Rapture?
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Last week, I was approached by someone wanting to know that very question: When does the Rapture take place? Will the church go through these judgments and Final Tribulation on the world?
How should we understand this?
First lets define the word Rapture
Rapture- The seizing, or catching up, or snatching away of living believers at “The Lord’s Coming” to meet Him in the air.
So will the church go through the Tribulation that we are about to study in in weeks ahead? I don’t believe so. Now to be sure, there is nothing in the book of Revelation about the rapture AT ALL. In other words, you could preach through the whole book of Revelation and never see a mention of the rapture. But there are other passages that do teach about the Rapture, so it becomes a matter of WHEN not if.
I want to give you three argument to believe the Rapture happens before the Tribulation starts.
An Argument For the Rapture
An Argument For the Rapture
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.
This argument does NOT set the time of the rapture, but shows the rapture as a different event that the 2nd coming where Jesus puts his feet on the earth.
Note: Where we meet the Lord- IN THE AIR.
Now alot of people have called this a “secret” rapture. But its no secret, it’s revealed in these verses.
A lot of people call this the u-turn theory....
Note in verse 17 the phrase “Caught up”. Almost every translation translates the word harpadzo as caught up. A few will say snatched away. It is a verb that implies a forceful and quick removal. It the same word Paul used in 2 Corinthians when he talks about his vision of heaven. He was “caught up” into the 3rd heaven. Paul also tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that this “snatching away” will lead to change into our glorified bodies in the “twinkling of an eye.”
3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.
Compare these previous passages with
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness.
12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on His head. He had a name written that no one knows except Himself.
13 He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is the Word of God.
14 The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen.
15 A sharp sword came from His mouth, so that He might strike the nations with it. He will shepherd them with an iron scepter. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty.
4 On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south.
An Argument From Silence
An Argument From Silence
1 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
An argument from silence is usually considered a weak argument. It argues a point based on the absence of something.
This argument is that the church is heavily mentioned in chapters 2-3 of Revelation and then never mentioned again from chapter 4 and following. The emphasis shifts from the church to the nation of Israel.
The conclusion is that the church must not be a part of Tribulation.
I personally believe this is true, but if this is all we had to stand on, our argument would not be a strong one.
An Argument for Escaping Wrath
An Argument for Escaping Wrath
There are several views on the rapture.. There are some who believe the church will go through the Tribulation. There are those who think the church will be raptured just before the half way point of the 3.5 years, and some who think just after the halfway point. Why so many views? It hasn’t happened yet. All these groups believe that we are saved by the shed blood of Jesus and we will end up in heaven together.
9 Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.
10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead —Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Because you have kept My command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come over the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Obviously, the big part of being saved from wrath has to do with not going to Hell, but I believe it also keeps us from the 7 year tribulation to come.
Addressing other arguments:
What if you’re wrong and the church does go through the Tribulation? Then Lord help me to be faithful to you. The Book if Revelation is unique in the sense that it shows us both what will happen on earth and what is happening in heaven. I have every confidence that God is in control.
I’ll just wait to see if the church disappears, and the world falls apart, and if you are right , I’ll give my life to Jesus then. I do believe there will be many people who come to faith in Jesus during the Tribulation and I’ll show you why in the weeks to come, but it won’t be easy. Those folks will die by the millions for their faith. I promise you, it will never be easier to trust Christ as your savior, to believe the Gospel and be saved than it is RIGHT NOW!