The Rapture (The Blessed Hope of the Church)

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•  The Lord Jesus promised, “In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. 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 unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). He also said, “Surely I come quickly” (Rev. 22:20).
•  The proper hope of the Christian is to expect the Lord to come at any moment. There are many indications that lead us to conclude that the Lord’s coming is very near at hand. (See Appendix ‘B’ for a lengthy discussion on this point.) As a result, Christians all over the world are looking for the Lord to come. This is the Christian’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). The Lord could come today! “For yet a [very] little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37).
•  The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with a “shout,” with the “voice of the archangel,” and with the “trump of God” (1 Thess. 4:15-18). This is what Christians call, “the Rapture.”
•  The “shout” is to awaken the “dead in Christ.” These sleeping saints are Christians who have been saved during the period when the gospel of God’s grace has gone forth in this world. But having died, their souls and spirits have gone to heaven to be with Christ. We could call them the sleeping portion of the Church. Even though death has claimed their bodies they are still referred to as being “in Christ.” The Apostle Paul uses this expression in his epistles to denote the Christian’s individual place of acceptance before God. To be “in Christ” means to be in Christ’s place of acceptance before God. The very position that Christ now occupies before God is the Christian’s place. Old Testament saints are not said to be “in Christ,” although their souls and spirits are safe with Him in heaven. At the Lord’s coming, these Christians will have their bodies rise out of their graves in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:23). This is part of the first resurrection.1
•  The “voice of the archangel”: this is not a reference to Michael the archangel, but to the Lord’s own voice “with archangelic” power. His voice will call the Old Testament saints out of their graves.2 The Lord had often appeared to His people of old as “the Angel of the Lord,” and now calls them out of their graves with that same voice with which they are familiar. They will rise out of their graves at the same time as the “dead in Christ” rise (Heb. 11:40). Even though they are a different class of righteous persons, they will also partake in the first resurrection (Heb. 12:23–“just men made perfect”).
•  The “trump of God”3 will close up this present dispensation with the snatching away of the remaining believers who are alive on earth at the time of the Lord’s coming. All three classes will be “caught up together” to meet the Lord in the air.
The Distinction Between “The Rapture” And “The Appearing of Christ”
•  It is important to understand the distinction, in Scripture, between the Rapture and the Appearing of Christ. The two events are not to be confused. Although the Lord comes out of heaven on both occasions, the Rapture and the Appearing of Christ are distinctly different.
•  The Rapture is when the Lord comes for His saints (John 14:2-3); the Appearing of Christ is when He comes with His saints which were taken to glory at the Rapture (Jude 14, Zech. 14:5).
•  The Rapture could take place at any moment; but the Appearing of Christ will not occur until about 7 years after the Rapture.
•  At the Rapture, the Lord comes secretly, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:52); at His Appearing, He comes publicly and every eye shall see Him (Rev. 1:7).
•  At the Rapture, He comes to deliver the Church (1 Thess. 1:10); at His Appearing, He comes to deliver Israel (Psa. 6:1-4).
•  At the Rapture, He comes in the air for His Church because they are His heavenly people (1 Thess. 4:15-18); at His Appearing, He comes back to the earth (the Mount of Olives) for Israel because they are His earthly people (Zech. 14:4-5).
•  At the Rapture, the Lord gathers His saints Himself (1 Thess. 4:15-18; 2 Thess. 2:1); but at His Appearing, He sends His angels to gather together the elect of Israel. (Matt. 24:30-31).
•  At the Rapture, He takes the believers out of this world and leaves the wicked behind (John 14:2-3); at His Appearing, the wicked are taken out of the world for judgment and the believers (those who have been converted through the gospel of the Kingdom that will be preached during the Tribulation) are left to enjoy blessing on earth (Matt. 13:41-43; 25:41).
•  At the Rapture, He comes to deliver His saints (the Church) from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10); at His Appearing, He comes to deliver the wrath (Rev. 19:15).
•  At the Rapture, He comes as the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:6, 10); at His Appearing, He comes as the Son of Man (Matt. 24:27-28).
•  At the Rapture, He comes as the “Morning Star” which rises just prior to daybreak (Rev. 22:16); at His Appearing, He comes as the “Sun of Righteousness,” which is daybreak (Mal. 4:2).
•  At the Rapture, He comes without any signs, because the Christian walks by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7); at the Appearing, His coming will be surrounded by signs, because the Jews seek a sign (Luke 21:11, 25-27; 1 Cor. 1:22).
•  The Rapture is never referred to in Scripture as a “thief in the night,” but His Appearing is—5 times (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Matt. 24:43; Rev. 3:3; 16:15). There is the Lord’s coming to His own (His first coming–John 1:10-11; Heb. 10:7), His coming for His own (the Rapture–John 14:2-3; 1 Thess. 4:15-18), and His coming with His own (the Appearing–Jude 14).
•  The bodies of the saints “caught up” to meet the Lord at the Rapture will undergo a tremendous physical change. They will not receive new bodies, but rather, “changed” bodies4 (1 Cor. 15:51-52; Phil. 3:21; Job 14:14). Their bodies will be glorified like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ when He appeared to His disciples in resurrection (Rom. 8:17, 28-30; Phil. 3:21; Luke 24:39).
•  The saints “caught up” at the Rapture will also experience a permanent moral likeness to Christ, as well as having a physical change in their bodies. This moral conformity to Christ in the saints, which is effected by the silent work of the Spirit of God, has already begun while they are still on earth, but then it will be complete (Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Cor. 3:18). Hence, they will all be like Christ physically (Phil. 3:21) and like Christ morally (1 John 3:2). This will be a fixed condition that will continue forever.
•  The fallen sinful nature in the saints thus “caught up,” will be eradicated. This means that they will never sin again (Heb. 11:40; 12:23–“made perfect” refers to the whole person—spirit, soul, and body; Num. 24:20–“Amalek” is typical of the flesh, which is the fallen sinful nature).
•  Children under the age of accountable responsibility for their sins, whose parents (or even one parent) are redeemed, will also rise to meet the Lord in the air at the Rapture (1 Cor. 7:14–“holy”). Unbelievers, however, with their children, will be left behind to enter the Tribulation. As these children grow up in the Tribulation period they will have an opportunity to hear and believe the Gospel of the Kingdom which will be preached in that day.5 If some of these children are killed during the seven years of Tribulation, their souls will be safe with Christ in heaven (Matt. 18:10-11; 2 Sam. 12:23). This will be a mercy, for if they are left to grow up into adulthood, apart from the grace of God working, they would turn out like their unbelieving parents and reject the gospel, and consequently, come under judgment (Gen. 19:15). The world will not be emptied of children at the Rapture. Mr. C. H. Brown, quite rightly, used to say, “God will not rob the cradle of unbelievers at the Rapture.” He leaves their families intact.6
•  The Spirit of God will also be taken out of the earth in the present capacity in which He is now functioning (2 Thess. 2:6-7).7 Presently, He abides on earth in the Church; it is His dwelling place (1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:22). The Lord promised that the Spirit would never leave the Church once He had taken up His abode in it (Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 12:13; John 14:16). When the Church is called to glory, then He too will rise out of this world never to dwell in it again. This does not mean that the Spirit will cease to work on earth, but thereafter, He will work in the world from heaven, as He did in Old Testament times. He will continue to work in a diversity of actions (Rev. 1:4), such as quickening souls, etc.
•  From that time forward, the Bridegroom (Christ), the Bride (the Church), and the friends of the Bridegroom (Old Testament saints, etc.) will be together forever (1 Thess. 4:17; Heb. 11:40).
He and I in that bright glory,
One deep joy shall share,
Mine to be forever with Him,
His that I am there.
•  The Church will not go through the Tribulation. It will be taken to glory at the Rapture before the Tribulation period begins. The Lord said, “I will keep thee out of the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole world” (Rev 3:10). See Appendix ‘C’ for further discussion on this point.
•  All of the above points will take place “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:51-56).
•  No man knows “the day, nor the hour” of the Lord’s coming—the Rapture (Matt. 25:13).8
 
1. All of the dead will not rise simultaneously. There are two resurrections (John 5:29; Acts 24:15). The “first resurrection” (Rev. 20:4-6), called the “resurrection of life” (John 5:29) and the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14) is a resurrection of righteous persons only—those who have died in faith. This resurrection is referred to as being from “among the dead” (Matt. 17:9; Phil. 3:11; Col. 1:18), because it is a selective thing, in that the righteous are taken out from among the wicked. The first resurrection takes place in three phases: firstly, “Christ the first-fruits” (1 Cor. 15:23; Matt. 28:1-8), then, “they which are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 4:15-18), which is the phase referred to in our text; then lastly, the final phase of the first resurrection will take place at the end of the seven-year Tribulation (Rev. 20:4). This last group involves those who will turn to God during the Tribulation period and are martyred (Rev. 6:9-11; 15:2). Those who partake in the first resurrection will enjoy a heavenly portion with Christ and will reign with Him over the earth (2 Cor. 5:1). The second resurrection, called the “resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29) and the “resurrection of the unjust” (Acts 24:15), is a resurrection of wicked persons who have died in their sins. They will be raised after the 1000-year reign (Millennium) of Christ (Rev. 20:7, 11-15). At that time, they will stand before the “great white throne,” and will receive their sentence of judgment. All that partake in this second resurrection, which is the rest of the dead, will be cast into the lake of fire forever.
2. Geo. Davison, “Precious Things,” vol. 4, p. 142; L. M. Grant, “First and Second Thessalonians,” p. 29; W. Macdonald, “Believer’s Bible Commentary,” p. 2038; H. A. Ironside, “Thessalonians,” p. 50.
3. The “trump of God,” here, is not to be confused with the last of the seven trumpets in Revelation 11:15-18, which will be sounded 7 years later at the end of the Tribulation period, when Christ will come out of heaven again (the appearing of Christ) to take possession of the kingdoms of this world. Nor should this be confused with the trumpet blast referred to in Matthew 24:30-31 and Isaiah 27:13, which refers to the re-gathering of Israel after Christ’s Appearing.
4. We are not aware of any Bible verse that says the saints receive new bodies. To say that the saints receive new bodies actually denies resurrection! If we teach that the saints will get new bodies at the Rapture, then we are implying that the bodies they once lived in will not rise from the dead. The truth is that the very same bodies the saints lived in while on earth will be raised. Albeit, they are not raised in the same fallen condition they once were in, but are “raised incorruptible” (1 Cor. 15:53-54). Their bodies will be glorified then. The living saints on earth at the time of the Rapture will also have their bodies changed and glorified at that time.
5. The Gospel of the Kingdom is not to be confused with the Gospel of the Grace of God (Acts 20:24), which Christians are preaching today. The Gospel of the Grace of God promises justification through faith in Christ and a home with Him in heaven for eternity. The Gospel of the Kingdom declares the good news of the coming King who will establish His kingdom on earth in power according to the Old Testament prophecies. Those who believe this gospel and are preserved from martyrdom in the Great Tribulation, will go into the kingdom to share in its blessings on earth. It is the same gospel preached before Pentecost by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:1-2), the Lord Jesus Christ, the King (Matt. 4:17), and His disciples (Matt. 10:7).
6. The Old Testament types of the judgment of the world also indicate this. At the time of the flood, the children of unbelievers were not taken out before the flood came, as was the case with Noah and his family. In the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, the unbeliever’s infants were not taken out before the fire and brimstone burnt up those cities, as was Lot’s family.
7. Some may ask the question, “How do we know when the Spirit will be taken out of the way?” We believe it is evident by the following passages that it is at the Rapture. The Lord promised His disciples on the night of His betrayal that when the Spirit of God came to take up his abode in them (Acts 2), it would be “forever” (John 14:16-17). When the Church is called out of this world at the Rapture, the Spirit of God will also go, because the Lord said that He (the Spirit) would never leave them. This can be seen in the book of Revelation. In the first three chapters, when the Church is viewed as on earth, the Spirit is seen over and over speaking to the Church. But after chapter 4:1-2, when the Church is viewed as taken out of the world to heaven, the Spirit is not mentioned again until chapters 14:13 and 22:17, which refer to a time after the Tribulation. Also, compare chapters 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22, with chapter 13:9. Notice the marked absence of the expression, “What the Spirit saith unto the churches” in chapter 13:9, when the Tribulation will be upon the earth. Again, this is seen typically in Genesis 24 where a bride (a type of the Church) is sought for Isaac (a type of Christ) by the servant (a type of the Spirit of God). Once the bride had been secured by the servant, he took her all the way home to Isaac who was waiting for her. Just as the servant went home with the bride, so will the Holy Spirit go home to reside in heaven with the Church when the Lord comes for the Church.
8. Many Christians use Matthew 24:36 to teach that no man knows when the Rapture will take place. However, that verse is not speaking of the Rapture, but rather, of the Appearing of Christ. It is true that no man knows when the Rapture will occur; the right verse to use to teach that is Matthew 25:13—which has to do with the coming of the Bridegroom.