The Rapture
Galatians
1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus
Christ,
Galatians
1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
The word “rapture” does not show up in your bible. However, the clear teaching concerning the event we call the rapture certainly is. Many people in religion today deny the truth of the rapture. Others try to put it in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
The reason for
this is that many in religion today do not realize that the event we call the
rapture is something which was a mystery and was only revealed to Paul. People
try to read the rapture into passages such as Matthew 24, or the book of
Revelation. That’s a mistake, because both Matthew 24 and the book of
Revelation are about wrath, not rapture!
Two of the most
unmistakable passages concerning the rapture of the church written by the
apostle Paul are in 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians. In 1 Corinthians, Paul
is addressing the issue of the resurrection of the dead. It seems that some
people in
1 Corinthians
15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
1 Corinthians
15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed,
Take particular notice of verses 50 and 51. You will see that Paul is saying “behold I show you a mystery.” When he talks about “a mystery” he is referring to something which was not made known to other people in other times, before the Lord revealed it to Paul. There is also a clear description of the “catching up” or the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians. Notice that at the end of the passage Paul says to “comfort one another with these words.” It wouldn’t be much comfort for those people to think they were going to have to go through the tribulation first would it?
1 Thessalonians
4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Thessalonians 4:17 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.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Paul refers to,
or describes, the rapture numerous times, over fifty times, in his 13 books,
Romans through Philemon. If your friends don’t like the word “rapture” just say
“catch-up.” Whatever you call it, the fact is, it’s a fact!
