The Thessalonian
Epistles
Partial Rapture?
Lesson X
Written: May 20, 2004
In
this paper it will be our purpose to consider the meaning of the word Rapture,
who will be taken in the Rapture and why will certain people be taken up in
the Rapture?
This
material is based on lessons we were taught in 1933.
What is the Rapture?
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
(13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope.
(14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
(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.
(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:
(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.
(18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
By
the word rapture we mean the event described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. It will be the sudden removal of the Church
from earth to Heaven. In my younger days
people were teaching “you will miss the rapture if you are not fit.” Along with this teaching came the idea that
the rapture will be a reward for good behaviour! But rapture is not a reward, it is part and
parcel of our salvation, a salvation by grace and not merit. People who will be caught-up in the rapture
are all in themselves totally bankrupt.
They are all going up on the ground of the merits of Christ alone. And all are going up together, not in
ranks. (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
1 Corinthians 15:51
(51) Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
To
the Corinthians Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:51, “We shall all
be changed.”
Mark
the word “all.”
The
Corinthians were not over-comers, if anything, they were under-comers. Yet, according to Paul they are all
going to be raptured.
Paul seeks to correct the Corinthians but their correction was not the
ground of their rapture. Their
determining to do better, their purposing to be better was not the ground of
their rapture.
1 Corinthians 1:8- 9
(8) Who shall also confirm you unto the end, [that ye may
be] blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(9) God [is] faithful, by whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58
(58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Because
God is faithful and God confirms unto the end, they were taught to look for rapture. Because of the certainty of rapture they were
exhorted “to be steadfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord…” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Philippians 3:21
(21) Who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Philippians
3:21 teaches that it is Christ who will re-fashion us. Remember, God does not ask us to make
ourselves presentable in Heaven. Heaven
is gained by grace alone.
1 Thessalonians 5:5
(5) Ye are all the children of light, and the children of
the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Writing
to the Thessalonians, in 1 Thessalonians 5:5 Paul writes, “Ye are all
the children of light.” Again, note the
word “all.” All children of the light both carnal and spiritual believers. There is no need and no place for any
believer to worry about missing the rapture.
Saints
should examine the work of Christ. God
left not one sin on Christians. He
provided a Saviour to carry every one of them. The hymn writer expressed it well:
“My
sin-oh the bliss of this glorious thought—My sin—not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, O
my soul.”
How
saved are we?
How
safe are we?
As
safe as He who saves us.
Christ
did not only make salvation possible, He made it sure to the one who
believes.
We
are safe as He is, because He the arch-criminal of the universe had all sin
placed on Him. He was not personally a
sinner but, by transfer, all sin was placed on Him.
And
that Great sinner is safe!
Own His title “Saviour” and give Him
praise.
Do
you hear the angels say, “Unto you is born a Saviour,
Jesus Christ the Lord”?
And
now, are you trying to save yourself?
You started too late!
Are
you trusting Jesus and yourself, or Jesus alone?
If
salvation is not by works, how much then do your works count in the matter of
your salvation?
Colossians 3:3-5
(3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God.
(4) When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with him in glory.
(5) Mortify therefore your members which are upon the
earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry:
When
God wanted to put our life in a positively safe place, he “hid it in Christ in
God” (Colossians 3:3). Can your actions
do away with that position? Never! The Lord is Lord of our future and at last we
are going to find ourselves in a large upper-room with Him.
The
exhortations to godliness do not precede the truth concerning the rapture but,
having assured the saints that “when Christ who is our life shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Then, and not until then, are we exhorted to
mortify the deeds of the body (Colossians 3:5).
You do not mortify in order to prepare for the rapture, you mortify
because you will be raptured.
Who will be Raptured?
In
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, there are only two kinds:
(1) The dead in Christ, and
(2) The living in Christ.
Now
if the dead in Christ are safe, why not the living? If the partial rapture theory is correct, we
cannot be sure that any saint who has died has gone to Heaven.
For
all
the saints to come back with Christ, all must be translated.
2 Corinthians 5:10
(10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according
to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.
For
all
to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, all must be raptured (2 Corinthians
5:10). You will not be raptured because of what you have done, you will only be raptured because of what Christ has done.
Romans 3:22
(22) Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no
difference:
Ephesians 5:27
(27) That he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy and without blemish.
In
many circles of fellowship people are being taught that the Lord is preparing
His Church so He can come back for “a Church without spot or wrinkle.” Some insert the word “bride” for the word
“Church.” This idea of preparing the
Bride is the result of a short view of the doctrine of grace. If the blood of Christ and the righteousness
of God imputed to the believer (Romans
He
is going to present the Church to Himself, “without spot or wrinkle”
(Ephesians 5:27). What He sees and what
we see are two different things!
The
partial rapture theory and the preparing of the bride theory are the most
subtle forms of heresy. Both are a
denial of the grace of God in salvation.
These theories are not a blessed hope.
They are heresies because they reverse the order of grace.
These
doctrines teach confidence in the flesh.
And Paul tells us we are to have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians
3:3).
Philippians 3:3
(3) For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the
spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
These
doctrines fail to recognize the intimate relationship existing between the Head
and all the members of the body. The
order of grace is to first assure of rapture and then exhort us to walk
worthy. Partial-rapture and preparing
the bride, urges us to walk worthy in order that we may attain rapture.
Colossians 2:10
(10) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all
principality and power:
Colossians
2:10 teaches, “ye are complete in Christ” -
not will be - but are.
Romans 13:11
(11) And that, knowing the time, that now [it is] high
time to awake out of sleep; for now [is] our salvation nearer than when we
believed.
Romans
13:11 states that “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”
Our
rapture includes the redemption of our bodies.
It is the future, final aspect of our so great salvation.
Why will Saints be taken by
Rapture?
First
of all, because they are those who are being kept by Him and for Him (1 Peter
1:3-5).
1 Peter 1:3-5
(3) Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
(4) To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
(5) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
I
can’t keep my salvation but He won’t let me lose it!
1 John 3:2
(2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:2 “…it doth not yet
appear what we shall be…for we shall be like Him….” Only when we are like
Him will our salvation be completed.
Romans 8:29-30
(29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to
be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren.
(30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them
he also glorified.
Romans 8:29-30 teach us that we are
predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.
John 14:1-4
(1) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God,
believe also in me.
(2) 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.
(3) 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.
(4) And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
John 14:1-4 The Church, all of it,
will be snatched away. It will not be
the result of any human effort, but a total work by the Lord Himself.
1 Peter 3:18
(18) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit:
1 Peter 3:18 Our Rapture does not
depend on our suffering, but on His suffering for us. Christ died for what we are as well as for
what we do. Judgment is passed for the
believer on the same ground as that of Christ who will never suffer for sin
again.
Hebrews 10:10
(10) By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].
Hebrews 10:10 He suffered once for
all and once forever. There is no power
on earth or in hell that can bring the believer into condemnation. On that basis alone we will all
be raptured.
Colossians 1:27
(27) To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of
the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory:
Because
of our security in Christ we are sure of rapture.
“Christ
in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
When we preach security we mean that we are not only saved but
safe. Therefore our assurance of rapture
and Heaven rests on declared facts not on our feelings. We do not promise salvation “if” we do
certain things. We preach a full
salvation because assurance of salvation brings with it assurance of rapture. Assurance rests on stated facts not feelings,
on faith not works.
When
we are grounded in grace we will be assured of our rapture.
Partial
rapture and preparing the bride by the bride is not the language of grace.
Revelation 1:5-6
(5) And from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness,
[and] the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
(6) And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father; to him [be] glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
L.O.
Pritchard