The Rapture
The Sudden Removal of the Church
(Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58)
Preface
In our lifetime we have
witnessed the Church restoration movement; the rise of the Jesus People; the
new morality; the Charismatic Movement; the Self-Esteem emphasis; and now the
Reconstructionists, the Dominion Now and the Kingdom NOW teaching. With
all of these things combined there has, over the years, been forced upon the
Church:
4 A new kind of morality
4 A new kind of theology
4 A new kind of music
4 A new form of worship
4 A new form of discipleship
4 A strange Angelology
4 A new Ecclesiology and
4 Much that is new in Eschatology
In our opinion, bundled
together these movements have succeeded in doing one major thing. Each
has turned the eyes of the Church away from looking for the Coming of the Lord,
and especially has there been a turning away from a major aspect of the
Coming-- the Rapture of the Church. Whereas in times past it was
held as a major doctrine amongst us, it is now ignored or pushed aside as of
little importance or consequence. For these reasons, we write this paper.
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.
1 Corinthians
15:51-58
(51) Behold, I shew
you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
(52) In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
(53) For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on
immortality.
(54) So when this
corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory.
(55) O death, where
[is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?
(56) The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength
of sin [is] the law.
(57) But thanks [be]
to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(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.
1. THE RAPTURE IS A SURE EVENT.
Paul writes in 1
Thessalonians 4:15, "This we say unto you by the Word of the
Lord." This is not the word of an angel. This is not the word
of man. This is not the word of Paul. This is the Word of the Lord,
or it is nothing. This is the Word of the Lord or it is nonsense.
If it is not the Word of the Lord, cross it out! Reject it! Forget
it! But look again at the text: "This we say unto you by the
Word of the Lord." Think about that! If you cannot trust that,
then what can you trust? If you cannot believe that, what can you believe?
If you cannot accept that, then what can you accept? What doctrine can
have or could have more authority than "The Word of the
Lord"? Here is a plan revealed. Here is a Divine
blueprint. Here is teaching to be studied. To be believed or not
believed. To be accepted or rejected. Here is a Bible doctrine that
in no way can be changed or altered. Nor can it be removed from
Scripture. What we are about to read from Scripture is the real
thing. It is more sure than that you will be alive tomorrow. The
world cannot receive this doctrine. To the world it is a laughing
matter.
The reaction is best
illustrated by the action of the young men, who when Elijah was removed from
earth in a very unusual way, mocked Elisha by saying, "Go up, thou bald-head,
go up.” Their words and their deeds were the result of their unbelief,
and that was sad. But in our day, not only do unbelievers scoff,
believers also ridicule the doctrine of the Rapture.
But hope is faith that can
wait and one of these days we're going to be missing, because the Rapture is a
SURE event We invite you to observe the language of 1 Thessalonians
4:16,17. "The Lord Himself SHALL descend from Heaven". "The dead
in Christ SHALL rise..." "Then we which are alive and remain
SHALL be caught up." "And so SHALL we ever be with the Lord.”
Again notice 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, "We SHALL NOT all die--".
"We SHALL all be changed." "The trumpet SHALL sound."
"The dead SHALL be raised.” "We SHALL be changed".
"So when this corruptible SHALL HAVE put on incorruption, and this mortal
SHALL HAVE put on immortality, then SHALL be brought to pass the
saying..." Philippians 3:20,21states, "We look for the
Saviour--who SHALL change our vile body.” In 1 John 3:2, we read,
"It doth not yet appear what we SHALL be but we know when He SHALL appear,
we SHALL be like Him, for we SHALL see Him as He is.” Finally, in Colossians
3:4, "When Christ, who is our life SHALL appear, then SHALL ye also appear
with Him in glory.” Could language be more positive? Could it be
more dogmatic? There is no question the Bible does present the doctrine of
the Rapture as a SURE Event.
Today, there seems to be a
new assault against this doctrine. There was more preaching about the
Rapture forty or fifty years ago than there is today. I have met
believers who are antagonistic towards this doctrine. One said, "It is
a foolish Scofield doctrine.” For such and to such, we say:
"The Bible teaches that the day will surely come when the whole Church
will be removed from earth to Heaven at once, and although this is
controversial to us, it is a mysterious, miraculous and marvelous
doctrine".
2. THE RAPTURE WILL BE A SUDDEN EVENT.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
15:51-52, "We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye..." We understand those words to describe
the shortest measurement of time that is possible. Not an eye
"wink" but an eye "twink"! When Christ was born, Luke
2:13 states, "That SUDDENLY there was a multitude of the heavenly
hosts saying, ‘Glory to God’." It was a sudden event. In Acts
2:2, in the Upper room, "SUDDENLY there came a sound from
Heaven." These two events illustrate what God has planned to do at
the moment of the Rapture. It will be sudden. This, too, is stated
three times in the last chapter of the Bible.
Revelation 22:7, 12, 20, "Behold, I come quickly.” That is,
SUDDENLY.
Of course, we must always
expect that there will be those who will "mock" as they did when Paul
talked about the Resurrection on Mars Hill. Nevertheless, the Rapture is
a SURE event and it will also be a SUDDEN event.
3. THE RAPTURE WILL BE A GREAT SAVING EVENT.
The greatest news-story ever
proclaimed was on the night of Christ's birth, when the Angel declared:
"Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour…."
Some years after that event,
the good news of the Rapture was revealed to Paul. And in Romans 13:11,
Paul calls it "our salvation".
Romans 13:11
"Now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed."
(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.
For when the Rapture occurs,
we shall be:
4 Saved or delivered from the bondage of our corruption
4 Saved from Satan's presence
4 Saved from this world of sin
4 Saved from its sorrow
4 Saved from sickness
4 Saved from sighing
4 Saved from suffering
4 Saved from death and from dying.
What a salvation! What
a deliverance that day will bring!
I Thessalonians 5:8-11
(8) But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting
on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
(9) For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
(10) Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him.
(11) Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify
one another, even as also ye do.
Romans 5:9
(9) Much more then, being now justified by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him.
In addition to the above
stated facts, I Thessalonians 5:8-11 and Romans 5:9 tell us that, at that day
of Rapture, we shall also be saved from wrath by Christ Himself.
4. THE RAPTURE WILL BE A SEPARATING EVENT.
First, it will remove the
bodies of the saved from the bodies of the unsaved in all of the world's burial
places. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 states plainly, "The dead in
Christ shall rise first.” 1 Corinthians
It is interesting to note
that in John 11:43 when Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus came out of the
tomb.
In Matthew 27:46-52, Jesus
cried with a loud voice and the graves were opened and many (not all) of the
dead arose.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:16,
Jesus is going to shout again and when He does all the graves of the dead IN
CHRIST will open.
What a separating event that
will be!
John Phillips has
written: "It is no more incredible that we should live again than
that we should live at all. If God can bring forth this body from a womb,
He can certainly bring forth a body from the tomb". (John Phillips, page
228)
We believe that the Rapture
will also remove all little children and all who are not mentally accountable
from earth. Little children and those unaccountable have not rejected
Christ therefore at the Rapture they will be taken. Imagine mothers about
to have an abortion and before they do, their baby is snatched away! Then
visualize a childless world. After Noah's flood it was a childless world,
for only eight adults remained. As it was, so shall it be.
And it seems right that the
Tribulation will be ushered in upon a childless world.
The Rapture will also
separate all true believers from worldliness, from weariness, from wickedness,
from wantonness and from all unbelievers.
5. FINALLY, THE RAPTURE WILL BE A SATISFYING EVENT.
We will then be "with
the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). As it was good for Peter to be with the
glorified Christ on the mount (Matthew 17:4), likewise it will be good for us
to be with Him forever. We will give up this earthly (2 Corinthians 5:1),
this vile (Philippians 3:21) body - a body that we must now mortify (Colossians
3:5) and keep under (1 Corinthians 9:27). The body in which we now
groan (Romans 8:21-23) will be exchanged for another body, a body that
will be heavenly, spiritual and immortal (1 Corinthians 15:53).
David wrote: "I shall
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness" (Psalm 17:15). He did
not expect death to bring full satisfaction. Yes, the Rapture is
SURE. It will be SUDDEN. It will be SAVING. It will be
SEPARATING and it will be SATISFYING.
Meanwhile, we occupy
“till He come” (Luke 19:23) and we hold fast “till He come” (Revelation
2:25) and we follow Him “till He come” (John 21:23).
While we occupy, wait and follow, we also pray: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).