THE
SECOND COMING AND THE CHURCH
THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH
- Passages Dealing with this Event
caught up. “Caught up” means “raptured” (Greek harpazo; the same word is used in 2 Cor. 12:2,4; Acts 8:39 and Revelation 12:5). The English word “rapture” comes from the Latin raptus, meaning “seized” or “carried away.” This verse, of course, is the classic defining passage on the great doctrine of the “rapture of the saints,” caught out of this world to be forever with the Lord.
together with them. The dead in Christ will first be resurrected, their bodies once again serving as the temples of their souls and spirits, but made immortal (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-54). Then those saints living at the time (quite possibly many in this present generation) will likewise receive immortal, glorified bodies like that of the Lord Jesus Himself (1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:20,21), and be caught up “together with them.” Then both living and dead believers, all reunited in the rapture, will together meet the Lord in the air.
1 Thess. 1:10 "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." Because of Christ's propitiation and atonement, we shall not enter into the wrath of God in the tribulation period. Those who say we shall enter into that week are those who have little or no understanding of propitiation and atonement. That is why we have a High-priest who faithfully prays for us with personal constant intercession even though we sin.
1 Thess. 5:1-9 "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 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. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"
Paul's careful alternation of the pronouns "those" and "you" throughout this passage is sufficient to show that he never conceived of the Church, the body of Christ, as remaining on earth during the time of wrath in the Day of the Lord. Therefore pre-tribulational rapture.
2 Thess. 2:1 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,"
The righteous judgment of God spoken of in 2 Thess. 1:5 begins to unfold. This verse is looking forward to the day of the Lord at the consummation of the present age to the parousia or the presence of Christ and especially to the apocalypse aspect of it in which the Man of Sin having also been revealed should be slain. Here he speaks of the parousia or the gathering together to Him.
1 Cor. 15:50-57 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 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. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Apostle Paul not only sees this inheritance of the Kingdom in future time but definitely excludes it from the present age by placing it after the resurrection and rapture of the Church because flesh and blood cannot inherit it.
The problem for men who choose to serve the Son of Man in an everlasting Kingdom is that they die. They have need of a change. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the eternal kingdom, for one needs an imperishable body to serve without interruption.
Flesh and blood cannot inherit (i.e. to become a ruler in it) this Kingdom. Just as it is with the Head, the Mighty One, that the covenant and promises demanded an immortal Ruler, so it is with His members, the body. As King He is to be manifested in His gloried form-a David's Son possessing all that is requisite to fulfil the Word; so also the saints, as co-heirs, kings and priests must be in their glorified condition before they receive the Kingdom. Hence, while in the church, in flesh and blood, they only await the promises---hope and pray for their realization. The church, then, instead of possessing a Kingdom, as actually existing according to promise, only possesses it in anticipation, in looking for and expecting its arrival.
John 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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."
This is the continuation of the wedding words to His chosen bride Whom He knew. This was the proposal as well as the promise. Trust was required. Eventually the marriage would be consummated.
As a part of this discourse, which has been of comfort to the Church throughout the centuries, the Lord gives a promise of His personal return for His own people, a doctrine that is expanded by the Apostle Paul in 1 Thess. 4:13-18. This aspect of Christ's return is to be distinguished from His coming to the earth to establish His kingdom (Rev 19:11-16).
Rom. 8:23 "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
This is some of Christ's unfinished business. The future tense of salvation is the life which is nearer than when I believed. Christ will be implanted in me as redemption. That is the salvation of my body. The word translated redemption is always used with regard to the coming glory.
Rom. 13:11 "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."The return of Christ (second coming) has always been “imminent,” and the earliest believers had been told by Christ to “watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13). We must not set dates, but rather “occupy till [He] come[s]”
Phil. 3:20-21 "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: 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."
Part of His unfinished Business. See 1 Thess. notes above which is a letter speaking on the unfinished portion of His work with us.
Our likeness to Him in change of body. We will experience attributes of goodness to perfection. Some of the human powers will be intensified. But attributes of greatness will never become ours (1 Cor. 15:35-49).
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