The Rapture (1-10-13)

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 - "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."

The rapture is what we call the Biblical event of Christs coming in the clouds and calling His church up to Himself. It's the event described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 which says - "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." I believe Scripture teaches that this is the next event on Gods prophetic calendar. The timing of the rapture is a somewhat controversial subject, and we'll get into that a little more next time, but right now I just want to establish in our minds the Biblical teaching of the rapture and where this truth is taught in Scripture. This is going to be very basic, but I just want to lay the foundation for this subject.

First of all, in studying this subject, if you take your concordance and look up the word "rapture" you'll notice that this word is never used in your Bible. While the word itself is not there, the teaching certainly is, and there is no serious Christian and student of the Word of God who can deny that. The word "rapture" is a transliteration of the Latin word raptus which is a translation of the Greek word harpazō which means to snatch away, or to carry away by force. That's the word used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 when it says "Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." If you don't like the word rapture or you want to use a more Biblical word you can call it the catching-up, or the snatching-away.
This word isn't only used in 1 Thessalonians 4, it’s also found in Acts chapter 8, you'll remember the account. The Lord sent Philip into the wilderness, and as he was there the Lord showed him a chariot belonging to an Ethiopian Eunuch who just happened to be reading from the book of Isaiah. When Philip came up to the chariot he asked the man if he understood what he was reading. The man responded "How can I unless someone explains it to me?" So beginning at that Scripture Philip began to preach Jesus to him and the man was saved. As they rode along they came to some water and they went down into the water because the man wanted to be baptized. We read in Acts 8:38-40 - "And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea." For His own purpose, the Lord raptured Philip. He was snatched away and taken to another city and the man saw him no more. "Snatched away" in this passage is that same Greek word harpazō. While this is not what we would call "The rapture" it is a rapture and it makes it clear to us that this Greek word is a literal snatching away.
Paul also uses this word in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 when he talks about an event that happened in his own life. He says in verses 2-4 - "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak." Unlike these two accounts, the coming event of the rapture will not be an isolated event. In these accounts only one person was raptured whereas in the event that is about to take place the entire church, every believer will be taken up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord. Paul calls this event in Titus 2:13 the "blessed hope" of the church.

The Lord Jesus Himself told us that He is coming again for us. He said in John 14:1-3 - "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Paul talked about this event in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 where he says - "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." We will not all sleep, not everyone is going to die. You'll notice in these Scriptures that the writer included himself in those who would not sleep. He says "We will not all sleep" and "We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord." There was constant expectancy of the Lords return in the early church that is largely missing in the church today. They were looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. There is great profit in living in constant expectancy, and I'll hopefully get into why that is next time. But there's one more thing I want to mention about the rapture, and that is that it is not to be confused with the second coming. The rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ are two separate events, and we can be saved from a lot of confusion if we will distinguish between the two. The rapture is when the church is caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, we meet Him halfway. The second coming is when Christ descends to the earth, described in Zechariah 14 and Revelation chapter 19, and sets up His kingdom here on the earth. The rapture is when the Lord comes in the clouds and calls us to Himself, the second coming is when the Lord comes and sets up His kingdom and rules and reigns on the earth for a thousand years, a time referred to as the millennium. In Acts 1:9-11 we read - And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”" Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, and at His second coming, at the end of the seven year tribulation period, Jesus will descend again and stand on the Mount of Olives, just as He went. We're not looking for His second coming to earth, we're looking for His coming in the clouds.

 Titus 2:13 - "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."