GOD'S MINISTRY
THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH
BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Revs. Mr. and Mrs. H. Dean Daniels

E-mail: gods-ministry@hdd-gods-ministry.com

Web-site: http://www.hdd-gods-ministry.com/

THE RAPTURE OF THE SAINTS OF GOD - PART I

 

The subject of the rapture of the church is a much misunderstood doctrine. We trust that the following brief study will be helpful even though the word “Rapture” is a Latin word, meaning to catch away or to be caught up!

 

When we speak of the "rapture" of the church, we are referring to the catching up of all true believers in Christ to meet the Lord in the air. This event is simply and clearly predicted in 1 Thess. 4:13-17; 1 Cor. 15:23, 51-58; Phil. 3:20-21; Jn. 14:1-3; Lk. 21:34-36; Col. 3:4 and other passages we shall give below.

 

One reading of these passages will prove that the rapture is an actual event which has yet to take place. During this event, the Lord will descend from Heaven to take out of the world, in a moment of time, all the dead and living in Christ. The references to the rapture are clear and easy to understand. For example, 1 Thess. 4:16-17 says, "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: . . . 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." In view of such plain language a person would have to willfully choose to deny what is written, or simply believe that this event will happen just as it is plainly stated here. Surely there is no room for misunderstanding. If one does not believe in the rapture, one does not believe the Bible.

 

The rapture of the church is called "the coming of the Lord" but never the second coming of Christ. During the rapture Christ does not appear visibly to those on the Earth. Instead, He comes in the air above the Earth to “catch up” or rapture both living and dead saints who together rise to meet the Lord in the air. There are many different ideas related to these two comings of Christ which have made it difficult to distinguish one coming from the other. There are so many Scriptures that have been misapplied to one or the other of these separate events that it is easy to see why many have found themselves involved in difficulties, from which they are unable to clear themselves.

 

The rapture is purely a New Testament doctrine and was first revealed to Paul as a special revelation (1 Cor. 15:51-58), while the second coming of Christ is not only a New Testament doctrine, but is one of the chief themes of the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets never saw the New Testament Church, much less the rapture of the church. The rapture should never be called the second coming or second advent of Christ, for He does not come to the Earth at that time. Also, it should never be referred to as one stage or phase of the second coming of Christ. At the second coming, Christ does not remain in the air during the tribulation and then complete the second stage of His coming to the Earth by then descending to be among men, as some teach. The rapture is a distinct coming in itself, not to the Earth, but in the air where Christ meets the saints and then takes them back to Heaven to present them blameless before God (Jn. 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 3:13; 4:16-17).

 


Ministers often complicate the doctrine of the rapture for people by stating that many signs must be seen and many prophecies must yet be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ, and then, at the same time, they make statements that He might come tonight or at any moment. How could Christ come at any moment and yet cannot come until certain events happen? If these ministers would not have left the impression that the rapture was a part of the second advent, that the rapture could take place at any moment, and that the second advent could not take place until these signs and prophecies were fulfilled, they would not have left a contradictory idea in the minds of the people.

 

These two comings cannot be mixed if the doctrine of each is to be clear. The Scriptures that apply to one coming do not apply to the other. Not one of the passages listed below refers to the second coming, as can be seen upon examination of them. There is not one passage in the Bible that refers to both events as if they were one. They are two distinct comings separated by several years and not two phases or stages of one coming. The rapture takes place several years before the literal advent of Christ to the Earth, for raptured saints come back with Him at that time. The saints are in Heaven before God, and not in the air, from the time of the rapture to their coming again with Christ to reign as kings and priests (Jude 14; Rev. 19:14; Zech. 14:5). This seems clear from the facts that the saints are judged, are given their rewards, and partake of the marriage supper in Heaven and not in the air (Rev. 19:1-10; 2 Cor. 5:9-10). Christ departs from Heaven at His second advent to Earth and not from the air (Rev. 19:11-21; 2 Thess. 1:7-10). The rapture must first take place and Christ must first come for His saints (1 Thess. 4:16-17) before He can come back to Earth with them (Jude 14; Zech. 14:5).

 

At the rapture, the Lord comes from Heaven as far as the air or earthly heavens and the saints will be caught up to meet Him in the air. At this event the Lord is not to be raptured, but the saints. At the second coming, the saints are not to be raptured and neither is Christ, but both will come back to the Earth together. The rapture takes place before the tribulation, whereas the second advent takes place after the tribulation. The rapture may occur any moment. The second advent cannot occur until many signs come to pass and certain prophecies are fulfilled.

 

We have separated these two comings, as they should be separated, for the sake of clarity and because they are always distinct in Scripture. The following points will help the reader to distinguish the rapture from the second coming and give him a scriptural understanding of this New Testament revelation.

 

I.   The Fact and Manner of the Rapture

 

We need not be ignorant concerning this subject because it is fully and dealt with in many New Testament passages. The fact and manner of the rapture are clearly revealed in the following Scriptures:

 

"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Lk. 21:34-36).

 

"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" (Jn. 14:1-3).

 

"But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming . . .

 

1st Corinthians 15:51 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, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:23, 51-58).

 

"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" (Eph. 5:27).

 

"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 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" (Phil. 3:20-21).

 

"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" (1 Thess. 4:13-17).

 

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thess. 2:1, 7-8).

 

See the other passages on the rapture (2 Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 3:11; 1 Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 5:9, 23; Col. 3:4; Jas. 5:7, 8; 1 Jn. 2:28; 3:2; 1 Pet. 5:4).

 

Not one of the passages listed above refers to the second advent. We shall not use any verse in Mt. 24 and 25 in connection with the rapture, for there is not a single verse in these chapters which refers to the rapture. We shall deal only with those passages which refer to the rapture and which can be consistently explained in this connection.

 

There are two Greek words used in most of the passages dealing with the rapture

 

1. Parousia means "personal coming or appearance" and is used of both the rapture and the revelation of Christ. At the rapture, Christ appears personally in the air to meet the saints, while at the second advent He appears personally to mankind on the Earth with His saints. This word parousia is generally translated "coming," hence the rapture and the revelation are both called the coming of the Lord but they are two different comings, and for two different purposes. The word is used of the rapture in 1 Cor. 15:20-23; 1 Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:1; Jas. 5:7-8; 1 Jn. 2:28. All these passages clearly refer to the rapture, but 1 Thess. 3:13; 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:1 are used by some in connection with the second advent. It is clear that 1 Thess. 3:13; 5:23 refer to the time when the Father pronounces the saints "blameless" before His throne in Heaven after Christ has first met the saints in the air and has taken them to Heaven and presented them "before God," and therefore these do refer only to the rapture.

 

"The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" in these passages refers only to the time of His coming back to Heaven with the saints at the time of the rapture, and not at the time of the second advent (l Jn. 3:1-3; Phil. 3:21; 1 Thess. 3:13; 5:23; Col. 3:4). The last reference (2 Thess. 2:1) refers to the rapture also, as is proved from the Greek esposunagoge, which means a complete collection or gathering of all the living and dead in Christ from all parts of the Earth, and out of all denominations and dispensations to meet Christ in the air. We are gathered "unto him" at the rapture and not at the second advent (Lk. 21:34-36; Jn. 14:1-5; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:6-8).

 

In Phil. 3:11 the rapture is called "the resurrection of the dead, or literally, "the out—resurrection"; that is, the resurrection from out among the dead. The term "resurrection of the dead" is frequently used in the New Testament and includes the resurrection of the just and unjust (Jn. 5:29; Acts 24:19). The "out-resurrection" is used only in Phil. 3:11 and implies the resurrection of some men, the just from the unjust (Rev. 20:4-6). The dead "rise first," then the living who are saved will be "caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:13-18). All the above passages, as well as those below on the rapture, can be easily harmonized by the student if he will keep in mind these few thoughts on the subject.

 

2. Phaneros, which means "to shine, be apparent, manifest, or be seen," is used in 1 Jn. 2:28; 3:2; 1 Pet. 5:4; Col. 3:4. The English translation is "appear" and means that Christ is to appear to the saints in the air at the rapture. He will not appear to the world until His second coming (Mt. 24:29-31; Heb. 9:28).

 

The rapture will include Old Testament saints and the church saints who are saved in the scope of redemption from Adam until the rapture, as explained above (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:1). We do not mean to say that the scope of redemption ends with the rapture, for it is eternal.

 

The "trump of God" (1 Thess. 4:16) is not the same as the seventh trumpet of Rev. 11:15; 13:18. One occurs at the rapture of the church and the Old Testament saints (1 Thess. 4:16), while the other is at the rapture of the manchild (Rev. 11:15 - 12:5); one is the trumpet of God (1 Thess. 4:16), the other is the trumpet of the seventh trumpet angel (Rev. 11:15); one is to herald one single event which takes place "in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:51-58). the other is to herald many events which are days in duration (Rev. 10:7); one is a trumpet of blessing (1 Thess. 4:16-17), the other is a trumpet of "woe" (Rev. 8:13; 11:15; 12:12); one is before the beginning of the Seventieth Week (2 Thess. 2:7-8; Dan. 9:27; Rev. 4:1), the other is in the middle of the Week (Rev. 11:15 -12:6); one is before the saints, represented by the twenty-four elders who are caught up in Rev. 4:1, the other is after the elders are already in Heaven (Rev. 11:15-12:5); one is before the seven seals and first six trumpets (Rev. 6:1 - 9:21), the other is after them (Rev. 11:15). Thus we do not need to confuse this trumpet and rapture with the seventh trumpet and rapture of the manchild.

 

Therefore come quickly Lord Jesus! Amen

 

We pray that this short study about the (Rapture) and the Saints of God being caught up and the differences between the two separate appearings of the Lord Jesus Christ is a help to you.

 

 

 

Revs. Mr. and Mrs. H. Dean Daniels  Sui  Juris