THE RAPTURE - PART 1
Updated: Jul 29, 2019
The Clock Is Nearing Midnight...Is Your House In Order? If Not, I'd Say It's Time To Do Some "House Cleaning" and get right, not left!
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1TH4.16-17
The next few blog posts will be on the subject of the Rapture of the church. This is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart in that we are living on the cusp of the fulfillment of this event. The topic of end times events is covered quite extensively throughout the pages of the Bible. One-third of the Bible is about prophecy, so, it would be in our best interest (and for our own good as believers) to know what the Bible says about prophecy. In this case, the prophetic event known as The Rapture!
What exactly is the Rapture?
The word Rapture means to be snatched away or carried off. When talking about the biblical event of the Rapture, it is the belief that at any moment, not known to anyone, Jesus Christ will remove believers from the earth prior to pouring out His judgment on the earth in a seven year event the Bible calls The Tribulation. The Lord will descend from Heaven, and while in the air, take His Bride (the Church comprised of believers) out of this world to heaven for 7 years while the earth experiences the horrible judgment of God known as the Tribulation. The removal of the church from earth will give way for the the Anti-Christ to rise to power very quickly and begin his rule of evil on the earth. It will literally be hell on earth. All Christians agree that this event known as the Rapture will occur. What may surprise you though is that there is much disagreement in regards to the timing of when the Rapture will occur. I believe that the Bible is very clear as to the timing of this event; therefore, I will be writing the following blog posts from the viewpoint called the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. (MT25.13 + 1TH4.16-18 + 1CO15.51-54)
What is the The Pre-Tribulation Rapture?
The Bible talks about a 7 year period at the end of human history called the Tribulation. It is the going to be the worst seven years the earth has ever seen. It is going to involve all sorts of natural cataclysmic events, pestilences, famines, wars, persecution and the supernatural will become the new norm. Think of the worst natural disaster movie, war movie, horror movie, pandemic movie…now, multiply that 100 fold. Like they say…you aint seen nothing yet! As bad as this is, the word of God says that prior to this event taking place, He will remove His Bride, the Church, true believers out of this world in the Rapture prior to the seven year tribulation.
Not to be Confused With…
One thing I do need to make sure to clarify is that the Rapture of believers, is not the same event as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. I want to make the distinction that in the event called the Rapture, we meet the Lord in the air (1TH4.17) and we go to be with Him in heaven for the duration of the Tribulation. In his website called Rapture Ready, Terry James describes the Second Coming as “the time when Jesus Christ will return, defeat the Antichrist, and set up his 1000 year kingdom on earth. The second coming is not the rapture. The rapture takes place approximately 7 years prior to the second coming. Another important difference between the two is that the rapture will occur at an unknown time while the second coming will take place 42 months after the Antichrist declares himself to be God.” (RE13.5 + MT25.13)
One thing I will say is that the rapture is reserved for believers only. If it sounds exclusive, well, it is. However, the Lord in His great mercies has given every person on planet earth a way of “escaping” this terrible time the world will experience known as the Tribulation. The way is through salvation offered in a right relationship with Jesus Christ! It’s free! To know more go HERE.
Don’t let today pass you by without making Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. It is a decision you will never regret!
to be continued…