"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever." {1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NLT}
Ever since 1 Thessalonians, the rapture has captured the
fascination of the church. It is the
future event that we look forward to with joyous expectation. Someday we are going to fly like superman to
meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds!
The rapture is the coming event prophesied by Jesus, Paul,
Daniel and others, when the Lord will save His church from the wrath to be
poured out on sinful man at the end of time.
The verse quoted above describes how this event will take place, Jesus
will arrive in the clouds, an archangel and likely many other angels as well
will also be in attendance, there will be a commanding shout accompanied by a
trumpet call, the dead in Christ will rise from their graves to meet the Lord
in the air followed by those believers who are still alive.
When will this glorious event take place? The answer to that question is still up for
debate. There are five main theories
about when it will occur in relation to another future time period popularly
called the great tribulation. This time
period is the final seven years of this current age which culminates in the
battle of Armageddon. The
Pre-tribulation rapture camp holds to the belief that the rapture will occur
before that last seven year period can begin.
The mid-tribulation camp feels that the rapture will occur near the
middle of the tribulation, usually they pick the seventh or “last” trumpet for
their timing found mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:52. The pre-wraith position holds to a rapture
that occurs before the wrath of God but after the start of the tribulation
period anchoring the event to the heavenly signs of the six seal in Revelation
6: 12-17. The post-tribulation camp
holds that the rapture will occur at the end of the tribulation as Jesus is
descending to the battle of Armageddon while the amillennial camp feel that the
rapture has already happened in the heart of every believer. They seek to spiritualize or allegoricalize
every future prophesy and deny a physical return of Jesus to the earth.
In regards to amillenialism, there are over 300 prophesies
concerning the first coming of Jesus, all were fulfilled literally, not
spiritually or allegorically. There is
nothing in the text to suggest the 1500 plus prophesies regarding His second
coming will not be literally, physically fulfilled. The amillenial position has no scriptural support
and shows a complete lack of faith in the promises of God. Anyone who holds these beliefs needs to do
some serious soul searching into their relationship with God.
For the remaining options, instead of looking at the
viewpoints and choosing one or two camps to swear allegiance to let us instead
look at the verses and allow the Bible to shape our understanding instead of
letting our opinions cloud what the Bible is trying to tell us. In other words, let’s start with the Bible
and prayer and an open mind and build our understanding on nothing more than
those three ingredients.
“…And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.”
"Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory. And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven."
“But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up,”
The above verses come from different books of the Bible and
are not generally considered to be related to the rapture. However, if we look at these verses at face
value we see Jesus in the clouds with angels and a trumpet rescuing His people. These verses do indeed picture the rapture
and when we look closer at the context we getter a better view of the timing of
the rapture.
"{15} "The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about--the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place." (Reader, pay attention!) ... {21} For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again. {22} In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones. ... {29} "Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. {30} And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. {31} And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven." (Matthew 24:15, 21-22, 29-31 NLT)
The first of the three aforementioned verses comes from
Matthew 24, a sermon from Jesus known as the Olivet discourse. Jesus is answering a question from His
disciples about when the day of the Lord will arrive. I will explore this sermon more fully during
the discussion of the seven seals of Revelation six which are also present in
this sermon but to give us a sense of the timing of the rapture I have decided
to start with verse 15. The reference to
Daniel points to a prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 known as the seventy weeks of
Daniel. In this prophecy a week, that is
a group of 7 years, is determined for the end times, specifically the 70th
week on God’s calendar for Israel. The
event Jesus is referring to in Matthew 24:15 is described by Daniel as
occurring half-way into the final week which puts it three and a half years
into the seven year tribulation period.
"The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a
period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the
sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will
set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed
for this defiler is finally poured out on him."" {Daniel 9:27 NLT}
After antichrist desecrates the temple there will be a time
of great anguish such as have never happened before and will never happen
again. All other times of persecution
for both the church and the Israelites will pale in comparison to this time
period. Immediately after that time of
great anguish the sun and moon will go dark, the stars will fade, and Jesus
will be seen in the sky. Everyone on
earth will see Him and everyone on earth will mourn Him. There will be no mistake about His identity,
no one will be able to say that He is not God, and then He will send forth His
angels to gather His people from across the world.
This means that half way into the tribulation period
antichrist will desecrate the temple, there will be a great anguish or
tribulation or persecution (whichever label you are used to seeing), and there
will be signs in the heavens, all the earth will see Jesus in the clouds and
then the rapture occurs.
"{14} "The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where he should not be." (Reader, pay attention!) "Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. ... {19} For there will be greater anguish in those days than at any time since God created the world. And it will never be so great again. {20} In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a single person will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days. ... {22} For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones. ... {24} "At that time, after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, {25} the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. {26} Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory. {27} And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven." (Mark 13:14, 19-20, 22, 24-27 NLT)
Our second text comes from Mark 13, like Matthew, this
chapter also contains the Olivet discourse with what I feel is a clear
presentation of the timing of the rapture.
This text, as does Matthew, shows the desecration of the temple by
antichrist, followed by a time of great anguish with the addition of false
prophets and false messiahs performing miracles in their attempts to deceive
and gain more victims. These events are
followed by unmistakable signs in the sky, sun, moon and stars going dark, with
Jesus appearing in the sky followed by the rapture.
""His army will take over the Temple fortress, pollute the sanctuary, put a stop to the daily sacrifices, and set up the sacrilegious object that causes desecration. He will flatter and win over those who have violated the covenant. But the people who know their God will be strong and will resist him." {Daniel 11:31-32 NLT}
"{1} "At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. {2} Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace." (Daniel 12:1-2 NLT)
I would be remiss if I did not seek out an Old Testament
reference to the rapture, after all Old Testament saints will be raptured also,
not just the church (the dead in Christ with rise first) which brings us to our
third text in Daniel 11 and 12. While
this text is lacking in a few details that Mark and Matthew elaborate upon it
still lists the temple desecration followed by the great anguish and then the
ultimate rescue, aka, the rapture. This text also has the interesting inclusion
of Michael which we will come back to in a later article.
While I look forward to discussing the seven seals of
Revelation in a near future blog post I want to skip ahead to one final text on
the timing of the rapture found in Revelation 6. As we look into this awesome vision remember
what we have already seen in our previous texts. Antichrist desecrates the temple, time of
great anguish, sun goes dark, moon gives no light, stars fade / fall, Jesus is
seen in the clouds, all the earth mourns, then the rapture occurs.
"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"" {Revelation 6:12-17 ESV}
"Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: ... After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"" {Revelation 7:2-4, 9-10 ESV}
When Jesus opens the sixth seal, the sun goes dark, the moon
goes red / dim, the stars fall, and everyone mourns because they see God on His
throne and Jesus approaching. Five seals
have already been opened but only now with the sixth seal does it say that the
day of the Lord, the day of wrath has come.
Believers are promised that we are not appointed to wrath which is why
in the next verses do we see 144,000 Israelites given special protection on
earth and a multitude without number appearing around the throne. Matthew and Mark both describe the rapture
occurring with the appearance of Jesus after the signs in the heavens. At the sixth seal we see the signs in heaven
and Jesus appearing which is why I believe this great multitude around the
throne in heaven is the people Jesus rescued with the rapture.
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