Bible 202.2
(All Scripture References Are KJV)
In the previous installment of our study, the two resurrections and two judgments were discussed. Incidental to those was the Translation of the Church, commonly known as the Rapture. Deniers of the two resurrections and judgments, therefore, deny the Translation of the Church, the Rapture, and its judgment.
Having shown from the Scriptures that there are two resurrections and two judgments, the Rapture seems inevitable.
The Rapture
Rapture is the term we use to designate the Lord’s promise to return to gather those who are his to be with him. It comes from the Greek for being caught up.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 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.
2 Corinthians 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
It is a biblical teaching and subject of prophecy. The saints will also be enraptured when it happens.
John 14:1–3 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In 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. 3And 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.
The biblical term for the Rapture is Translation: the Translation of the Church.
Many repudiate this biblical event because the term used to denote it, rapture, is not found in the Bible. We can remedy this by using the biblical term ‘translate’ when speaking of being caught up; hence, we are looking for the great Translation of the Church.
Genesis 5:23–24 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
The event is described in 1Thessolonians and 1 Corinthians.
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1 Thessalonians speaks of the here and now, witnessing and spreading the Gospel. Paul recounts his ministry and admonishes the saints to walk worthy of their calling. It ends with the Translation of the Church. It is all about the here and now. Then the Lord comes as a thief in the night and calls out the saints.
1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 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: 17Then 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. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:51–53 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In 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. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
It is the event that all creation is waiting for.
Romans 8:22–23 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
It is currently a future event that the Bible has always taught.
2 Thessalonians concerns itself with the second coming of our Lord and explains the timing of the Antichrist. The Lord does not come as a thief but openly, in His glory.
2 Thessalonians 1:6–9 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2 Thessalonians 2:8 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:
The subject becomes more complicated as it concerns the status of our salvation: is it secure, or can we lose it? If the Rapture is not pre-Tribulation, then Christians saved now by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ can lose their salvation by taking the mark. How many of the saints have been deceived into false worship? They will not suffer for Christ now; what makes you think they will be faithful unto death in the Tribulation?
The calling out of the body of Christ must come before the mark of the beast is instituted. It makes no difference how long before, but it will be before.
To deny the Rapture or Translation of the body of Christ is to deny or misunderstand the Bible.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:18
