The Rapture

When the Lord Jesus comes, He "will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God". This is the rapture (1 Thess. 4:15-18).

The "loud command", or shout, is to wake those who "died in Christ". These are the saints who sleep, a special class of believers redeemed during the period in which the church was on earth. Even though death has claimed their bodies, they are referred to as already being "in Christ". The apostle Paul uses the expression in his writings to indicate the individual place of acceptance that Christians have before God in the new creation and the inseparable bond they enjoy through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. To be "in Christ" means to be in the place that Christ occupies before God. The same position that Christ now occupies before God is the place that belongs to the Christian. It is not said that the Old Testament saints are "in Christ," although their souls and spirits are safe in heaven. At the Lord's coming the "dead in Christ" will rise from their graves to meet the Lord in the air. This is the first resurrection.

[ Note: *It is of the utmost importance to understand the distinction that exists in the Scriptures between the rapture and the coming of Christ. The rapture must not be confused with the coming of Christ. Although the Lord comes from heaven on both occasions, the rapture and the coming of Christ are events that clearly differ from one another.

The Rapture is when the Lord comes FOR His saints (John 14:2,3) -- the Coming of Christ is when He comes WITH His saints (who were taken to glory in the rapture) Jude 14; Zech. 14:5. The rapture can happen at any moment -- the coming of Christ will not happen until about 7 years after the rapture. In the rapture the Lord comes secretly, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:52) -- at His coming He comes publicly and every eye will see Him (Rev. 1:7). In the rapture He comes to deliver the Church (1 Thess. 1:10) -- at His coming He comes to deliver Israel (Ps. 6:1-4). In the rapture He comes in the air for His Church, for it is His heavenly people (1 Thess. 4:15-18) -- at His coming He returns to the earth (at the place called the Mount of Olives) for Israel, which is His earthly people (Zech. 14:4,5). In the rapture it is the Lord Himself who gathers His saints (1 Thess. 4:15-18; 2 Thess. 2:1) -- at His coming He sends His angels to gather the elect of Israel (Matt. 24:30,31). In the rapture He takes the believers out of this world, leaving the wicked behind (John 14:2,3) -- at His coming the wicked are taken out of the world for judgment and the believers (those who will have been converted through the gospel of the Kingdom that will be preached during the tribulation) are left to enjoy blessings on the earth (Matt. 13:41- 43; 25:41). In the rapture He comes to deliver His saints (the Church) from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10) -- at His coming He comes to pour out His wrath (Rev. 19:15). In the rapture He comes as the Bridegroom, to receive His bride, the Church (Matt. 25:6,10) -- at His coming He comes as the Son of Man in judgment upon those who rejected Him (Matt. 24:27, 28). In the rapture He comes as the "Morning Star" that rises shortly before the day dawns (Rev. 22:16) -- at His coming He comes as the "Sun of Righteousness," which is the dawning of the day itself (Mal. 4:2). In the rapture He comes without any signs, for the Christian walks by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7) -- whereas His coming will be surrounded by signs, for the Jews require signs (Luke 21:11,25-27; 1 Cor. 1:22). In the Scriptures the rapture is NEVER referred to as a "thief in the night." This term refers to the coming of the Lord (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10; Matt. 24:43; Rev. 16:15; 3:3). In a certain sense there are three comings. His coming FOR what was His (First Coming John 1:10,11; Heb. 10:7), His coming FOR those who belong to Him (Rapture John 14:2,3; 1 Thess. 4:15-18 -- N.T.: or "BY those who belong to Him"), and His coming WITH those who belong to Him (The Coming of Christ Jude 14). ] [ Note: *There are two resurrections in the Scriptures (John 5:29; Acts 24:15). The "first resurrection" (Rev. 20:4-6), also called the "resurrection of life" (John 5:29) and the "resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:14), which is the resurrection only of the righteous who died in the faith. This is mentioned as the resurrection "from among the dead" (Phil. 3:11; Col. 1:18 and following vv. -- Almeida Versão Revisada), which implies a selection. Not all the dead rise simultaneously, but some (the righteous) are selected and separated from the others (the wicked). The first resurrection happens in three stages: first Christ, the firstfruits, a sample of the others that will follow (Matt. 28:1-8); then those who are Christ's at His coming (1 Thess. 4:15-18; 1 Cor. 15:23); and finally, the saints who will turn to God during the tribulation, when they will be martyred and then resurrected at the end of the 7 years (Rev. 14:13). All who will take part in the first resurrection will enjoy a heavenly inheritance with Christ and will reign over the earth (Rev. 5:9-10). The second, called the "resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:29) and also the "resurrection of the unjust" (Acts 24:15), is the resurrection of the wicked people who died without faith. They will be resurrected after the 1,000 years of Christ's reign (the Millennium) (Rev. 20:7, 11-15). All who are resurrected on that occasion, from the number of those left of the dead, will stand before the great white throne of Christ to be judged according to the wicked works they practiced. All who take part in that resurrection will be cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:11-15. ] The voice of the archangel is, apparently, the voice of the Lord Himself in the power of the archangel. It seems to be more in connection with the resurrection of the Old Testament saints. The Lord appeared frequently to His people at that time in an angelic form and they are familiar with that voice that spoke to them formerly. At the sound of His archangelic voice the Old Testament saints will come out of their graves and will also take part in the first resurrection. Heb. 11:40; 12:23 ("made perfect").

The trumpet of God* will close this present dispensation**, when all the believers who are alive on the earth at the moment of His coming will be caught up together with the saints of the Old and New Testaments, who will be resurrected and come out of their graves in order to meet the Lord in the air.

[ Note: *The trumpet of God here must not be confused with the last of the seven trumpets of Rev. 11:15-18, which will be sounded 7 years later, at the end of the tribulation, when Christ will descend from heaven (the Coming of Christ) to take possession of the Kingdom in this world. Nor should it be confused with the trumpet sounded in Matt. 24:30,31 and Isa. 27:13, which refers to the regathering of Israel, by the angels, after the coming of Christ. ] [ Note: ** A dispensation is the way God deals with man during a given period of time, when he is proved and tested as to obedience to certain defined revelations of the will of God. For example, from the days of Moses to Christ man was tested under the Law. The present period is called the "dispensation of the grace of God" (Eph. 3:2). In the Millennium man will be tested under the personal reign of Christ, without the presence of a tempter (Satan). It is the so-called "dispensation of the fullness of times" (Eph. 1:10). There are altogether seven dispensations in which man has been tested: in innocence, in conscience (from the expulsion from the garden of Eden to the flood), in authority or government (from the flood to Abraham), under promise (from Abraham to the Law), under the Law (from the Law to Christ), under grace (from Christ to the rapture), under the personal reign of Christ (from the coming of Christ to the end of the Millennium). ] The bodies of the saints raptured to meet the Lord in the air will undergo a transformation. It is not a matter of receiving new bodies, but modified bodies (1 Cor. 15:51, 52; Phil. 3:21; Job 14:14). Their bodies will be glorified as happened with the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in the resurrection. Rom. 8:17,28-30; Phil. 3:21; Luke 24:39.

The raptured saints will experience, besides a physical change, a permanent moral likeness to Christ. This moral work in the saints, which is carried out by the Spirit of God, has already begun while they are still in this world, but then it will be completed. (Rom. 8:28-30; 2 Cor. 3:18). They will all be like Christ physically (Phil. 3:21) and morally (1 John 3:2) for ever and ever.

The ruined sinful nature will be eradicated from the raptured saints. They will no longer sin. Heb. 11:40; 12:23 ("made perfect" refers to the person in his totality -- body, soul and spirit), Num. 24:20 ("Amalek" typifies the flesh).

Children too young to be considered responsible for their sins, whose parents (or even one of them) are redeemed, will also go up to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Cor. 7:14 "holy".) The children of unbelieving parents will be left with their unsaved parents to enter the tribulation.* As they grow up during the tribulation, they will have the opportunity to hear and believe the Gospel of the Kingdom. If any of them is killed during the seven years of tribulation, their soul will be safe with Christ in heaven (Matt. 18:10,11). In any case this would be an act of mercy, for if they were left to grow up and reach adulthood separated from the operation of God's grace, they would become like their unbelieving parents, rejecting the gospel and being brought to judgment.