Posted on 03/28/2020 9:54:33 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
A young friend asked me to do a very simple teaching on the rapture, for him to share with a friend, and I realized there are no doubt many who are in the same position, so here we go!
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. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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. 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. ( I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
When the Apostle Paul and his team went to Thessalonica to preach Christ, they were only able to be with the newly planted church for four weeks, before persecution drove them out of town.
What does an Apostle teach new Christians when he only has four weeks to teach them? It is surprising what all Paul taught them, in that short time. He spoke of Repentance, the End Times, the Apostasy, the Man of Sin, the coming God sent delusion, The Parousia, and Apocalypse, and in his letters he constantly reminded them ” … Remember when I was with you I told you these things”?
By modern standards these are far too heavy of subjects to put on “baby Christians”, they supposedly need only the milk, the basics, we don’t want to upset them with “endgames” subjects, instead give very child like teachings on Love, relationships, and tons of Grace’
This is not how the Apostle to the Gentiles approached it. He loaded the new church down on Eschatology, (The Study of the End of things).
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, the Thessalonians endured and even grew through much persecution. I truly wonder how those who disdain prophecy, endtimes, and teaching of repentance are going to fare?
*What is the Rapture? It is the Harpazo, the snatching away. In the verse above, which tells us that we who are alive at the time of the Second Coming of Jesus, will be “Caught Up” to meet the LORD in the air. The Greek word for “Caught up” is “Harpazo” and it means to be snatched up with a swift and irresistible force. This is how those who are alive at the Second Coming will leave this world. We will be snatched up unto God, by God, to be with Him.
It has happened before.
The Book of Genesis speaks of the days of Noah, and it discusses certain ancestors of Noah who preceded Him. Methuselah, whose name means “When he goes it shall come” was a living prophecy. The year He died, the flood came upon the earth.
Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took Him.
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. ( Hebrews 11:5)
Elijah was taken up unto heaven in a whirlwind of fire.
Finally, Jesus himself was caught up unto God, after his resurrection in Acts 1.
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 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. ( Acts 1:9-11)
Jesus is coming back to this earth in the same way that He was taken up, bodily, in the flesh. He is coming to Judge the World in Righteousness.
* 2) The Rapture is an installment of the Resurrection. I Corinthians 15 tells us of the doctrine of the resurrection. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in life everlasting! But there is a precise order to the resurrection; Christ is the first born from among the dead, the saints in Jerusalem came next, and at his coming, those who had died in Christ shall be raised, and finally, we who are alive and remain until Jesus comes.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. ( I Corinthians 15:22-23)
Jesus has conquered death in all of it’s forms, physical as well as moral and spiritual death. Thus there of necessity must be a resurrection of the dead. Even the sinners who died in their sins must be resurrected, at the end, for their judgment.
* 3)The Rapture is when we will be finally glorified. Salvation is a process. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved in the future. I refer to Justification, ( past tense), Sanctification (This is occurring now, day by day) and glorification (future).
Jesus died to justify me before God. He took responsibility for all of my sin when he died on the cross, and his resurrection is the token of my acceptance before God.
But, for us also, to whom it ( Righteousness) shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:24-25)
Now we are in right standing with God, Jesus has purchased it for us.
But, we are not yet morally perfect. Our soul is still very sinful and fallen, even after all these years as a Christian. Upon conversion, we are called to a discipleship, which lasts a lifetime, in which the Holy Spirit is empowering and changing us as regards to sin. We are not yet complete, but moving in that direction by the Spirit. God is sanctifying us. Jesus died to make this happen for us.
Finally, my body is far from Holy. It is dying, decaying and still has passions and desires which are yet sinful.
But, salvation is a complete work. At the Rapture, even this body is going to be changed, and glorified.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 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. ( 1 Corinthians 15:49-54)
*4) The rapture is the Escape … All Salvation is a form of Escape. “Out of Egypt have I called my Son”. Think about this motif of escape in the Bible; Noah and his family escaped the Flood, Lot and his daughters escaped the overthrow of Sodom and Gommorah, we are soon going to celebrate Passover, in which the nation of Israel escaped bondage in Egypt.We are promised in many places in the Bible that we too will escape.
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 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. ( Luke 21:34-36)
Not everyone will escape, as in all of the escapes I mentioned above in the Bible. The Egyptians didn’t escape, neither did the men and women of Sodom and Gommorah, and the World before the flood all perished but eight.
Who can escape? Who will get out of this dying planet before the Judgments begin to come as described in the Revelation? Only those who know Jesus, and have made their peace with God through the cross.
More on this subject to come…
This can be a divisive subject, even among Freepers. Let me just say that no one is going anywhere before the anti-christ appears.
Think it’s going on. Sure seems like it. Oh Boy!!!
Thank you for the timely post! ;)
Fab Five Freddy told me everybody’s fly.
Is that quote from Debbie Harry, by any chance?
None other!
We don’t know the date or the hour when Christ will return for His Church. . . no one knows but God and no one knows but God when our last breath will be . . . so regardless we all need to be ready. http://www.patburt.com/
This sounds like the “UTOPIA” of the LEFT.
What Is The Rupture? ...rupture 1>
My apologies. I am not ready to cash in quite yet.
Thank you! I look for Jesus’ soon return. Maranatha!
Thanks for posting Bill. It’s my very humble opinion that those that believe there’s a secret, early rapture, believe that the ‘wrath’ means tribulation. But I believe the wrath is the destruction which happens upon Christ’s return. No one remains after we meet Christ at His 2nd coming as the elements melt with a fervent heat.
2 Peter 3:10 says: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
That is not scripturally correct. The antichrist will not be revealed until after the people of resurrection faith have departed suddenly into the clouds, and are gone from the temporal sphere. Paul told the Thessalonikans how it was/is going to happen:
2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 (AV):
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;This passage counters your false claim, showing that the rapture of the saints must precede the revealing of who tha anyichrist is.
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 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:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
In verse 2, the man of sin is the third member of the unholy trinity as defined in Rev. 13. To be the antichrist, he must be a human, but with supernatural Satanic powers, Since the beginning of Christendom, people have tried (and failed) to name such a man. Indeed, he has been prefigured by many truly evil prominent men: Caligula, Titus, Mohammed, some Roman popes, Hitler, etc, but they have all dued. This "man of perdition" has not yet appeared. None have fulfilled the necessary characteristics enumerated in verse 4.
In verse 6, the entity "what" that withholds, or better ytt "restrains," is in the Greek neuter in gender, corresponding to that of The Holy Spirit, which is the force while He is in the world, and indwelling in the regenerated people of faith, cannot be overcome by the evil that is present, but not superior. It is He that was sent to be present on earth by Jesus The Christ after His ascension to Heaven. The Holy Spirit has been ever-present on earth since the day of Pentecost when Christ's first Church was formed.
In verse 7, the meaning of the verb "to let" in Elizabethan English is "to withhold" or "to restrain: -- exactly opposite to how modern English now defines it. In the text, the Greek verb is exactly the same as in verse 6, meaning "to restrain." Thus verse 7 says, "He(referring to the Holy Spirit) that continually restrains will continue to do so until he (the Holy Spirit) be taken out of the way. And that will happen when the subjects (the redeemed disciples that He was sent to comfort and protect; see Jn. 14:16-18, 16:7-11) are removed in the Rapture, He (the Holy Ghost) will go with them, for there will no longer be any reason for Him to overstay His welcome.
It is only then, per verse 8, that "the Wicked (One)" (- the antichrist) will be revealed, after the departure of all the saints and their bodies, and only those humans who refused to believe in God and His Christ still remain. hey will experience the total horror of unbridled sin as well as the righteous anger of God's wrath poured out on them and on the world, a shown in the subsequent passages of the unveiling, the revelation, of the tribulation they are to experience.
Your supposition above is wrong.
In the real world, productive workers and managers recognize that the same types who have a one-hired-always-hired entitlement mentality are the sames ones gunning for the exits. They're often nosy and bossy, too. It's so hard to find good help these days.
If Jesus arrived on a Friday afternoon, he'd have no trouble finding a parking spot. As a bonus, whoever is still willingly there isn't likely to start grousing about the boss or whatever.
Not being a fan of crowds, he might even say to his Father in heaven, "Thank God it's Friday."
I know there are differing opinions on this scripture based on interpretation. I do think we will all be changed at once and gathered back to Christ and it looks like it may be soon.
So you're saying the rendezvous point is at the nearest TGIF restaurant?
What Jesus does is redeem. His Bride, which is those whom He has redeemed, will not have to go through judgment again to get to the wedding. They were already judeged and found not guilty at and by the Cross-death of the Groom. All scripture contradicts you on this lack of faith in the saving power of Jesus.
These plagues or judgments are against the world. We're just along for the ride. The believers aren't being judged but they will be tested.
1 Peter 4:12-13 ESV Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Well that's funny when you flip it around:
FIG T (tree)
Because:
Micah 4
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
It's like that Nathaniel fellow who was under the "fig" (figurative) tree -- born in Salem on the 4th of July.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.