TEXT: 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-17
13 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.
14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 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.
16 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:
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.
INTRODUCTION
Some Christian sects have put forward some
arguments against the doctrine of Rapture. They claimed that it is ‘unbiblical’
and that nothing as such existed and as such should be ignored altogether. Their position was anchored on two arguments
which they put forward as such –
(1) They say that the word ‘rapture’ does
not appear in the whole of the modern English translation of the Bible
(2) They argue that apart from Apostle
Paul, no other Bible personality talked about Rapture.
It is worth saying that many Christians
might have innocently believed these assertions or might have been
convinced to believe them, and might have consequently become indifferent
to the coming of The Lord.
This teaching thus becomes necessary to
debunk these two arguments and perhaps others that may come up in the course of
this teaching and to point out some other salient and important things about
rapture, by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Also, it aims to let us know that
the doctrine of Rapture is indeed Biblical, True and is the blessed hope of all
holy believers in Christ.
THE
WORD ‘RAPTURE’ DEFINED?
In its present form, the word rapture is a
noun and it takes its form from its adjective form is rapt. The adjective form
can also be used as a verb, depending on the construction of the statement. Let
us look at the definition of the Word, ‘Rapt’.
Thus, the word Rapture can be defined as ‘carrying
off’, ‘carrying away’, ‘catching up’ and so on.
WHAT
RAPTURE ENTAILS
Though, the grammatical definition of the
word rapture has been given above, we need to stress that the phenomenon of
rapture is more than just being caught up. The ‘catching up’ is just an
integral part of the whole event known as rapture. Rapture is a spiritual event
and as such should be viewed spiritually.
Before, we can conveniently address the two
arguments put forward by the antagonists of rapture, we must review all the
details attached with the event of rapture. The following sub-events are
entailed in the overall event known as rapture in perhaps sequential order.
i. The trumpet will be sounded in heaven by
an angel to signal that rapture can now take place. (Sounding of Trumpet)
ii. The Lord, Jesus Christ, accompanied
with his angels, will descend from heaven. (Descension)
iii. First, the deads in Christ will resurrect
from their graves, in their body form, without corruption. (Resurrection)
iv. The holy believers that are not dead at
that time will be caught up by the angels accompanying the Lord Jesus Christ to
meet Him in the air. (Catching Up or Rapture)
v. The believers caught up will enter
straight into heaven to attend the marriage supper of The Lamb. (Marriage
Supper)
vi. Sudden destruction and death befall many
people on earth who could not make the catching up. (The Day of The Lord)
vii. The remainder of the people who missed
the catching up will begin to experience the wrath of God on earth and also the
persecution of the antichrist. (Great Tribulation)
It is worth noting that all the single
events above are interwoven. One cannot take place in isolation if the other
will not happen. For instance, The Lord will not descend if the trumpet did not
sound. Also, the dead in Christ will not resurrect if The Lord will not call
them out of their graves and if the living believers will not be caught up and
so on.
So, to look at rapture as ‘being caught up’
alone will be undermining what
Rapture really represents. When rapture is
discussed, it is the totality of these events that come to mind.
In view of this, many other names have been
associated with rapture based on the individual sub-events of rapture listed
above. They include the following.
i The Sounding of the trumpet
ii The Day of Resurrection
iii Rapture or Catching Up
iv. Marriage Supper of Lamb of God
v. The Day of the Lord
Also, it is worth noting that when the
scripture talks about any of these individual events listed above, it is
talking about rapture and we are going to be treating it as such. Any
scriptural verse that talks about any of such is talking about rapture event.
Now, that we have defined ‘Rapture’
grammatically and that we have looked at the spiritual concept of Rapture, let
us address the two principal arguments of those who oppose it.
Did
the Word, Rapture, not appear in the Bible?
It may be true that the word ‘rapture’
might not have appeared in the English translation of the Bible. If this is so,
then how did we arrived at it so much that it has become one of the most used
words in Christendom, especially in recent times?
Let us consider one of the principal
scriptures about rapture in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4:17
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.
Please, note that the underlined phrase
‘caught up’ in the scripture quotation above is the exact definition of the
word ‘rapt’ as given by the two popular online dictionaries we mentioned
earlier.
If we are to rewrite the scripture above,
we will say –
17 Then
we which are alive and remain shall be raptured together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord.
In other words, when we mention the word,
rapture, it is the phrase ‘catch up’ or related event we are referring to.
Lastly, assume that the scripture describes
God as being very powerful and great and that He can do all things. I can then
decide to use the word ‘Almighty’ that captions those descriptions and say that
God is Almighty instead of having to be repeating all of those descriptions
each time I am describing God. By doing such, I will not have done something
out of place. Using the word, rapture, in such situation, to replace ‘caught
up’ will also not be abnormal.
Was
it only Apostle Paul that talked about Rapture in the whole of the Bible?
This is absolutely erroneous! Many other
people in the bible also talked about rapture. In fact, rapture and its related
events are perhaps the most prophesied event in the whole of the bible. The
biggest prophecy that The Lord, Jesus Christ, Himself, gave was about rapture
(Mathew 24). A whole 22-chapter book – the book of Revelation, is centered on
rapture and post-rapture events. What more can we say?
Let us look at some other people that
prophesied or talked about rapture and compare what they said with that of
Apostle Paul in our text above.
i The Lord, Jesus Christ, Himself.
Mathew 24:1-51, Mathew 22:2-14, Mathew 25:1-13,
Luke 21, Luke 14: 16-24, Mark 13 are some of the few scriptures where the Lord,
Jesus Christ, Himself, talked about the glorious rapture.
John, Chapter 11, where the Lord, Jesus
Christ, raised Lazarus from the dead was a practical demonstration of rapture.
Let us look at John 11:25-26, 43
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection,
and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live:
26 And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
43 And
when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And
he that was dead came forth,
Let us analyze the verses
quoted above.
Verse 25: here,
The Lord, Jesus Christ, talked about resurrection of the dead believers. He
said the believers who believed in him and had died shall live again. This
is the resurrection. Jesus Christ, Himself, is The Resurrection.
This corresponds to what
Apostle Paul prophesied in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that ……… ’’the dead in Christ shall rise first’’.
Verse 26: here,
the Lord, Jesus Christ, said that the believers that were alive shall never
die. Jesus Christ, Himself, is The Life.
This corresponds to what
Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 that ”…. we which are alive and remain shall be caught up”
Verse 43 and 44: here,
the Lord, Jesus Christ, cried with a loud voice to call the dead Lazarus
out of the grave. Dead Lazarus heard the Voice of The Lord, Jesus Christ, and he
that was dead came forth out of grave.
This corresponds to the
prophecy given by Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that ’’the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout”. To descend with a shout means to descend with
a loud voice.
On the day of rapture, The
Lord, Jesus Christ, might just be crying with a loud voice, as he descends from
heaven, shouting, ‘all the dead in Christ, come out of grave’. As Lazarus heard
his loud cry and resurrected, all the dead in Christ will, also, hear his shout
on that day and they will come out of grave and resurrect like Lazarus.
ii Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 60:8
8 Who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to
their windows?
Prophet Isaiah saw those that will be
caught up into the cloud to meet with The Lord. Compare with 1 Thessalonians
4:17.
Isaiah 26:19
19 Thy
dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake
and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth
shall cast out the dead.
20 Come,
my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide
thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be
overpast.
21 For,
behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of
the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and
shall no more cover her slain.
Here, Prophet Isaiah was
prophesying that The Lord will come out of his place (the Lord will descend),
dead men that live in dust shall rise (resurrection) and his people should hide
themselves from indignation (enter heaven and escape from great tribulation).
Compare with what Apostle Paul was saying in the text above.
iii Prophet Jeremiah
Jeremiah
25:30, 33
30 Therefore
prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD
shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he
shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they
that tread the grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
33 And
the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be
lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Verse 30 says The Lord will
utter His Voice. That Voice is to call out the dead in Christ to resurrect from
their graves. This matches what Apostle Paul prophesied that The Lord will
descend with a shout while verse 33 describes the sudden destruction that
accompanies The Day of Lord. All are still rapture events.
iv Prophet Daniel
Daniel
12:2
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Here, Prophet
Daniel talked about resurrection, an event of rapture.
Other prophets
of old that talked about rapture include Prophets Amos, Joel, Zephaniah, among
others.
v. Apostle Peter
2 Peter
3:2-4
2 That
ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and
Saviour:
3 Knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lusts,
4 And
saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue as they
were from the beginning of
the creation.
Here, Apostle Peter reminded us
that holy prophets before Christ had already spoken about the coming of
The Lord at rapture and that, they, the Apostles had repeated the same. He also
stressed that scoffers would also rise to doubt, mock and discredit that
coming. If Apostle Peter reminded us that old Prophets talked about rapture,
what more do we need to prove that it was not only Apostle Paul that spoke
about rapture.
vi. Apostle John
Revelation
7:9,14
9 After
this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and
palms in their hands;
14 And
I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb.
Lastly,
John saw the raptured believers in heaven. Halleluyah!
Is it only 144,000 Jews that will
make rapture?
A certain religious sect claims
that it is only 144,000 Jews that will be raptured. This is not true at all.
From Revelation 7:9, 14 quoted above, we can see that John saw people of all
nations, tribe, tongue and languages in heaven, not just Jews. Also, the people
he saw could not be numbered, not 144,000. These are the raptured saints.
MANIFESTATIONS
OF RAPTURE IN THE BIBLE
1. Enoch was taken by God alive. Genesis
5:24.
2. Joshua was transported to heaven. 2
Kings 2: 11.
3. The Lord, Jesus Christ, ascended to
heaven. Acts 1:9-11.
4. Dead Lazarus resurrected from grave.
John 11:43-44.
5 Many deads rose from their graves when
The Lord, Jesus Christ, was crucified. Mathew 27:52-53
CONCLUSION
It is possible for believers to
misconceive the issue of rapture because rapture is a mystery. 1 Corinthians
15: 51 says clearly that it is a mystery.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed,
And rapture,
like all other mysteries, has to be understood. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says
2 And though I have the
gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries . . . . . .
. . . . . .
Because
rapture is a mystery, it is possible for many people to misunderstand the
concept or not have the full understanding of it.
SUMMARY
God has helped us
to see from this teaching that Rapture is indeed biblical-though, a mystery
that needs to be understood. It is a phenomenon that was first recorded in the
book of the beginning-genesis, and consummated in the book of the end, the book
of revelation. Also, we see the manifestations of rapture all through the different
books and as it was proclaimed by old Prophets and Apostles alike. The Lord,
Himself talked extensively about it.
This mystery, the
rapture of saints, has been and is still the glorious hope of true believers in
Christ, especially at this time that we see all the signs manifesting minute by
minute and more and more.
PRAYERS
1. Lord, Jesus
Christ, let me hear the sound of the trumpet.
2. Holy Spirit of
God make me ready when The Lord shall come.
3. Holy Spirit,
prepare my body to take up incorruption at the coming of The Lord, Jesus Christ.
4. Lord, Jesus
Christ, deliver me from everything that will hinder me from going with you.
ACTIONS
Are
you an elect of Christ? Are you truly saved? Are you on the narrow road? Do you
want to make the rapture/heaven? If your answers are yes, then,
• Make all efforts to heed the warnings of Jesus Christ.
• Be watchful. Pay attention to what is happening around the World and see
whether they match what the scriptures say.
• Be filled with the Holy Spirit and be in the Spirit all the time.
• Fast, consecrate yourself, run away from sin and worldliness.
If
your answers are NO, then you can repent today. Accept Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Saviour. Kindly sincerely and faithfully pray the prayer of repentance
below and make a determination never to commit sin again.
PRAYER OF
REPENTANCE
Lord,
Jesus Christ, I am sorry for all my sins. I confess them with my mouth and I
ask for mercy. Please forgive me and wash me in your blood. I accept you as my
personal Lord and Saviour. Write my name in the book of life. Give me power
over sins and fill me with your Spirit and Joy of Salvation. When rapture
trumpet sounds, let me make it. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, I pray.
Begin
to read bible. Begin with the book of John. Pray always. Fast regularly (you
can begin with once in a week). Look for a bible believing church where they
teach repentance, holiness, salvation and fellowship with them. Pray before you
go. Always run away from SINS.
NEED MORE
INFORMATION?
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We will
like to get as many people as possible ready for rapture. We wish nobody goes
through the great tribulation. What are happening now are child’s play.
Shalom.
TO MAKE RAPTURE:
Confess your sins to JESUS CHRIST and ask Him to save you.
Repent of your sins constantly on daily basis and run away from
sins.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit
Live in Holiness and Righteousness
Do all Restitutions
Cut off all worldliness.
Forgive all people.
Pray and fast.
Consecrate and study the bible.
Watch.
