| THE SECRET RAPTURE OR THE DAY OF THE LORD |
The question of the timing of ‘The Rapture’ is a hotly debated topic in ‘Christian’ circles and there are generally three options that are provided for this timing
that are defined further down in this article. Since ‘Rapture’ is a word not found in the Bible, it would help to first define what it means.
The meaning of the word RAPTURE is as follows:
The meaning of the word ECSTASY is as follows:
The word 'RAPTURE' literally refers to a state of ecstatic feeling as is often exhibited by pagan tribes during ceremonies that are accompanied by dancing and
music, usually drums pounding to a loud repetitious beat. The participants in these ceremonies usually experience intense emotions that are brought on both
by the music and use of various hallucinogenic herbs and plants that produce visions and changes in perception, time, sense and mood. Modern day ‘RAVES’
that are so popular amongst young people are today’s equivalent of these ancient reality altering religious ceremonies. The drug ecstasy is designed to
produce a rapturous state in its users and is appropriately named for that reason. The very word RAPTURE used to describe a supposed major Biblical
doctrine is not found anywhere in the Bible.
In religious circles the term ‘RAPTURE’ is used to describe an event in which Jesus Christ secretly returns to Earth (or at least close to the surface
of the Earth) to take away a group of believers to Heaven to spend an unspecified amount of time there before his prophesied ‘Second Coming’ to set
up His Kingdom on the present Earth that will last 1000 years. The Rapture is supposedly a secret event whereas the Second Coming is a public one.
The time that the raptured believers will spend in heaven before the Second Coming generally ranges from 3½ years (Mid Trib.) to 7 years (Pre Trib.)
depending on when the event takes place. The theory is that believers will escape all of, or a part of the GREAT TRIBULATION prophesied by Jesus is
Matthew 24:21 / For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. The great tribulation is
calculated to last 7 years so the Rapture theory is that Jesus will come in secret at the beginning of the 7 years or halfway through the 7 years to remove
believers from Earth and transport them to Heaven. If the supposed Rapture of the church happens before the tribulation, then the timing of the Rapture is
Pre–Tribulation or Pre–Trib. If the event is timed mid way through the 7 year period then it is termed Midway tribulation or Mid–Trib. There are some that
offer a third option of a Post–Tribulation Rapture at the end of the 7 years of ‘great tribulation.’ The subject of this article is not the timing of ‘The
Rapture’ but if the Bible teaches that there is such an event as the ‘RAPTURE’ at all!
The doctrine of the Rapture is based primarily on the following two verses from the New Testament.:
1 Cor. 15 as well as 1 Thes. 4 deal primarily with the subject of the resurrection of the dead; specifically the resurrection of those who have died
believing in Christ. Now if we can understand what this process of ‘Resurrection’ entails perhaps some of the confusion surrounding the doctrine of this
purported ‘RAPTURE’ might be cleared up. In order to understand what the ‘RESURRECTION’ means it is important to understand what happens to believers
who die. The answer is rather simple: their SOUL goes to Heaven and their BODIES return to dust from which they were created. The souls that have thus
been redeemed will need a new BODY. This is the meaning of ‘Resurrection’ as taught by the apostle Paul in both 1 Cor. 15 and in 1 Thes. 4. He taught that
at the time of his second coming, Jesus Christ will provide all believers with a new incorruptible body unlike our present corruptible one, and
that is the meaning of THE RESURRECTION; our souls will have an immortal house to dwell in, and we will therefore be immortals. Since it stands
to reason that some believers will still be alive on Earth at His Second Coming, their bodies will be transformed along with the bodies of those who had gone on
before them. Both 1 Cor.15 and 1 Thes. 4 describe this event in detail and an analysis of these scriptures reveals that nowhere in these scriptures is there
even a hint of any of the believers being transported (RAPTURED) to Heaven to protect them form the great tribulation that Jesus taught would precede His
Second Coming.
All it takes is a plain reading of Bible text to determine its meaning, problems arise when well or ill intentioned folks start reading into the Bible rather than simply
reading it. The doctrine of the ‘RAPTURE’ concerns the living yet it is based mainly upon scriptures that deal with the dead in Christ. 1 Cor. 15:51 Behold, I
shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 15:52 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. The subject of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is the meaning of the Gospel
which is summed up by the Apostle Paul as being the RESURRECTION OF THE BODY (not the RAPTURE). It is at this time that “the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” The dead in Christ whose souls are in Heaven are describes as being ‘RAISED’ while the living
believers are ‘CHANGED’, in both cases the meaning is that of believers being given their new spiritual bodies and thus the completion of
their promised redemption (Rom. 8:23). What relationship does this have to being transported to Heaven to be saved from great tribulation? The answer is
that there is none, so this scripture does not even mention any Rapture like event let alone prove it.
1 Thes. 4:16 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: 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.
The above scripture was written to console grieving Thessalonians that their loved ones that had died before Jesus’ second coming would not be lost. The
subject from 1 Thes. 4:13 – 1 Thes. 5:4 is about the RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD AT JESUS’ SECOND COMING, not the secret RAPTURE. Verse
16 and 17 are taken out of context to try and prove a secret rapture but even a cursory examination would prove otherwise. Words such as SHOUT, VOICE,
TRUMP that reveal the loud and public nature of this event (The Second Coming) at which time The Lord Jesus gathers together his whole church, both those
in Heaven and those on Earth. If he was just coming secretly for believers on Earth only, there was no need to bring the dead with him, seeing that the living
are going back with him to Heaven anyway. If we keep reading past verse 17 to verse 4 of the next chapter, it will become abundantly clear that there is nothing
about this event that is secret. This event is supposed to be so secret that not even Jesus knows the day it would occur on; however it appears that the Apostle
Paul knew better than Jesus because he taught the Thessalonians church otherwise, look at the following scriptures:
1 Thes. 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
First of all please note that in verse 2 Paul identifies this event that he was discussing as THE DAY OF THE LORD not a secret RAPTURE. If you think
there is anything secret or quiet about the Day of the Lord, then read Isa. 2, Isa. 13, Isa. 24, Isa. 27 and the list goes on to see what the Day of the Lord
entails! Was this momentous event ever supposed to overtake believers as a thief in the night, to overtake them by surprise? Who does the Day of the Lord
come upon by surprise? Obviously upon unbelievers who shall face the destruction prophesied in too many Old Testament scriptures and in Revelation 19. But
does Paul say that the believers will have no inkling that this day is coming? Read verse 4 again and decide for yourself, this scripture should settle once
and for all that the event referred to in verse 16 and 17 of chapter 4 is far from secret, that it should not take any believer by surprise. Can this
therefore be referring to a Secret Rapture?
So let me sum this up briefly. At the time of His Second coming which is far from secret Jesus will descend to Earth; if his First Coming was to Earth, should not
the Second Coming also not be a descent right down to Earth, not just to midair and back to Heaven. Every eye will see Him, even His enemies! As a matter of
fact His enemies on Earth will know that He's coming (or someone’s coming from up there – they may not necessarily identify Him as Jesus) and they will be
preparing to go to war with Him (Psalm 2, Rev. 19)! He already has all the souls of dead believers coming down with Him and just before He lands
on Earth He gathers all the living believers together by catching them up to Himself in the clouds in the air, somewhere within the Earth’s
atmosphere, where there are clouds and air. In that very instant all believers, dead and living are RESURRECTED, their bodies are
transformed! The question also arises as to the need for the dead to come down with Christ if all he is coming for is to secretly transport his believers from
Earth to save them from all or part of the great tribulation? He then proceeds to descend all the way down to Earth and to destroy all His enemies and sets up
His millennial Kingdom! Does this event even remotely resemble the so–called Rapture promoted by Hal Lindsey and others, for example The Left Behind
series?
Is there any reason for us to believe that we actually need to go up to Heaven to have our bodies transformed when it will happen in the twinkling of an eye? Or
is there any reason to believe that He can't gather all His believers together even as He is descending to make war with His enemies, to destroy those who
destroy the Earth? And if Jesus wanted to rapture His church out secretly to save them from the tribulation why does He need to come down
with a shout, archangels and trumpets? Can He not just rapture it out while He himself is still in Heaven? If Jesus simply wanted to save people
from the tribulation by taking them up to Heaven, why could he not just send some angels to lift them up as the angels did with the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16:
22? If the Bible describes the event of the resurrection (transformation of the bodies of believers) as taking place in the clouds in the air, is this not a clear
picture of something happening close to the surface of the earth? So why then when He is that close will He not continue descending all the way down to the
surface of the Earth as described in I Thes. 4:16 (THE LORD SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN, DESCEND TO WHERE)? Does the Bible say that He will
descend down to the clouds in the air, transform all the believers and then go right back up to Heaven? No it does not! Does this understanding
of this event not eliminate the need for a Second Coming (The Rapture) and then a Third Coming which the Bible calls the Second Coming? Heb. 9:28 / So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. The Bible
nowhere teaches that there will be a Third Coming, just a Second one.
THE BIBLE TEACHES A RESURRECTION AND A SECOND COMING, NOT A RAPTURE AND A THIRD COMING.
that are defined further down in this article. Since ‘Rapture’ is a word not found in the Bible, it would help to first define what it means.
The meaning of the word RAPTURE is as follows:
- The state of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy.
- An expression of ecstatic feeling. Often used in the plural. Synonym: ecstasy
The meaning of the word ECSTASY is as follows:
- Intense joy or delight.
- A state of emotion so intense that one is carried beyond rational thought and self-control: an ecstasy of rage.
- The trance, frenzy, or rapture associated with mystic or prophetic exaltation.
The word 'RAPTURE' literally refers to a state of ecstatic feeling as is often exhibited by pagan tribes during ceremonies that are accompanied by dancing and
music, usually drums pounding to a loud repetitious beat. The participants in these ceremonies usually experience intense emotions that are brought on both
by the music and use of various hallucinogenic herbs and plants that produce visions and changes in perception, time, sense and mood. Modern day ‘RAVES’
that are so popular amongst young people are today’s equivalent of these ancient reality altering religious ceremonies. The drug ecstasy is designed to
produce a rapturous state in its users and is appropriately named for that reason. The very word RAPTURE used to describe a supposed major Biblical
doctrine is not found anywhere in the Bible.
In religious circles the term ‘RAPTURE’ is used to describe an event in which Jesus Christ secretly returns to Earth (or at least close to the surface
of the Earth) to take away a group of believers to Heaven to spend an unspecified amount of time there before his prophesied ‘Second Coming’ to set
up His Kingdom on the present Earth that will last 1000 years. The Rapture is supposedly a secret event whereas the Second Coming is a public one.
The time that the raptured believers will spend in heaven before the Second Coming generally ranges from 3½ years (Mid Trib.) to 7 years (Pre Trib.)
depending on when the event takes place. The theory is that believers will escape all of, or a part of the GREAT TRIBULATION prophesied by Jesus is
Matthew 24:21 / For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. The great tribulation is
calculated to last 7 years so the Rapture theory is that Jesus will come in secret at the beginning of the 7 years or halfway through the 7 years to remove
believers from Earth and transport them to Heaven. If the supposed Rapture of the church happens before the tribulation, then the timing of the Rapture is
Pre–Tribulation or Pre–Trib. If the event is timed mid way through the 7 year period then it is termed Midway tribulation or Mid–Trib. There are some that
offer a third option of a Post–Tribulation Rapture at the end of the 7 years of ‘great tribulation.’ The subject of this article is not the timing of ‘The
Rapture’ but if the Bible teaches that there is such an event as the ‘RAPTURE’ at all!
The doctrine of the Rapture is based primarily on the following two verses from the New Testament.:
- 1 Thes. 4:16 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: 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.
- 1 Cor. 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 15:52 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.
1 Cor. 15 as well as 1 Thes. 4 deal primarily with the subject of the resurrection of the dead; specifically the resurrection of those who have died
believing in Christ. Now if we can understand what this process of ‘Resurrection’ entails perhaps some of the confusion surrounding the doctrine of this
purported ‘RAPTURE’ might be cleared up. In order to understand what the ‘RESURRECTION’ means it is important to understand what happens to believers
who die. The answer is rather simple: their SOUL goes to Heaven and their BODIES return to dust from which they were created. The souls that have thus
been redeemed will need a new BODY. This is the meaning of ‘Resurrection’ as taught by the apostle Paul in both 1 Cor. 15 and in 1 Thes. 4. He taught that
at the time of his second coming, Jesus Christ will provide all believers with a new incorruptible body unlike our present corruptible one, and
that is the meaning of THE RESURRECTION; our souls will have an immortal house to dwell in, and we will therefore be immortals. Since it stands
to reason that some believers will still be alive on Earth at His Second Coming, their bodies will be transformed along with the bodies of those who had gone on
before them. Both 1 Cor.15 and 1 Thes. 4 describe this event in detail and an analysis of these scriptures reveals that nowhere in these scriptures is there
even a hint of any of the believers being transported (RAPTURED) to Heaven to protect them form the great tribulation that Jesus taught would precede His
Second Coming.
All it takes is a plain reading of Bible text to determine its meaning, problems arise when well or ill intentioned folks start reading into the Bible rather than simply
reading it. The doctrine of the ‘RAPTURE’ concerns the living yet it is based mainly upon scriptures that deal with the dead in Christ. 1 Cor. 15:51 Behold, I
shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 15:52 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. The subject of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is the meaning of the Gospel
which is summed up by the Apostle Paul as being the RESURRECTION OF THE BODY (not the RAPTURE). It is at this time that “the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” The dead in Christ whose souls are in Heaven are describes as being ‘RAISED’ while the living
believers are ‘CHANGED’, in both cases the meaning is that of believers being given their new spiritual bodies and thus the completion of
their promised redemption (Rom. 8:23). What relationship does this have to being transported to Heaven to be saved from great tribulation? The answer is
that there is none, so this scripture does not even mention any Rapture like event let alone prove it.
1 Thes. 4:16 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: 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.
The above scripture was written to console grieving Thessalonians that their loved ones that had died before Jesus’ second coming would not be lost. The
subject from 1 Thes. 4:13 – 1 Thes. 5:4 is about the RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD AT JESUS’ SECOND COMING, not the secret RAPTURE. Verse
16 and 17 are taken out of context to try and prove a secret rapture but even a cursory examination would prove otherwise. Words such as SHOUT, VOICE,
TRUMP that reveal the loud and public nature of this event (The Second Coming) at which time The Lord Jesus gathers together his whole church, both those
in Heaven and those on Earth. If he was just coming secretly for believers on Earth only, there was no need to bring the dead with him, seeing that the living
are going back with him to Heaven anyway. If we keep reading past verse 17 to verse 4 of the next chapter, it will become abundantly clear that there is nothing
about this event that is secret. This event is supposed to be so secret that not even Jesus knows the day it would occur on; however it appears that the Apostle
Paul knew better than Jesus because he taught the Thessalonians church otherwise, look at the following scriptures:
1 Thes. 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
First of all please note that in verse 2 Paul identifies this event that he was discussing as THE DAY OF THE LORD not a secret RAPTURE. If you think
there is anything secret or quiet about the Day of the Lord, then read Isa. 2, Isa. 13, Isa. 24, Isa. 27 and the list goes on to see what the Day of the Lord
entails! Was this momentous event ever supposed to overtake believers as a thief in the night, to overtake them by surprise? Who does the Day of the Lord
come upon by surprise? Obviously upon unbelievers who shall face the destruction prophesied in too many Old Testament scriptures and in Revelation 19. But
does Paul say that the believers will have no inkling that this day is coming? Read verse 4 again and decide for yourself, this scripture should settle once
and for all that the event referred to in verse 16 and 17 of chapter 4 is far from secret, that it should not take any believer by surprise. Can this
therefore be referring to a Secret Rapture?
So let me sum this up briefly. At the time of His Second coming which is far from secret Jesus will descend to Earth; if his First Coming was to Earth, should not
the Second Coming also not be a descent right down to Earth, not just to midair and back to Heaven. Every eye will see Him, even His enemies! As a matter of
fact His enemies on Earth will know that He's coming (or someone’s coming from up there – they may not necessarily identify Him as Jesus) and they will be
preparing to go to war with Him (Psalm 2, Rev. 19)! He already has all the souls of dead believers coming down with Him and just before He lands
on Earth He gathers all the living believers together by catching them up to Himself in the clouds in the air, somewhere within the Earth’s
atmosphere, where there are clouds and air. In that very instant all believers, dead and living are RESURRECTED, their bodies are
transformed! The question also arises as to the need for the dead to come down with Christ if all he is coming for is to secretly transport his believers from
Earth to save them from all or part of the great tribulation? He then proceeds to descend all the way down to Earth and to destroy all His enemies and sets up
His millennial Kingdom! Does this event even remotely resemble the so–called Rapture promoted by Hal Lindsey and others, for example The Left Behind
series?
Is there any reason for us to believe that we actually need to go up to Heaven to have our bodies transformed when it will happen in the twinkling of an eye? Or
is there any reason to believe that He can't gather all His believers together even as He is descending to make war with His enemies, to destroy those who
destroy the Earth? And if Jesus wanted to rapture His church out secretly to save them from the tribulation why does He need to come down
with a shout, archangels and trumpets? Can He not just rapture it out while He himself is still in Heaven? If Jesus simply wanted to save people
from the tribulation by taking them up to Heaven, why could he not just send some angels to lift them up as the angels did with the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16:
22? If the Bible describes the event of the resurrection (transformation of the bodies of believers) as taking place in the clouds in the air, is this not a clear
picture of something happening close to the surface of the earth? So why then when He is that close will He not continue descending all the way down to the
surface of the Earth as described in I Thes. 4:16 (THE LORD SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN, DESCEND TO WHERE)? Does the Bible say that He will
descend down to the clouds in the air, transform all the believers and then go right back up to Heaven? No it does not! Does this understanding
of this event not eliminate the need for a Second Coming (The Rapture) and then a Third Coming which the Bible calls the Second Coming? Heb. 9:28 / So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. The Bible
nowhere teaches that there will be a Third Coming, just a Second one.
THE BIBLE TEACHES A RESURRECTION AND A SECOND COMING, NOT A RAPTURE AND A THIRD COMING.
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