This article is written to bring you comfort, hope, & truth that will sustain you during these troubled times. Here is scriptural truth about the event called the Rapture often referred to in scripture as our Blessed Hope or the Mystery ... this is for every Born Again Believer to be looking forward toward.
We know the the word "Rapture" does not occur in the Bible. We also know the term comes from a Latin word meaning: a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away. Scripture does show us that this concept is clear & decisive & is biblical. It is the catching away of Jesus Christ's, Yeshua's born again Believers from this earth as He calls them to meet Him in the air/clouds to take them into Heaven.
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ - is another event altogether & should not be mistaken as all one event mixed in with the Rapture. Scriptures throughly support two separate events taking place in the End Times. Each event is purposed & directed to cause two separate fulfillments of scripture and prophecy.
The Rapture of the Believers (church/bride) is the first event in which Jesus Christ our Messiah calls & snatches away all Believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth during the Great Tribulation.
The Rapture is described primarily in 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 & 1Corinthians 15:50-54
Jesus Christ will resurrect all Believers who have died, give them glorified bodies, & take them from this earth, along with all living Believers, who will also be given glorified bodies at that time. This event will usher us into the Kingdom of YHWH God & we Believers will be with our Messiah forever; and we will then be able to partake of the wedding feast, the crowns being distributed, & then returning with Jesus Christ at His Second Coming; His return to the earth where He actually splits the Mt. of Olives as He descends to earth upon the mountain.
So, at the Rapture we as the Believers meet Jesus Christ in the air as ...
Jesus Christ Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Jesus Christ in the air. And so we will be with Jesus Christ forever. 1Thessalonians 4:16 -17
The Rapture involves an instantaneous transformation of our bodies to prepare us for eternity to be able to live in the Kingdom of God forevermore & in the New Jerusalem. How exciting is that! This is what we ALL yearn for, this is our full inheritance with Jesus Christ & the fulfillment of our calling & our SALVATION. This is our Blessed Hope in real time.
"We know that when He, Jesus Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is." 1John 3:2
The Rapture is to be distinguished from the Second Coming & these are two separate events for two separate reasons. All very understandable & direct in purpose and prophecy fulfillment. Each event ushers in a different purpose according to God's plan & prophecy.
To reiterate: at the Rapture our Messiah comes 'in the clouds' to meet us in the air'. 1Thessalonians 4:17 Hence, we note that He does not actually descend upon the earth itself. That decending to earth specifically occurs at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, as mentioned beforehand.
The Second Coming our Messiah, Jesus Christ descends all the way to the earth to stand on the Mount of Olives.
This actually produces a great earthquake that splits the mountain in half & then the comes the defeat of all of God's enemies. Zechariah 14:3 - 4
This teaching of the Rapture was not specifically taught in the Old Testament (but it was referred to many times), which is why Paul does call it a 'MYSTERY' now revealed & our 'BLESSED HOPE':
"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." 1Corinthians 15:51 - 52
BUT again friends, if you do study the Old Testament you will see several occasions in which certain Prophets & Saints were 'translated and caught away' from the earth directly up into the Heavens to be with God. God always confirms truths, so we must take the whole council of God & not just pick & choose our own scriptures.
Two examples of 'catching away or translated' in the Old Testament are Elisha & Enoch. Again God does nothing unexpected & always supports everything in more than one scripture or prophecy. So, the Rapture is also with previous evidence of God's works to look at.
Let's remember that like the many of the Jewish believers in Jesus Christ time (& before) who were expecting only one coming of their Messiah & were unbelieving that it was Jesus Christ who is the Messiah ... so it will happen again ... between Jesus Christ coming for his Bride/Church at the Rapture & His coming with His Church at the Second Coming. These two separate events with two separate consequences & two separate purposes are God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Zech.14:5; Jude 1:14; Rev. 19:7-8,14
This, dear friends is the awesome reason it is called OUR BLESSED HOPE!
Can we all say: Amen & Maranatha
