INTRO: Turn to 1 Thessalonians 4 Last time I spoke on the Wrath to Come where Paul tells us that Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come and how the Church will not go through the Great Tribulation Period We looked at the 70 Weeks of Daniel and gave a timeline of events for last days Today I want to talk about the next event on the prophetic calendar known as the Rapture of the Church Many of you will remember Harold Camping who said the Rapture would happen May 21, 2011 And more recently David Meade said the Rapture would happen on April 23 of this year Actually, first he said it would happened September 23 of last year Then October 14 of last year and now April 23 this year Of course, the Rapture didn t happen because we re still here or maybe you re part of the 64% who believe the Rapture will happen in the middle or at the end of the Great Tribulation Period If you are, then Jim Bakker is selling Gourmet Meal Kits, End of the World Biscuits, Time of Trouble Beans and other survival kits for those who want to cruise through the Last Days in style You can see, there is some confusion about the Last Days and more specifically the Rapture of the Church So today, I hope to clear up that confusion and give a clear teaching on the Rapture of the Church Let s begin by reading 1 Thessalonians 4 1 Thessalonians 4:16 18 (NKJV) 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. The Bible talks about an event where Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God The dead in Christ will rise first Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air
This event is referred to as the Rapture of the Church When I first started learning about Eschatology the study of the End Times or the Last Things, I noticed the word Rapture is not in the Bible Thus, for many years I didn t believe in the Rapture I believed in the Second Coming of Christ because it was obvious... but the Rapture wasn t obvious The reason why it wasn t obvious is because I wasn t reading in the original language of the Bible The word caught up is the Greek Word harpazo and it means to be snatched away In the 4 th Century A.D., the great scholar Jerome translated the Greek New Testament into Latin In the Latin Vulgate, the word caught up comes from raptus which means snatched away and this is where we get the word Rapture from So when people say the word Rapture is not in the Bible, it comes from the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible If the Greek word would have caught on we would be talking about the Harpazo of the Church, but the word Rapture is way cooler. There are two other passages that speak of the Rapture of the Church The first is John 14:1-3 where Jesus says when everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am This echo s Paul s writing to the Thessalonians when he says we will meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord The second is 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 where Paul tells us we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye when the last trumpet is blown Again echoing Paul s reference to the trumpet of God The Greek word used for twinkling could refer to the time that it takes for light to reflect in the human eye The implication is we will be changed in less time than it takes for you to blink your eyes Thus we have a Biblical basis for the Rapture of the Church However, there is still a great deal of disagreement over when the Rapture will occur There are 3 primary views of the timing of the Rapture The first is known as Historic Premillennialism or Post-tribulational Premillennialism
This is the belief that Jesus will return before the 1000 year reign of Christ but after the Tribulation period The second view is known as the Mid-tribulation view or the Pre-wrath View They believe that the church will go through a portion of the tribulation period, but will be raptured before the intense part of God s wrath is poured out on the earth The third view is known as the Pre-tribulation view This is the believe that the Church will be raptured before the 7 year tribulation period begins This is the view that I personally believe and there are 5 reasons why I believe this is the Biblical view The first reason is the place of the Church in Revelation Revelation 1:19 gives us an outline for the book of Revelation Jesus tells John to write the things which you have seen, the things which are and the things which will take place after this John writes what He has seen in Chapter 1 To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood this is done, past tense Then He writes the things which are in Chapter 2-3 Here he writes about the 7 churches, 7 being the number of completeness, so John is writing about the entire Body of Christ or the Church Age When you come to Revelation 4:1, John writes after these things After what things? After Chapters 1-3, after the Church Age What does John hear the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet From chapter 4 on, the church is no longer mentioned If the Church was going through the Tribulation Period, John would have written about it but we re not mentioned, so it s clear we re not there The second reason is the difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ In Rapture Jesus returns FOR His saints and in the Second Coming Jesus returns WITH His saints Paul writing to the Thessalonians said we are going to MEET the Lord in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord So Jesus is not coming WITH us, He is coming FOR us In 1 Thessalonians 3:13 Paul writes
1 Thessalonians 3:13 (NKJV) 13 That He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. Jude writes concerning this day Jude 14 15 (NKJV) 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. Additionally, in the Rapture Christ comes in the air, whereas in the Second Coming Christ comes to the earth (Zechariah 14:4) So there is a time when Jesus comes FOR His saints and a time when Jesus comes WITH His saints to execute judgment and they are speaking of two different events The third reason is the Bible says we will be delivered from the wrath to come (listen to last weeks message) 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (NKJV) 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Paul tells us up front that we will be delivered from the Great Tribulation But this is also supported by the order of events in Thessalonians We have in Chapter 4 the Rapture of the Church and in Chapter 5 we have the Day of the Lord which is another word used for the Great Tribulation Also Revelation 3:10 says Revelation 3:10 11 (NKJV) 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. This is Jesus talking to the Church at Philadelphia, the Faithful Church
He says we will be kept from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world He also says when He comes, He will come quickly which goes along with Paul s description that it will be in the twinkling of an eye The fourth reasons is the removal of the Restrainer 2 Thessalonians 2:7 8 (NKJV) 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. Who is He who now restrains? The Holy Spirit The Presence of the Holy Spirit in the world is keeping the antichrist from being revealed 1 Corinthians 3:16 & 6:19 tell us the Holy Spirit is living in every believer When the Rapture occurs, the Spirit filled church and it s restraining influence will be removed and evil will be released at a level the world has never seen before Right now lawlessness exists in the world, but it s being restrained Imagine what it will be like when evil is unrestrained The fifth reason is the mystery of the Bride and the Bridegroom Every feast in the Bible is symbolic of the life of Jesus Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus was crucified during the Passover Jesus was buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread He was resurrected during feast of First Fruits The Holy Spirit was sent on Pentecost There are those who believe the Rapture will happen around the Feast of Trumpets also known as Rosh Hashanah (September) But the Rapture is only for the church and Jesus uses an interesting analogy between the Jewish Wedding ceremony and the Rapture of the Church in the Parable of the Virgins in Matthew 25 In the Jewish wedding ceremony, the bridegroom would leave, go to his Father s house and prepare a place for his bride After he was done building a place, he would return for his bride
The bride had to live ready to go at any moment because she didn t know when he would return When he was getting close to returning, he would send his friends to alert the bride the bridegroom is coming The bride would have bridesmaids who would be on the look out When the bridegroom would come, usually it was in the middle of the night, he would come in without any announcement, take his bride away to his father s house where the marriage ceremony would take place Now who is the Bride of Christ? The Church Israel is never referred to as the Bride of Christ, but they are called the Elect or God s Chosen Thus, I believe Jesus is referring to the Rapture of the Church in Matthew 25 Now Paul writes to the Thessalonians in Chapter 5 1 Thessalonians 5:1 4 (NKJV) 5 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, Peace and safety! then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. The Bible says no man knows the day or the hour, but we can know the times and the seasons And as I said last time, every prophecy concerning the return of the Lord has been fulfilled We know the times we are in the Times of the Gentiles We know the seasons there are only 2 festivals left that have not been fulfilled in the life of Jesus The feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement Could the Rapture of the Church occurs on the Feast of Trumpets? It s possible, but real question is are you ready? In the Parable of the 10 virgins 5 were ready, 5 were not and the 5 who were not ready missed the coming of the Bridegroom When they realized they were left they went to the bridegroom and said let us in and the bridegroom said I do not know you It s one thing to say you know Jesus... but would Jesus say I know you?