I’ve been wanting to write for a few months about the rapture of the church, and address some misconceptions. I want to explore for those who have heard the term and think “those crazy evangelicals” without having had anyone explain what we mean. This is that explanation.
Definition: The Church Simply put, the church is made up of true believers in Jesus Christ, out of all lands and denominations. The simple faith that Jesus is God; that He is the Son in the Trinity. He came to earth and died for my sins. He rose again on the third day. If you are a believer in Jesus - His diety and His blood shed for your sins - that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; Rom. 10:9 It's all very simple and then complicated at the same time, because what exactly does it mean to believe? Jesus told Nicodemus You must be born again. This could be another whole blog post, which I will do next. But for now, the simple explanation of what I mean by the church is the purpose of this paragraph.
Definition: The rapture is the catching up of true believers - a sudden gathering of His church, away from earth and up into the clouds - away to forever be with the Lord. The graves will open up and the dead in Christ will be raised, and then we will be changed and raised to meet them in the air.
One misconception about the rapture of the church: “The word rapture is not even in the bible.” Well sort of but no, not true. The phrase “caught up” in 1 Thess. 4:17 translates in Greek to
harpazo. In Latin, this would be rapturo. And that is where the term comes from. Would the term “I believe in the catching up of believers” be a better term than “I believe in the rapture of the church”? Well, as long as we know what we are talking about when we say
rapture, I think the term
rapture is fine.
Here is the verse that discusses that catching up or rapture.
1 Thess. 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and 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 the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
So that is where the term rapture comes from. It derived from the Latin word for being “caught up”. Other places where the term is used; is when Philip was caught up near Gaza and brought to Caesarea (Acts 8:39) and describing Paul’s being caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4).
The phrase rapture of the church is the understanding is that there will come a day when the dead in Christ (believers) will be resurrected out of their graves. That is the Christian hope! My hope is in the resurrection. O grave where is your victory! These are phrases spoken at most Christian burials. 1 Thess. 4:17 tells us that the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive will be caught up together with them – raptured – in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. This is Christianity 101 - Jesus was resurrected out of the grave, and so shall we be. Unless we are alive at the time He comes for the church - then we shall not die, but be changed in the twinkling of an eye.
I don't think any Christians who believe in the authority of the Word of God question that this all will indeed happen. However, there are many differences at to how Christians view the “when” of all of this. That’s OK, God’s plan will roll right on for His purposes. I see the disciples misunderstanding that Christ must first suffer and die – He would come as victorious King later. Their misunderstanding of how events would unfold is understandable, and God is not shaken by our disagreements. His plan simply continues to unfold and eventually we all end up on the same page – at least in hindsight.
While we have different understandings concerning the end times, I do believe we can know – and I believe God wants us to know – the unfolding of end times events. I do believe in a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. And that is the next thing I will look at. What is the Tribulation? What is the Great Tribulation? How do they differ?
I realize also that I should probably create a blog post on why I believe the bible at all? Why should I concern myself with that antiquated book of fables and stories? There is hardly time or space to list all the reasons why I believe, and feel very confident to defend my faith.
For now, this is what I have! The rapture of the church is indeed in the bible. There are many other things that could be looked at, about the rapture. But the verse I listed is the most descriptive. I did not spell out yet where I believe it fits in the end times beliefs. Just the fact that it is described in the bible in pretty definitive terms. May God grant us His insight as we study His Word like noble Bereans, to see if these things are true.
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