The Rapture

MKJV (1Th 4:16) 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.

(1Th 4:17) 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.

We are going to discuss The Rapture of the church. We all look forward to the day when we can be with Christ forever. What a day that will be! It is a day when we will be whisked away or “caught up” which is actually what the word “rapture” means. The “catching up” with the Lord in the air.

Today, we are going to look at the Scripture verses about this subject and see, if our understanding or thought process of what is about to come follows closely with Scripture or if we have accepted error along the way. Because we all know that we have, accepted error at some point but it is our job to “weed out” the error.

I grew up United Methodist which is not too far from the Catholic denomination and, although they had Bible Study, we all grew up kinda believing that the Pastor was the only one that could explain Scripture to us……I mean, HE went to school to learn it so he should know right??? It made sense at the time if you don’t think about it.

But, as I began reading and studying for my own, There were many things that I discovered that were being ignored by my Religious Denomination which, led me on this path to truth. I wanted to know the truth about what God said NOT learn some Religious denominations beliefs.

So, also with this teaching. Lets look at “the rapture” from what God has to say rather than what man has taught. AMEN?

Many denominations believe and teach that before the Great tribulation begins, that the believers in Christ will be raptured “caught up” with Christ in the air, leaving the wicked or unbelievers behind to endure the wrath of Gods tribulation or judgement on the earth. Of course, this is to get them to “wake up”, repent and turn……sort-of “get their attention” so they will seek Him and turn from their wicked ways and then, he will come and gather the remaining that repent and accept Jesus and throw those that are left, into the lake of fire.

First of all, this is a “food for thought” study. It is not something you should “hang your hat on” so to speak or make a divisive issue between believers. This is just a study that should make you THINK and provoke you to study more. It is NOT a salvation issue so it holds very little weight but it is worthy for us to study. so let us dig in

I would like to take a look at the EVENT of the Rapture and discuss the ORDER of Events, from the Scriptures. We want to answer these questions:

Can we know when Christs return will be? Not in years but in the proximity of events
Does the rapture happen before or after the great tribulation? Which brings us to WHO is it that will go through the tribulation?
When Christ returns, does he gather the elect first, leaving the wicked behind?
Is his coming quiet as he gathers his elect and then loud when he comes to destroy the wicked?

Jesus spoke a lot about the rapture and His return. He wants us to hide his words in our heart and to watch events as they are unfolding so we will not be deceived.

I read a verse where one of the prophets was told events that will happen but the prophet had NO idea at the time HOW they were going to unfold. THEN, after he saw the events unfolding he said something like “ NOW I know what you were talking about”!

Jesus himself said:

MJKV (Mat 25:13) "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

I DON’T believe that Jesus wants us to have a hard and fast “this is the way things are going to happen” stance because that is exactly what happened in the first century when He came the first time and BECAUSE they held fast to their version of “how it was going to happen” , they missed His first coming. I believe that we are to hide his word in our hearts, pray, read the Scriptures, listen and watch as things unfold.

He also said:

MJKV(Mar 13:32-37) "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"

Notice it is saying we will not know the day or hour, when it will be midnight or morning. What he doesn’t say is that we will NOT know the season. In fact, he eludes to the fact that we WILL know the season

MJKV(Mat 24:32-33) "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!

So He is telling us to watch and WHEN we see these things…Know that it is near. So He seems to be saying that we WILL know the season.

It makes sense that Jesus first coming occurred on the specific dates God placed in Leviticus that we should observe beforehand …The Feasts. We know the Spring Feasts was Jesus first coming as the Passover lamb and our atoning sacrifice and that the summer feast of Pentacost was when he poured out his Holy spirit to dwell in each one of us. BUT the fall feasts have not been fulfilled. These are in place to represent his second coming. The FALL is the time when Jesus will come.

The fall feast of Trumpets- when the trump will sound announcing his return, atonement- which has always been seen as judgment and tabernacles where the righteous will dwell with Him forever. SO we know the season. But guess, out of all the Feasts that God Gave us, which one we can never be sure what day it falls on?

TRUMPETS-

Because trumpets begins with the visual sighting of the new moon. And it just so happens that In the fall , is the only time that the new moon isn’t always visible when we think it should be. Even when the percent illumination is saying that it should be visible,.. You SHOULD be able to see it BUT, That particular month of year, the moon is so low on the horizon as the sun is going down in the evening, that it may not be visible. If that is the case, you have to wait until the next evening. It is the only time of year that this happens. All other month the moon is higher on the horizon and the percent illumination is easily visible.

So question #1 Can we know when Christ’s return will be? The answer is "no", but we can know the season. So watch, pray and be ready and don’t be so dogmatic that YOU have it all figured out!

Question #2 and 3 we will answer together- those two questions are…

Question #2 Does the rapture happen before or after the great tribulation? and WHO goes through the tribulation?

Question #3 3. When Christ returns, does he gather the elect first, leaving the wicked behind?

MKJV(Luk 17:34-37) I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left.Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left." And they answered and said to Him, "Where, Lord?" So He said to them, "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together."

This passage in Luke mirrors the Passage in Matthew which we will look at in a minute. But in essence, the current western theology is that :

There is a coming of Christ where he takes the righteous off with him and the wicked are left to go through the tribulation for the purpose of getting them to repent and become righteous before the end time. Of course, this sounds good. Wouldn’t you like to be whisked away and not have to go through the tribulation?

God has given us His Word and all the stories of the Patriarchs for a reason and the reason is so we can learn and not repeat the same mistake. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, did they experience any of the plagues? Yes they did. They experienced the first three plagues. The first plague was the water tuned to blood, the second plague was frogs and third was lice. When the fourth plague was about to be given the Lord said to Moses in Exodus 8:20

(Exo 8:20-23) …Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be and THEN god made a difference between Egypt and Israel and the last 7 plagues did not affect them.

They still had to endure it! Walk through the plagues. They were not “caught up”, ruptured out of it until AFTER the plagues BUT God walked with them through it! Amen?

We have been told that “ALL scripture is breathed out from God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3:16 Why would God have THEM go through all 10 plagues in the beginning and then do something totally different later in the end???

There are patterns in the Bible. They repeat themselves. How God repeats things over and over in patterns. God teaches us from patterns because we learn and remember things that repeat.

So a movie came out in 2014 that became a series called “Left Behind”

I remember watching the movie and the scene was on an airplane and on this airplane was a mixture of believers and unbelievers scattered as normal throughout the plain. In a “twinkle of the eye” the believers vanished- no sound****right there in their seats leaving their clothes, books, phones and whatever they had left in the seat but their body just vanished! I believe, from my memory, at least one of the pilots vanished also. It turned to scenes on the earth where people all over the world have vanished. The news is covering the event but have no clue what has happened. Then of course there is always the crazy guy on the corner with the sign “repent! The end is here!”

So is this what we are to expect? It makes for a good movie But let us go to the Bible and see if this is really what we are to expect. Go to Matthew 24 where Jesus is speaking and telling us what is going to come lets start with verse 29

MKJV(Mat 24:29-30) "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Also note that Thessalonians says the same thing

(1Th 4:14-18) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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. 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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

So this is saying that Christ’s second coming is AFTER the tribulation not BEFORE! Lets move on with Mathew 24 beginning with verse 31

(Mat 24:31-42) And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Note the patterns! The end of time will be like the events that happened in the beginning! Let me read that again beginning in verse 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. He is giving us a clue that the end of time will be LIKE the days of Noah. It goes on to say "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming."

This refers to the Days of Noah. Let’s look at this again with the context of the days of Noah. We know that Noah built the ark- this big boat and the animals came and entered the ark 7 of the clean and 2 of the unclean animals. And Noah preached for 120 years and then entered into the ark. By the way, God said “Noah come into the ark” God was already in the ark waiting for Noah and his family.

The heavens opened up and water fell from the sky as well as the earth so a massive amount of water came in a short period of time. And it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The waters rose and the ark lifted off the earth and we know that Noah and his family were the only ones left remaining alive. The waters took away the wicked.

So was it the righteous or the wicket that got “taken away” in the days of Noah? The wicked! Lets look at some other passages that Jesus spoke of giving reference to his coming:

(Mat 13:24-30) Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' "

Jesus clarifies to the disciples the order of how things will happen when explaining the parable:

(Mat 13:36-43) Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

The order is that the wicked are gathered first and dealt with. It is the wicked that are “taken” in the days of Noah not the righteous. It is the tares that are gathered and destroyed leaving the wheat. So answering question 2 the rapture occurs after the tribulation and yes, the righteous will go through the tribulation. There is indication in Revelation that the righteous will go through only the first few plagues (as in Egypt) but then they will get the seal of God and not be affected by the other plagues BUT they still go through it!

Question 3 was who is left behind? The wicked or righteous and the answer is the righteous!

Lets look at Revelation 14:14 to confirm if we are tracking correctly

(Rev 14:14-20) And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

The reapers are reaping or “rapturing” the wicked!

You know, We are in a unique time. We see so many things being fulfilled right in front of our eyes. All of end time prophecy revolves around the state of Israel. Think about it, those prophecies were not fully understandable before the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Think of it for a moment — how could anyone in the early 1900 understand the prophecy in Ezekiel 38 that Russia will invade Israel in the end times? Israel did not even exist, nor was there any prospect of Israel ever existing again. And Russia was a peaceful Christian Orthodox country.

how could anyone understand the prophecy in Revelation 11 about the killing and resurrection of the two witnesses of God? That prophecy says that the whole world will look upon their bodies and witness their resurrection (Revelation 11:9-12). No one could understand this prophecy before the development of satellite television communication in the 1960’s.

The pre-tribulation rapture was never taught or even discussed prior to the 1830’s. It seems to have first come from a “prophetic vision” by Margaret Macdonald, a woman in 1830, while having an emotional experience. She was very ill and delusional according to physicians and learned observers at the time.

HOW,HOW,HOW did this get to doctrinal status in churches? In spite of her condition, people believed her. Not ministers trained in the Word, not those who were pious Christians, Boreans you might say. not those with discernment, but those seeking a new fad and emotional experience, just as so many do today.

Several cult groups picked it up here and there but then an Irish born minister, lawyer, evangelist and author, John N. Darby took this new fad to America in 1862 to 1877. He was looking for a “hook” in his motivational Bible speeches to attract crowds in England and on his visit to the Americas, USA, and Canada. People who knew him said he was not well schooled in the Bible or original languages, read into the Bible all kinds of ridiculous ideas. Many people today still believe in him, especially some Baptists who love this guy; he is a favored son.

He managed to become an Anglican priest in 1826 and his theories were rejected by all in his denomination. He then developed a poor method of biblical interpretation called dispensationalism

He produced a very popular commentary of the Bible and gave it away to about every preacher and minister in England and America who were starved for resources. Many only had a Bible and that was it. A commentary, was received with open arms. But he did not do his homework in the Bible. It is filled with errors and illogical content amongst the good stuff, as he put in many of his not so well thought out ideas as fact. Then his theories were picked up by another great reference, the very first study Bible, given out to just about every preacher and evangelist beginning in 1909, and one we still have today, The Scofield Study Bible.

Then, in 1970 the rapture gets popular with the publication of Hal Lindsey’s book, The Late Great Planet Earth, which sold over 15 million copies. And Now, the Left Behind book series and movie.

It is so unfortunate that the history of the pretribulation rapture started out as a prophetic vision inspired by the emotional breakdown, that then was picked up by emotional zealots unconcerned for biblical truth. Afterwards, it creeps into the first study Bible, then popular books, Movies and now is it is in the landscape of popular Christian thought.

The Rapture Which just means “caught up” IS Biblical however, it is not BEFORE the tribulation and it is Not in secret.

(1Th 4:16-17) 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. 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.

AND

(Mat 24:27) For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

The Wicked are taken and destroyed FIRST then the righteous will shine and Then they will be “raptured or caught up.

(Mat 13:40-43) Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

There are many people who teach the pretribulation rapture passionately as truth. They get so “caught up” in it!! -pun intended,

Let us stay grounded, waiting and watching and praying..We need not use this issue to cause divisiveness or contention among believers as we, even ourselves, watch and wait. So let Him find us doing His will when he returns. Amen?

I pray that this as clarified one event that will occur in the end times. Blessings to all who read and understand!