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Chapter 12: Rapture

In The Book of Signs, Dr. David Jeremiah offers answers to questions including:

• What does the Bible tell us about the future?
• How much can we understand about biblical prophecy and its application in our lives?
• What signs and signals will precede the end of everything as we know it?
• Which of those signs and signals have already come to pass, which are we experiencing now, and which are still to come?

An epic and authoritative guide to biblical prophecy, The Book of Signs is a must-have resource for Christians seeking to navigate the uncertainties of the present and embrace God’s promises for the future with a renewed sense of hope and purpose.

Chapter 12 rapture in October 2007.
I personally witnessed what was at that time the largest evacuation of homes in California history and the largest evacuation for fire in United States history.
Emergency personnel evacuated 350,000 homes, displacing almost one million Californians as 16 simultaneous fires swept through our community.
Imagine a person who missed the call to evacuate, waking up after everyone else was gone and stumbling through the acrid smoke and empty streets, confused and amazed wondering why he had been left behind.
That person’s reaction would be nothing compared to the shock of those who witnessed the coming worldwide evacuation known as the rapture.
The Bible tells us that on that day, millions of people will disappear from the face of the earth in less than a millisecond.
And the purpose of that evacuation is similar to that of the emergency evacuation of southern Californians to avoid horrific devastation.
This evacuation will remove God’s people from the disastrous effects of coming earthquakes, fire and global chaos.
The rapture is the event in which all who have put their trust in.
Jesus Christ will be suddenly caught up from the earth and taken into heaven by him.
It is set to occur at an unspecified time in the future.
The word rapture is a translation of the Greek word Harpaz.
It occurs 14 times in the New Testament and it means to carry off by force, Satan and his demonic cohorts will do everything in their power to keep the saints here on earth.
But Christ’s angelic forces will overpower them and carry the believers away by force, delivering them to heaven by the omnipotent power at his command.
The devil is mighty, the Lord is almighty.
My study of scripture convinces me that the two most important events in world history are the 1st and 2nd comings of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give great attention to his first coming as we should, but his second coming deserves no less.
In fact, I could make a strong case for an even greater emphasis on the second coming than on the first for every prophecy in the Bible about the birth of Christ.
His first coming, there are eight about his second coming.
The 260 chapters of the New Testament contain 318 references to the second coming of Christ.
I believe there will be two stages to the second coming of Christ first.
He will come suddenly in the air to snatch up his own.
This is the rapture, the catching up of the church which will occur at the beginning of the tribulation that is coming upon the earth.
The tribulation will be an extended time of horror, agony and devastation like nothing ever before seen or imagined.
The rapture is God’s provision for his saints to escape the tribulation.
Jesus will return immediately before this time of world judgment to remove completely all those who have put their trust in him, as he told the church in Philadelphia, 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 revelation.
310 understanding the rapture.
Well, first Corinthians 15 and John 14 provide some information about the rapture.
It is Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians that presents the most concise and logical truth about this coming event.
I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope for.
If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him.
Those who sleep in Jesus. For this, we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
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. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.
First Thessalonians 4 13 to 18, from Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica.
Here are seven important truths we can know about the rapture. The rapture is a sign less event.
Matthew 24 25. Give us many signs that point to the second coming of the Lord.
They include all the deception war, famine, pestilences, and earthquakes of the tribulation.
But it is important to realize that none of these signs point to the first stage of his coming.
No signs will be given to prepare us for the arrival of the rapture.
It can occur at any moment possibly before you finish listening to this chapter.
The at any moment timing of the return of Christ is called the Doctrine of eminency.
In his definitive book on the rapture, renal showers gave us an in-depth exploration of the word imminent.
He wrote the English word imminent means hanging over one’s head, ready to befall or overtake one close at hand in its incidence.
Thus, an imminent event is one that is always hanging overhead is constantly ready to befall or overtake a person is always close at hand in the sense that it could happen at any moment.
Other things may happen before the imminent event, but nothing else must take place before it happens.
If something else must take place before an event can happen, that event is not imminent without any sign, without any warning, Jesus Christ will return to rapture his saints and take them to heaven.
Paul understood the implications of this timeless event.
It means that we must be ready for the Lord’s return at any time.
And at all times, thus, he urged Titus to be always looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Titus 2 13.
The rapture is a surprise event. The Apostle Paul wrote concerning the times and the seasons brethren.
You have no need that I write to you for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord.
So comes as a thief in the night, first Thessalonians 51 and two.
If you hear or read of someone who says he or she knows when Jesus is coming back, you should make it your purpose to stay away from that person both in thought and indeed to claim knowledge of the exact time of our Lord’s return is to know what even the angels do not know and what our Lord did not know while he was on this earth.
But of that day and hour, no one knows not even the angels of heaven, but my father only Matthew 24 36.
The Bible does not give us specific information on the date of the Lord’s return for the very reason we noted above awareness that he could return at any time, encourages us to be ready at all times.
Therefore, you also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour.
You do not expect Matthew 24 44.
As Saint Augustine said, the last day is hidden that every day may be regarded.
The rapture is a sudden event.
The Apostle Paul emphasized the suddenness of the rapture when he said it will happen any moment in the twinkling of an eye.
First Corinthians 15 52 Paul’s reference to the twinkling of an eye naturally conjures up the image of an eye blinking which is a reasonably good metaphor for suddenness.
But Paul’s twinkling probably does not mean blinking rather, it likely refers to the amount of time it takes for light traveling at 186,000 miles per second to be reflected on the retina of one’s eye.
The whole idea is that this event will occur suddenly at the speed of light in less than a nanosecond, the Lord will call all believers to himself to share his glory.
The rapture is a selective event.
All three of the major passages that teach about the rapture make it clear that it involves believers.
Only in John 14, 1 to 3.
Jesus addressed his disciples as believers in God and in Him indicating that what he was about to tell them was for believers only he went on to say that he would soon leave to prepare for them a place in his father’s house, a place reserved for family members only.
And then he said, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there, you may be also verse three.
That coming again is the moment of the rapture.
The entire passage speaks of the rapture as a family affair reserved solely for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul affirmed the selective nature of the rapture in First Corinthians 15 23 where he described its participants as those who are Christ’s at his coming.
Furthermore, in the first verse of that chapter, he identified his readers as brethren, a term used in the New Testament almost exclusively to describe believers as if intentionally removing all possibility of misunderstanding.
Paul concluded this passage on the rapture with encouragement directed specifically to the church.
He said, therefore, my beloved brethren be steadfast, immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord verse 58.
Finally, in first Thessalonians 4, 13 to 18, Paul’s main passage on the rapture, he affirmed its selectivity in triplicate.
First, he opened his description of the event by referring to his readers as brethren.
Second, he identified them in verse 14 as those who believe that Jesus died and rose again.
And third, in verse 16, he described the deceased family members of the Thessalonian church as dead in Christ.
These passages leave no doubt that the rapture is restricted exclusively to believers.
Only those who are followers of Christ will be taken up into heaven when he returns.
The rapture is a spectacular event.
No scene described in the Bible is more glorious, stunning or sensational than the second coming of Christ.
But it is usually the second stage of his coming at the end of the tribulation that draws the spotlight.
And for good reason, the Apostle John’s graphic description of the event is unrivaled by anything else recorded in the Bible revelation 1911 through 16.
Not only is the final stage of the second coming, a glorious spectacle.
It is a worldwide event that will impact every person alive on the planet at that time, the rapture on the other hand, is a limited family event that will affect only believers.
But I want to present to you my case for the spectacular nature of the rapture.
Take your seat in the jury box and judge whether I succeed.
I call as my primary witness, the great apostle Paul, who by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit recorded the preeminent description of the event in first Thessalonians four as exhibit A, I direct your attention to verse 16 4.
The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God.
As you listen to these words, the Lord Jesus Christ is seated in the heavens at the right hand of the almighty father.
But when the right moment comes, he will initiate the rapture by literally and physically rising from the throne, stepping into the corridors of light and actually descending into the atmosphere of planet earth from which he rose into the heavens over the mount of olives.
2000 years ago, it is not the angels or the Holy Spirit, but the Lord himself who is coming to draw believers into the heavens in the rapture.
The details of this passage paint an amazingly complete sensory picture of the rapture.
Paul even gave the sounds that will be heard.
A shout, the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God.
These three allusions to sounds are not to be taken as cordon, but rather as subordinate, Paul was not describing three separate sounds.
He was describing only one sound in three different ways.
This sound will be like a shout ringing with commanding authority like the voice of an archangel.
It will also be like the Blair of a trumpet in its volume and clarity and the sound will be exclusively directed heard only by those who have placed their trust in Christ.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he shouted, Lazarus come forth.
John 11 43 I’ve heard Bible students speculate as to what might have happened.
Had Jesus forgotten to mention Lazarus’s name, would all the dead within the range of his voice have emerged from their graves at the rapture.
That is exactly what will happen.
His shout of come forth will not name a single individual, but it will be heard by every believer in every grave around the world.
All those tombs will empty and the resurrected believers will fly skyward.
This arising from the grave was the hope that Winston Churchill movingly expressed in the planning of his own funeral following the prayer by the archbishop of Canterbury and the singing of God, save the Queen, a trumpeter perched in the highest reaches of the dome of ST Paul’s cathedral sounded the last post or taps as we know it as the last sorrowful note faded high in another gallery sounded the stronger blaring Revelli.
The call to sleep was followed by a call to rise.
All the evidence clearly shows that the rapture of the saints will be a cosmic spectacle like nothing humans have ever seen or heard.
The rapture is a sequential event.
In first Thessalonians, four, Paul identified five major aspects of the rapture in their sequential order.
The return, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God.
First Thessalonians 4 16. In the rapture, it is the Lord himself who is coming.
This is in keeping with the words of the two angels who spoke to the disciples at the time of Jesus ascension.
And they said men of Galilee. Why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven acts 1 11.
If Jesus is to descend in the same manner in which he ascended, then we can certainly expect his coming to be personal and physical.
And when the Lord returns, he will bring with him. All the souls of those who have died as believers.
Here is what Paul wrote about that God will bring with him.
Those who sleep in Jesus first Thessalonians four verse 14, the resurrection.
When Christ descends from heaven with a shout, he will begin by summoning to himself, those who are asleep, the word used to describe that state has great significance for every believer today.
Paul said they had fallen asleep for the word translated asleep.
He uses the Greek word coo which has as one of its meanings to sleep in death.
The same word is used to describe the deaths of Lazarus in John 11 11, Stephen in acts 7 60 David in acts 13, 36 Jesus Christ in first Corinthians 15 20.
This concept of death is emphasized in the wonderful word. Early Christians adopted for burying places of their loved ones.
It was the Greek word which means a rest house for strangers, a sleeping place.
It is the word from which we get our English word cemetery in Paul’s Day.
This word was used for inns or what we would call a hotel or motel.
We check in at a Hilton hotel or a Ramada Inn expecting to spend the night in sleep before we wake up in the morning, refreshed and raring to go.
That is exactly the thought Paul expressed in words such as coo and coon when Christians die.
It’s as if they are slumbering peacefully in a place of rest, ready to be awakened at the return of the Lord.
The words have great import for they convey the Christian concept of death, not as a tragic finality, but as a temporary sleep.
The Bible teaches that those who are sleeping in Jesus will not be left out of the rapture.
In fact, they will have the prominent place when Jesus comes in the skies, we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep, the dead in Christ will rise 1st, 1st Thessalonians 4 15 and 16, the redemption, not only will those who have died as believers be changed as part of the resurrection.
But Paul spoke of those who are alive and remain verse 15, they will also be changed.
That comes to us at the sure word of Paul who wrote to his Corinthian friends, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
First Corinthians 15 51. In his letter to the Romans Paul wrote of this change as the redemption of our body.
Romans 823. In his letter to the Philippians, he described it as the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body.
Philippians 321. The Apostle John said it this way.
We know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is first.
John chapter three verse two. What will those bodies be like?
Dr Ruden Baum wrote it is possible that information as to the nature of the new body may be gleaned from a study of the nature of the resurrected body of Jesus.
We know that his voice was recognized as being the same as the one he had before his death and resurrection.
John 2016, also his physical features were recognized though not always immediately, John 20 and 21.
It was a very real body of flesh and bone and not a mere phantom body since it was embraceable.
John 2017 and 27 the resurrected Messiah was able to suddenly disappear. Luke 24 31 go through walls. John 2019.
It was a body that was able to eat food. Luke 24 41 to 43.
The rapture while raptures are extremely rare, they have happened before and they will happen again.
There are six raptures recorded and described in the Bible four of those raptures have already taken place and two are yet to come.
The four raptures that have already occurred were experienced by Enoch Hebrews 11 5, Elijah second Kings 2 11, Paul second Corinthians 12, 2 through four.
And Jesus Christ acts 1 10 and 11.
And the two raptures that are yet to happen are the rapture of the church, which is the discussion of this chapter and the rapture of the two witnesses as prophesized in revelation 11 12.
These records affirm the utter reality of the rapture by providing us with prototypes of sorts to show that God can accomplish this coming event.
He promises to his people. So here is the summary of what happens.
The Lord Jesus Christ returns from heaven, bringing the souls of those who have already died with him.
The bodies of those dead saints are resurrected and changed.
And then the bodies of those Christians who are alive and remain and his coming are also changed.
When this happens, God is going to hover over this universe and all who have accepted Jesus Christ as savior, those who have been erected and those who have never died are going to be snatched up like particles of iron drawn upward by a magnet pulled right out of the population suctioned off the planet.
It is going to happen instantly. No time to get ready. No prelude, no preliminaries, the reunion.
The rapture sets up a delightful series of meetings or reunions.
Paul wrote, 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.
First Thessalonians 4 17 note that Paul began here with the word then which is an adverb indicating sequence.
It connects the previous events of the rapture that we have already considered with this final event in a definite order of sequential reunions, as follows, dead bodies were united with their spirits, resurrected believers, reunited with living believers, resurrected believers and raptured believers.
Meet the Lord. As Paul pointed out the ultimate consequence of this reunion with the Lord is that there will be no subsequent parting.
After his return, our union and communion with him will be uninterrupted and eternal.
This glorious fact alone shows us why the word rapture is an altogether appropriate term for this event.
The rapture is a strengthening event.
After completing his description of the rapture to the Thessalonians, Paul wrapped up the passage with this practical admonition.
Therefore, comfort one another with these words here.
The apostle was telling both the Thessalonians and believers today that it’s not enough to possibly understand what was just explained about the rapture, Christian death and the resurrection.
Our understanding should spur us toward a certain action to comfort one another.
And in the preceding verses, he gave exactly the kind of information that makes true comfort possible when believers suffer the loss of family members or dearly loved friends.
We have in Paul’s descriptions of Christian death and resurrection.
All that is needed to comfort each other in these losses. Christian death is not permanent.
It is merely a sleep. A time is coming when we and our loved ones will be reunited in a rapturous meeting when Christ himself calls us out of this world or out of our graves to be with him forever.
In an ecstatic relationship of eternal love.
19th century Bible teacher, a T Pearson made this interesting observation about these things. He wrote.
It is a remarkable fact that in the New Testament so far as I can remember, it is never once said after Christ’s resurrection that a disciple died.
That is without some qualification. Stephen fell asleep, David after he served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep and was laid with his father.
Peter says, knowing that I must shortly put off this my Tabernacle as the Lord showed me, Paul says, the time of my departure is in hand.
The figure here is taken from a vessel that as she leaves a dock, throws the cables off the fastenings and opens her sails to the wind to depart for the haven.
The only time where the word dead is used is with the qualification, the dead in Christ, the dead which die in the Lord as Pearson implies Christ abolished death.
So completely that even the term death is no longer appropriate for believers.
That is why Paul wrote that we should comfort one another with reminders that for Christians, what we call death is nothing more than a temporary sleep before we are called into our uninterrupted relationship with Christ.
Forever. At the beginning of this chapter, I told you about the wildfires that swept down upon us here in San Diego in 2007, 2 years before those wildfires, San Diego, regional authorities had installed reverse 9 11 citizens who lived in fire zones were asked to register their phone numbers with the agency so that when future fires put them in harm’s way, one simple warning call could go out to all who were on the list.
This early warning system was first used to warn residents of the approaching wildfires of 2007 homeowners who did not register did not receive a call.
Some had phone systems that screened out the warning call as an unrecognized number.
Others received the call but chose to ignore it.
Some of those who did not hear the warning did not vacate their homes and as a result lost their lives.
God has sounded the warnings loudly and clearly they have come through his prophets in the Old Testament, through New Testament writers and even through Jesus himself, the firestorm is coming in the form of the seven years of tribulation when no Christian influence will temper the evil that will plunge the earth into a cauldron of misery and devastation.
But you can avoid the destruction and be evacuated.
You can enter your name on the list of those who will hear the trumpet call of the rapture by turning to Christ and beginning to live the pure and holy life.
That characterizes those who will enter heaven as the Apostle John wrote, there shall by no means enter it.
The heavenly city of God, anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie.
But only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of Life Revelation 21 27.
If your name is not in that book, when the rapture occurs, you will be left behind to experience horrors worse than anything the world has yet seen.
I hope you will not wait another day.
Turn to Jesus Christ now before it is too late and become one of those who will hear his call on that great and terrible day.