RAPTURE! What a beautiful day, it would be?
The bible predicted many “happenings” that will be occurred during this period of human history. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ also had warned us in gospels of events and natural disasters that will precede the biblical end but the end is not here. These are just some of the “birth pangs” of end times. Therefore, I cannot be accused of being a doomsayer if I said we, our generation, are at the tail end of human history.
My writing here is not on the end times but rather on the topic of an event termed as “Rapture” that should be on the horizon of human history. When this Beautiful Day happens, all of God’s believing children who are saved by Grace will be taken, or whisk off in the twinkling of an eye. The bride of Christ must be removed from the physical world before God will rains judgments on this sinful world.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, we read that “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” The word here to describe this phenomenal event is called Rapture, despites being totally non-existent in the scripture. The term comes from a Latin word meaning “a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away.” While the word rapture is not found in the Bible, but the concept of the “carrying off” is clearly taught in the Scripture.
The Rapture of the church is an event in which God “snatches away” all believers from the earth in order to make way for His wrath & judgment to be poured out on Israel and the nations. The raptured saints, also known as the bride of Christ will be ushered into the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven for seven years. The marriage supper of the Lamb will take place in heaven between the timeline of rapture and the second coming (during the tribulation on earth). Following immediately after the rapture, the remnants of humanity left on earth will be experiencing “troubles” never known to mankind. This happening is referred to as “The Jacob’s Troubles”. While the wedding feast in heaven is happening, those who are left behind will go through seven years of unparalleled trouble on earth. These never before apocalyptic occurrences of distress and suffering will be unleashed upon the unrepentant remnant of the humanity. In fact, the combined atrocities in the two World Wars of modern history, would still pale in comparison to the events of the Great Tribulation. One biblical teaching stated that the Great Tribulation is for God to rain judgments on Israel and the unbelievers as a punishment for their unrighteousness. However, it was also recorded in the bible that if it is not for God’s mercy and compassion, all humanity, mainly Israel will be totally annihilated in the Great Tribulation.
Rapture can be intimated with the thought of God’s rescue plan for His believers, the Church, past and present. The theological understanding of this topic, unfortunately, is often confused and mistaken with the advent of Second Coming of Christ. In actual fact, both events are separated by a time space of seven years. Just to reiterate, Rapture occurs at the start of the seven years of the Great Tribulation, whereas, the Second Coming of Christ takes place at the end of this catastrophe. Sadly, bible scholars are of different thoughts on the subject of the Rapture. There are three school of teachings; Pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation and post- tribulation. I am a “pre-trib” believer. Why? The reason are that if we are sensitive to our loving heavenly Father’s past dealings with His children and also, if you have read my blog on the similarity of the Rapture with the Jewish’s wedding; its processes and customs, you will see that there is no arguments on which school of teaching is accurate. The key fact lies on the event of the seven years of marriage supper of the bride of Christ in heaven after the Rapture.
Another noteworthy thought on why saints are not in the Great Tribulation, is that if this is a time where God’s terrible judgment is unleashed on the earth; shouldn’t our God shield His chosen ones from the wrath of destruction? Indeed, He will do just that by snatching away the saints via the rapture. As recorded in both Isaiah 26:20 and Revelations 4:1, a door was specifically mentioned, which will be closed once the saints are raptured safely into heaven to be with the groom. Then, the indignation can begin. Thus, we who are caught up in the Rapture are regarded as blessed to escape God’s terrible judgment upon the earth. On the side note, the guests invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven, which are other believers of God from the past dispensations, apart from the age of the church, are called “Blessed” too.
Fellow Christians saved by Grace, isn’t Rapture a beautiful day, worthy of mention and constant reminder and encouragement to our fellow spiritually weary believers?
We are expected to meet the Lord in the air, either alive or fallen asleep at that time in a twinkling moment. Apostle Paul told the Corinthians in his epistle that another beautiful thing that will take place. Listen fellow pilgrim, our corruptible bodies will be changed into incorruptible, yep! You heard me right, immortals. We can taunt Death at its face by saying “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory”? Oh! Maybe then, we can say like someone did, I quote, “If I took this shirt off, you’d see a beautiful, beautiful person,” unquote.
Finally, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the fourteen chapters of the Gospel of John, urged us to be not troubled as we believed in God and also in Him. Our bridegroom is preparing a place for us His bride, and where He is, there we will be too. Apostle Paul closes his thought in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 by saying, “Therefore, comfort one another with the thought of our imminent meeting with our bridegroom in the Rapture.