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THE RAPTURE

John 14:1-3 -   "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

        I will come again and receive you to Myself;
        that where I am, there you may be also.”

The doctrine of the “Rapture of the Church” is a source of much confusion and controversy within the professing church of Christ today. This has actually been the case since around the fourth century, when the practice of “spiritualizing” the meaning of certain scriptures came into vogue. Although most of those who employ this practice would claim to be “literalists” regarding biblical hermeneutics, they engage in special pleading when it comes to passages that don’t fit into their private interpretations. Prophetic scriptures in particular have been designated for nonliteral  / spiritualized understanding. This is done in order to avoid obvious contradictions and inconsistencies within their dogmatic systems of belief.

 Many editorial liberties were taken at that time and have remained embedded in the thinking of large segments of nominal Christianity to this day. It was under the strong influence of such men as Origen c185-c.254 AD, and Augustin 354-430 AD, that this practice of manipulating the meaning of biblical texts away from their plain rendering gained such a deadly foothold on the uninformed within the church. The worldly church descended into centuries of spiritual darkness under such influences. It is only in recent times that a clear understanding of biblical prophecy is once again emerging, praise God!

 As we rapidly approach the fulfillment of God’s plan for the ages, He has once again blessed His Church with a correct understanding of His prophetic revelations. We see their literal fulfillment as they unfold before us in our time, and we can now understand and trust in the same literal fulfillment for those that have yet to be accomplished.

            The primary truth that was lost during that long night of man’s wandering imagination was the blessed doctrine of the “Imminence of Christ’s Return”. Only a literal approach to biblical interpretation, which includes all prophetic passages, will yield a correct understanding of this, the most hope filled doctrine of all, the Rapture of the Church.

The hope and comfort for the disciples, and for us today, is that Jesus is coming back, literally, to take those who are waiting for Him back with Him to His Fathers house, to be with Him in heaven! To behold Him in His Glory, the Glory that He had with His Father before He came to earth as a humble baby - John 17:24. To spiritualize this promise, as so many do, into saying that Jesus meant only that when a believer dies they go to heaven, is an insult to our Lord’s integrity, and just plain bad Hermeneutics.

            The blessed hope of our Lords imminent return is taught throughout the New Testament. Not only will we be with Him when He comes, which could be at any moment, but we will be changed in an instant to be like Him.

1 Cor. 15:50-52 - I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

1 John 3:1-3 - Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure

1 Thess. 4:15-18 - 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 (Greek – harpazo; Latin – raptus; English - raptured) 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.

            Where would the comfort be if 1) the Lord didn’t really mean that He was coming back literally and 2) if He meant that He would come back after the great tribulation.

1 Thess. 1:10 - And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

1 Thess. 5:9-11 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

1 Thess. 4:18 - Therefore encourage each other with these words.

John 14:1 – “Let not your heart be troubled”