The Biblical Background and Description
of the Rapture of the Church
The study of the rapture is of great significance to church-age believers. For us, it represents the completion of our salvation, our final and ultimate redemption–the sanctification of our bodies. Paul says in Romans:
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we have been saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” [Rom. 8:22-25]
The final redemption of the body is the great hope shared by every believer. It is the teaching of the New Testament that for the church-age believer, that hope will be realized in an instant, when Christ suddenly appears in the sky to resurrect the dead and to transform the bodies of living saints into their glorified, eternal form as they are caught up into the air and transported to Heaven (1 Cor. 15:51-53; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).
Since the existence of the Church was not revealed in the Old Testament, and since the rapture relates exclusively to the Church, there is no reference to the rapture in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Christ is the first to mention the rapture in the New Testament (Jn. 14:3), but he gives few details other than disclosing that Heaven is the destination of the raptured saints.
It is Paul who develops the rapture theme, mentioning it in eight passages (Rom. 8:20-23; 1 Cor. 15:35-38; Eph. 1:13-14; Phil. 1:6,10; 3:10-11,20-21; 1 Thess. 1:9-10; 4:13-18; Tit. 2:11-14). From Paul’s statements we learn the following facts about the rapture.
1. The spirits of those believers who die prior to the rapture will be reunited with their resurrection bodies (1 Thess. 4:14).
2. The resurrected believers will rise first (1 Cor. 15:52-53; 1 Thess. 4:15-16).
3. Living believers will be “changed” (their bodies will be transformed) and caught up to meet Christ in the clouds (1 Cor. 15:52-53; 1 Thess. 4:17).
Paul also mentions that the Church is not destined to experience the wrath of God (contextually, the wrath unleashed against the ungodly during the day of the Lord) but to the obtaining of salvation (1 Thess. 1:1-10; 5:9, cf. Rom. 5:9).
James makes reference to the rapture and associates it with personal accountability before Christ, possibly alluding to the judgment seat of Christ that is presumed to follow the rapture (James 5:7-9). Peter equates the rapture with the completion of the believer’s salvation (1 Pt.1:3-5). The Apostle John mentions the rapture twice and alludes to the transformation of the bodies of believers at the appearance of Christ (1 Jn. 2:28; 3:2). He further indicates that the glorified bodies received by the saints will be like Christ’s glorified (post-resurrection) body (3:2, cf. Phil. 3:2021).
The only detailed descriptions of the actual event occur in two passages (1 Cor. 15:51-53 and 1 Thess. 4:13-18). In 1 Corinthians, Paul gives the following description.
“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 in Christ will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” [1 Cor. 15:51-53]
In 1 Thessalonians he says the following.
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” [1 Thess. 4:13-18]
A number of observations are to be made from these two passages.
1. The details of the rapture were apparently a mystery until revealed through Paul.
2. At the rapture, Christ will appear in the sky; he will not descend to the surface of the earth.
3. He will be accompanied by the souls of the saints who have died, returning to receive their resurrection bodies.
4. The event is to be signaled by a shout from an archangel and a trumpet call.
5. The dead in Christ will be resurrected, then those who are alive will be changed (transformed).
6. He will call believers, both the resurrected and the transformed, up to himself in the clouds. (The description of the rapture differs significantly from that of the second coming, when Christ actually returns to the earth and remains.)
7. Believers who are alive and transformed at the rapture will not pass through death.
8. The entire event will happen almost instantly.
9. The raptured saints will never be separated from Christ.
Apparently, it is only the Church that experiences the rapture. The Old Testament saints and those on earth saved after the rapture do not participate in the event. In order to understand how the rapture is possible, we must grasp the unique nature of the Church and how God’s program for Israel and the Church differ.
It is God’s plan to consummate the salvation of those belonging to the Body of Christ (the Church) at the rapture, and it is the unique nature of the Church as a discrete segment of the redeemed that makes this possible. Every saved person in history fits somewhere in the plan of God, but not every saved person in history is part of the Church. (We are not speaking of the visible, organized church, which includes both saved and lost, but the invisible Body of Christ–Col. 1:18,24). The reason is that the Church did not exist until the Holy Spirit began baptizing believers into the Body of Christ on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33 (Acts 1:5 cf. 1 Cor. 12:13). Therefore, the Old Testament saints, though beloved of God and occupying a special place in the plan of God, are not part of this peculiar entity called “the Body of Christ.” This is also true of people saved after the rapture; they are included with the Old Testament saints. If what has been said sounds a bit strange, just remember God is the sovereign Lord and maker of all, He can do as he pleases, and it does not have to make sense to us, it just has to make sense to Him. If He has chosen to call out a peculiar people from among the larger complement of the redeemed for His own divine purpose, it is certainly His prerogative to do so, and Scripture indicates that this is exactly what God has done.
It is important that we do not confuse God’s purpose and plan for “the Church” with His purpose and plan for “Israel,” the two entities are not the same, and if we confuse them we must abandon hope of finding any meaning in future prophecy. The Bible teaches that God did not abandon his program for the true descendants of Abraham, that is, those who are his children by both birth and faith–Rom. 9:6-9. He has every intention of fulfilling his promises to Israel (cf. Psa. 105:8-11; Jer. 33:20-26; Rom. 11:1-36). This is the basis for belief in a literal earthly kingdom beginning at the second coming of Christ and extending into eternity. (Understanding that “Israel” and “the Church” are distinct entities is the basis for premillennialism and a dispensational view of biblical history.)
The fact that Israel as a nation rejected the Messiah, and that God, from both Jew and Gentile, forged a new entity (the Church) does not nullify God’s promises to Israel, it merely postponed the fulfillment of those promises until Israel, as a people, responds to God’s grace at some point in the future. That is one of God’s purposes for the tribulation period, to bring Israel to faith in Christ. True enough; church-age saints share in the distinction of being designated “children of Abraham.” Abraham is, metaphorically speaking, the father of all who believe (Gal. 3:6-9,29, cf. Gen. 12:3). The blessings that the Church enjoys have their roots in the Abrahamic covenant (Gal. 3:8-9). However, it would be incorrect to interpret this to mean that “Israel” and “the Church” are the same entity, or that the Church is merely a continuation of Israel under a new name, or that Israel’s promised blessings have somehow been transferred to the Church (as is contended by covenant theology). While church-age believers are called “children of Abraham,” Israel is never designated as the “Body of Christ.” Galatians 6:16 is sometimes cited as an example of the Church being referred to as “Israel.” However, the Church is not specifically mentioned in the passage. Paul is merely drawing a distinction between those who were outwardly Israelites–by birth and tradition–and those who were “the Israel of God”–by birth and faith. Thus he nullified the argument of the Judaizers that one must be circumcised to be right with God, for even the Jews had to be saved by faith. The presence of saved Jews in the Church, even if they are referred to as “the Israel of God,” does not equate the Church, as an entity, with Israel. The duality of these two is strictly maintained in the New Testament. In Romans 11:1-36, where Paul gives the analogy of the root and the branches, it is worth noting that he never pictures both the Church and Israel as the same, or even coextensive (attached to the root at the same time). Israel was attached to the root at one time, but because of their rejection it was broken off, and the Church was grafted in. At some point in the future, if Israel responds to the Lord (and they will, Zech. 13:7-9), they will be grafted back in again (Rom. 11:23-24). While both Israel and the Church share a common heritage in the faith of Abraham, and while both trace their blessings to the promises God made to Abraham, they are nonetheless distinct, just as two children may have the same parent and be loved equally, but be born at different times, have different names, and have different expectations made of them by the same parent, and even receive a different inheritance.
Nowhere is the critical distinction between Israel and the Church more significant than in the study of prophecy. The reason is that both the Church and Israel occupy unique places in God’s prophetic program. The Old Testament promises to Israel are for a land, a nation, a throne, and a special and perpetual relationship with God. The fountainhead of these promises is the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3,6-7; 13:14-17; 15:1-21; 17:1-14; 22:15-18). They are further developed in the Palestinian Covenant (Deut. 29:1-30:20), the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam. 7:12-17), and the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34), as well as numerous prophetic passages dealing with the coming kingdom on earth (Ps. 98:1-9; Isa. 11:1-12:6; 25:1-12; 32:1-8; 35:1-10; 40:3-11; 66:1-24; Jer. 33:10-26). On the other hand, the Church is nowhere promised a land, descendants, a nation, or throne–though we do share in the promise of a special relationship with God and a heavenly home (1 Jn. 1:3; 3:3; Jn. 14:1‑3).
So, just what is the Church (the Body of Christ) and who is included? As stated previously, the Church did not exist prior to the commencement of Spirit baptism on the day of Pentecost in A.D. 33. The biblical basis for this assertion is as follows.
1. The Church is “the Body of Christ” (Col. 1:18,24), and Spirit baptism is the operation that makes a person a part of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). Since the Spirit’s ministry of baptism did not begin until the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33, it is not possible that believers who died prior to that time could be included as part of the Church.
2. The disciples recognized that Pentecost marked “the beginning” of the Church (Acts 11:15-16).
3. Jesus indicated the Church to be a future reality from the standpoint of his earthly ministry (Matt. 16:18-note the future tense, “I will build my church”).
4. The nature of the Church age as a parenthetical age, distinct from God’s program for Israel, is reinforced by its complete absence from Old Testament prophecy, which explains God’s program for Israel in great detail. Note for example how the church age is completely absent from the prophecy of Daniel’s seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24-27, falling entirely between the 69th and 70th weeks.
Copyright 2005, by Sam A. Smith
All rights reserved.
Published at: http://prophecy.biblicalreader.com
Adapted from The Imminent Pre-wrath Rapture of
the Church
Copyright 2004, by Sam A. Smith
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