The Christian Rapture
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 together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-71
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. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. Mark 13:26-27
Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24: 29-31
Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb. Revelation 14:1-4
[from http://www.biblegateway.com/ (New International Version.)]
An Event in Our Time. “Conservative Theologians and most Evangelical Christians believe that the Rapture, as described in the [first] three biblical verses listed above, will happen precisely as described, sometime in the near future. All previously saved Christians, totaling perhaps 5 to 10% of the world's population, will suddenly have their bodies converted into a different form that they will wear for all eternity in Heaven. They will rise vertically into the air. Many believe that they will pass right through ceilings, roofs of cars, etc. to meet Jesus Christ in the sky. Although the vast majority of humans will be left behind, there will be much devastation as planes, trains and automobiles as their pilots, engineers and drivers suddenly disappear and the vehicles crash. The bodies of Christian believers who have died during the previous two millennia will be reconstituted into their original bodies which will then also be converted to spirit bodies. They will rise out of their graves and ascend to meet Jesus.” http://www.religioustolerance.org/rapture.htm
“The rapture is an event that will take place sometime in the near future. Jesus will come in the air, catch up the Church from the earth, and then return to Heaven with the Church. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, we are given a clear description of the rapture: "the dead in Christ will rise, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord." “ http://raptureready.com/faq/faq149.html
“The Rapture is the Blessed Hope amongst Christians. After it occurs those who are left behind will be in a state of confusion and sorrow, they will be searching for answers. There are those who may call it the Vanishings, the disappearances or one of many other names, but you will know that millions of people vanished in the twinkling of an eye. There will be those that try to concoct many different stories of what occurred. It may be alien abductions, some freak nuclear accident or they may even say it was God removing "evil" from the world. Be mindful, it was not one of those things, it was what Christians call the Rapture. In , and it can be seen what has occurred, the Lord himself has returned for his Church. The word rapture comes from a fourth century Latin vulgate translation of the Greek word harpadzo(occurring in 1 Thess 4:17) and has been picked up by many as the best single word to express the event it describes. Some translators have rendered the word "caught up" or "snatched". Basically the Lord will return and with the sound of a trumpet all both those who have died in Christ (accepted Christ prior to their death) and those who are alive in Christ (current believers) will be taken up to meet the Lord in the air in the twinkling of an eye (by the way that's 1/1000th of a second)." http://www.tribulationforces.com/tfcdr/whypretrib.shtml
“The Rapture is not another name for the Second Coming. As 1 Thes. 4:15-17 and John 14:1-3 explain, the Rapture is an unscheduled secret event where Jesus comes part way to Earth to meet His Church in the air and take us to be with Him where He now is. I say unscheduled and secret because its specific timing will remain unknown until it actually happens. On the other hand, The Second Coming is a scheduled public event where Jesus comes all the way to Earth with His Church to establish a Kingdom here. I say scheduled and public because the general time of His coming will be known on Earth over 3 ½ years in advance, and public because everyone on Earth will be able to witness His arrival. Matt. 24:29-30 says it will happen immediately after the Great Tribulation and all the nations will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in the sky.” http://raptureready.com/soap/rapture-defend.html
The Order of the End Times. “The Second Coming of Christ will occur in stages. First, He will remove all Christians from the Earth, to protect them. This is called "The Rapture." The term comes from the Latin verb raptare, and the Greek word harpizo, both meaning "to be caught up" or "to be snatched up." Jesus will "snatch us" out of harm's way. After The Rapture, God will begin executing judgments against unbelievers, during a period called the Tribulation. At the end of the Tribulation all nations will attack Israel, and Jesus Christ will physically return, leading the armies of heaven. At the Battle of Armeggedon they will destroy everyone who is not a believer. Then Satan will be bound, and Jesus will set up the Millennial Kingdom, headquartered in Jerusalem. Jesus and the saints will rule over the nations of the Earth for a thousand years.” http://www.godonthe.net/evidence/rapture.htm
“There are 5 main views for the timing of the rapture.
1. The Pretribulational Rapture: The Rapture will occur before the tribulation period begins.
2. The Midtribulational Rapture: The Rapture will occur at the midpoint of the Tribulation.
3. The Posttribulational Rapture: The Rapture will occur at the end of the Tribulation right before the second coming of Christ back to earth; believers will be raptured up to meet Christ in the air and then will return immediately with Him back to the earth.
4. The Partial Rapture: Faithful, devoted believers will be raptured before the Tribulation, but the rest of believers will be left to go through the purging of the Tribulation.
5. The Prewrath Rapture: The Rapture will occur about three-fourths (five and a half years) of the way through the Tribulation, when the wrath of God begins to be poured out on the earth.” Also see chart at http://www.tribulationforces.com/tfcdr/whypretrib.shtml
“There are three major views of the end times, with many variations…The premillennial view suggests that the Second Coming will occur before Christ reigns during a literal 1,000-year Millennium. It is the view portrayed in Left Behind. It was the predominant view of the early church and became prominent once again in the last century. It is the most literal interpretation of passages from Daniel and Revelation. An additional element important to this view is the role and timing of the Rapture—the separate resurrection of believers. Left Behind portrays a pretribulation rapture view, where the rapture occurs before the Tribulation begins. Others see it occurring in the middle or end of the Tribulation." http://www.leftbehind.com/channelendtimes.asp?pageid=510&channelID=71
Where does the word rapture come from?
Listen to Tim LaHaye's explanation of the origins of the word. http://www.leftbehind.com/channelendtimes.asp?pageid=518&channelID=71
To hear about end times resources from Tim LaHaye: http://www.leftbehind.com/channelendtimes.asp?pageid=510&channelID=71
To read an interview with Tim LaHaye on the Rapture, go to: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/121/story_12103_1.html
“The main thrust of this web site is to prove that the rapture will occur prior to the beginning of the tribulation. This has been well researched and documented throughout the site. But, whether Jesus returns for the Church before, during, or after the tribulation, the primary goal is that all people are ready to face the Lord and give an account for their lives.” http://raptureready.com/faq/faq149.html
“The Rapture Index has two functions: one is to factor together a number of related end time components into a cohesive indicator, and the other is to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting. The Rapture Index …is designed to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture. You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture.” http://raptureready.com/rap2.html
A Post-Tribulation Perspective. “Jesus warned his disciples about a coming time of tribulation such as the world has never known that he said would take place right before he came back (Matt. 24:3-31). For centuries, Christians have expected to face this difficult time before the return of their Lord. However, in the past few hundred years, some began to teach a way of escape - a crown without a cross. Originally, it started with a small group in Britain, but today it has spread so far that to some people it is almost gospel. Could this new idea be true, that the church had not known of for hundreds of years? Did not our Lord warn us of this time of tribulation so that we would indeed be prepared for it?” http://www.apostolic.net/biblicalstudies/post/link1.htm
“The doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead — as taught by Jesus in the Gospels — was common to all Christians and part of the Nicene Creed. Clement and Polycarp, two of the earliest Church fathers, apparently taught on the resurrection and translation (rapture) as a deliverance from the evil to come. But after them, little attention was paid to the area of eschatology later known as 'Rapture' until the Protestant Reformation; thus, although Christians from the very beginning accepted, as Scriptures clearly state, that, at some point, the faithful would be "caught up" with Christ, which some in modern eschatology give the name of 'Rapture', the Christian denominations that actually put eschatological emphasis on it are mostly those that appeared after the Reformation.
The later popularization of the term is associated with teaching of John Nelson Darby and the rise of premillennialism and dispensationalism in the United States at the end of the 19th century. The doctrine of the rapture was further popularized by an evangelist named William Eugene Blackstone, whose book "Jesus is Coming" sold more than one million copies, and then by its inclusion in the Scofield Reference Bible." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture#History
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