Behold,
I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed.~1 Cor. 15:51-52
The
next great event on God's timetable is the rapture of the saints.
What a day that will be when all the children of God are brought
together in that meeting in the air!
THE
RAPTURE OF THE SAINTS
The
word rapture does not appear in the New Testament, but the idea is
all through the Bible. The word means, "to snatch
away," "to catch up," "to
be caught up." The coming of Jesus Christ for His
saints is an absolute, undeniable, irrevocable truth. Regardless of
what the agnostics or the atheists or the modern unbelieving
theologians say, Christ is coming again! The Bible-the inspired,
indestructible, infallible and inerrant Word of God-tells us so. God
inspires all Scripture, not just portions of it. What Paul wrote to
the people at Thessalonica is stamped with the approval of, and by
the inspired hand of, Almighty God.
(1)An angel
testified to His coming:
"Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner
as ye have seen him go into heaven."-Acts 1:11.
These
words were spoken when Christ ascended back to the Glory World, back
to the Father, back to His place at the right hand of God, where He
is now making intercession for us and is awaiting this moment! The
angel said this same Jesus will come again.
(2)
The Apostle Paul testified to His coming:
"So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation."-Heb. 9:28.
Christ
will appear the second time without a sin offering, without a
sacrifice. There will never be another Calvary, another Pilate's
hall, another Garden of Gethsemane, another crucifixion. For once, in
the end of the age, He will appear to put away sin.
(3)
Christ Himself said He would come again:
"Let
not your heart be troubled: ye 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 [this is not speculative reasoning; it means 'inasmuch as I go']
and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."-John
14:1-3.
THE
EVENTS OF THE RAPTURE
We
have looked like the first Adam; one day we shall look like the last
Adam! We have borne the image of the earthy; one day we shall bear
the image of the heavenly. The dead saints are going to rise
again. "For our conversation [citizenship] is in
heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."-Phil.
3:20,21. The loved one whom you buried-God is able to recompose and
restructure that body like unto the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who perished in the fire during the war-God is able to bring
that body out of that fiery death. The one who was drowned in the
sea-God is able to bring that body out of the watery grave. The one
cremated at the funeral-God is able to bring that body out of those
ashes. God is the great scientist, and He can gather those particles
of flesh and body wherever they are and bring them back together in
His own likeness. The saints who have died in the faith will be
resurrected, but that is not all. The living saints will be raptured,
and their bodies changed. Paul looked for the coming of Christ in his
day, for he said, "We which are alive and remain."
"Behold,
I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed,” In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed,” For this corruptible must
put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” So
when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. "O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” The
sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” But
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ."-I
Corinthians 15:51-57.
The
dead shall be raised and translated: a new body. The living shall be
translated: a new body. What is the new body going to be
like? "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."-I
John 3:2. I'm not sure what it is going to be like, but I do know
from this Scripture it is going to be just like Jesus. Jesus ate in
His glorified body. When He met the disciples by the sea, He prepared
their breakfast. The Son of God-who put the stars in place, who
scooped out the caves to make the oceans and held up the mountains,
who put all of the planets in the fiery track around the sun-one
morning gathered up a few sticks, kindled a fire and fed a bunch of
hungry fishermen. Can you imagine it! You can feast at Jesus' table
all the time! He who fed the multitudes and turned the water into
wine, said, "Come and dine. Come and dine." We
are going to be just like Him who walked through closed doors.
In our
glorified bodies, we will never grow weary, never get hungry, never
have aches and pains, because we will be just like Him. "I
will be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness," said
the psalmist. The resurrection of the dead, the translation of the
living, all will be caught up together in a glorious reunion. Look at
it again: "Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them [those who have come out of the
graves] in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
ever be with the Lord."-I Thessalonians 4:17. All the
saints will be with Christ in a permanent dwelling place. Jesus is
coming again! When loved ones have been taken away from us in death,
our hearts are heavy. We weep and mourn, and rightly so, because God
made the eyes to cry as a release for us. So don't be ashamed of
tears. We "sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope." There is the difference. We grieve over our
loved ones who have died. Their places are empty. But one day-and it
may be soon-when the voice of the Son of God comes in a shout, and
the archangel speaks, and the trumpet sounds, out of those yonder
graves where many tears have been shed will come our loved ones. Some
of you have never seen your biological father or mother; maybe they
died when you were young. Won't it be wonderful to see them and other
loved ones at the rapture? Those who have gone before-those precious
ones we have so sorely missed-one day we will all be together again.
There will be no sorrow, no crying, no death because these things
will have passed away, and all things will have become new. He who
sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things
new." A new day, a new Home, a new life-all with Jesus
Christ. What a day!
What
should we be doing while we wait and watch for His coming? "Therefore
let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” For
they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night.” But let us, who are of the day, be sober,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the
hope of salvation."-I
Thessalonians 5:6-8. We should be rationally minded; we should have
on the breastplate of faith and love while looking for His return.
When is it going to happen? No one can answer that; but I can read
what the Bible says about it in Matthew 24:44, "Therefore
be ye also ready [it does not say to get ready; it says to be ready]:
for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."
Are
you ready? Are you watching? If you who is reading this article is
not yet ready for the coming of Christ, I pray that by faith you will
this moment receive Christ as your Saviour.
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