1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, 4 that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 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. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54 50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 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. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
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What is the Rapture of the church? The word for rapture ("rapio")is NOT in the Bible but the concept of being “carrying off” is taught in Scripture (see the above scriptures). It comes from a Latin word meaning “a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away.” At the rapture, the Lord comes “in the clouds” to meet us “in the air”. He does not step foot on the earth but rather “snatches away” all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment and wrath to be poured out on the earth during the Great Tribulation. God will resurrect all the bodies of believers who have died, reunite the believer's spirit with their new glorified bodies, and take them from the earth. All living believers, will be taken as well and be given their glorified bodies at the same time. The reaping of the good harvest of the earth is the rapture of the church.
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John 14:1-4 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
What if there is nothing left of our bodies but dust and ashes? If God can call creation into existence through His spoken words, then it will be no problem for Him to call back the bodies of those who have been swept into the sea, consumed by fire, blown up, or otherwise disintegrated (by time or by human hand). I firmly believe that we should treat the bodies that God created with respect. I'm not a believer in voluntary cremation because, to me, it is disrespectful to God, the Creator of the work of art called our body, as well as, to the person who inhabited that body. BUT that doesn't mean if someone is cremated that their bodies will not be raised incorruptible. God made Adam from dust and to dust most of us shall return but God can bring back our bodies and this time they will be immortal (as He originally made Adam and Eve), indestructible, and not marred by sin or sins consequences (death, sickness, disease).
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1 Corinthians 15:42-49 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”f ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly man.
Isaiah 35:3-6 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Romans 8:11 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
The Rapture will be secret. The unbelievers at the time of its happening, will not know what happened!
Matthew 24:26-27, 36-42 26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man...36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,f but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come
1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
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The effect of this removal, in the absence of multitudes of people, will, of course, be evident on earth. Personally, I believe that mankind is being "primed" for this event by satan because people will probably believe it was a mass "alien abduction". We have alien programs on TV 24/7. People truly believe they have been abducted by aliens, have seen them, have video evidence, photographs, etc. These programs even point out that ancient civilizations may have been aware of aliens and show us evidence of carved pictures of these "aliens". It's not that I don't believe God is perfectly capable of creating life on other planets. And I'm not calling into dispute people's personal experiences. But I do believe that satan, who can masquerade as a ghost or alien, can deceive people and is deceiving people. For some reason people can believe in ghosts and aliens more easily than believing in Jesus Christ! And when Christians are raptured, it will an easy explanation that a mass abduction has occurred as people would rather believe that than believe they missed the Rapture and are about to experience the Great Tribulation and the wrath of God! Just my humble opinion.
After we are raptured and gone to Heaven, Paradise in the place of the dead (Hades), Christians will come before the Judgment Seat of Christ. The Judgment Seat is not about whether we will enter heaven - we’ll already be there. It will be a time to give an account of the works we have done on earth, and we will be rewarded accordingly. We’ll also be assigned places of authority in the coming Millennium based upon our faithfulness to God when we were on earth. The Bible teaches clearly that all men, both living and dead, saved and unsaved, must give an account to Christ. It is also called the Bema Seat Judgment. In classical Greek it identified the judge’s seat in the arena of the Olympic games. The bema was the seat whereon the judge sat, not to punish contestants, but to present awards to the victors. When Christians stand before the Bema Seat of Christ, it will be for the express purpose of being rewarded according to their works. There is no idea of inflicting punishment.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
1 Peter 4:5 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
Romans 14:10-12 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
When will the Rapture occur? There is some debate about it happening before the Great Tribulation (Pre-Trib), during the Great Tribulation (Mid-Trib) or at the end of the Great Tribulation (Post-Trib). I believe our earth will see the birth pangs of God's coming Wrath with increased intensity but these "birth pangs" are NOT the Great Tribulation, only the signs of the coming Tribulation. So I believe the Rapture occurs before the Great Tribulation. If you read Revelation 6 about the breaking of the seven seals, I believe that the Rapture occurs at the time of the 6th seal or just after the 6th seal is broken.
Matthew 24:29-31 29 “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.’ 30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 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.
Verse 29 here seems to indicate the Sixth Seal. "Then will appear", Jesus comes to rapture His Church, His Bride. It does not say he touches earth but that He comes with an angelic trumpet call and we will be gathered. It says "all the peoples of the earth will mourn". Why? Because Christ has come and gathered people to Himself. The unbelievers who are left behind will be in shock, grieving, fearful. Those who know about the Rapture will be dealing with the shock that it's occurred and they are still here! The news commentators and talking heads will begin to look for explanations for the missing people and it won't be long before they find some reason that will be acceptable in their site and in the site of their audience. And here is where my theory comes in... alien abduction. People would rather believe this because if they believe they missed the boat with Jesus Christ, it could mean eternal damnation. “This generation” in Matthew 24:34, refers specifically to the people who live to see all of the terrifying events that Jesus had just mentioned as increasing immediately before His return; such as wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes in various places, widespread famine and disease, and the Antichrist’s rise to power.
What happens to those left behind? First, God tells four angels to hold back the wrath until 144,000 are sealed with a seal on their foreheads with the name of God in that seal. These 144,000 are Jews (12,000 of each tribe) who will come to know and accept Jesus as Lord and Messiah. And they will be evangelists reaping a harvest of souls. After they are sealed, The Great Tribulation begins. The wrath of God is finally let lose.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54 50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 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. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
What is the Rapture of the church? The word for rapture ("rapio")is NOT in the Bible but the concept of being “carrying off” is taught in Scripture (see the above scriptures). It comes from a Latin word meaning “a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away.” At the rapture, the Lord comes “in the clouds” to meet us “in the air”. He does not step foot on the earth but rather “snatches away” all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment and wrath to be poured out on the earth during the Great Tribulation. God will resurrect all the bodies of believers who have died, reunite the believer's spirit with their new glorified bodies, and take them from the earth. All living believers, will be taken as well and be given their glorified bodies at the same time. The reaping of the good harvest of the earth is the rapture of the church.
John 14:1-4 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
What if there is nothing left of our bodies but dust and ashes? If God can call creation into existence through His spoken words, then it will be no problem for Him to call back the bodies of those who have been swept into the sea, consumed by fire, blown up, or otherwise disintegrated (by time or by human hand). I firmly believe that we should treat the bodies that God created with respect. I'm not a believer in voluntary cremation because, to me, it is disrespectful to God, the Creator of the work of art called our body, as well as, to the person who inhabited that body. BUT that doesn't mean if someone is cremated that their bodies will not be raised incorruptible. God made Adam from dust and to dust most of us shall return but God can bring back our bodies and this time they will be immortal (as He originally made Adam and Eve), indestructible, and not marred by sin or sins consequences (death, sickness, disease).
1 Corinthians 15:42-49 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”f ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly man.
Isaiah 35:3-6 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Romans 8:11 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
The Rapture will be secret. The unbelievers at the time of its happening, will not know what happened!
Matthew 24:26-27, 36-42 26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man...36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,f but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come
1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
The effect of this removal, in the absence of multitudes of people, will, of course, be evident on earth. Personally, I believe that mankind is being "primed" for this event by satan because people will probably believe it was a mass "alien abduction". We have alien programs on TV 24/7. People truly believe they have been abducted by aliens, have seen them, have video evidence, photographs, etc. These programs even point out that ancient civilizations may have been aware of aliens and show us evidence of carved pictures of these "aliens". It's not that I don't believe God is perfectly capable of creating life on other planets. And I'm not calling into dispute people's personal experiences. But I do believe that satan, who can masquerade as a ghost or alien, can deceive people and is deceiving people. For some reason people can believe in ghosts and aliens more easily than believing in Jesus Christ! And when Christians are raptured, it will an easy explanation that a mass abduction has occurred as people would rather believe that than believe they missed the Rapture and are about to experience the Great Tribulation and the wrath of God! Just my humble opinion.
After we are raptured and gone to Heaven, Paradise in the place of the dead (Hades), Christians will come before the Judgment Seat of Christ. The Judgment Seat is not about whether we will enter heaven - we’ll already be there. It will be a time to give an account of the works we have done on earth, and we will be rewarded accordingly. We’ll also be assigned places of authority in the coming Millennium based upon our faithfulness to God when we were on earth. The Bible teaches clearly that all men, both living and dead, saved and unsaved, must give an account to Christ. It is also called the Bema Seat Judgment. In classical Greek it identified the judge’s seat in the arena of the Olympic games. The bema was the seat whereon the judge sat, not to punish contestants, but to present awards to the victors. When Christians stand before the Bema Seat of Christ, it will be for the express purpose of being rewarded according to their works. There is no idea of inflicting punishment.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
1 Peter 4:5 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
Romans 14:10-12 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
When will the Rapture occur? There is some debate about it happening before the Great Tribulation (Pre-Trib), during the Great Tribulation (Mid-Trib) or at the end of the Great Tribulation (Post-Trib). I believe our earth will see the birth pangs of God's coming Wrath with increased intensity but these "birth pangs" are NOT the Great Tribulation, only the signs of the coming Tribulation. So I believe the Rapture occurs before the Great Tribulation. If you read Revelation 6 about the breaking of the seven seals, I believe that the Rapture occurs at the time of the 6th seal or just after the 6th seal is broken.
Matthew 24:29-31 29 “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.’ 30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 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.
Verse 29 here seems to indicate the Sixth Seal. "Then will appear", Jesus comes to rapture His Church, His Bride. It does not say he touches earth but that He comes with an angelic trumpet call and we will be gathered. It says "all the peoples of the earth will mourn". Why? Because Christ has come and gathered people to Himself. The unbelievers who are left behind will be in shock, grieving, fearful. Those who know about the Rapture will be dealing with the shock that it's occurred and they are still here! The news commentators and talking heads will begin to look for explanations for the missing people and it won't be long before they find some reason that will be acceptable in their site and in the site of their audience. And here is where my theory comes in... alien abduction. People would rather believe this because if they believe they missed the boat with Jesus Christ, it could mean eternal damnation. “This generation” in Matthew 24:34, refers specifically to the people who live to see all of the terrifying events that Jesus had just mentioned as increasing immediately before His return; such as wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes in various places, widespread famine and disease, and the Antichrist’s rise to power.
What happens to those left behind? First, God tells four angels to hold back the wrath until 144,000 are sealed with a seal on their foreheads with the name of God in that seal. These 144,000 are Jews (12,000 of each tribe) who will come to know and accept Jesus as Lord and Messiah. And they will be evangelists reaping a harvest of souls. After they are sealed, The Great Tribulation begins. The wrath of God is finally let lose.