Do You Believe in the Rapture?
by: Robert Lee Hurley
Many discount the idea of a rapture because the word is not in the Greek. But I will show you how the clear idea of a rapture exists in scripture. I know from my experience that many Christians do not believe there will be a ‘rapture.’ I have no doubt that is the case because many Christians struggle with ‘miracles’ and acts of the Holy Spirit.’
Billy Graham
preached to millions around the world and talked about a moment when all
Christians will be “caught up”—more commonly known as “raptured”—to be with
Christ for eternity. “Jesus Christ is coming back, and He’s going to snatch
away from out of all the graveyards of the world,” Billy Graham said. “And
those that are alive and remain will be snatched away. And [the Bible says]
we’re going to meet the Lord in the air.”
”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” (1
Thessalonians 4:16-17, NIV).
The Bible
tells us that no one but God knows when the rapture will take place. Matthew
24:35-37, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but
My words will by no means pass away. 36 "But
of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father
only. 37 But
as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Billy
Graham believed “it may not be too long.” He asked, “Do you know that Christ lives in your heart?” Are you
ready?”
Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 15:35-57 (ESV), “(35)
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they
come?” (36) You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless
it dies.(37) And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare
kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.(38) But God gives it a
body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.(39) For not
all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals,
another for birds, and another for fish.(40) There are heavenly bodies
and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory
of the earthly is of another.(41) There is one glory of the sun, and
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs
from star in glory.(42) So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What
is sown is perishable; what is raised is 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) Thus it is written, “The first man Adam
became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.(46)
But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the
spiritual.(47) The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the
second man is from heaven.(48) As was the man of dust, so also are those
who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of
heaven. (49) Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall
also bear the image of the man of heaven.(50) I tell you this, brothers:
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable
inherit the imperishable.
(51) Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed,(52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed.(53) For this perishable body must
put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on
immortality.(54) When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the
mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”(55) “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”(56) The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law.(57) But thanks be to God, who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ..
Jesus said
in John 14:2: “In my Father's house are many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place
for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And, you know the way to where I am going.”
Jesus
clearly made it a point to say “that He would come for us,” which indicates a
plan to come get His Elect and gather them to Himself.
Paul tells
us in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4:13 “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. 4:15 For
this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, 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.
Many scholars have applied logic to Paul’s words. They believe that
Jesus will make a special trip (not the “Day of the Lord”) which is the final
physical trip to the Planet Earth from the supernatural realms where God lives,
before the final “Day of the Lord” which, when all verses are taken as a whole
from the Old and New Testament, We have a clear picture of the final battle,
before the Millennial Reign begins with the Messiah occupying the throne of
David on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
In the verses just quoted, many scholarly students believe that 1st Thessalonians means what it says when it says “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with the Lord IN THE AIR."
This is a fulfillment of (ESV) Isa 26:13-21, “O LORD our God, other lords
besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to
remembrance. 14 They are dead, they will not live; they are shades,
they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and
wiped out all remembrance of them. 15 But you have increased the
nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have
enlarged all the borders of the land. 16 O LORD, in distress they
sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon
them. 17 Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her
pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O
LORD; 18 we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to
wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of
the world have not fallen. 19 Your dead shall live; their bodies
shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is
a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. 20 Come,
my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves
for a little while until the fury has passed by. 21 For behold, the
LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for
their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no
more cover its slain.”
Isaiah also prophesied: Isa 25:8 He will
swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the
LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is
our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we
have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
The translation to Latin, which was the primary
translation of the Bible for hundreds of years, included the translation of the
Greek word “harpazo,” which means, in
English, “being caught up.” The Latin word that was translated into was
“raptus,” which means “to carry away.” The Wycliffe Bible
(1382–1395) is widely recognized as the first complete English Bible,
and it was translated from the Latin Vulgate, the standard Bible of
Western Europe at the time (bibletranslations.net). Translating from the Latin
Vulgate was only feasible since Greek
and Hebrew transcripts were very scarce and held under lock and key by the
Catholic Church and others. It
wasn’t until Tyndale (over 130 years later) that English translations began
using the original languages.
The
rapture is not a modern invention. Early church fathers such as Irenaeus (2nd
century) and Ephraim the Syrian (4th century) wrote about a catching away of
the Church to escape coming judgment Paul emphasized that this teaching was
received “by the word of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15), showing its
apostolic origin (unforsaken.org). The rapture aligns with God’s historical
pattern of protecting the righteous before judgment. It is a doctrine of hope,
assuring believers of being united with Christ and spared from coming wrath (1
Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 3:10), (unforsaken.org).
It emphasizes the resurrection of the dead, transformation of the living, and
eternal fellowship with Christ.
So, all we who
believe the Bible means what it says, therefore believe in the “catching up” of
the saints, alive and dead. But, when? Ah, that is the question, right?
Well, there are three main eschatological perspectives regarding the timing of the rapture: Pre-Tribulation – The Church is caught up before the seven-year tribulation begins, sparing believers from God’s wrath. Mid-Tribulation – The rapture occurs midway through the Tribulation. Post-Tribulation – Believers are caught up at the end of the Tribulation, coinciding with Christ’s final return.
While interpretations differ, all agree on the reality of the event and its
role in God’s plan for His people. The Bible shows precedents of God taking His faithful away before judgment: Enoch (Genesis 5:24) – Taken by God before the flood. Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) – Caught up in a whirlwind without tasting death (biblestudysimply.com). These examples foreshadow the rapture as a sudden, personal, and divine rescue of believers.
Studying the rapture encourages believers to live in readiness, maintain faith, and find comfort in the promise of eternal life with Christ. It underscores the urgency of salvation and the hope of being spared from coming judgement.
In summary, the rapture is a biblically grounded, historically recognized, and theologically significant event that assures believers of Christ’s return, resurrection, and eternal fellowship, while inspiring hope and readiness in the present life.
Please note Paul’s conclusion:
1Th 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us
be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the
hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but
to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:10 who died for us
so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
The
Rapture is real. Scripture says so. It is up to you to decide when you believe it will
occur. Are you ready?
[Robert Lee Hurley, 106 Cynthia Drive, Pleasanton Texas
78064, Cell 830-200-8744]
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