How to Guarantee You Make the Rapture

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For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed" 1 Corinthians When Will It Happen? The rapture will be instantaneous, in "the twinkling of an eye" 1 Corinthians Scripture nowhere encourages us to try to determine the date of Jesus' return.

The timing of the Rapture sparks a great debate within Christianity.

The Rapture

Does it occur before, during, or after the tribulation period? The tribulation is a seven-year period that immediately precedes the return of Christ and the establishment of His millennial kingdom, which lasts for 1, years. At the midpoint of the tribulation, the Antichrist will proclaim himself god and require worship from all people of the world. Many will bow down and worship the Antichrist, including taking his mark of worldwide registration.

Some will refuse to worship the Antichrist and receive his mark, and many will be killed for this act of disobedience. Those having to do with the Church on earth are chapters This section ends as our forerunner, John, is caught up in vision to see that which would follow here on earth as Israel faces her great trials that bring that people into right relationship to their Messiah. The last trump that sounds at the rapture of the Church is the last trump for the Church, not for Israel. The rapture takes place before the tribulation. Those verses in Revelation that speak of the Church in heaven after the rapture are found in chapter The primary attention of the book of Revelation turns from the terrible judgments which will be taking place on the earth during the seven years of the time of Jacob's trouble to the glories surrounding the church in heaven during that time.

It is a chapter that contains the joy and rejoicing of the Church as they honor the Lamb, the Lord Jesus. It describes the preparation of the Church, the Bride for her return to earth with the King, the Lord Jesus. And then the chapter moves on to describe the dreadful scene when the King does arrive on earth with all of His armies as He judges the nations and prepares earth for His one thousand year reign here on earth.

No, the rapture of the Church does not take place either at the middle of the tribulation or at the end of the tribulation. The Church will be in heaven during all of that time. After the resurrection of Church age believers whose bodies sleep while awaiting the return of their spirits with Christ. Paul also makes it clear that those believers who are alive and who remain until the coming of the Lord in the air will only be transformed and translated into their eternal state after the resurrection of the bodies of those believers whose souls and spirits join their resurrected bodies.

This Paul clearly says in 1 Thessalonians 4: Paul devotes considerable space to his description of all that will take place in our bodies at the time of the rapture.

The rapture: What the Bible says and what you need to know.

He has said in 1 Corinthians We shall all be changed. In describing the resurrection from a believer's body from the dead he says in 1 Corinthians It is raised in incorruption. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. Paul further describes that which happens in 1 Corinthians The dead will be raised incorruptible and we will be changed. As a result, when this corruptible will have put on incorruption and this mortal will have put on immortality, then the saying that is written will be brought to pass, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.

Now it is necessary to review the event series in which the rapture of the Church will take place. It is crucial that this series of events be brought into perspective and that their order of occurrences be recognized.

Otherwise it is easy for one to fall prey to one of the misunderstandings concerning the timing of the rapture in the eschatological event series. When the Lord descends from heaven 1 Thessalonians 4: It is clear from Romans that Paul considered the teaching of things to come to be a vital part of the discipling through which a new believer should be taken. In my second book on Romans in the publisher's hands I show that in Romans 6: The third step which he took is found in Romans In this section he focuses upon the teaching of the believer of things to come.

It is clear that he knew that the understanding of the great things that our God is going to do in the future serves as a powerful incentive for the believer to live a spiritual life as he or she looks forward to these great events in the future.

Who will the rapture take?

In Paul's ministry it is apparent that he practiced the principles, both of evangelism and of discipleship which he teaches in the book of Romans. Acts 17 describes his work of founding the church at Thessalonica. We are told that he came there and that for " And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and a great multitude of the devout Jews also and of the chief women not a few" Acts But the following context shows that the unbelieving Jews raised a tumult that greatly troubled the city.

As a result Paul and Silas left Thessalonica by night and traveled on to Berea. In that short time of three weeks it is obvious from statements made in First and Second Thessalonians that Paul had taught the believers things to come. But it is also clear from 1 Thessalonians 4: It is clear that Paul, in his first epistle to the Thessalonian church, was writing to help them to understand more about the rapture. He sought to help them to understand that believers that had died now were with the Lord and would be returning to earth with Him to receive their resurrected bodies at the rapture.

And as he developed that theme in 1 Thessalonians 4 he also clarified the fact that, when the Lord descended from heaven with believers that already had died, immediately afterward living believers would be transformed into their eternal bodies and caught up to be with the Lord. As Paul developed those truths about the resurrection of departed New Testament believers who were in Christ Jesus, he adds details concerning the immediate event series.

Suddenly believers on earth would hear the voice of the Lord from heaven as He descended to catch up believers, both those resurrected and those transformed to be with Him.

I have suggested earlier that the call that took John, the elder statesman of the book of Revelation, into heaven in Spirit to hear of the great things which yet were to come. And I have suggested that John probably is somewhat of a forerunner of the church in this regard, and that the shout of the Lord is that which will take us from our earthly residence to our promised heavenly residence. Christ had said in the upper room in John You believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. I think that it is altogether possible that the voice of God that we will hear will be the voice of our Savior speaking the very words to us that He spoke to John the Apostle long ago.

Come up here, and I will show you things which must be after this" Revelation 4: At the sounding of the voice of the archangel 1 Thessalonians 4: At about the same time believers would hear the ringing shout of the archangel. The book of Jude in verse 9 leaves no doubt about the name of this great angel who is the highest of the angels. His name is Michael. And what is it about which he will be shouting?

I suspect that this great archangel, who will lead the good angels of heaven in the war against those angels who have rebelled with Satan during the tribulation Revelation If I am right, it is a warning for these fallen angels to stand back and not interfere with the events of the rapture of the church age saints. At the blast of the trumpet of God 1 Thessalonians 4: At approximately the same time our atmosphere will be rent by the great sound of the blast of God's trumpet. This sound will ring out, either as a part of the warning given to the fallen angels or as a call to the saints of this age as they are called forth from earth into the Lord's heavenly presence.

On the other hand, this great trumpet blast may possibly be heard by all who have rejected Christ and may serve to indicate that the door of salvation in the Church now is closed. But we must never make the mistake of saying that no one could be saved after the Church is caught up to heaven. Indeed, the book of Revelation makes it clear that there will be multitudes who believe during the tribulation. However, these will not be part of the Bride of Christ, the Church. The destiny of multitudes of these who believe in the tribulation is to die at the hands of the world ruler of the tribulation Revelation 7: And their heavenly destiny is different also.

Those who are saved during the tribulation serve God in a different way than the Church, the Consort of Christ, will serve Him. These are those who have come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye 1 Corinthians We have seen in First Corinthians After the resurrection of those in Jesus whose bodies sleep in death, " We will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: The entire event including the resurrection of departed believers and the transformation of living believers will take place in the time that it takes a beam of light to glance off of the eyeball.

At Christ's return with the dead in Christ 1 Thessalonians 4: It was concern on the part of the Thessalonians, apparently conveyed to Paul, either by a letter or by a personal messenger, that led the Divine Author to direct Paul to give that church further information about believers who had died. Paul carefully explained in 1 Thessalonians 4: This is the truth that he had conveyed to the Corinthian church in his second epistle to them. Earlier in the chapter he has made it plain that the believer who dies should expect immediately to be clothed upon with a body in heaven.

He has contrasted the believer's life in his mortal body with the fact that, at death, the believer immediately would be with the Lord. Therefore we labor in order that, whether present [in one's body] or absent [from one's body in death] , we may be accepted by Him" 2 Corinthians 5: And in 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul has made it clear that the home going of all believers will take place in that moment when Christ and the great host of believers whose spirits already are with the Lord will return from heaven so that they may take part in the rapture.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4: For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. After the resurrection of the dead in Christ 1 Thessalonians 4: Thus is clear that the rapture awaits the return of believers whose bodies sleep in Jesus. The rapture cannot begin until they are returned to earth from heaven to receive their resurrected bodies. Indeed, their resurrection will be the first stage of the rapture. And Paul immediately deals with this factor in 1 Thessalonians 4: Actually the old Latin word prevenir actually did mean "to go before.

At the moment of our up-gathering-together 2 Thessalonians 2: In Second Thessalonians 2: In his first chapter Paul has been comforting the believers at Thessalonica concerning the dreadful trials through which they were passing. There were some believers who had concluded that already they were in the great tribulation.

The first chapter of Second Thessalonians is written to quiet the hearts of these believers. It is written to remove their confusion concerning their fear that their persecutions and tribulations indicated that they already were in the great tribulation. He has made it plain that believers will not be involved in the righteous judgment of God when He would punish those that did not know Him. He describes the escape of believers from that tribulation in 2 Thessalonians 1: It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those who trouble you; 7 and to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 9 who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He will come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe It is then that Paul introduces the new way of describing the means by which believers will escape the sufferings of the great tribulation.

He continues in chapter two showing the difference between the judgment of the unbelievers at His coming from the departure of those who will be believers here on earth at the time that Christ delivers believers before that time of trouble. He says in 2 Thessalonians 2: There the Greek word episunagooge is used and that carefully has been distinguished by Paul from the day in which Christ will suddenly appear on earth at the end of the tribulation in fiery judgment upon unbelievers. I prefer to translate this single Greek word as "up-gathering-together" and recognize that it refers to the rapture.

I do not accept the application of Granville Sharp's rule to this first verse.

That would indicate that " the [previously mentioned] coming of our Lord Jesus Christ The view that insists on this interpretation of the timing of the rapture is called "the post-tribulation rapture. Chapter one clearly shows that they thought that the trials that they were facing indicated that they were entering that terrible time of trouble. Paul plainly tells that church that, instead of being troubled of heart and thinking that the day of the Lord was upon them, in reality they would be resting beyond the reach of the tribulation with which the day of the Lord is introduced. That is precisely why he says to that church,.

The text can only mean that Paul was comforting these believers. He was making it clear that, because the rapture came first and was a totally separate eschatological event, they need not be upset and worried. They should not think that they had entered that terrible time of trouble in which Christ would come to earth to destroy His enemies and establish His kingdom on earth. The up gathering together of the saints of the Church age destined them to seven years of rest while the earth, in great tribulation, still faced the coming of the King to establish His millennial kingdom.

Christ had been promised that reign on earth in eternity past in the decree. In Psalm 2 we have the record of His reporting that promise of the Father which was made in the eternal decree. This He would do in order to accomplish all that was to be accomplished in time between the eternities. Psalm 2 records Christ's words as He quoted that which had been planned in the decree in eternity past. But it also contains the promise of the Father to the One Who would serve in the subordinate position as the Son of God between the eternities that He would have an inheritance as His reward for that which He would accomplish.

Because of all that He would do as the Son of God, He was promised in the decree that He would receive an earthly kingdom in which He would rule to the ends of the earth. In the light of the interpretation of Psalm 2: That means that the ontological, or existence relationship which had existed from eternity, in which all three members of the Godhead always had been coequal in a perfectly balanced relationship, now was changing in order to accomplish all that the Godhead had planned to take place between the eternities.

Automatic Rapture?

The economic relationship is being established. This is the working relationship in which both the Son and the Holy Spirit assume a subordinate relationship with the Father in order to accomplish the work that must be done by them between the eternities. This does not mean that either the Son or the Holy Spirit is any less God even though this temporary change in relationship has been established.

Now the Son will take orders from the Father. The Holy Spirit will be involved in all that the Son will do on earth. And yet the Holy Spirit in some sense also is subordinate to the Son and Father. In the upper room Christ said to His disciples, "But when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth Who will come forth from [the presence of] the Father, He will testify of Me It is easy to see why the amillennial translators of King James' court chose not fully to translate this verb form!

You will break them with a rod of iron. You will dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel. Here then is the promise of the Father that lies behind the Father's utter scorn of those who thought they could break the bands and the cords of the Eternal Lord and His Messiah. Because it was in the eternal decree that the Son would rule here on earth, the rejection and death of the Messiah which is anticipated in Psalm 2: Here is the reason for the derisive laugh of the Lord sitting in the heavens.

When the Jews and Gentiles crucified Christ they did not in the least thwart the eternal plan of the Godhead. Indeed, they only fulfilled that decree! Second Thessalonians chapters one and two are but a small portion of the revelation given to us in Scripture of the fact that, in great violence, Messiah one day will return to earth, will overthrow His enemies and will establish His earthly kingdom which will last for one thousand years. That will be the fulfilling of the promise made to the Messiah, the Son of God, which was made upon His return from the Mount of Olives to the Father's presence in heaven.

The Eternal Lord will send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Your people [Israel] will be willing in the day of Your power [when You rule] in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. You will have the dew of Your youth'" Psalm But the revelation of that great mystery, the rapture, is that the Church will not be here on earth at the time. Our episunagooge , our up gathering together is an event that takes away the trouble of heart and concern about passing through the tribulation stage of the day of the Lord.

Thus the great Apostle assures the troubled church of Thessalonica and all even to this age who read of that day and are troubled. Paul follows this instruction with a warning for the Church to beware of any that teach any other doctrine, a warning of crucial importance to the Church of Jesus Christ even today.

It is regrettable that the amillennial translators of the King James Version followed a single very late Greek manuscript and its reading of 2 Thessalonians 2: That term most certainly does not refer to the climax of the tribulation period here on earth. Instead, it specifically refers to that day in which we are in heaven in the presence of Christ.

The following of that very late reading, "the day of Christ," desperately obscures that which is being revealed about the rapture in this context. Paul clearly is contrasting the "up- gathering-together" of Church believers in the rapture with the Day of the Lord. The correct reading, found in all ancient manuscripts of 2 Thessalonians, is "the day of the Lord. I insist that the day of the Lord is that period which lies between the signing of that covenant as described in Daniel 9: In spite of the misunderstanding of many, these verses absolutely are revealing that there is no possibility whatsoever that the rapture will occur somewhere in the early days of the eschatological period which is called "the day of the Lord.

Before the bema or judgment seat of Christ 2 Corinthians 5: In Second Corinthians 5: For all of us [believers] must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, in order that every one may receive the things done in his body, according that which he has done, whether it is good or worthless.

It is clear that the departure of the Church for heaven in the rapture must come before that day when our Judge, the Lord Jesus, determines our rewards. Shortly before our coming before God the Father 1 Thessalonians 3: I conclude that Paul, in First Thessalonians 3: He longs for the Thessalonian believers to.

Increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all, even as we do toward you, to the end that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all of His saints. To me that suggests that we believers should be occupied with living our Christian lives in utter devotion to the Lord, allowing Him to transform our lives into the glorious pattern of holiness which Christ would like to see here on earth. And yet the phrase, " For us to reach that glorious time when nothing of our shortcomings here on earth can only come when Christ at the Bema seat has taken care of all of our failures.

Only then will be be fully conformed to the likeness of Christ as described by Paul in Romans 8: It appears that Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3: Surely it is of that glorious day of which the Apostle John is speaking in 1 John 3: But we do know that when He will appear, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. Before the Day of The Lord 1. The times and the seasons of our departure 1 Thessalonians 5: The word that connects 1 Thessalonians 4 to the 5th chapter introduces the review of the truth that Paul already had taught the Thessalonians.

Once the reader of this section recognizes how carefully Paul distinguishes those who will be involved with Christ's coming at the rapture from those who will suffer judgment at the time of Christ's return to earth, it will become involved that believers will not be involved in the suffering of the day of the Lord.

The pronouns "you, we" and "us," contrasted with "they" and "them," inescapably draw that distinction. We are not of the night or of darkness. It is clear from Paul's careful distinction that the day of the Lord will not come upon believers. The judgment aspect of the early part of the day of the Lord is destined to fall upon those who are unbelievers and not upon those whom Paul was addressing or even upon us. It is obvious that the day of the Lord is not to be a matter of fear to the believer for it is upon those who will have ignored the gracious invitation of the Lord Jesus to receive His salvation.

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Giving more than 10 percent is called an offering. Love God and others. No sex unless married. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Here is an app that helps you memorize and learn all the scriptures in the New and Old Testaments. Ask New Question Sign In. What are some ways we can prepare for the rapture?

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4 Things Every Christian Should Know about the Rapture

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What is the rapture?

What are the scriptures for the Rapture? How do you prepare yourself for The Rapture? Here some hints that will help us to get ready for the soon-coming Rapture: Remember to also forgive all those who have wronged you. Looking for a Twitter follower growth tool?

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