13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the
rest of men, who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that
God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord’s own
word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will
certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For 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. 17After 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. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words. – 1Thessalonians 4:13-18
Meaning of “Rapture”
“Rapture” comes from the words “caught up” in I Thessalonians 4:17. In the Greek the
word is harpazo – “to seize upon by force”, “to snatch up.” The Latin translators used the word
rapturo. Some people claim that “rapture” is not a biblical term. This is untrue, unless they want
to say that “God” and “Jesus” are not biblical terms. Almost all words in our English Bible are
translations of Greek or Hebrew expressions, and are, therefore, not in the Bible in the form we
know them. “God” is a proper and meaningful translation of certain words in the original
languages, and “Jesus” is a good translation of his name (Jesus, “Joshua,” “The Lord Saves,” in
Hebrew). In the same way, the English word “rapture,” which means “to be caught up” is an
excellent translation for the Greek harpazo.
Three Events That Happen at the Rapture
The scriptures of First Thessalonians 4 and 5 are familiar to most Christians as a
description of the “rapture of the Church.” The rapture can be thought of as a point in eternity
that will protrude into our historical time frame at some fixed point on God’s calendar. However,
as we have seen, God has not given us the date.
Three specific events take place at the time Jesus calls his Church out of the world:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven.
(a) With a loud command
(b) With the voice of the archangel
(c) And with the trumpet call of God
The “loud command” from the lips of Jesus is to awake the dead in Christ and to call
them forth from their graves as God called his friend Lazarus forth (John 11:43).
Only one archangel is called by name in Scripture. He is Michael whose specific
jurisdiction is over the people of Israel. At the time of the rapture, the archangel will signal to
Israel that God has returned the focus of his attention at last to the final redemption of his chosen
nation. This event was spoken of by Daniel:
“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time
of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time
your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.‖ – Daniel
12:1
This trumpet call is not to be confused with the last of the seven trumpets in Revelation.
It is a trumpet call associated with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
51 It will be used to call
the living saints at the time of the rapture to be caught up and transformed together with the justraised
saints of the past. This is described also in 1 Corinthians 15,
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the
perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we
will all be changed— 52in 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. – 1 Corinthians 15:50-
52
When an individual dies he or she leaves time and enters eternity. Some scholars think
that all believers travel through eternity immediately, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,”
to arrive at the rapture the next instant in his or her personal experience. If that is the case, all
believers arrive in heaven at the same “time.” Thus, “to be absent from the body is to be at home
with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). We may have difficulty picturing this if we do not realize that
eternity runs according to an entirely different time than the one-dimensional time frame in
which we are constrained to live while in our mortal bodies. (For more on the issue of time, see
Appendix F – The Complexities of Time.)
Other Important Terms
As you probably know, there are many different ways of looking at biblical prophecy.
Here are a few other terms you will hear in discussions about the future.
Millennium – 1000 years of history during which Christ will reign as King of Kings (Rev. 20:2-
7).
Premillennialism – The belief that Christ returns visibly and bodily at the beginning of the
thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. He will rule the nations from Jerusalem.
Postmillennialism – The belief that Christ will return at the end of the present age to take over
the earth. Meantime, he is assumed to reign on earth through the Church now. Postmillennialists
do not necessarily believe in a literal millennial age. Satan was defeated at the cross and is now
bound; hence the final triumph of the Church in history is assured.
Amillennialism – The belief that there will be no literal 1000 year reign of Christ. Thus
Revelation 20 is taken symbolically, not literally, by adherents of this view. Amillennialists
generally believe that Israel has been permanently set aside for all time and that God’s current
plan of salvation involves only the Church.
(See also: Appendix B – Definition of Common Terms Found in Eschatology.)
The authors’ understanding of future things is firmly premillennial. A literal interpretation
of Scripture requires belief in an actual thousand year period of time during which Christ will
reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The book of Revelation describes these periods of
time clearly: The Church Age (chapters 1-3), The Tribulation (chapters 4-19), The Millennium
(chapter 20), and then The New Heaven and Earth (chapters 21-22).
Most of the Bible teachers who write and speak about prophecy are also premillennial.
Among them there are various viewpoints about the timing of the rapture. Here is a brief
summary of these positions:
Pre-Tribulation Rapture – That Christ will rapture the Church before the Tribulation begins
Mid-Tribulation Rapture – That Christ will rapture the Church at the Mid-point of The
Tribulation
Post Tribulation Rapture – That Christ will rapture the Church at the end of the Tribulation
Pre-Wrath Rapture – That Christ will rapture the Church just before the Battle of Armageddon
Partial Rapture – That Christ will rapture those who are ready and leave the rest to go through
the Tribulation
Multiple Rapture – That there are more than one rapture, during which Christ receives those who
are ready
“Pan-Trib” Position – No clue about future events, but think it will “all pan out in the end.”
The last term is not really funny. There are too many people who just claim ignorance of this
vital subject. When one pastor was asked recently what his views of prophecy were, he said, “I
just don’t handle it.” Can you imagine? A pastor, who has the responsibility of teaching the
whole counsel of God’s Word, refusing to “handle” nearly one third of Scripture?
Those who are “in Christ”
Returning to the rapture passage in 1 Thessalonians 4, the last part of verse 16 and first part of
verse 17 say,”… the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After 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. ”
This event is only for those “in Christ.” It does not, therefore, include Old Testament
Saints. We will study the time of their resurrection later. The point here is that all believers of the
Church Age, and only believers of this age are included; those who have died “in Christ,” and
those believers who are alive at the time. It should be added that the rapture does include all
Jewish people during this present time who have placed their faith in Jesus as Messiah. They too
are part of the Church, though they have not lost their identity as descendants of Israel.
Why the Rapture Will Take Place before the Tribulation
We believe that, by far, the strongest biblical evidence is in favor of the pre-tribulation
rapture position. There are many reasons for this. Here are some of the most obvious ones.
Any-moment Expectation (Imminence)
In every age Christians have been expecting the return of Our Lord. Twice in the last
chapter of the Revelation he tells us, “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20).
Paul referred to this ever-present possibility of Christ’s return as “the blessed hope” (Titus
2:13).
He also taught that his coming will be like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6,
which is a continuation of the primary rapture passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
John also spoke of Christ’s appearing:
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But
we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who
has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. -1 John 3:2
The pre-Tribulation position is the best from this point of view. If the rapture takes place
before the Tribulation, we can truly expect it “any day.” If it is delayed to the middle or end of
the Tribulation, we could not honestly have that expectation now.
Deliverance of the Saints from Wrath
Here are some of the passages that indicate that believers of this Church Age will not be
left to suffer the outpouring of God’s wrath:
“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and
that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” – Luke 21:36
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from
the coming wrath. – 1 Thessalonians 1:10
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
– 1Thessalonians 5:9
If he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an
example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7
and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who
was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8
(for that righteous man, living among them day
after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9
if this is
so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the
day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. – 2 Peter 2:6-9
In the message to the Church of Philadelphia (Missions Period), God said:
―Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial
that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.‖ – Revelation 3:10
Keep in mind that the Bible does not teach that Christians are delivered from persecution,
trials and temptations. In fact, the opposite is true. In 2 Timothy 3:12 we are told, “In fact,
everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” The books of James
and 1 Peter were written to encourage Christians when they are called upon to go through trials.
Paul himself spoke about his “thorn in the flesh” as a trial allowed by God in order that God’s
strength could be shown through him (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
Belief in the pre-tribulation rapture has nothing to do with a cowardly desire to escape
persecution. Scriptural examples and history itself teach us that, when called upon to suffer for
the name of Christ, it is actually a privilege to die for him. In fact, we are being reminded today
that more Christians have been persecuted and even put to death in our own generation than in
all other periods of Church history combined. For two thousand years God has allowed his
people to suffer trials and persecution and even martyrdom. Why, however, should he ask only
the final generation of the Church to endure an unprecedented time of terrible destruction that is
not intended for the Church, but as a judgment of unbelieving world?
The belief that the Church will be delivered from the Tribulation is based in part on the
biblical pattern that when God pours out his wrath he always gives opportunity for the righteous
to escape it. This was true of Noah and his family, of Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot,
and even of the pagan Ninevites to whom Jonah was sent.
The Church is the Bride of Christ. God intends that she join her Bridegroom for a great
wedding feast and after that share with him in ruling the nations. Allowing his bride to suffer
through The Tribulation is inconsistent with the specific purposes for which he has called out the
Church from the world; why he has rescued her “from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
Some recent teaching about the Tribulation tries to make a distinction between Satan’s
wrath, which they say characterizes most of the book of Revelation, and God’s wrath, which is
poured out at the Battle of Armageddon. From their point of view, the Church could then be
subjected to most of the Tribulation, but delivered from the last part. The problem with this
position is that it ascribes to Satan the powers of nature: weather conditions, earthquakes,
asteroid collisions, and other “terrors in the heavens.” Satan, however, has no power to do
anything that has not been appointed for him by God. This theory also fails to notice that the
Church is missing from the Tribulation, as explained toward the end of this chapter. (Also See
Appendix K – Pretribulation or Prewrath?)
