Mission Venture Ministries

Paul conveys to the church at Thessalonica the following inspired words: “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For 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. 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. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17) 

Paul’s authority for making statements came personally from the Lord Jesus “according to the Lord’s word” by direct revelation. The Lord gave Paul a special revelation about the church: “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus”. . . (Ephesians 3:2-12). 

Nowhere in all the history of Israel or the teachings of Jesus was there any information on the dead in Christ being raised up first and then those who are alive being “caught up,” snatched, removed completely, until this special revelation to Paul. 

Rapture is a state or experience of being carried away. The English word comes from a Latin word, rapio, which means to seize or snatch or the actual removal from one place to another. In other words, it means to be carried away in spirit or in body. The rapture of the church means the carrying away of the church from earth to heaven. 

The Greek word from this term “rapture” appears in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, translated “caught up.” The Latin translation of this verse used the word rapturo. The Greek word it translates is harpazo, which means to snatch or take away. Elsewhere it is used to describe how the Spirit caught up Philip near Gaza and brought him to Caesarea (Acts 8:39) and to describe Paul’s experience of being caught up into the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). Thus there can be no doubt that the word is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 to indicate the actual removal of people from earth to heaven. 

This is the first time the New Testament explains the rapture of the church in writing. This is brand new truth. The Lord alluded to the rapture in John 14:1-3, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. 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? 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.” 

In the letter to the Thessalonians, Paul gives the first formal presentation of the rapture in writing, since John wrote his writings about 40 years after Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians. 

We believe that those who espouse that the rapture is a recent creation of the overactive imagination of some need to understand that Paul’s inspired words were written nearly 2000 years ago. 

Paul said not everyone’s body is going to die. Sleep was how the early Christians referred to the body in the grave, because they knew it would be resurrected one day. He also said living mortals would be changed into immortals in the twinkling of an eye. 

Some will bypass death and become immortal, as Paul states again to the church in Corinth: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed 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. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53) 

A “mystery” in biblical manner of speaking is a truth not previously revealed. 

The word “moment” means flash in Greek, a fragment of time. The transformation of the glorified body will take place in a flash (literally, in an atom). An atom is an undivided point of time; this time is indivisible. Change from the present body to the glorified body is instantaneous like, “in the twinkling of an eye.” 

The transformation from the corruptible body to the glorified body will not be a long, drawn-out process but an instantaneous action by God. 

There will be a trumpet call at the rapture to summon Christians to heaven. This will signal the end of our present existence in corruptible human bodies. For 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.  

Both dead Christians and living Christians will rise with bodies that will not decay, “imperishable.” God will transfigure, transform, and translate these bodies, making them fit for heaven. 

We need to keep in mind that Jesus is coming at a time when He is not expected (Matthew 24:44), which would include today. The Jews aren’t expecting Him, the world isn’t expecting Him, and the vast majority of the church isn’t expecting Him. Therefore, we as believers should be expecting Him to come and catch us up at any moment. 

The big question is, are you ready? While the day and hour are clearly unknown to all of us, the evidence that the season of church history we are in now and the re-birth of the nation of Israel in 1948, alerts us that time is getting closer. When Paul wrote this he was expecting for it to happen in his lifetime, however, because it didn’t happen then, it makes the likelihood greater every day. So keep busy working to reach the lost for the kingdom of God, “while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). 

Come quickly Lord Jesus! 

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