Good evening Shalom, not to continue any discourse prejudicial to one viewpoint but more information for the brothers concerning the rapture. Thank you my friend.
Many years later after the conversion of the apostle Paul, revelation was given to Paul concerning the doctrine of the Rapture.Later the Thessalonian believers had some theological questions for Paul, and one question related to the order of events at the Rapture. Specifically, they wanted to know if the Rapture took the living Christians from the earth, what would happen to those who had died? Their survivers wanted to know when they would see their loved ones again. It is of interest that, in the three weeks Paul was in Thessalonica, he already had introduced this great subject to them. But, like many believers today, they did not understand all the details. Now, Paul was in the position where he could tell them, in order, the events that relate to the Rapture and about the Rapture itself.
First, in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Paul pointed out the practical value of the Rapture in that those expecting the Lord's return do not grieve like others who have no hope. Christians not only have the hope of ultimate resurrection and renewal of fellowship with believers who have prceeded them in death, but they also have the bright prospect of an imminent return of Christ ,which any day might cut short their seperation from loved ones who have died.
The certanty of the Rapture is brought out in 1 Thessalonians 4:14. The fact that Jesus Christ would die and rise again was the subject of much Old Testament prophecy. What was once prophecy has now been historically and literally fulfilled.
Paul also informed the Thessalonians of what would happen to their loved ones who had died. He said, "God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." (1 Thess. 4:14). What did Paul mean by this? When a believer dies, his or her soul goes immediately into the presence of the Lord. According to 2 Corintians 5:8, "to be away from the body" means to be "at home with the Lord".
The reason that Christ is bringing the souls of the believers who have died from heaven to the sphere of the earth is that He is about to resurrect their bodies, and their souls will enter their resurrected bodies.
(2 Cor 5:8 KJV) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2 Cor 5:8: and willing (KJV): 2Co 5:6 12:2,3 Lu 2:29 Ac 21:13 Php 1:20-24 2Ti 4:7,8 2Pe 1:14,15 2Pe 3:11,12
present (KJV): 2Co 5:9 Ps 16:11 17:15 73:23-26 Mt 25:21,23 Joh 14:3 17:24 1Th 4:17,18 1Jn 3:2 Rev 7:14-17 22:3
The dead in Christ will be raised a moment before the living Christians are caught up to be with the Lord. ( Thess. 4:15-16) It should be noted that Paul does not quote the Old Testament, because the Rapture was not revealed in the Old Testament but was given by direct revelation from God to Paul.
Clouds are associated with both the Rapture and the second coming of Christ. (Matt. 24:30; Rev. 1:7)
(Mat 24:30 NIV) "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
(Rev 1:7 NIV) Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
The reason for this is that both events involve the atmospheric heavens in which there are clouds. Some have suggested that the clouds mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 are rather the numerous people involved in the Rapture. They would look like a cloud in the sense of the "great cloud of witnesses" mentioned in Hebrews 12:1.
Hebrews 12: v1. An exhortation to constant faith, patience, and godliness. v22. A commendation of the new testament above the old.
(Heb 12:1 KJV) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:1: seeing (KJV): He 11:2-38
a cloud (KJV): Isa 60:8 Eze 38:9,16
witnesses (KJV): Lu 16:28 Joh 3:32 4:39,44 1Pe 5:12 Rev 22:16
In any case, both the living and the resurrected saits will be caught up, or raptured, to meet the Lord in the air with the promise, "And so we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thess. 4:17). If the purpose of Christ is to take them to the Father's hous, as indicated in John 14, they will then proceed to heaven to fulfill prophecies that relate to their arrival there, including the judgment seat of Christ and other Scriptures. The Rapture here, as elsewhere, is presented as an imminent event without any prophetic events taking place first.
In 1 Thessalonians 5 the question is raised concerning the timing of the Rapture in relationship to the Day of the Lord. Paul reminded the Thessalonians that no specific date for the Rapture has been revealed, but rather it will come "like a thief in the night" and will coinside with the beginning of the "Day of the Lord".
The Day of the Lord is a familiar reference in Scripture to a coming time of judgment. It refers to any period of time, however long or short, that involve's God's direct judgment on the world. What Paul revealed here is that the Rapture, which closes the dispensation of the church, will open the period known as the Day of the Lord, which includes all the end-time events as well as the thousand-year reign of Christ itself.
(This should be very revealing to those that deny the rapture of the new creation, the body of Christ, the Church.)
In His name,
James |
