End Times Prophecy Passport: The Rapture

Excerpt from:

End Times Prophecy

Passport

by

Chuck Swindoll

The Rapture:

Wouldn’t it be great if we could take a peek over God’s shoulder and catch a quick glance at His prophetic calendar? In a way, we can. Though the bible doesn’t give the exact dates and times of future events, serious students of Scripture can pretty much determine the order of events to come. And the next event on God’s prophetic calendar is the rapture.

The word rapture never occurs in the English Bible but comes from the Latin term rapio, translated “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. And though the rapture hasn’t occurred yet, it could at any moment.

Jesus made it clear in John 14:1-6 that those who take part in the rapture will be only those who choose to believe in Him while alive on earth. On that great catching-up day, Christ will take His followers from earth to live with Him in heaven during the seven years of tribulation that will occur on earth. They will, in the words of Jesus, escape the “hour of testing” (Revelation 3:10). On that glorious day, Jesus will “descend from heaven” with a loud command, an angelic shout, and blaring trumpets, bringing with Him the souls of New Testament saints (1Thessalonians 4:16). At the Lord’s command, the physical bodies of the “dead in Christ” will rise, having been reunited with their souls (4:16). And then all who have committed their lives to Jesus, who are alive at the time of the rapture, “will be caught up” to meet Him “in the air” (4:17)

All of this will take place “in the twinkling of an eye.” Christians will exchange our old, earthly bodies for new, heavenly ones (1 Corinthians 15:51-55) and will live in the Lord’s presence forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17). What a wonderful message of hope for all who follow Christ (4:13, 18).

YEAH, BUT…

The view of the rapture presented here is called the pretribulational view, which states that the rapture is the next event in God’s prophetic plan. Paul’s description in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and the fact that Christ promised to keep the church “from the hour of testing” (Revelation 3:10) all point to the primacy of the rapture before the tribulation. Others hold to the midtribulational view, in which the church will suffer through the first three and a half years of the tribulation before being rescued. Proponents of this position rely heavily on Revelation 11. Still others interpret the rapture as concurrent with Christ’s second coming—that the rapture will follow the seven year tribulation. Supporters of this posttribulational view argue that Matthew 24:22 indicates that followers of Christ are on the earth during the seven-year tribulation.

SO WHAT?

Will the church really be raptured and miss the judgment of the tribulation?

The rapture is not merely a theological truth. It is also a practical truth. Paul exhorted the Thessalonian believers to “comfort one another with” the facts of the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:18). For the Christian, the rapture is a source of hope. But the rapture should also motivate followers of Christ to make their lives count every day—to live with eternity in mind. Since the rapture can happen at any moment, we who believe should increase our commitment to Christ and share with others the good news of Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Reasonable men and women differ on when the rapture will occur, but we should never divide the church over these differences. Followers of Jesus Christ are called to unity. Jesus said: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35) So, as we differ, let’s always maintain our bonds of affection.

Next up: The Judgment Seat of Christ