In this month's issue of Chapter and Verse, I would like to consider the question, "Why a Rapture?"
Before we begin to answer this question I, would like to explain briefly what the Rapture is. The Rapture is a biblical future event at which time the genuine born again believers will be called up to meet Jesus in the air.
Moments prior to this, the born again believers who have died in Christ will be raised from the dead to meet the Lord in the air with the living. Both will receive new incorruptible bodies and forever live and be with the Lord. The living believers will put on immortality and the dead or corrupted will put on incorruption.
This future event is also known as the believers hope. No one knows when this will occur. This glorious event is recorded in the book of 1 Thessalonians.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
The words "caught up" in verse 17 reflect the meaning of the Greek word "harpadzo." Now, in the Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament, the Latin verb "rapere" is a translation of the Greek word "harpadzo."
"Rapere" is a verb, meaning to catch away, thus, this catching away of the believers has been turned into a noun. That's why it is referred to it as the Rapture and that's how this word has become a popular way to describe the catching away of the believers.
Concerning this future event, The Rapture, there are countless opinions and argument given, including "if this doctrine is true." Most of the debate regarding The Rapture lies in its timing to the tribulation period recorded in the book of Revelation. I can assure you The Rapture is true and will take place in the future without warning, like a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
So all the predictions you hear that the Lord will return on such and such a time and date are at best the prognosticators guess and a gross misunderstanding of The Rapture's timing and placement in the book of Revelation.
However, this is not my intention to discuss or debate the timing of The Rapture with regard to the tribulation period, this topic is outside the scope of this article.
The question I like to consider is why there is a Rapture or gathering together in the first place. For this we need to go to the book of Genesis Chapter 1.
Genesis 1:1-4 1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
The aforementioned verses begin to state a truth repeated throughout God's word. Namely that God is good and that what He does is good. Consider the following verses.
Genesis 1:10,12 10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 31 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
There is a difference between what God calls good and what man calls good.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
What Eve thought was good led to the fall of mankind.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good,, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
This describes most of the world today and their political positions. They put forth their evil opinions and then pressure you into complying. It's not enough for them to voice their opinion. They are not happy until you comply or are silenced.
You are only entitled to your opinion as long as it agrees with theirs. Disagree they will run you off Facebook and Twitter going as far to lock your account. But, there is a day coming in the future when no one will suppress the truth the way they do today, a day when the righteous King will rule the nations with a rod of iron.
Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Please note that the ground suffered as well as mankind for this sin. Why? Because Adam had dominion over the earth and everything in it which extends to the animals and environment.
John 3:34 - 4:1 34For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
God deals with sin in two ways either by grace or wrath. Please note that mankind has the freedom to choose grace.
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The grace that God provided for our salvation is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
So, to recap we have seen thus far that The Rapture is a biblical future event at which time the genuine born again believers will be called up to meet Jesus in the air.
Moments prior to this, the born again believers who have died in Christ will be raised from the dead to meet the Lord in the air with the living. Both will receive new incorruptible bodies and forever live and be with the Lord.
We saw that the event was recorded in the book of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. We also saw the words "caught up" in verse 17 of Chapter 1.
Thessalonians 4 reflect the meaning of the Greek word "harpadzo." In the Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament the Latin verb "rapere" is a translation of the same Greek word "harpadzo."
So although the word Rapture in not in the English Bible, it does appear in the Latin Bible.
We saw that The Rapture can come at any time without signs to announce it. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2}
Then we began to consider the question why is there a Rapture? We saw that everything that God does is good and that what man believes to be good sometimes is plain evil. We also saw that God provided for mankind through Jesus Christ. Today mankind can be freely saved through grace by the faith of Jesus Christ as he believes. God would have all to repent and be saved.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
To be continued …
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.