Re: The Rapture – To explain it, show its Scriptural foundation, suggest other reading material and encourage our readers to live according to its precepts and hopes.

(First published by The Christian Spirit, Inc. magazine in Jan. 1993)  …still true today

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We submit this open letter to our readers in answer to the questions asked about the rapture.

While the Rapture has gotten more than just a little news lately the general ignorance concerning it continues to prevail. Many people remain stuck in the quagmire of rumor and gossip that swirls constantly around this great mystery of our faith. The cliché, “A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing” is very true concerning the Rapture. People, who acquire just a bit of information here and a bit there, never really studying it, end up getting confused or scared. We will try to give people with just a smattering of knowledge a good foundation for starting their study of the Rapture by summarizing the who, what, when and where of the Rapture. But space constraints make it impossible to go into each aspect in detail; we therefore strongly encourage our readers who find themselves in the position of C.M. Long to diligently study the Scriptures about the Rapture and soak up all that God says about it.

What Is The Rapture?
Let’s start at the beginning. The Bible is the one and only authoritative source for understanding the coming promised occurrence commonly known as The Rapture. The Rapture is one of only a few subjects on earth that even nonbelievers have to agree is the exclusive property of the Bible. People who ask for Biblical understanding of this event are very much on the right track.

Again, the Scriptures are the one and only source that proclaims the promise of the Rapture.

However, it must be said from the outset that the word Rapture does not appear in the Bible. It is the common name used by Christians to sum up an incredible promise of mercy made by God to His very close trusted believers. The promise is that God will “catch up”, or allow to escape from the tremendous judgments coming on the earth, faithful believers in the clouds to be with His Son Jesus forever. This in fact, is what the word Rapture means, “To catch up”. The Scripture from the epistle of 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 expresses the promise more perfectly than any of the other places of Scripture;

“For 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 (Old English for, “go ahead of”) them which are asleep.
     For 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
     Then 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.”

A passage of Scripture from 1 Corinthians 15:50-55 also adds to the overall picture;

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
     Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
     In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
     For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
     So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
     O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Both of the passages cited above should be read in context. And that – in a nutshell – is the Rapture.

The catching up of Christians will most definitely happen, both to those that sleep and those which remain alive at the time of Jesus’ call, to meet Him in the air to be with Him for evermore. But these two passages only begin to tell us what the Rapture is and how it will occur in that sudden moment which will be announced by a spiritual ‘trumpet call’ from heaven. It does not tell us the who, why, or when. To understand the Rapture we must know that it is in order to answer the other most vital questions.

WHEN?
During His three year ministry on earth, Jesus referred many times to this “mystery”, as it is called in 1 Corinthians 15. More than once, Jesus warned us to “watch and pray” and to be “ready” because His call, and His appearance to believers, would happen suddenly and unannounced. He said it would “come at a time when you think not”.

The epistles and Jesus both declare that the day of the trumpet sound, when Christ will call His faithful people into the clouds, will come as a “thief in the night”. His appearance will come suddenly, without warning, it will be unseen and unheard, just as a thief might come and go in the middle of the night without anyone ever knowing he had been there except for that which was missing. The image is one of total surprise and vanished goods. In a parable He said, if the good man of the house knew when a thief was coming he would be ready for him and not suffer loss, but we are to be always ready, on our toes, looking, waiting, watching, praying, and living as if His return is scheduled for that very minute, so that one might not lose out on a chance to be part of the Rapture.

Jesus continues, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, except the Father in heaven.” But why is the time withheld? – Simple, it is to encourage Man to live by hope and faith, live rightly and expectantly each and every day examining the heart and motives and ambitions of their personal interior life. To live in anticipation of the Rapture, that is the true essence of taking life “one day at a time”. Though we are warned we could not know the exact day or hour, Jesus did say we could have a good notion of its general timing and He did remark that we must live as if this sudden and instantaneous resurrection of believers could take place in our very next breath. He further declared that when you see the “fig tree” budding (alluding to the Scriptural symbol, Israel) then we could know that not another generation would pass away before His promised gathering of the saints and the coming judgment of the world.

The state of Israel budded again in 1948 becoming a recognized Jewish state among the international community of nations accepted into the United Nations itself. Jerusalem became the capital of a Jewish state for the first time in nearly 2,500 years in 1967, constituting the “budding of the fig tree”. Jesus further declared this prophetic promise: “When you see these things happening, look up for your redemption draws near.”

WHY?
The Bible warns us that before Jesus’s return, the world will be in a similar state of unrighteousness as it was in the hideous days of Noah’s life. This not only gives us insight into why God will catch up His faithful saints from the earth but it tells us something about the kind of faith people must have if they are to successfully believe in the Rapture whole-heartedly. The analogy with Noah speaks both of the condition of the unbelieving world and the condition of the faithful. As in Noah’s day the world is turning reprobate. People are giving themselves over to sin, having as the Scriptures say, “Their consciences seared with a hot iron.” We need only read the papers, listen to the conversations at work, or go to the movies to see and feel this unconscionable Noah like world. And that is not all.

In these last days God is being thrown off, being replaced by other gods and bastardized theologies that have changed the knowledge of the true God sometimes slightly and sometimes drastically intending to turn Him into something He is not. The Rapture will succeed in allowing those who are looking for it a way to escape the world that is pregnant with violence, rebellion and character assassination against the One True God.    

On the other side of the “days of Noah” analogy stand the faithful. As Noah was faithful to believe that God would save him from the torrent of coming judgment, so today’s faithful are being required to believe that they will be saved from the flood of God’s wrath that is to come upon a deluded world. As Noah was lifted up by the waters and the people died beneath him in a flood of judgment so it will happen again. This time people of Noah-like faith will be lifted up, “caught up” and removed from the impending doom beneath and the world below will be deluged with disaster. This is the same thing that happened to Noah and his family when he was ‘lifted up’ above the ensuing flood that wiped away the evil world beneath. The Rapture saves the believer from going through the judgment which is impending for the unrighteous and sinful world.

WHO?
Once we know the answers to what, why and when, then the question who? becomes the billion dollar question. The answer is given for a certainty in the Bible. To begin with, those who are offered this great deliverance must be not only believers, but followers of Christ. They must be watching, praying, and waiting for their Lord’s return. Jesus said to His disciples, “pray that you be accounted worthy to escape all these things (judgments coming on the world) and to stand before the son of Man”. Those raptured will not have earned it by their own willpower or wits. To use a banking term, the rights to being Raptured must be put on our “account” because it is not owed to us and we can never earn it by our own righteousness.

Jesus told many parables about lazy and unrighteous servants who did whatever they wanted and ended up being caught unprepared on the day of their Lord’s return. And the, He also told a parable of Ten Virgins who waited for the coming of a bridegroom. The bridegroom’s appearance came in the middle of the night. It came suddenly upon all. Yet only half of the small select group looking for the bridegroom’s coming were prepared to meet him. In the parable, only half of them had lamps trimmed and burning, filled with oil and burning bright able to hear His voice and locate Him through the dark of night. The other half, sadly, had let their light go out, they could not see through the darkness, had no chance of locating the bridegroom. When the sleepers heard Him coming they were ready or not, the time of preparation was gone. Those not ready tried to get the others to help them, to give them oil, but it was too late. They were shut out from the wedding. The imagery is simple. Be ready at all times!

There is much more that can be expanded on about the Who, What, When, and Why of the Rapture. The Bible has much, much, more that it can add to your faith about this great mercy of God, but we all need to get out of the halls of rumor and gossip and get into the Scriptures if we want to know the truth about God’s “catching up” of the Church.

If you have not accepted Christ as your personal Savior, and that means much more than simply being a member of a Church, then do it today. Only then can you begin to make preparations for His coming and be ready on that day. If this be true more than twenty years ago when it was written, how much more is it true today!

• January 1993 The Christian Spirit Magazine