WHEN WILL THE RAPTURE TAKE PLACE?

Can you imagine sitting next to a friend, and the next minute he is gone? Can you imagine a husband and wife lying down together in bed, and the husband and the children just disappear?

The Bible warns that a time is coming when millions of people will vanish from the surface of this earth. They are here this minute, but the next minute they are gone. This is the Rapture of the church, when the followers of Christ will be “caught away” from the earth to go and be with the Lord forever.

Suddenly the Born Again Believers will be standing before the King of kings in Heaven experiencing such a joy like they have never known before. The rest of the people will be left behind in a world that has been shaken to its very core. Can you imagine yourself as one of the people left behind and the future in front of you is terribly horrifying? 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “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: 17 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.”

The word Rapture comes from the Latin word “raptare” meaning “to seize and carry off, to snatch away or to catch away.” 

Today we call this event the Rapture. The word “Rapture” is from a Greek word “harpazo” which means “the coming of the LORD in the air FOR the saints.”

It also comes from a Latin word “raptare” meaning “to seize and carry off, to snatch away or to catch away.” 

The point is that the concept of an instantaneous snatching away of the saints without warning is scriptural.

This world is not all that there is. This world is temporal and our Lord is going to take us to a permanent and glorious place. What a glorious comfort this is!

This is the believer’s blessed hope (Tit. 2:13), that Christ who has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven will one day come back to take us to heaven with Him (Jn. 14:2).

Either through the rapture or through physical death (Heb. 9:27), we are going to be in glory experiencing a joy that is beyond what anyone can ever imagine. 

This is also the hope of those who live at the time of the end, those who see the birth pains that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24.

This is why 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says, “Wherefore comfort (encourage) one another with these words.”

Therefore, the words in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 are to be used to comfort one another.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 also says that we are going to be re-united with our loved ones who died in the Lord before us.

Be sure of this truth: The church is not going to experience the Tribulation because He who rescued you from sin will also rescue you from the wrath of God that will be poured out on the whole world. 

When then will the Rapture take place? Since the church will not go through the Tribulation, it implies that the Rapture must take place before the Tribulation begins.

John says, “After this (the church age) I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me (John); which said, Come up hither [here], and I will show thee things which MUST be hereafter [i.e. and I will show you things that must take place after the church age]” (Rev. 4:1).

What John viewed (the vision) had changed from earth to Heaven. Shortly before, Jesus stood in the midst of the 7 candle sticks and spoke to the seven churches. That very scene disappeared, and then an awesome gate flung open in Heaven, a voice like a trumpet said, “Come up here!” This reveals the terrifying events that will occur in the future. 

“Come up here” is also a command given to the two witnesses in Revelations 11:11 which says, “And they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying, “Come up here.” The breath of life from God entered them and they stood on their feet...

This command may also refer to the Rapture of the church before the tribulation. When Jesus said in Revelations 4:1, “Come up here,” we will go up in a twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:52).

What is the twinkling of an eye? The twinkling of an eye is 1100’s of a seconds. Therefore, when Jesus says, “Come up hither,” we are going to shoot through 187 trillion billion miles in eleven hundredth of a second, and we will instantly be with the LORD.

What is the significance of John’s ascending into Heaven? John’s ascending into heaven pictures the church at the end of the church age that has prepared oil, being filled with the Holy Spirit (Matt. 25:1-13).

Again, the Greek phrase “meta tura” meaning “after these things,” is used at the beginning and at the end of Revelations 4:1 thus: “After these things [after writing the things concerning the church in Revelations 2-3], I looked up…….. a door was opened in Heaven, and the first voice said, “Come up here,” and I will show you things which must be after these things, that is, after the church age.

This confirms and settles the question as to the time of the fulfillment of all the events of Revelations 4-22. They must be after these things of the churches, after the Rapture of the church.

The church is no longer on earth when the events of Revelations 4-22 take place. Note that Christ said that the events of Revelations 4-22 must be hereafter, that is, after the church has been taken to Heaven as proved by Revelations 1:19.

Revelations 1:19 says, “Write (1) the things which thou hast seen [that is, the visions of Christ in the midst of the seven candle sticks – Rev. 1:7], and (2) the things which are [i.e. the things concerning the churches – Rev. 2-3], and (3) the things which shall be hereafter [i.e. the events which must be after the church age – Rev. 4:1-22:5].”

Therefore, the church MUST be raptured between the things which are (Rev. 2-3), and the things which must be hereafter, i.e. after the church age (Rev. 4-22:5).

But before we zap to Heaven, our vile body will be instantly changed to be like that of Jesus (Phil. 3:21; 1 Cor. 15:50-53).

Question: Are you ready for this glorious departure that is about to take place?

Time is running out (Prov. 27:1). Hurry beloved! Don’t be caught unprepared when the trumpet sounds because Christ is the only One that can bring you to Heaven (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5; Jn. 14:6). So hurry and make peace with God right now! 

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor) 12.07. 2020