Lesson 2: The Rapture

A. WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF THE LORD’S RETURN? What will happen immediately after the rapture begins to take place before it happens.

1. Signs in nature, i.e., famine, earthquakes, plague (Matt. 24:7).

2. Signs in society.

a. Lawlessness (II Tim. 4:1-3ff).

b. Violence.

c. Secular immorality.

d. Greed.

e. Selfish pursuit.

f. Pleasure seekers.

g. Rebellion.

h. Despair (II Tim. 3:1-4).

i. When men say there is peace and safety (I Thess. 5:1-3).

j. Men walking after their own lusts (Jude 16-18).

k. Heaping treasures in the last days (James 5:3-6).

l. Disobedient to parents (II Tim. 3:2).

m. Having a form of godliness but denying the power (II Tim. 3:4-5).

3. Signs of Christian oppression.

a. Apostasy and heresy (II Tim. 3:5; 4:1-4).

b. Persecution of believers (Matt. 24:9-10).

c. Outbreaks of demonic and occult activity (I Tim. 4:1).

d. False Christ, false prophets, and cultic groups (Matt. 24:24).

e. The church not enduring sound doctrine (II Tim. 4:2-4).

f. Scoffers at the Second Coming (II Peter 3:3-14).

4. Spiritual understanding.

a. Revival of Davidic worship. “In the last days, I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen down” (Amos 9:11; Acts 15:16).

b. Worldwide evangelism (Mark 13:10).

c. Understanding biblical prophecy (Dan. 12:4, 8-9).

5. Signs of Expodentialism.

a. Increase in knowledge (Dan. 12:4).

b. Increase in population (Rev. 9:15-16).

c. Increase in travel (Dan. 12:4).

d. Increase in violence (Matt. 24:12).

6. Signs concerning Israel.

a. Regathering of Jews into Palestine (Isa. 11:10-12); (Ezek. 37:1-12).

b. Reestablishment of the state of Israel (Zech. 12:1-6; Matt. 24:32-35).

c. Israel reclaims land (Zech. 12:2-6). Resurgence of Israel’s military (Zech. 12:6).

d. Re-occupation of Jerusalem (Zech. 12:2-6).

7. Worldwide political signs.

a. Wars and rumors of wars (Matt. 24:6-7).

b. Reunification of Europe (Dan. 2:41-44; 7:8, 24-25; 9:26; Rev. 13:1).

c. Hostility toward Israel (Ezek. 35:1-36; 7).

d. The far north (probably Russia) threatening Israel (Ezek. 38:1-39; 16).

e. Asian nation capable of fielding an army of 200 million (Rev. 9:15-16; 16:12).

B. THE RAPTURE – I THESS. 4:13-18

1. What does it mean to be “asleep in Jesus”?

a. The word sleep describes dead believers who are waiting for the resurrection. “I would not have you ignorant brethren, concerning them which are asleep” (I Thess. 4:13). “Them also, which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him” (I Thess. 4:14). “The coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep” (I Thess. 4:15).

b. Sleep applies only to the body, not the soul.

c. The soul and spirit are with the Lord. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (II Cor. 3:8).

d. Sleep is (1) temporary, (2) awaiting Jesus’ call to awaken us, (3) to be refreshed to a new task in a new day.

e. “Blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

(1) Hope to awaken.

(2) Hope to live without sickness and pain.

(3) Hope to see the Lord.

(4) Hope to see loved ones.

(5) Hope for new opportunity to serve and worship.

f. Nothing disappears on this earth or goes out of existence but changes in composition. God can bring our bodies back together from our DNA, i.e., the smallest particle.

2. What are our souls/spirits doing until the rapture?

a. We are with the Lord. “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

b. Waiting for the return of Christ.

c. “Even so, them also which sleep with Jesus will God bring with him” (I Thess. 4:14).

3. Will babies be resurrected/raptured at the Lord’s return?

a. Very difficult to determine because Scripture seems to be silent, i.e., no definite verse that says the rapture will take little ones before the age of accountability.

b. Babies are protected. “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10).

c. Never lost. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus doesn’t need to seek them because they were never lost.

d. Safe but not saved. “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matt. 18:14).

e. God accepts children. “But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt. 19:13-14).

f. David’s child with the Lord. “But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (II Sam. 12:23).