Raise us to thy Glorious Throne
In todays announcements we shared about the funerals for Doris Sparks and Donald Simpson and Randy Andreson. We are accustom to accepting news about funerals as a part of life. For the Christian it is really just a part of our walk towards our eternal life. Today I have wonderful news, not all of us will experience death. You may be surprised to learn this but the bible teaches us about a wedding between the Bride of Christ which is the church and the Groom which is Jesus Christ.
With the descriptive language of a wedding we see that Jesus is coming back one day to gather His Bride to be with Him in heaven. This gathering is called The Rapture. You will not find the word Rapture in your bibles but you will find it taught as a great and mysterious event throughout the scriptures.
I mentioned the word Rapture to our Bible Study group and some were unfamiliar with it and some have heard of it but were not sure as to what it is. I feel that such an important event must be covered in order for you to be prepared for it. There are differing opinions about the Rapture so I challenge you to study for yourselves and decide for yourselves what God is telling you from the pages of His Bible.
A search on my computer revealed a dictionary explanation which I think is pretty concise. I found this from the Wikipedia:
"Rapture", when used in eschatological terms, is an English word used in place of the Latin word raeptius; which in turn is a translation of the Koine Greek word harpazo, which is found in the Greek New Testament manuscripts of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In many modern English translations of the Bible, harpazo is translated; "caught up", or "taken away". "Harpazo" \har-pad-zo\ Koine Greek; "forcibly snatched away", "taken for oneself".
In Christian eschatology, the Rapture is the name given to a future event in which Jesus Christ will descend from Heaven, accompanied by the spirits of all the saints of God, both from the pre-incarnation period and after, who have passed on prior to this event, and then the bodily remains of these saints are transported from the Earth to meet the Lord and be rejoined with their corresponding spirits in the air. Immediately after this, all Christians alive on the earth are simultaneously transported to meet the Lord and those who have preceded them in the air. All are transformed into immortal bodies like Jesus body, often referred to as the "resurrection body".
Let us look to scripture to see what it says about this event called the Rapture.
"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
(1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)
In My Fathers 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 14:23)
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
(Philippians 3:20-21)
And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will 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 has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?""
(1 Corinthians 15:49-55)
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-7)
I would also cite two incidents in the Old Testament where people were Raptured or gathered up or taken up to Heaven by God without having died as we might expect them to.
We can go all the way back to the book of Genesis where we find the name of a man called Enoch.
In Genesis 5:24: And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him. Even the Jewish Talmud recounts this event and likens Enochs translation to heaven in similar language as that used in 2 Kings 2:11 where we hear of Elijah being taken up in a whirlwind.
He, too, never saw death, foreshadowing what we believers will experience on the day the Lord catches us up in the clouds.
Now let us look to the language used which likens this event to a Jewish wedding.
Here are a few key examples of the significance of the Wedding Parallel. The bride price is paid by the groom for the bride. Jesus paid for us with his life. The virgin girl shows that she accepts the written covenant agreement of the marriage by drinking a glass of wine, and this has become the communion ritual that Jesus gave to the Church. The betrothed bride would also have a ritual cleansing bath, and this is like baptism of water and spirit, or the cleansing of the word in Eph 5.
The groom departs to build the bridal chamber where they will live together, and Jesus said John 14:2 "In my Fathers house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
When finished, the groom would return at a time unexpected of that day or hour no man knows to fetch, or take away (rapture) his bride, like a thief in the night, which is a type of the action of the rapture.
Yes, Christians should be married to Jesus, the one who is raised from the dead:
Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Col 2:17 says that the Feast of Trumpets Wedding of the Messiah is a shadow of things to come, a prophesy about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, according to 2 Cor 11:2, the Church and Bride of Christ shall be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ.
Matthew 25 NIV
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
1 At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 At midnight the cry rang out: Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!
7 Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.
9 No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.
10 But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 Later the others also came. Sir! Sir! they said. Open the door for us!
12 But he replied, I tell you the truth, I dont know you.
13 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Will you be ready when the Lord Jesus comes to invite you to His Heavenly wedding? Will you be like the wise virgins keeping watch and looking for His coming?
Jesus has told us plainly that He will come back for us. He has also conquered death so that we might not be held to account for it. We can and may in fact escape death as we know it here on earth and pass into heaven in the twinkling of an eye when Jesus comes for us in the clouds.
It could be that this invitation is given soon, within our life times or it could be that we will have to experience death here. The scriptures tell us that many will not experience death and will be transformed into their new and heavenly body when the bridegroom comes.
Let us cloth ourselves with our wedding attire. Let us be found ready to be called to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
As St. Paul says.. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 2 Corinthians 11:2
Let us pray.
Notes for this sermon were used from Jack Van Impe and Jason Hommel http://www.bibleprophesy.org/introwedding.htm
