1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18
A Strong Delusion – Part 3
There are some scary verses in the Bible to me. Probably the most impacting is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 which says, “21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
There are many people who have been deceived by the major religious denominations, such as, the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian Church’s along with seminaries and pulpits. Our Holy God refers to us as sheep – His sheep. He wants us to be taught His Word in Truth. He instructs others who want to serve Him by teaching that it is a great responsibility and the following warnings are leveled;
1 Timothy 1:3, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,”
1 Timothy 1: 7, “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.”
2 Timothy 4: 3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.”
Revelation 22, “18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Some people believe that if they join a certain religious establishment then they are in the right spot for eternal life. This is not so. I believe that the church leadership has been duped into fostering the wrong information called the ‘Rapture’ and are un-wittingly leading people astray.
We have been discussing a church doctrine that was invented in the 1800’s credited to a man named Nelson Darby. He proposed that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is returning to earth in two phrases. He will first of all come back from heaven secretly [like a thief] and silently take His Church out of this world. Christians will vanish or disappear all of a sudden one day soon. They will be ‘Raptured’ or ‘Caught Up’ above the earth in space to meet our Lord Jesus. He will then take His own back to Heaven for seven years while He let’s loose all hell on earth to those left behind. This wrath is referred to as the Great Tribulation. At the end of seven years the Lord will return [Part B] for real to the earth which is called His Second Coming.
Let me ask you this question, ‘How many of you have shared your faith?’ Have you ever been blessed to lead a person to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, have you then invited that person to join you at church? Have you shared or the Pastor taught that we are soon going to get beamed out of here? They have now heard that our Lord Jesus Christ is going to mysteriously and secretly snatch us out of here. In a blink of an eye we will disappear. All our clothes will just be left in a heap. A lot of vehicles and other forms of transportation will be unmanned.
What has been your observation to other individual’s reactions? Did they just think to themselves, ‘ what did I get myself into?’ What group of nuts have I joined? Did you somehow think it strange that they all of a sudden can’t come with you to church anymore?.
The bible says in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 this, “12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” If we as Pastors just let the Word of God speak for itself it will bear much fruit in the lives of God’s children. Our Holy Lord does not need all these ‘Brainaics’ to interpret what He has said in His Word. He does not keep secrets from us and in which only gifted people can understand. He didn’t wait until the 1800’s to reveal what He will do in the future.
As I mentioned before we will look at every Scripture people have used to promote this point of view and see what it actually says. We now will look at the most quoted passage in the Bible that supports a ‘Rapture’ theory and that is from the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.15 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. 16 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. 17 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. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
People in the old days along with us today are concerned about our loved ones who have died. Paul begins his instruction to us by teaching, ‘13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”
We understand here the truth that ‘Believers’ who die are not referred to as ‘dead’ but asleep. In the Gospel of John chapter 11 our Master and King Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples this important lesson. Let’s see what happened.
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” 12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
Have you ever been to a funeral/memorial service of someone who was not ‘Saved’? You can definitely tell the difference between the two. The ‘Unsaved’ person’s relatives have no hope of any further reunion with their loved one.
In the book of Acts chapter 23 there was a group of religious scholars who did not believe in a resurrection. “8 For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.’ They were ‘sad you see’ because this life was all they thoughts anyone ever had.
5 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.
Look at what Paul is declaring. This message is from ‘The Word of The Lord’. It is not written or interpreted by man’s ideas or traditions but comes directly from our Holy Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High.
We were warned by our Holy King in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15, 3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? And from the book of Mark chapter 7, “13 making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”, Again, just let the Word of God speak for itself without adding or subtracting from it.
Look at Paul’s limited knowledge of the subject he is teaching us from our Holy Spirit. He thought our Lord Jesus was coming back during His lifetime, ‘we who are alive’. He includes himself. He thought that he would be alive during our Lord’s return to the earth.
Here was the perfect opportunity for our Precious Holy Spirit in His inspiration of Paul’s writing to say, ‘5 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 [at His return before His promised Second Coming] will by no means precede those who are asleep. Our Wonderful Holy Spirit would have definitely cleared up any confusion about how many returns our Master was going to do – one for His church and then one for the rest of mankind.
I am sure that all of you are familiar with an antonym. For some who might not be aware of this, I will give you the answer. It is a word opposite another word. So when you look up the word ‘Remain’ what is its antonym? We get the word – ‘depart’ Do you see the ‘strong delusion’? Blessed believers are being taught just the opposite of what the Scriptures say. There are movies and books called ‘Left Behind’ which refer to unbelievers being ‘Left Behind’. What did Paul say, ‘We who are alive and ‘Remain’. We do not depart in any ‘Rapture’ We ‘Remain’. And how long do we ‘Remain’? Until the ‘Coming of the Lord’ [2nd Coming]
16 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
Now take your time here. The ‘Rapture’ teaching tells us that our Lord Jesus is going to quietly sneak back here like a thief and catch away His church. Is this exactly what we just read in verse 16?
Our Lord shall descend from Heaven quietly? Then how? – ‘with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.’ This verbiage sounds pretty loud to me. No secret snatching away all of a sudden. Scripture after Scripture in the Bible referencing our Precious Holy Lord and Savior’s return is known to the whole world.
Our Lord promises His saints who are called from life on this earth that they ‘shall rise first’. Their bodies are resurrected to be united with their spirits which our Lord Jesus will bring with Him. Look again at verse 14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”
They will not shoot out of their graves into outer space to meet the Lord above the earth at the same instance we are ‘Raptured’
17 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.
Thus we, [those who are still alive on the earth – left behind] shall be ‘caught up’ with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord in the air.
You might now be saying, ‘Well there you are. It is talking about the Great Snatch.’
Two big English words that have been the building block of the ‘Rapture’ belief are the words, ‘caught up’. First of all the word ‘Rapture’ is not found anywhere in the Bible. Remember the New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek word for our English ‘caught up’ is Harpazo. The Latin translation of this Greek word is ‘Rapio’ whereby scholars took and created the word ‘Rapture’
A Latin to Enclish dictionary defines the Latin word ‘Rapio’ as;
To seize
To take by force
To become one
It is interesting to me to find out that the root word for ‘Rapio’ we derive the English word – ‘Rape’ – Hymm?
The Greek word Harpazo here translated ‘caught up’ is used in other places in the Bible I find for 11 times. It is translated six different ways;
1. Catch – John 10: 12
2. Catch away – Matthew 13: 19; Acts 8:39
3. Caught up – 2 Corinthians 12: 2-4; Revelations 12:5
4. Pluck – 1 John 10: 28 - 29
5. Pull - Jude 23
6. Take by force – Matthew 11:12; John 6: 15; Acts 23:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:17
Not one person who was physically alive in these verses was physically removed from the earth to Heaven. I do want to take a closer look at what the apostle Paul who wrote 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 had to say using himself as having been ‘Caught up’ to Heaven. We then can see what he means as we take a closer look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12, “2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
Paul could not tell whether he was there in the spirit or in his body. He did not meet the Lord in outer space and then our Lord brought him to Heaven. He was in the spirit because he was still on the earth before and after the vision. Now let us take a look at another man who was caught up. His name is John and we read about his experience in chapter 1 and 4 in the book of Revelation; Many people take a position that John was ‘Raptured’ to heaven and in chapter 4 onward you do not see the church anymore. This is not true and we will discuss this point in another study.
Revelation 1: 10, “10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
Revelation 4: 1 – 2, “ 1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne
So, how did John experience Heaven? The answer is when he was ‘in the spirit’ which is not a physical change.
Take a look at the definitions of the word ‘Rapio’ again. It is interesting that the closest it comes to the word Harpazo is its usage as ‘becoming one’. This would bring it in agreement with our Lord Jesus’ prayer as recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 17. Here our Precious Lord talks to The Father pointing out that He has completely finished His assignment. He then prays for those people who walked the earth during His earthly life, and then prays for us who will believe in Him.
Jesus Prays for Himself
1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. 9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. [ Note: our Lord is asking the father not to take His church out of the world]16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will[e] believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Do you see the emphasis from our Lord to ask that we be ‘one’ with the Blessed Trinity’? This then helps us to understand the last portion of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, “. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.’
Okay, what about the portion, ‘in the clouds in the air’? Thanks for asking.
Please look with me at these Scripture verses;
Matthew 17: 55 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
Mark 9: 7, “7 And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
Exodus 24: 15 – 18, “15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. 16 Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”
Please note that the cloud always came down to earth. The time we see the ‘cloud’ ascends into Heaven we find in the book of Acts chapter 1, “9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Our Holy and Magnificent God went to the trouble to inform us how our Precious Master will come back to earth for He gave His angels instructions that He “will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
So then, let’s get back to the statement ‘in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.’ Just a quick question to help us understand – how many heavens are there? I know you understand that there are 3 – the sky, outer space, and our Lord’s Home. Now look with me at these verse to find out what the word ‘air’ really means.
1 Corinthians chapter 9, “26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.” Paul here is describing shadow boxing. This is performed in the ‘air’ around your shoulder height.
1 Corinthians chapter 14, “9 So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.” Please note again that this is written by the man who wrote the book of 1 Thessalonians. He is describing talking into the ‘air’ at his head level while he is standing on the earth.
The Greek word for ‘air’ in 1 Thessalonians and used in the above verses is ‘aer’. It is speaking about the air right here on earth where we live and move about.
The word ‘sky’ in Greek where the birds fly is called ‘Ouranos’ as is used in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6, “26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Heaven in the Greek is ‘Epourania’ or ‘Epouranist’. We see its use also in the same chapter of Matthew, “14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
So, when we are caught up to meet our Lord in the air, the answer is that during our Lord’s Second Coming which will be loud and the whole world will see it happen. Those saints who have died will be resurrected and join us here on the earth in our atmosphere [air] to meet our Lord and Savior Who has returned to earth as He originally went – on a cloud. We will be transformed [we will study this in a future study] and then all of us will forever from that point on be with our Righteous King and Master forever.
In verse 18 we read from the apostle Paul, ‘To comfort one another.’ There will be no second chance for people to get saved after a so called ‘Rapture’ There is no worry about those who precede us from this life. This is hope about our Lord Jesus Coming back to earth. Let us encourage one another that have put our hope and trust in the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who we will be with through eternity.
