INTRO: Chuck Swindoll writes:
In the early 50s, I was an apprentice in a machine shop. My father felt it would be wise for me not only to get book learning but also to get a practical taste of life.
On one occasion I was working in the machine shop with the tracer lathe. It was an intricate piece of equipment. I spent months on it. I was always told, "Before you change the tool that cuts the aluminum, turn the machine off. Otherwise you could hurt yourself or maybe even kill yourself." Once I was fighting against time to make the production that day and I did not turn off the machine. The wrench I was using to loosen the tool on the lathe slipped and my hand went into the chuck and out again. The bone that led to my little finger was now in a place it shouldn’t be—outside my skin.
I went down to see the industrial nurse and showed her the finger and said, "I think I might need a shot." She said, "I think I might need one too. Why don’t you sit down?" Then she called the paramedics who hauled me off to a hospital where a surgeon put a long stainless steel pin in my hand.
Week after week I would go back for checkups. Finally he said to me, "Come back in three or four days and we’ll pull the pin out. But actually I won’t be here to do it. My assistant will do it." I was curious and asked, "Why won’t you be here?" And he explained that he had a little black mole on his stomach that he was going to have removed. In fact, he opened his white top and pulled open his shirt and showed me a place about the size of half of his small fingernail.
When I went back, to have the pin pulled out, I asked when my surgeon was coming back for my final checkup. The assistant became very grim and said, "Oh, he’s dead." I’ll never forget the feeling of emptiness and unbelief.
When they’d cut him open, they saw that his abdomen was covered with cancer. Two days after surgery he died. Just enough time to write his will.
-The thing we need to understand is anything can happen in our lives. That’s why it’s so important to be ready.
Today: We are going to look at the Lord’s coming, what some would call the rapture.
TITLE: The Rapture
TEXT: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
-There has been so much written about the Lord’s return, when it’s going to happen, all that’s going to surround it.
I. The Lord’s return, what the Bible (Titus 2:13) calls the blessed hope. A. His return. What will it look like?
1. In the book of Acts we get some insight into his return. He is with his disciples, encouraging them.
They are asking questions, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
-They’re standing around looking. And a couple of angelic beings appear (1:11), "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
Point: Christ is going to come this same way, through the clouds.
TS: God gave the apostle Paul a special revelation concerning the return of Christ.
B. The Lord himself will come—the groom coming for his bride.
1. The Lord comes from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel. -The trumpet call of God will sound.
2. The dead in Christ shall rise first. So when the Lord comes the dead believers will first be raised. -What an event.
C. May bring up a question.
1. What happens when we die? Paul made it clear that the soul/spirit of the believer goes to be with the Lord (v. 14).
-Remember the thief on the cross. Jesus said, "Today you’ll be with me in paradise."
2. At death, the soul/spirit leaves the body, and the body goes to sleep and no longer functions. The soul/spirit goes to be with the Lord.
-Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)
3. From the Old Testament days to the present, mankind has tried to solve the riddle of death and the afterlife.
-Philosophers have wrestled with the question of immortality.
a. Paul solved this problem. So we as Christians don’t need to wonder about death or life after death because the word of God gives us insight. We go to be with the Lord.
Summary: The Lord comes down from heaven with a loud command, the voice of an archangel, and the trumpet call. We will see him in the clouds.
D. Did you realize the spirits of believers will be coming with him?
1. 1 Thessalonians 4:14, "We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him."
-Paul’s idea of the resurrection of the human body is like the growing of a plant from a seed. The flower is not the identical seed that was planted, yet there is continuity from seed to plant.
-The dead will be raised with a new glorified body. The dead body is the seed that is planted in the ground, the resurrection body is the flower.
E. Three unique sounds are involved in this event.
1. The Lord’s shout. Jesus will give a shout of command, just like he did outside the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:43). Those in the grave shall hear his voice (John 5:28).
2. Sound of a trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:52 also relates his return to the sound of a trumpet. The Jewish people were familiar with trumpets (shofar) so they would understand this.
3. Voice of an archangel. It’s the idea that angelic hosts will share in this great event. II. What happens to the living believers? They will be caught up.
A. The word rapture is the literal meaning of caught up.
I. The Latin word "rapto" means to seize, to carry off, and from it we get our English word rapture.
-Various meanings of the Greek word caught up give us a picture of what this event will look like.
a. 1St Greek picture—to catch away speedily. This is the translation in Acts 8:39 where the Spirit caught away Philip after he had led the Ethiopian to Christ.
-When the Lord returns in the air we who are alive will be caught away quickly, in the twinkling of an eye.
Point: This means we should live each moment in the expectation of our Lord’s return, lest he come and find us out of his will (1 John 3:1-3).
b. 2nd Greek picture—to seize by force, John 6:5. The idea is that some of the saints will be so attached to the world that they must be literally dragged away.
Example. Like Lot being delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:16).
c. 3rd Greek picture—to claim for one’s own self. This views the rapture from the Lord’s point of view, as he claims his bride.
d. 4th Greek picture—to move to a new place.
-Paul used this word when he described his visit to heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). Jesus has gone to prepare a home for us (John 14:1-6) and when he comes, he will take us to that glorious place.
-We are pilgrims and strangers in this world, our true citizenship is in heaven.
e. 5th Greek picture—to rescue from danger, Acts 23:10. This suggests the church will be taken home before the time of tribulation that will come to the world from God.
B. Will the unsaved world be aware of what’s happening?
1. Questions: Will they hear the shout, the voice, the trumpet?
-1 Corinthians 15:52 indicates that this will happen so suddenly, that it will be over in the twinkling of an eye.
2. Since the shout, voice, and trumpet apply to God’s people there is no reason to believe that the unsaved masses will hear them.
-If they do they will hear sounds without meanings. (Millions of people will vanish instantly.)
In Conclusion:
We’ve seen some of the characteristics of the Lord’s return but we need to understand one thing and that is—are we ready to meet the Lord?
-Over and over again throughout Scripture we are told to be prepared. Question: Are you ready today?
