Rapture- True Or False? What Will Happen At The Lord's Second Coming

The rapture is an intriguing subject and at the forefront of much thought. What is it? This is the teaching that the church will be "caught up" or raptured in the clouds with Jesus and the resurrected believers and be with the Lord forever. That much is taught very plainly in

1 Thessalonians 4:17-NKJV

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.

The word “rapture” isn’t specifically found in the text, so how did this event come to be so called? The English word rapture currently means “to be swept away with joyous emotion,” but it comes from a Latin word, rapere, that simply means “to be seized or snatched up.” And this very word is used for that meaning in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in the Latin Bible. So, both the original and the current meaning of “rapture” accurately describe the scene of the church being blissfully “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air.

There is cause for reservation about the popular conception of the rapture, especially in regard to the time element and manner in which it is commonly believed it will take place.

The idea of an invisible rapture has been popularized by several major Christian book publishers, including the big-selling series of fiction novels (Left Behind).

Let us proceed to take an honest, open-minded and careful look at the texts from which the popular concept of the rapture has been drawn.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is the critical text in forming a view of the rapture.

The apostle Paul is clearly writing about the second “coming of the Lord” (v. 15). Notice the way Paul describes this coming of Jesus. It will be one of glory and majesty and tremendous noise! It will be accompanied by a “shout,” the “voice of the archangel” and the “trumpet of God” (v. 16). The objective reader has to be puzzled how this is to be understood as a secret coming, unheard and unseen by the world at large. Nothing at all in the passage indicates anything like that.

What Paul describes is a battle cry. This is what ancient armies did when they charged towards their enemy in order to strike fear into their hearts. What reason is there in the text to suppose that this battle cry will only be heard by Christ’s saints? Do you want to believe false teaching so bad?

The last phrase of verse 16 is also sometimes confusing and part of the debate. Who’s preceding whom? When Paul says, “the dead in Christ will rise first,” does he mean in relation to the unsaved dead, as many believe? Will there be a resurrection of the saved and then, years or even a millennium later, a resurrection of the unsaved?

A little more careful look indicates that Paul means that the dead in Christ will be the first to rise—not from their graves, in relation to the unsaved dead—but the first to rise into the air to meet Jesus, in relation to believers who are still alive. Notice the preceding verse:

1 Thessalonians 4:15-NKJV

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.

His point is that we who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will have no advantage over those who have died. He then proceeds to explain why. Notice the word “For…” at the beginning of verse 16: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17-NKJV

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.

So, there is no need, nor justification, for getting two widely separated resurrections out of this passage. Why then do so many Bible teachers and students believe this passage describes a secret rapture?

There are two reasons. For one thing, the passage says nothing about the unsaved. They conclude from this fact that this is an event that exclusively involves the saved, and that the unsaved are oblivious to it. The second reason is that the passage clearly states that Jesus will return in the air, that we’ll meet him in the air, and that we’ll then be with the Lord forever. It says nothing of him setting up shop on earth. Some conclude that the Second Coming will happen in two parts: an invisible rapture of the saved in the air and, later, a visible coming to earth. It is only because of pre-formed false beliefs about the nature of the kingdom that they are forced to interpret this passage as they do. (This is adding to God’s Word)