The Prophecy In The Upper Room, Part 2

On the night before He was to undergo the trial of the crucifixion and the redemptive work it ensued on behalf of fallen humanity, Jesus had given the disciples the assurance that even though He would soon leave them, He also promised that He would return and "receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also" (v.3). He made the promise of returning from heaven to take believers there. it would seem, therefore, that the most logical and simplest explanation is that He was referring to an eschatological bodily return (Acts 1:11). Though the disciples undoubtedly did not realize it at the time, Jesus was speaking of His return for them at the Rapture rather than His return at the Second Coming. In reading these verses, can we be certain that this interpretation is sound and based on evidence from not only Scripture, but also from other men of God who have devoted themselves to the study and preaching of the Word (Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16, 4:1-5; 2Peter 1:19-21)?

The first thing we need to examine is the origin of the word "rapture". There are both skeptics and believers who will argue that the word is not in Scripture and therefore some kind of erroneous teaching. We need to do a word study in order to establish that this teaching is factual. The word "rapture" that we refer to in our English Bibles is derived from the original language in which the New Testament was written, that of "koine" Greek, the universal language of the Roman Empire. The word is "harpazo". It means, "catch", "force", "pluck", "pull", "snatch", "take", or "yank" in a rapid manner. (Source: 'An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words' by W.E. Vine, Chicago, Fleming H. Revell Publishers, 1966, p.299). Jesus will come and suddenly 'snatch away" His true church, taking us to His dwelling place for all time. He also referred to His return as being quicker than a flash of lightning (Matthew 24:27). Paul defined this "harpazo" being quicker than an eye takes time to blink (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

The second issue is whether any other event in Scripture apart from the obvious future tense described in John 14:1-3, 1 Corinthians 15:541-58, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 can be found anywhere else. In looking at the rest of the New Testament, we see that the term "harpazo" is used a total of fourteen times (Matthew 11:12, 12:29, 13:19: John 6:15, 10:12, 28-29; Acts 8:39, 23:10; 2 Corinthians 12:2, 4; Jude 23; Revelation 12:5). There are two specific cases recorded in the Old Testament example that describe the process of being "snatched away", known in the Hebrew as the word "laqach". It applies to both the patriarch Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-11). Both of these men, each known for their godly nature, were received into God's presence in their natural bodies. It may be that they are the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation 11 who are given miraculous powers to show the world the power and holiness of God. It should be noted that the two witnesses, after their execution by the Antichrist, will be raised back to life and taken in the air to heaven as a sign of God's authority over the wicked world.

New Testament instances of the "harpazo" event apart from the future references are the Lord Jesus Himself at his Ascencion (Acts 1:9-11), the evangelist (and probable apostle) Philip (Acts 8:25-40) when he encountered the Ethiopian official, leading him to faith in Christ, and Paul's journey, where he was "caught up" to "the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:1-5), seeing things that were not to be mentioned, and was given an undescribed "thorn in the flesh" to keep him humble about the experience. At the close of the first century, the last living apostle John was a prisoner on the penal island of Patmos, undergoing persecution for the sake of the Gospel. It was there that he received the "unveiling" (apocalypse) of Jesus Christ, who allowed him to" come up" to heaven (Revelation 4:1) in order to assure not only John, but all believers then and now that He is in control of the events of the world, and that He was going to return in glory and majesty one day to rule over a new heaven and earth free from the curse of sin (Revelation 19:11-21, 21:1-7).

Let us now return to the original question of correctly interpreting John 14:1-3 as a reference to the "Rapture" by the Lord Jesus. I want to present a brief list of Bible teachers who believe that these words spoken by the Lord are the foundation for what He will do in the near future. The first of these is Dr. John MacArthur, whose works were mentioned in the previous sermon dealing with this topic. In his book "One Perfect Life: The Complete Story of the Lord Jesus"" he states that John 14:1-3 does indeed teach the Rapture event: