The Rapture: The Next Prophetic Event Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

CrossWay Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

Today we are going to talk about the next prophetic event that will happen imminently. I want to bring full understanding to this important doctrine as a pastor and scholar who has spend many hours studying Scripture surrounding this event. I can say without hesitation after looking at the entirety of the Bible, and the Scriptures associated with the event that has come to be known as the Rapture, is that this is a scriptural and prophetic event that we will likely witness in our lifetime; probably even in the very near future.

The war in Israel is not a political event. It is not merely a historical event. I would dare say that the war in Israel is definitely a spiritual event, but most assuredly, I say to you today that the war in Israel is a prophetic event. The reason I can say this is because Israel is God’s prophetic time clock. All events concerning the first coming of Christ and, contemporarily, the second coming of Christ surround the nation of Israel - not the church. That is a biblical stance, written into the pages of Scripture of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

If you look at all the Scripture. How God prepares his people for impending judgment and the outpouring of his wrath, if you look at the words of Jesus, the words of the Apostles, the words of the earth church fathers, and the continual events of our day, there is no other conclusion that one can reach except that there will come a point when the Church - meaning the faithful saints of Christ - will be delivered from the wrath to come or the 7-Year Tribulation. This is not some secret of the Bible. It is not something hidden in the text. It is not something ‘new’ that someone cleverly tried to impose on Scripture. It is a central theme of the Bible and the greatest hope to believers.

Quite simply, the Rapture is the translation of all believers present on earth to heaven prior to the outpouring of God’s wrath that will occur during a terrible and horrific time known as the 7-year tribulation or as the Old Testament prophets called it - the Great Day of the Lord. What I want to do with you today is give you a foundation for the doctrine, the Scriptural basis of the events, the signs of its imminency, and the hope you can leave here today concerning the event. Let’s look at some Scripture:

New Testament Scriptures of the Rapture

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1–3)

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30–31)

I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” (Luke 17:34–36)

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51–53)

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18)

The Rapture and The Second Coming

First we know that as the second coming of Jesus draws closer the earth will see increase in wickedness, evil and distress. The Rapture is not a separate event of the Second Coming but a part of Jesus’ Second Coming; it is the first phase, where the believers are removed and taken to the wedding supper.