The Rapture... Our Blessed Hope

My next few blogs will be a four-part series comprising of 1) the Rapture, 2) the Tribulation & Second coming, 3) the Millennial Kingdom and 4) the New Heaven & New Earth. These events are briefly summarized in the statement of faith section, but I hope to elaborate more on each topic over the next few weeks... unless of course, we get raptured before that...

Let me illustrate with a story; meet John. John is a bible believing Christian who put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. John met Sarah, also a fellow believer, and they got married. A few years later, the couple was blessed with a baby boy, James. John and Sarah both had good jobs and were financially stable and healthy. Life was relatively good and going smooth. One day, on their way to a dinner to celebrate James graduating from middle school, they were involved in a head on collision with a car seemingly coming out of nowhere. As John woke up in the Intensive Care Unit at the local hospital, he was welcomed with a series of horrible realities. He lost vision in his right eye, and his left leg had to be amputated. As he frantically inquired about Sarah and James, the hospital staff regretfully informed John that they both had died on the spot. John spent the next few days in denial. As he slowly came to accept the reality of the situation, he became overwhelmed with unbearable grief. John later came to know that the driver who killed his wife and son was driving drunk, was fleeing with a stolen car, and also got away with minor injuries. Depressed and disillusioned, John spent the next few decades with very limited income (due to the forced early retirement) and depended on others for financial, and physical needs. The only thing that kept him going was the daily time spent in prayer, and the rare visits from a few loved ones. John had nothing to look forward to and longed to leave this world.

One day, as John was struggling to get out of bed, he heard a loud trumpet and a clear voice asking him to 'come up'. In a fraction of a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, John found himself... flying. John's body was completely transformed. He could see... from both eyes... far more clearly and farther than he could ever recall. His amputated left leg was back. Gone were the wrinkles, the pain, the crutches. He felt infinitely stronger physically than during his best years of youth and was overwhelmed with unexplainable, pure joy and an overwhelming sense of peace that he knew was only divinely possible. John noticed multitudes of people - some who he recognized, flying upwards along with him with their glorified bodies. He knew that they were feeling the exact same sense of euphoria and peace he was experiencing. Then he noticed Sarah... and James. They instantaneously looked at John as well. Inexplicable joy overcame the family as they had the glorious reunion in the air with the ultimate realization that they will never have to experience separation or death ever again! John was astonished at how beautiful and glorious his wife looked. And his little boy James... he was no longer the child that John last saw before the accident. John instantly recognized that this was his son whom he never got to see grow up. In fact, John knew instinctively that everyone was in a perfectly aged and glorified body that will never get corrupted, old and die. There were triumphant cries of joy and incredible excitement among everyone, as they collectively knew, without a shadow of doubt, that they were about to meet... face to face... with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

(The above illustration is not meant to be a 100 % exact representation of what will happen during the rapture. What the scriptures explicitly state is that we will be transformed and glorified in the twinkling of an eye, the dead will rise first, and that we who are alive will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air. I took a little bit of creative license to drive home the point of how wonderful it would be. The bible is silent on how 'fast we will be caught up'. Whether we will have the time to see our loved ones in the air before seeing Jesus or only later in Heaven is something that I suppose we will find out only during/after the rapture.)

At this point some of you are probably thinking, this sounds like a nice but 'weird' fairy tale... but not really possible, right? If you believe in the authenticity of the scriptures, the rapture is the reality, the 'blessed hope', that awaits those of us who are in Christ in the very near future! If you believe that God made the whole world in 6 days, parted the red sea for Moses, had Jonah be swallowed and vomited out alive by a whale after 3 days, raised Lazarus from the dead, and rose Jesus again after the crucifixion, then you must believe this too since the rapture is explicitly written about in the scriptures. The bible is the inerrant word of God that is to be trusted wholly, not just the parts we like. We don't have the option to pick and choose the items to our spiritual cart like at the grocery store.

So where does the bible talk about the rapture? Paul writes "Behold, I am telling you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 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 will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15: 51-57). He again notes, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, 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. Therefore, comfort one another with these words."

(1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18). There are multiple other passages that refer to the rapture. Please click the following link What is the blessed hope (Titus 2:13)? | GotQuestions.org.

The question is not if the rapture will take place, since the scriptures make it abundantly clear that it does, but when it will take place. Most bible studying scholars believe it will happen before the 7-year tribulation. Some believe it will happen in the middle, while quite a few believe it happens after the tribulation. I am not going to go deep into the reasons why the pre-tribulational rapture is the true doctrine in this blog keeping time to read and length in mind. If you search the scriptures correctly, and look at the context of each passage, and seek God's guidance, it will be abundantly clear that the true church doesn't go through the tribulation. "Because you have kept My word of perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of the testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who live on the earth." (Revelation 3:10). This verse is referring to the tribulation that is going to come upon the whole world and our Lord keeping us from it. There are multiple other verses that allude to the believer escaping prior to the wrath. I may address this in detail on a future blog and you can do your own research as well on the timing of the rapture. Please keep in mind that this is not a salvation issue.

Can you imagine what this glorious event will be like for us believers? We are already starting to see the set up and the signs of the tribulation casting its shadow in the current world scene. Our Lord told us, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." (Luke 21:28). If the tribulation is around the corner, that means the rapture is even closer and imminent. We will soon receive our glorified bodies. Our bodies will be like that of Christ (1 John 3:2, Philippians 3:20-21). He was able to walk through walls post resurrection, appear and disappear, and even enjoy food as well. That itself is great to look forward to! No more of our sin nature, no more pain and diseases, no more cancers and heart attacks, no more tiredness and death, no more needing a passport and flights to get around, no more depression and worries that consume us in this world. Above all, we get to meet our God and Savior, our Creator Jesus Christ face to face and be with Him forever afterwards. Whatever trials we have on this earth, keep in mind these will be temporary and the worst it gets for us who are in Christ. Be encouraged by the blessed hope of the rapture and the glorious future that awaits us afterwards! Be excited that you will get to see your loved ones (if they had put their faith in Christ) who have passed away, very soon! For the unbeliever, it will be an unimaginable time of chaos and confusion. As one day soon, they will be faced with the reality of finding millions and millions of people having vanished. This will lead to a mass deception/cover-up (UFOs taking the 'bad christians' away etc.), rise of the antichrist (the beast), followed by the tribulation.

This begs the question. Are you saved? If you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, the rapture and a glorious future awaits you. Some believers may be worried about potentially missing out on some of the earthly blessings such as marriage, kids, dream job etc. if the rapture were to happen now. Some probably secretly wish that the Lord will delay a little longer so they can experience these earthly joys first and then be ready to go Home. Since I love food, I will close with a food analogy. Worrying about whether you will miss out on anything in this fallen world when the rapture happens is akin to being concerned about losing out on an expired, stale bag of potato chips from the vending machine, when you have an endless buffet of your favorite food items waiting for you in the most elegant fine dining restaurant you can possibly imagine. You can trust the Lord that you will not miss out or want anything in this earth after you hear the trumpet sound.

If you haven't placed your trust in Christ and think of all this as a silly myth or fable, soon you will have the tribulation to look forward to. We will cover that in the next blog.

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