The Rapture of the Church (Part 1)

The Rapture Event

While we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

There is a great deal of misunderstanding as it relates to the two stages of Christ’s second coming. As stated in the chapters which discussed the signs of the times, the signs I wrote about are not signs that will signal the rapture of the church, which is His return for the saints, but rather His ultimate return with the saints. Much of the misunderstanding comes from confusing these two events. The book of Revelation points out the difference between the two stages of the second coming.

During the rapture, the Lord takes all believers to be with Him in heaven, but at the second advent, when He returns with the saints, He will stay on earth. This advent occurs at the end of the tribulation period and it is when He will establish His millennial rule, His thousand-year reign on earth. So, (1) the church-age saints will be caught up to be with Jesus Christ prior to the seven-year tribulation (pretribulation), (2) the world will through the tribulation, (3) then at the end of the tribulation period, the second advent of Christ will occur.

Also mentioned previously was the fact that the rapture is imminent, meaning, no prophetic events need to occur for it to happen, it could happen at any moment without warning.

Timothy Demy and Thomas Ices say that,

“The doctrine of the pretribulational rapture offers Christians great hope for the future. The Bible never intends that doctrine and the spiritual life be separated. The study of prophecy and an understanding of the rapture provide us with both a knowledge of the Word of God and a daily hope for the return of Christ as we wait for Him and proclaim His gospel. It is not about escapism or avoiding the difficulties of this world. It is not about neglecting the concerns of life and the needs of others. Rather, it is a recognition that God has a prophetic plan and that Christians and the church are integral components in that plan. The rapture is not just wishful “pie in the sky in the by-and-by” thinking. Rather, it is vitally connected to Christian living in the 'nasty here and now.'”^¹

The rapture of the church is that glorious event in which the Lord Jesus Christ will descend from heaven, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, and living Christians will be instantly translated into their resurrection bodies. Both groups will be caught up to meet Christ in the air and taken back to heaven. In Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonian church, Paul wrote,

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still 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 (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

To believers Jesus says,

Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also (John 14:1-3).

Christ’s words in the John 14 passage is the first mention of the rapture event in the Scriptures.

There is a generation of believers in the world that will transition from life on earth to being in the presence of Christ never having experienced physical death. One moment they will be on earth alive, the next moment they will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

The rapture of the church is called a mystery in Scripture because unless God reveals it to us, we would not be able to discern it on our own. Typically, a mystery is an unknown truth to those living in Old Testament times, which has been revealed or made known in the New Testament.

For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but didn’t see them, to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them (Matthew 13:7).

The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints (Colossians 1:26).

Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, 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 incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:51-55).

In prophetic events, the rapture of the church is the first to take place. Scripture does not provide believers with signs that would help anticipate His coming for the church. The Bible teaches us that the church will be removed from this planet and that she will meet her Lord in the air. Since only God could perform such an act, the rapture is clearly a supernatural event.

Other important New Testament passages:

While we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

The future hope of the Christian is the return of Christ in glory. We are to live in anticipation of that time when Christ will appear.

Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20).

Paul tells us that will be taken to the place of their citizenship (which is heaven) when Christ descends from heaven and the church is caught up with the Lord in the sky. Our physical bodies will change by the power of the Lord and will be made like Christ's body.

So that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7).

Paul urges us to live dedicated lives in light of the coming of the Lord. John also uses the Lord's coming to motivate Christians to holy and dedicated service in 1 John 3:1-3,

See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

The Sounds That Signal the Arrival of the Rapture

As believers we can have confidence in what Paul teaches about the rapture and resurrection because what he taught came by a word from the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:15), not something he invented or from his own imagination.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Notice that Lord himself will descend from heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ himself will be the one who ushers this event. In John 14:3 Jesus said,

If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.

At the ascension of Christ, the two men in white clothes announce to the disciples that,

… This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven (Acts 1:11).

I agree with Thomas Constable that these “are three almost simultaneous announcements heralding Christ’s return.”^² It is virtually impossible to speak with any finality concerning the significance of these sounds simply because not much more is said about them.

A Loud Command

The word shout is a word for a command and implies both authority and urgency. It refers to a signal or verbal command, the verb form keleuō means to give an order or command. Mal Couch points out that this,

“Is a classical and a military term meaning to command, and is used for the purpose of gathering together. It has been used as a word of encouragement for rowers to keep up the pace.”^³

John MacArthur adds that the command,

“Has a military ring to it, as if the Commander is calling His troops to fall in. The dead saints in their resurrected bodies will join the raptured living believers in the ranks. The Lord's shout of command will be similar to His raising of Lazarus, when "He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth'" (John 11:43). This is the hour "when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (John 5:25). The righteous dead of the church age will be the first to rise—a truth that must have greatly comforted the anxious Thessalonians.”^⁴

The Voice of the Archangel

This would be Michael (Jude 9). He is either a leader or one of the primary leaders. He had been commissioned to protect the people of God (Daniel 12:1; Hebrews 1:14), so it is likely that he will be there to protect the believers as they pass through Satan’s domain (cf. Luke 16:22). Satan is referred to as the ruler of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) and Christians will be passing through these dangerous regions, so the angels will serve somewhat as a military escort accompanying and protecting God’s elect.

The Trumpet Call of God

Since the days of Moses, trumpets were used to call God’s people together for assembly. It will summons the church of Christ to heaven and to fellowship in the Father’s house. It is God calling His children to eternal blessing.

First Thessalonians 4:16 is closely paralleled by 1 Corinthians 15:52,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

With these three sounds from heaven being heard all over the earth, calling all living and dead saints, we can assume that unbelievers will be conscious of the fact that something dramatic and supernatural is taking place.

1 Timothy J. Demy and Thomas Ice, Answers to Common Questions about the End Times (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2011), 50.

2 Thomas L. Constable, “1 Thessalonians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton: Victor, 1983), 704.

3 Mal Couch, The Hope of Christ's Return (Chattanooga, TN: AMG, 2001), 125.

4 John F. MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary - 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 2001). 133.

All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

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