The Rapture

Let's first look at what "rapture" means and how the Lord gave us His promise of that event! The word "rapture" comes from Paul's "caught up" remark in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, but specifically in verse 17. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

The words "caught up" are translated from the Greek word harpazo, which means "to carry off," "snatch up," or "grasp hastily." The translation from harpazo to "rapture" involved two steps: first, harpazo became the Latin word raptus; second, raptus became the English word "rapture." Many people still, to this day, keep arguing that "rapture" is not in the Bible. However, the Bible was not written in the English language. It was written in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. As with anything else, some things won't quite translate into our language unless we learn from a good teacher who is schooled in Greek and Hebrew, that yes, "rapture" IS in the Bible!

Now that we know what "rapture" means and how it was originally used in the Bible, we must now learn of the importance of it. The rapture is an event that will take place sometime in the near future. Jesus will come in the air, catch up the Church from the earth, and then return to heaven with the Church. The Apostle Paul gave a clear description of the rapture event in his letters to the Thessalonians (of which I used in the above paragraph) and Corinthians. 1 Cor. 15:51-53 says, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" The exact timing of the rapture is not known, nor did the Lord hint at it. He told us in Matthew 24:36-37, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,  but My Father only. (v37) But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." 

We, as the children of God, need to be aware of the season and when it is near, but to all of those date setters who have set "dates" for the return of the Lord, those verses above discredits them. Satan is behind setting dates because by doing so, he thinks wrongly, it will discredit the Holy Bible. The closer we get to Jesus' 2nd Coming, the more date setters Satan will rise up! Much like the boy who cried "wolf!" He kept telling everyone the wolf was coming over and over so everyone stopped watching for it. As soon as they stopped being vigilant, guess what happens? You got it! The wolf came! The rapture is promised to save His children from the wrath of the Father God, the tribulation period of darkness, evil, and judgement!

Knowing the season means we are to know the signs of the birthpains, the signs of the times as they grow in intensity. In Thessalonians 5, beginning at verse 1, it says, "Now as to the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night." Paul is writing the the Thessalonian Church and telling them the Lord will come like a thief in the night! Then in v3, he said it will occur while people are saying, "Peace and Safety!" At that time, says Paul, "destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." Now, finally in verse 4, a very crucial verse, proves you and I can know the season of the Lord's return, stating clearly, "but you brethren are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober." When he says "we are not of night nor of darkness" I believe he is talking about having the Holy Spirit residing inside of you because we are truly born again Christians. If you will lean on the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will illuminate your mind and illuminate your heart and open your eyes to understand the mysteries of God's Word, including the season of the Lord's return.

By not identifying the season to His believers, His children, would violate God's character to send Jesus back without warning us first.  And since God cannot violate His character, because He is a God of perfect integrity, then God must warn us about the return of Jesus. Why? Because the Bible reveals that never once in all the history of mankind has God ever poured out His wrath without warning. That is the nature of the lovingkindness, grace and mercy of God. Yes, God is a God of justice and righteousness and holiness. But He is also a God of tender, loving, mercy and kindness, and because He is, He always warns before He pours out His wrath. 2 Peter 3:9, "God does not wish that any should perish but that all should be brought to repentance."

So what are some of those signs? Matthew 24: 6-8 says, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." God speaks through nature! God put a special star in the heavens when Jesus was born. On the day that He was crucified, there was a special three hours of darkness and an earthquake. And the Word says that when Jesus returns, there's going to be the greatest earthquake in all of history, that every valley will be lifted up, every mountain will be lowered, the whole earth will be flattened like plain, every island will be moved, and the city of Jerusalem will be lifted up to be the highest point on the face of the earth. Birthpains simply means all of the signs will grow closer and more intense just as it is in a woman's childbirth! And we, my dear readers, are IN those times!

A few examples of confirmations in the scriptures above is how earthquakes are now an everyday occurrence. During 2011 alone, there was a 5.0 or higher earthquake somewhere in the world just about every day with the most expensive one in history ($235 billion) being the 9.0 quake in Japan. As we are nearing the end of 2012, the numbers are astoundingly high! According to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center, as of 1 November 2012 there were an estimated 15,231 earthquakes worldwide and 3,415 in the United States alone (not including earthquakes smaller than magnitude 4.5 outside the United States). Then, food. The price of food will continue to be volatile and in the poorer countries will still consume more than 45% of household income.  Already 1 out of every 6 people in the world goes to bed hungry every night. Experts tell us it would only take one or two years of poor crop production to bring a serious famine to the world. Many are concluding that 2011 was a bad year and 2012 won’t be any better. There will be signs in technology

Experts say the big things to watch for in 2012 will be the actions of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom. The first of these will likely take place in the Middle East and will center around Syria. Israel will be in the land Ezekiel 36:8-12, 37:21. And Jerusalem will be in Jewish hands. Luke 21:24 says, "They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." There will also be signs in the society and anyone with eyes should be able to see that evil is prevailing in our society! In Matthew 24:37 Jesus said, "the coming of the Son of Man will be just like in the days of Noah." Then in 2 Timothy 3: "men will be boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." That's the society of the end times.

God Hath Not Appointed Us to Wrath: In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Paul assures us that God has not appointed His people to wrath. This wrath is plainly God's anger that will be poured out during the tribulation, upon all of those unbelievers who have chosen to deny Christ and who chose not to follow Him! God has such love for His children, for His creation, that even during the tribulation, He is going to give them another chance to accept Jesus as their personal savior, but why wait until that time of horrible wrath? Jesus said that we are the Salt of the Earth in Matthew 5:13. When the believers are supremely removed, the earth will be plunged into spiritual darkness. This can only happen if the Church is removed because we have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us! When this happens, the Antichrist will then be free to control the world. And His Church will be taken up so as not to endure the Antichrist's reign. The rapture is real. God's promise to save us from the wrath is real.

I can give many more accounts of the rapture, what to look for in the signs of the times....but the main thing I want to convey to every eye that reads this is to remember one thing: knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and having your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life should be your number-one priority. The jailer asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved?" The answer was, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" Acts 16:30-31. I am looking forward to the day when I am called up to be with my Maker! I pray I'll see you there!









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