What is the Rapture?
(Update: 4/25/2022 - New Infographic) Are you ready for the Rapture? Do you even know what the Rapture is? Do you know the signs of the End Times? Is Bible prophesy simply malarkey?
Let’s dive right in and answer these questions and more!
What is the Rapture?
Jesus Christ receiving to himself those who died believing, and those who are alive and believe that He is Lord.
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep (died believing in Christ), lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NASB (New American Standard Bible)
Jesus said: “In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.” - John 14:2-3 NASB
Why is it necessary?
“Now I say this, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I am telling you a mystery; we will not all sleep (die), 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.” - 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 NASB
There is coming a time when God will remove His sovereign protection from Earth, called the Great Tribulation or the End Times. All sorts of natural, man-made and supernatural calamities will come upon the Earth, for instance, great earthquakes, nuclear holocausts, global viruses, scorching heat, darkened sun, moon, and stars, possibly even great meteor impacts, famines, wars and more. All of which will kill two-thirds of humanity, approximately 5.1 billion, in the course of seven years.
The whole point of this bloody ordeal is to punish the world for denying Jesus, and to lead people to repentance. He is literally pouring out a sample of Hell onto Earth so that humans may repent before they are cast into Hell where they can never return from.
If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior, He will not punish you for not believing because you already have!
How will it happen?
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NASB
This explains it perfectly!
Jesus will come out of Heaven to the clouds, an archangel, and the trumpet of God. The archangel is possibly Gabriel, the angel who delivered messages to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Daniel, the Prophet. (See Daniel 8:16, 9:20-21, Luke 1:19, 26). A trumpet will sound, not a muted jazz trumpet, but one used for heralding.
The dead will rise and not like zombies digging out of the earth with rotted flesh. I believe their graves will be opened, either gently uncovered or possibly violently blown open. They will be in resurrected and glorified bodies that will never age, get sick, nor die.
Read what happened after Jesus’ Crucifixion:
“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit… and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” - Matthew 27:50-53 NASB
Then poof! We believers will be snatched up into the sky to meet Jesus. Will we literally fly up to the clouds or will we just vanish as the Left Behind (2000) movie depicts it?
Let’s look at how Jesus ascended into Heaven:
“And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” - Luke 24:50 NASB
“So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” - Mark 16:19 NASB
And how Elijah ascended:
“And as they (Elijah and Elisha) were walking along and talking, behold, a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and they separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.” - 2 Kings 2:11 NASB
I don’t think believers will be taken up in flaming chariots, that would be awesome if so, but I won’t complain either way. The similarity here is that Jesus and Elijah didn’t vanish from sight, but were lifted up. I think we will probably be taken up in like manner and at a very fast speed, in the twinkling of an eye, as 1 Corinthians 15 puts it.
Notice how alien movies and comics always lift people into the skies? We’ll get to that farther down.
Where will it Happen?
Everywhere! From each of Earth’s seven continents: Africa, North and South America, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, and Australia. And even in space!
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:38-39
When will it happen?
The Rapture is an imminent event. No one can know when, but we can know when it is near. And it IS near. Jesus gave several signs for the Rapture and the Great Tribulation, signs which no one could have predicted and signs which only recently were possible. He said there would be famines, earthquakes, pestilence (fatal epidemic), lawlessness, false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars. Ethnicities will rise against ethinicies, and countries against countries.
Look at the convergences –this ain’t bunk. Just in the last two years of 2020 and 2021, we had a global pandemic, rampant lawlessness, major racial division, Russian vs. Ukraine, Israel vs. Gaza, and each government vs. their citizens, just to name a few.
Look up Jesus is coming soon!
How will the world explain it?
Satan has been aware of the event of the Rapture ever since it was put into writing some two-thousand years ago, and he has been plotting how to wipe it under the rug. I think aliens or extraterrestrials will be the predominant explanation.
As I said, notice how alien movies are all about abducting humans, by spiriting them away or lifting them into the sky? Alien ships in movies and UAP in reality are always in the clouds, where the scriptures say Jesus will come to receive His believers. For example:
War of the Worlds (2005),
Independence Day (1996),
Cowboys & Aliens (2011),
Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Thanos snaps his fingers and abducts all the undesirables. Notice it is random people that Thanos takes, not just the heroes or just certain genders, ethnicities, or nationalities. The film industry chose this method because in reality those taken will be believers in Christ from every race and age, and both genders.
These are only the movies I can think of. There are lists on IMDb that show how many alien abduction movies there are.
Aliens in entertainment is a primer for the world. Have you noticed how many unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) are being caught on camera these days?
To name two:
Unnaturally fast flying object seen by the USS Omaha in 2019.
Three large ‘ships’ in the clouds over Goose Creek, South Carolina in 2021.
It used to be a joke to believe in aliens, but now 65% of people polled believe alien life exists. And 76% of young adults believe in alien life, according to Yahoo News. Even of the Catholic Pope, Francis says he will baptize aliens if they ask him too.
Back in the 1970s, the New Age movement announced that the ‘Masters of the Universe’, revealed to them that a day is coming when they would remove those who live by faith and not by reason so that humanity’s evolutionary development may continue.
Truth be known: UFOs and UAPs and alien sightings are demonic apparitions and demons themselves!
This episode by Olive Tree Ministries, featuring Billy Crone, is a thorough study on aliens sighting and how they affect the future.
Youtube: Meet the New World Religion
Some may also believe the Simulation Hypothesis, a belief that all reality is computer generated, wherein we are all NPCs walking around in a CG world. When people vanish, they will chock it up to a glitch in the program, or maybe the ‘server’ ran out of memory.
I’m sure there will be thousands of explanations and theories, but just remember (if you do not accept Christ and are left behind) there is only one explanation:
It was the rapture of the Church, and you are now on the brink of the seven-year, Great Tribulation.
Is the Rapture in the Bible
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NASB
Caught up: Going back to the original Greek translation, it is the word, “Harpazo”, which means: To seize, carry off by force; to seize on, claim for one' s self eagerly, or to snatch out or away. And that particular word in the Latin Vulgate translation is “Rapturo” or other derivatives of that word.
The Rapture is the next thing on God’s agenda!
Jesus told us to watch for His coming, saying that He will come like a thief in the night. It will be when we least expect it. That is why we must be vigilant in doing the Lord’s business here on Earth. This is not our home. The Bible says, believers are sojourners passing through to the Kingdom of God.
The prerequisite prophesy to the Great Tribulation is the reestablishment of the nation of Israel and Israel’s control over Jerusalem (prophesied by Ezekiel between 593–571 BC and fulfilled 2541 years later in the years 1948 and 1967).
We know that the Rapture has to happen before the Great Tribulation. And the tribulation is just around the corner, the prophesies that we couldn’t understand in years past are suddenly making sense.
Examples of End Time signs:
Revelation 6:12-17 describes how there is a great earthquake, the sun becomes black, the moon turns red, stars fall to the earth like figs from a tree, the sky is split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and everyone hides themselves in caves.
This is very possibly a nuclear holocaust. Pre-Atomic era people, including the Apostle John, the author of Revelation, would have to assume that meteors are making a mess of the world. But if you have ever seen a video of a nuclear explosion you will see how the sun turns black, the clouds are rolled back, and people hide in bomb shelters or even caves. Later, a judgment on Earth is boils on humans, which is a common aftereffect of exposure to radiation.
Revelation 13:14-15 illustrates how the Antichrist will set up an image (or statue). It shall speak and all on the earth will worship it.
Pre-Techonology era people would marvel at how the Antichrist could make a wooden or metal statue speak. But with the technology today it is possible in many ways; by holograms or such as the Giant, a programmable, moving statue that is 10-stories tall and covered with LED pixels that allow it to take the form of any person.
Are you saved? Are you ready for the rapture?
Romans 10:9 says “...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
It is that simple, no sacred rituals or time-consuming processes. No good works required. Just you asking to be pulled from the morass of your sin, and God being faithful and not only pulling you free but also washing your life clean.
God is knocking at the door of your heart! Will you answer him?
Here is an infographic I made:
