Perhaps
Well, here we are entering a new year. Perhaps this will be the year that our Lord will call us, his church, to be with Hiim in heaven. Not sure this will be the year, but we are one year closer than at this time last year. The Lord coming for His church in Scripture is referred to as , “the catching up” and in Christiandom it is called “the rapture”. Granted, the word rapture does not occur in English translations of the Bible. The term comes from a Latin word meaning “a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away.” While the word rapture is not in the Bible, the concept of the “carrying off” is clearly taught. The rapture of the church is the event in which God “snatches away” all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth.
The rapture is described primarily in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50–54. God will resurrect all believers who have died, give them glorified bodies, and take them from the earth, along with all living believers, who will also be given glorified bodies at that time. “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).
The rapture will involve an instantaneous transformation of our bodies to fit us for eternity. The Apostle John in his 1st letter to the dispersed Christians wrote: “We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Even though the time of the rapture is debated, some seeing it as being before the 7 year tribulation, some see it as being in the middle of the tibulation, and others hold it to be at the end of tribulation equating it with the second coming of Christ to establish His kingdom. Not sure where the second and third considerations come from as Jesus in Revelation 3:10 clearly tells the true “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
And after Revelation 4:1 the church is not mentioned again until we see it in heaven as the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7-9).
The chapters between Revelation 4 and 19 are primarily about the Lord Jesus Christ, his judgments against the nations and the restoration of Israel as His beloved earthly people. His holy nation and a kingdom of priest.
What an exciting year this could be! Exciting if you are of the church but a terrible time if not. If you are trusting in Christ and living for Him, you are of the church. (John 3:14-18; and John 3:36)
Berean Class Facilitator