090930: Rapture I

Rapture

- the word “Rapture” is not in the Bible (neither are the following: the Holy Trinity, Demon)

- Rapture = to be caught up, the catching away; the term originated from harpazo (Hebrew) and is derived from rapere (Latin translation); the idea, however, has been around since the very beginning

- John 14: I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

- Acts 11: This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.

- mainstream Christianity: Rapture is often linked to “the end of times,” in terms of the end of this (gentile) era/age; i.e. Judgment happens

When and How will the Rapture occur?

- 1 Corinthians: Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

- Matthew 24: For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

- the general idea: the trumpet will sound (a specific trumpet; we don’t know which one) à the dead is raised à the alive are caught up à all Christians are gathered together for the mark of Jubilee, a time of great peace, where all sins are forgiven

- Matthew 24:40-41: Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

- Luke 17:26-35: Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.

What happens after the Christians are Raptured?

- 1 Thessalonian 4:13-17: Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 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.

Tribulation

- tribulation = trials

- Tribulation is 7 years; 3 ½ years of peace, 3 ½ years of war

- will occur AFTER the Rapture