(5) THE RAPTURE:  In the distant past a Scottish woman named Margaret McDonald had a dream in which all Catholics were taken up to heaven just before the Great Tribulation began.  When she shared her dream with her priest he concluded that god had spoken to her.  He immediately shared Margaret’s “vision from God” with his congregation.  Margaret’s “New Truth” was overwhelmingly embraced by her fellow churchmates and spread like wildfire.

Before long the Protestants caught wind of the “new revelation from on high” and having accepted it without reservation, watched it rapidly spread throughout the other half of false Christendom with equal speed and equal certainty.  Before long the newest “truth” had captured the hearts of the European Catholic/Protestant Church system.  Satan quickly delivered his newest weapon of mass destruction to the New World where it was soon being proclaimed as “thus saith the Lord” from pulpits far and wide.

However, not everyone embraced this new information.  God has always had a remnant, whom He calls His Very Elect, His Little flock, His saints.  These stalwart souls would not go with the self-serving flow of “the church.”  As a result of their rejection of such “truths” as the rapture, the Sunday Sabbath, the eradication of the Law, the trinity, denominations, etc, God’s people were rejected by the other 99% of professing Christendom and continue to be rejected to this day–exactly as God said would be the case.  See Persecution.  Key word–Persecution.  This abbreviated study of the rapture, as are the other subjects in this series, simply introduces the reader to the Bible Truth relative to the subject.  For a complete teaching, read The Rapture.  Key word–Rapture.  Let us now briefly visit a few of the relevant Scriptural passages regarding the supposed rapture of the church.

We are told in God’s Holy Bible that God knows and “declares the end from the beginning, and from the ancient times to the things that are not yet done” (Isa. 46:10).  We know that He tells Jesus Christ what He knows and Jesus reveals that knowledge to those who have “ears to hear and eyes to see” God’s Truths (Mat. 13:15,16).  In the Book of Revelation we find Jesus telling the Apostle John what the future would hold for the entire world, including His church.  Those with Truth-receptive eyes and ears will note that, though Jesus outlined every important event that would take place from the time He gave John the vision (approx. 90 A.D.) until His return (the end of the age), HE SAID NOT ONE WORD ABOUT A SECRET, PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH which, according to rapturists, will be one of the most important event in the history of THE church.  According to the rapturists, those who are not raptured will suffer the ravages, terror and death brought on by the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord–a 3 1/2 year period of death and destruction like man has never seen.  In the meantime, those who were members of THE church will supposedly be in heaven, enjoying the fruits of their religion.

Jesus described in detail everything that would take place during the time just prior to His return to earth.  In the Book of Revelation Jesus showed the John what had happened, what was happening and “… THAT WHICH IS TO COME HEREAFTER” (Rev. 1:19)–from the time of the vision until His return.  In that Jesus showed John what had happened, what was happening and what would happen in the future, why did He not mention the rapture–a monumental event second only to His death?  Answer: Because there will be a rapture.  In Matthew 24:37-42 Jesus proves that in spite of multitudinous sermons, Sunday School lessons, books and movies proclaiming Margaret McDonald’s “truth,” church people will not be secretly whisked off to heaven in a rapture, secret or otherwise.  No one will be “Left Behind.”  All, both God’s church and Satan’s church, along with the rest of the world, will remain on earth during history’s most trying time.  God’s Very Elect will be protected in “her place” of safety during this most horrific of times (Rev. 12:6,14).

Jesus will return to earth one more time.  He warns His true saints that they will be persecuted until the time when He will take them to their place of safety.  Three and one half years later “every eye shall see Him at His appearing (Gr.–“epiphania”), known as His Second Advent.  How will His people see Him at His appearing on earth along with the rest of the world if they–the church–were raptured earlier?

In 1 Timothy 6:14 the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to continue preaching the perfect gospel until the time of Christ’s epiphania.  This meant that Timothy’s ministerial descendants would continue to preach God’s Truth until Christ’s return.  How, if they will have been previously raptured?

In Titus 2:11-13 Paul instructs Titus to tell God’s people to continue to live godly, holy, righteous lives, all the while looking for that blessed HOPE–salvation–that will be awarded at the epiphania of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Same question.

Paul states in Romans 8:24 that God’s true saints are SAVED BY HOPE.  He then asks why would one hope for what one already has?  He then tells the church at Corinth that they must wait in HOPE for their salvation until the arrival (Gr.–“apokalupsis”) of the Lord (1 Cor. 1:7).

In 1 John 1:1-3 the apostle tells the saints that they will be born again at the return of Jesus, at which time they will be changed to look like Him, and that they will know what they look like, “for we will see Him as He is”–He will be totally spirit, as will the saints.  John tells them (and us) that this will all take place at Christ’s “epiphania”–appearing.  To be born again means to have a bodily change from physical to spirit composition as did Jesus when He was resurrected.

The church’s primary Biblical “proof” of a rapture is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 where Paul addresses those who fear that there will be no resurrection of the dead (“asleep”) upon Christ’s return.  Here he makes the statement that when Christ returns to earth He will bring with Him those who “sleep” (the dead).  Had they been asleep in heaven?  “Knowing” that He will come directly from heaven, and “knowing” that He will bring with Him those who have died in Him, where else could they have been all those years but heaven where He was?  Here is where the Lord’s “fine print” comes into play.  Paul goes on to say that upon Christs return to earth, “the dead in Him will RISE FIRST.”  Rise from where?  He is coming to the clouds above earth; the dead will rise from the earth to meet Him and His angels (not saints) which will accompany Him from heaven (2 Thes. 1:7).  After the dead in Christ have risen to meet Him, the saints who are living on earth will rise to meet Him in the air (1 Thes. 4:17).  From that point on throughout eternity these saints “will forever be with Him where He is.”  As we will learn, He (and they) will be on earth.

After meeting Jesus and His angels in the clouds (1 Thes. 4:17), the resurrected saints will follow them down to the Mt. of Olives where they will enter into Jerusalem (Zech. 14:4) where they will establish the Kingdom of God.

Note in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 that when Jesus arrives on the Mt. of Olives He will have with Him His saints who will have just joined Him in the clouds following their departure from earth.

In summary: The church’s so-called rapture is Christ’s calling up to the clouds both the living and the dead IN HIM.  He will bring His angels with Him to the meeting place in the clouds.  Following their ascension to where He is waiting for them, they will all–Jesus, His saints and His angels–descend to the Mt. of Olives.  From there they will enter Jerusalem where He will establish the Kingdom of God and will set about cleaning up the mess man has made.  THERE WILL BE NO SECRET RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH.  L.J.