WHEN WILL THE RAPTURE TAKE PLACE?
Matthew 24:40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
Today’s devotional will be talking about what the church calls the rapture. While the word itself is not in the Bible the experience is certainly alluded to in several places. The event is what seen as a snatching or quickly taking away of the Christians to be with Jesus in heaven. There are basically three thoughts regarding when this will happen although here in Matthew Jesus ties it in with his return to earth. (vs39 & 42) There are people that feel it will happen before the seven years of tribulation. (Rev 3:10) Some believe that it will happen just prior to the last 3 ½ years of tribulation. (Rev 14:14-16) And some believe it to happen just before Jesus returns to earth at the end of the seven years of tribulation. (Rev 19:7-9)
For those who are certain when this will take place we might look to 24:36 where Jesus said he doesn’t even know, only his Heavenly Father. As we look to verses 39 and 42 Jesus does tie it with his return. Some may say this points to a post-tribulation rapture, but others just say that this is a general statement regarding his coming as a whole.
While we see evidence of it taking place in; I Thessalonians 4:13-17, II Thessalonians 2:1-4, Matthew 24:24-51, I Corinthians 15:51,52 and Revelation 3:10 & 14:14-16 & 19:7-9 the complete understanding of all that takes place as when it happens is still a mystery. I know many claim an absolute understanding of it all, but with so many interpretations of it and even in Revelation 10:7 referring to the mystery of God, I personally am not betting my salvation on anything, but that it will happen and we need to be ready.
Earliest accounts of the rapture concept other that the Lord giving it to the original writer in the Bible was Francisco Ribera in 1590. He taught that it would take place 45 days before the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation. This would go along with Revelation 14:14-16.
In 1827 John Nelson Darby popularized the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture going along with Revelation 3:10. In recent times pre-tribulation has once again been popularized by Hal Lindsey in 1970 and Tim LaHaye in 1995. It could be said that we are living in the end of the age even now as I pointed to in yesterday's devotional, (you might read it if you haven’t yet) so the rapture could possibly take place at any time even before the seven years of tribulation begin. We see that as in the days of Noah people will be caught by surprise, and left with the consequences of not being ready. Of course the only way to be ready is to have Jesus forgiven your sins and to come into your heart. Thus smart people want to do this as soon as possible, because not only do we not know when the rapture might take place, we could die any minute and still have to stand before God!
There is also a debate about what the rapture will be like, and most of the questions comes to how we interpret I Thessalonians 4:13-17. For many they believe in the teaching that is portrayed in the movie “Left Behind”. In it Christians are snatched up to be with Jesus never experiencing death taking their body to heaven and leaving only their clothes behind. And then other people are adding that once in heaven Christians will return to earth to retrieve their old bodies to be with Jesus. To this I would point to the scripture that flesh and bones can not inherit the kingdom of God.
(ICor 15:50) Also we see in I Corinthians 15:35-57 that the resurrected Christian will have a body or likeness like Jesus. It will be imperishable, in glory, powerful and spiritual and it all takes place in a twinkling of an eye at the death of a Christian. So considering all this I personally can’t see why the rapture would be any different. I personally believe that leaving our body behind goes more in line with Revelation 14:14-20. Here we see two harvests taking place. One will be for the righteous (Christians), and the other for unrighteous. With them both taking place about the same time I believe that God is adding confusion to the world, and they won’t recognize the rapture as taking place.
Since I Thessalonians 4:13-17 is used so much I would like to go over it for you. It first points out that not everyone will sleep or die. Previous evidence of this might be seen with Enoch in Genesis 5:24 and then in II Kings 2:1-11 with Elijah. This sets the precedence for not experiencing death at the rapture. Verses 15,16 is where different interpretations come into view. They say, “According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive 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 trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” Many seem to think that Christians that have died will wait until the rapture to be taken first, and then the living Christians will be taken up without dying.
The problem with this is the many cases of Christians that have already died are with the Lord now and have new spiritual bodies as we see in. I Corinthians 15:35-57 and also in Revelations 7:9-16. We even see Moses and Elijah meeting with Jesus on mount transfiguration. (Matt 7:1-13) We also see in I Peter 4:6 how Jesus following his resurrection went to the abode of the dead and preached to them so they could go be with him in heaven. So for me the idea that the dead in Christ have to wait until the rapture doesn’t make since. For me we need to take the reading as it says, and that is the living will not precede the dead in going to be with Jesus.
As I have said I don’t have a problem with the rapture. The important thing is be ready and have Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I do see a possible problem for the Christians that are so determined that the rapture will keep them from the time of tribulation. In Matt 11:6 Jesus give a warning about falling away because of him, and in Heb 6:46 Paul warns about falling away from Jesus. We even see in Matthew 24:10-13 says that many will fall away during the tribulation. So I believe unless you are willing to let your salvation rest on a dogma that has been argued for hundreds of years, you just might just want to be ready at any time as Jesus told us.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for helping us to be ready for the rapture. Whenever it happens we know you will never leave us or forsake us. We love you Jesus!
