Is There Any Scriptural Support for the Concept of the Rapture?

When it comes to the Rapture, what does the Bible really teach?

There is a lively discussion on the rapture of the church among Christians today, both in scholarly circles and in churches. Over the years, researchers have created a wide variety of theories on the rapture.

Eschatological events may be interpreted in a variety of ways, depending on one’s worldview. The rapture is a topic of discussion in this article, and we’ll look at what the Bible has to say about it.

The Church’s Final Dismissal, or “Rapture,”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 are two verses that deal with the rapture. The Apostle Paul provides crucial details on the rapture in each of these verses.

Within a moment no longer than the “twinkling of an eye,” as Paul puts it, the rapture will occur.

The dead in Christ will be the first to rise from the grave when the Lord himself descends from heaven with a mighty command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. After that, the rest of us who made it will be taken up to Heaven with the living. Therefore, we shall spend all of eternity in the presence of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Based on what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, we know that the Lord will descend from heaven, but He will not make landfall. Unlike the rapture, the Second Coming will include the Lord’s actual descent to Earth.

Although the Second Coming of Christ and the rapture are two separate occurrences, they are often discussed together by academics. The verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 tell us that in addition to the Lord coming down from heaven, there will be a “loud command,” and the voice of the archangel will speak.

As of today, we have no idea what this booming order will be, but it may be God asking us to return to Him. There is scholarly disagreement on which archangel issued the loud order, but the consensus is that it will be Michael.

Additionally, the “trumpet cry of God” is said to sound at the rapture of the church. Many people think the trumpet was inspired by the trumpets that sounded in the Old Testament, which were a representation of God speaking to His people.

When God sounds the last trumpet, those who have died in Christ will rise first, to meet Christ in the air. Those who are “dead in Christ” are Christians who have already died.

All Christians who have died before the rapture will be raised to life in glorified bodies at that time. If a Christian is still alive when the rapture occurs, he or she will be caught up to heaven with Christ and given a glorious body. Christians who are living or dead at the time of the rapture will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

The church’s rapture will be an abrupt occurrence that occurs just before the seven-year tribulation period. There is a wide range of opinion among academics on this topic, with dispensationalists and covenant theologians taking particularly divergent stances.

Covenant theology, like dispensationalism, is founded on the Bible, but the two arrive at quite different conclusions about its meaning and purpose.

Both the Bible college and the seminary I attended adhered to dispensationalism, so that’s how I learned the Bible. However, we were also taught some covenant theology.

Studying the Bible at college and seminary, as well as on my own time, led me to accept dispensationalist eschatological doctrines rather than those of covenant theology.

The rapture of the church, according to dispensationalism, occurs before the tribulation period of seven years. The rapture protects Christians from suffering during the apocalyptic events of the Tribulation.

Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 are confirmed here: “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to obtain redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ. He gave his life for us so that we would be united with him in heaven, whether we are awake or sleeping.

Paul makes it clear that God’s ultimate plan for us is not punishment but redemption.

God will rapture believers before the beginning of the tribulation because He does not want His children to endure the terrible and dark days of the tribulation. The term “pre-tribulation rapture” describes this position.

Opposing Opinions

A number of perspectives on the rapture are taught by covenant theology, including the pre-wrath view and the post-tribulation view.

I, like most dispensationalists, believe that the rapture will take place before the events of the Tribulation Period; covenant theologians, on the other hand, will either believe that it will occur before or after the Tribulation Period.

Pre-wrath believers insist that the Great Tribulation, the second half of the tribulation, will be avoided by God’s rapture of His children.

The pre-wrath view distinguishes between God’s and Satan’s wrath, with the former occurring at the beginning of the tribulation and the latter occupying the remaining three and a half years.

This is a fallacy because God’s wrath is the only component of the tribulation. In other words, just God’s anger is being poured forth upon the earth. As the events of the tribulation are carried out by God rather than Satan, Satan has no say in the matter.

The rapture, according to the post-tribulation perspective, will take place at the conclusion of the tribulation period of seven years.

Those who believe in the rapture after the tribulation period combine the Second Coming of Christ with the catching away of the church.

Some people think Christians will be miraculously preserved during the Tribulation by God, and then taken to Heaven at the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War.

Finally, the pre-tribulation hypothesis asserts that Christians will be snatched away before the seven years of tribulation during which God would unleash His wrath on the world.

Thereafter, the Rapture

As pre-tribulationalists, we anticipate being raptured to heaven once the tribulation period ends and sitting at Christ’s right hand in the heavenly council (Romans 14:10-12).

The Bema seat is not a requirement for eternal salvation, but rather a measure of one’s devotion to Christ while on earth. A person’s salvation is forever secure from the moment they put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Once a person places their faith in Christ, they will forever be saved. At Christ’s Bema throne, Christians will get awards for their efforts and lose rewards for their inaction.

Christ will establish his thousand-year reign after the conclusion of the tribulation on earth and before the New Heaven and New Earth are created.

In the millennium of Christ’s actual rule, God will dwell among his people.

In the end, God will create a paradise on Earth and in the heavens after Christ’s thousand-year rule. Nothing more will ever hurt, grieve, or die (Revelation 21:4).

The New Heaven and New Earth, where we will spend eternity with God, may seem far off now, but that is no problem for the Creator. These eschatological events are set in motion by the rapture.

Following our rapture, we shall join God in the New Heaven and New Earth, where there will be nothing but laughter, joy, and love.

While we wait expectantly for the rapture, we have a responsibility to spread the good news of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4: John 3:16-17).