The word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible. However, the concept of a rapture event or a snatching away taking place is clearly taught in the Scriptures. I will show you why the Rapture is an event that we, as believers, should be anticipating and watching for, as it parallels that of an ancient Jewish bride waiting for her bridegroom's return for her. The Rapture of the church will be the event in which Jesus will remove the church from the Earth before God pours out His impending judgment of great tribulation. The Rapture is not to be confused with the Second Coming! At the time of the Rapture, Jesus will only appear in the clouds to summon for the removal of His bride, the church. It is described in the Bible as being an imminent event, …show more content…
At the Rapture, we, the believers, will meet Jesus in the air. During the Rapture, Jesus will call for all of the believers who have died, give them glorified bodies, and take them from the Earth along with all of the believers who are still alive. The apostle Paul describes the ordering of this snatching away event in 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 NIV, "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 shall rise first. After that, we who are alive and left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And we shall be with the Lord forever." Paul goes on to further describe the timing of this sequential, rapturous event in 1Corinthians 15:51–52 NIV as being instantaneous, "Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." The Rapture is nothing you should fear, rather God wants us to "encourage each other with these words," as we are told in 1Thessalonians 4:18
Much of Revelation is the source of debate. Many passages are symbolic in nature, and the exact meaning of the symbols can be difficult to determine. Some passages can be interpreted in various ways. The identity of the Four Horsemen, the 144,000, and Babylon the Great in particular are points of contention. Nevertheless, proper hermeneutics and careful study can illuminate these difficult passages.
Throughout the story of Rapture Practice many questions about religion and morality arise. As Aaron Hartzler, raised as a dedicated baptist since birth, matures, he discovers that his views differ from his parent’s and his church, and he struggles to come to terms with his beliefs. By finding a way to experience life outside of the house, Aaron realizes that religion does not necessarily make you an incorruptible person. How do religion and morality play into the themes of Rapture Practice?
The New King James Bible explains, "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all ... For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man ... If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body" (Acts 4:33 and 1 Corinthians 15:21 and 44). Paul explains that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected. Since Jesus was physically buried, then Jesus ' resurrection would represent Him physically rising from the dead. Moreover, Paul explains that we will be resurrected like Jesus because God created humanity. Humanity cannot be physically resurrected because the human body is perishable. However, the spiritual body is imperishable and will live for eternity. Therefore, our physical bodies will be resurrected into an imperishable spirit. The significance of the passage is to demonstrate the historical event that Jesus ' disciples taught the physical resurrection of Jesus and also humanity will be
Everyone has his own sentiment of when he thinks the world will end some said it would happen at the turn of the millennium but it didn’t, others have hypothesized random dates throughout history But none have come true as to date. Jesus teaches that many calamities will mark the Second Coming and the Apocalypse. Kevin Knight writes in an article for New Advent and in it he says, “They are meant to foreshadow not to tell the day or the time, and will include. 1) The General Preaching of the Christian Religion. 2) The Conversion of the Jews. 3) The Return of Enoch and Elijah. 4) A Great Apostasy or revolt against the Catholic Faith. 5) The Reign of Antichrist who will be a powerful adversary of Christ. He will seduce the nations by his wonders, and persecute the Church. 6) Extraordinary Perturbations of Nature. 7) The Universal Conflagration. 8) The Trumpets of Resurrection will awaken the dead to resurrection. 9) The sign of the Son of Man Appearing in Heaven or in a wonderful cross of light.”
This passage also applies as text today for the modern believers. This passage means to the church today that the believers in Christ and His sacrifice, who do not lose hope, will rise with Jesus and enter heaven at the coming time. The theme differs from the Thessalonians towards the application of the modern church as it was originally directed towards the new Thessalonian believers to stay hopeful knowing that in the coming time Jesus would take them into heaven, it also shows similarities in as a whole body or church to have in Christ because His coming time is near.
Brooks and A.J Gordon (Balmer 34). Dispensationalism has been gaining followers for many years and its popularity can be seen in many places, such as in the Left Behind series which has captured the minds of many people around the world (Pagels 1). Now with historical context in mind, it is time to see what Dispensationalism teaches. Dispensationalism has three distinct characteristics: Rapture of Christians, Millennium Rule of Christ, and the Unfulfilled Prophecies of the Bible. For the purpose of this paper they will all be examined separately. The Rapture is the belief that Christians will be brought up and not have to endure the Tribulation (Robinson). The term “rapture” does not occur in the Bible but instead comes from a Latinized version of the word arpadzo which comes from “caught up” (Witherington 94). The belief in the Rapture for Dispensationalists is based on 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 which they claim describes an event where living Christians return to heaven with Christ (Robinson). Secondly, the Millennium Rule is the belief that Jesus Christ will literally rule over earth for 1,000 years after the Tribulation (Robinson). The key here is that (as opposed to the Post-Millennial views) the believers have no part in setting up his reign
Unlike other views that believe the second coming will be in two phases, amillennialists feel it will occur in one stage; within the time between the first and second coming (459). They fuse the two resurrections spoken in Revelation 20:1-6 into one stage. In this one stage, a general resurrection will occur in which all believers and unbelievers will be gathered. They understand that Satan will be bound during the in-between time and at the second advent he will be released for a short time to cause havoc (458). Christ will return after the heavenly millennium reign and all believers and transformed believers will be taken up to the clouds to be with Him.
This truth is revealed in the book of Revelation, and it shows the prophecy in which things at the end of this world will take place. It goes by the names of the “end times”, “final days”, or “last days”. The bible also talks about suffering Christians will go through, but are encouraged to persevere and endure until the end. The Bible states that, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give your life as your victor’s crown. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death” (Revelation 2:10-11). There are times in this world where many Christians have undergone persecution and suffering for His names’ sake, but the Bible encourages Christians to not set their focus on this temporary suffering, even though it is sometimes very hard to endure, we are called to keep the focus on eternity, and the good that is to
There will be an examination of every believer where their works are tried by fire by the judge, who is Jesus as stated in John 5:22 “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son” There will be a one on one between every believer and Jesus, not about whether they have salvation, but about what they did in their life for to glorify God. Nor is the judgment seat for believers about sins they have committed as Romans 8:1 says “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” The sins of believers were forgiven at the cross so there is no judgment for sins committed in the life of a
The term millennium does not appear anywhere in Scripture. The idea originated from a thousand year period of time that characterizes the reign of the Messiah. In fact, the phrase “thousand years” is stated six times in Revelation 20. There are three main schools of thought based upon one’s view of the thousand-year reign of Christ. These views are: Amillennial, Postmillennial and Premillennial. Over the centuries these prophetic differences have caused conflict within the body of Christ and are still currently widely debated. Instead of the book of Revelation being the basis of comfort (1 Thess. 4:18) among Christians it has become a bone of contention. However, this controversy should not deter Christ’s disciples from receiving the blessings that Revelation has to offer (Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). Rather, one should study prophecy under the Spirit’s guidance and look at the data provided within the full context of the Word assessing each of the views for correct motives and presuppositions. Therefore, this paper will examine the nature, timing, and duration of the millennium as well as the occupants of the millennial kingdom and the relationship of Israel and the Church to the millennial kingdom. The aim of this paper is to address “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1, ESV).
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
The book Things Fall Apart , by Chinua Achebe , is very similar to the poem , The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.
What happens when we die? What happens in the end times? Questions like these have been asked countless times by the Christian community and, like many other things in the Christian faith, there has not always been a clear answer. Will things play out as described in the book of Revelation? What does the promise of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ offer to us in the “end times”? I had the opportunity to consider some of these questions while sitting at the wake for one of my great aunts who had passed away suddenly from a severe stroke. Those present were certainly in a stage of mourning her loss, but there was also a strong feeling of joy and hope. This seemed to come from everyone observing all of the many young (even newborn) children who ran about the space pladying with one another, each oblivious to the reality of the room’s purpose and present state. When reading William J. La Due’s The Trinity Guide to Eschatology, I found myself drawn to the section on Jürgen Moltmann’s eschatology of hope. I believe that, like Moltmann, in the end God will save everyone, all creation and all humanity, as a fulfillment of God’s promise through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Eschatology has long fascinated many including myself since the beginning of time. There is just something that tends to fascinate our finite minds of the end of times. Over this time, many thoughts and perceptions has arouse from a wide variety of sources including scholars, theologians, scientists, sociologist, religions, colts, and many more. Consequently, each sources’ idea are different and unique from the others. The particle eschatology that is found throughout the New Testament tends to be the most studied and quoted collections of eschatological ideas that have been around since the creation of the Canon thousands of years ago. There are numerous books in the New Testament that directly and indirectly allude to the end of times. The most famous of these books, Revelation, is debated to be the most iconic literacy book on eschatology that answers a lot of question an as well creates a score of other new questions.
Rayford took the next step; he went to his wife's church to find Bruce, who was also too proud to accept a word the Christians had said before the Rapture. Bruce gives Rayford a video of explanation for the Rapture and Rayford studied it. In the tape, he learns that the Rapture is the event in where Jesus takes his followers, known as the Christians and brings them to heaven, where the Christians will receive eternal life. At the end of the video Rayford Steele then received the Lord God into his heart and became a Christian.