WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE RAPTURE? The Rapture What we commonly refer to as the rapture is actually a catching away of the born again believers in Jesus Christ and taking them to a place or location that is unknown to man. THE CATCHING AWAY OF PHILIP (Acts 8: 39-40) After baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. The eunuch did not see him anymore but Philip was found at Azotus. Philip was caught away and carried to another location. ELIJAH AND OBADIAH (1st Kings 18: 1-12) Ahab was the seventh king of Israel and reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty two years. He was married to Jezebel. Obadiah was the governor of the house of Ahab. In other words, he was the man in charge. His physical position did not interfere with his spiritual position, as He was also a man who was devoted to God. King Ahab and Obadiah went in different directions in search of grass to feed the horses. As God would have it, Obadiah ran into Elijah who told him to go and tell the king where he was. Obadiah did not want to deliver Elijah’s message because he feared that as soon as he left Elijah to go and deliver the message to the king, the Spirit of the Lord would carry Elijah away and he wouldn’t be able to find him. THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS (2nd Kings 2: 1- 18) The sons of the prophets were familiar with the fact that being carried away by the Spirit meant that the person carried away was taken to a specific, but unknown location. When Elijah was actually taken up by a whirlwind into HEAVEN, they asked Elisha to allow them to go and search for him, just in case the Spirit of the Lord had taken him up and placed him on a MOUNTAIN or in a valley somewhere. Elisha allowed them to go but they were unable to find Elijah because he was carried a way to an unknown location. JOHN John was also carried away in the Spirit to a great high MOUNTAIN where he was shown that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21: 10) The location of this holy Jerusalem is unknown to man. HEAVEN The word heaven has a number of meanings. a) It is the air or the atmosphere where clouds gather. b) The firmament, in which the sun, moon and stars are fixed. c) The upper heaven, the abode of God and His angels. (Smith’s Bible Dictionary) Our focus in this lesson is the upper heaven, the abode of God and His angels. No one who has died is in heaven. They cannot be. Why? In John 3: 13, Jesus Himself said that no man hath gone up to heaven except the One that came down from heaven and He is the only One who came down from heaven. Ezekiel 3: 1-15) God sent Ezekiel to the house of Israel with a message that they were not going to accept. Ezekiel didn’t want to go but the spirit of the Lord took him. As with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch who did not know where Philip was taken, so it was with Ezekiel - the people from where he was taken did not know where he was but he himself knew where God had taken him. God had taken him to another location. THE CATCHING AWAY OF THE SAINTS 1st Thessalonians 4: 15- 17 15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. When Christ returns for His people, He will descend from heaven and all those in Him will be caught up to meet Him in the air, to a location unknown to us. This passage does not say that we go to heaven. Furthermore, we know from the word of God that the Holy Jerusalem will descend out of heaven from God - we will not be going to heaven to the holy Jerusalem. From this lesson, we have learned that the rapture is actually a catching away of the born again believers in Jesus Christ and taking them to a place or location that is unknown to man- BEFORE THEIR RETURN TO LIVE AND REIGN ON EARTH. THE SAINTS WILL REIGN ON EARTH ON THE EARTH Revelation 5: 9b - 10 9b) And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10) And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: AND WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:20:41 +0000
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