Biblical Proof That The Rapture Is In Fact True, And Not A Myth Or A Lie From The Devil

Are we really to assume that when we are changed in the twinkling of an eye and become like the angels...that our clothes will get "left behind?"

I came across a video post recently on a professing Christian’s blog — I use “professing” because I recently discovered the blog…we don’t share any history; Although I have yet to read any evidence to the contrary. The video was about the rapture and the blogger implores readers to believe that the rapture is real. The post also listed two Holy Bible passages, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 and Philippians 3:20-21, which will be addressed later in this post. The comments on this blogger’s video post ranged from encouragement and agreement to others explaining to the blogger how wrong she is and even ridicule for believing the rapture.

My whole purpose with writing this post was to challenge myself — to seek the truth as the LORD Jesus Christ presents it in HIS Holy Scriptures to make sure I myself am not being deceived by well-wishers and rapture-hopefuls. What I have found is rock-solid — there is a rapture. The Holy Bible is clear on that. The Holy Scriptures are also very clear on when it isn’t.

If you aren’t sure about what to believe about the rapture and the Tribulation period, then I beg you to open your Holy Bible, Strong’s concordance and Webster’s dictionary and read along and check all that I say and the passages which I reference. And, as I do before delving into the LORD’s business, perhaps you should breathe a prayer for the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Remember, these are not my words — these are the words of the LORD our GOD. If you are unsure about anything in your walk with Jesus Christ of Nazareth, take it to HIM in prayer.

Let me say right off the bat — I do not find any evidence in the Holy Scriptures about Christians escaping the earth and being snatched up to heaven BEFORE the Tribulation time prescribed for the earth. But I do find evidence that the Saints, the LORD Jesus Christ’s faithful servants, will be raptured at some point.

Our LORD and SAVIOR Jesus Christ says quite plainly in Matthew 24:

29″Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30″Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31″And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

If the LORD Jesus Christ gives a blow-by-blow account of what will happen leading up to HIS glorious return and says “Immediately after the tribulation” that “HIS angels… will gather together HIS elect” from every corner of the world… then, brothers and sisters, that means the Saints will still be on earth BEFORE, DURING and possibly at the END of the Tribulation.

Does that mean we will suffer as the unsaved will suffer?

Of course not. In Revelation 3:10, the LORD Jesus Christ speaks to HIS faithful servants, the Saints who keep HIS word and do not deny HIS name: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

Christ Jesus doesn’t say HE will remove us from the earth, but that HE will keep, or protect, HIS Bride the Church, the faithful and true Saints, from what the whole world will suffer during the Tribulation period, or the hour of trial — the great time of testing of men’s souls. To those who perhaps think this “keeping” to which the LORD Jesus Christ refers means a rapture or snatching away, please consider our LORD and SAVIOR’s prayer to the Heavenly FATHER in John 17 concerning HIS disciples (as many as GOD the FATHER has given HIM):

9″I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10″And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11″Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,  that they may be one as We [are.] 15“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”

Christ Jesus did not pray the FATHER that HIS Saints should be taken out of the world (how could we share the Gospel with the world, who will surely need the Truth about Salvation during the Tribulation). I believe that means we, HIS faithful servants, are here in this world until HE returns to get us (or we die). As Jesus Christ assured HIS disciples in John 14:2-3: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if [it were] not [so,] I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, [there] you may be also.”

So far, I have read Biblical proof that: 1. The Tribulation time, the hour of trial, is coming upon the whole earth; 2. The LORD Jesus Christ’s faithful servants, the Saints, will not suffer as the world suffers during this time; 3. Though it is promised that the Saints will be persecuted (Matthew 24), we will not be lost. Period. We will be “kept” by Christ Jesus HIMSELF; 4. Christ Jesus will return to personally receive HIS people to HIMSELF (living and dead, as we will read in the Book of Revelation).

But from where does this whole idea of a rapture come?

In 1 Thessalonians 4 we read:

“13. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive [and] remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17. Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The key words in this passage from the apostle Paul are “caught up” … and it appears some folks seem to miss the point of this Holy Bible passage and become obsessed (for lack of a better word) with this Greek word “harpazo” (i.e., rapture / caught up) which, according to Strong’s concordance #G726, means:

1. to seize, carry off by force
2. to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly
3. to snatch out or away

We seem to miss the purpose of Paul sharing these words from the LORD Jesus Christ with the Saints — to comfort us about the Saints who are dead in Christ Jesus. He reveals that everyone — absolutely each and every one that belongs to Christ Jesus — will be seized, claimed, snatched away to the LORD when HE descends from Heaven.

But Paul wrote that “the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (the dead in Christ) in the clouds to to meet the LORD in the air.”

Now, I’ve heard some cynics ask snidely, “Well, what are you going to be doing in the clouds when you get there?” — Obviously, moving on to Heaven. Christ Jesus departed the earth and ascended back to Heaven in the sight of HIS disciples by a cloud in Acts 1:

9. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11. who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This [same] Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

As Christ Jesus ascended to Heaven on a cloud, HE returns in the same way. Jesus Christ tells HIS disciples in Matthew 24:30. “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

The clouds are not heaven and heaven are not the clouds, but it appears, based on these passages in the Holy Scriptures, that clouds are a means of transpor. So when we are all “caught up” together in the clouds, we will be transported in this fashion to meet the LORD in the air.

Is it possible to know when this rapture occurs at the end of the Tribulation period?

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes: 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality.

The “last trumpet” Paul refers to is the Seventh Trumpet of Revelation 11:15-19, in which Christ Jesus’ Kingdom is proclaimed — but based on what is said in this passage, Christ Jesus doesn’t immediately come. But it is after this point that HIS return is expected, for the 24 elders who sit before GOD and worship before HIS throne say in Revelation 11:17: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.”

These elders who worship GOD before HIS throne are still saying at this point that Christ Jesus “is to come.” So it is sometime after this point that we can expect the rapture to take place. However, in the Book of Revelation, after the Trumpet Judgments, the Bowl Judgments come forth…yet, in Matthew 24:30, Christ Jesus says immediately after the Tribulation of those days … “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Of course Paul is correct, as HE is quoting or LORD and SAVIOR Christ Jesus. Jesus says in Matthew 24:29 (These things precede HIS return) “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” If you pay close attention to the LORD’s description of the times — HE is describing an occurrence from the SEALS, and TRUMPET and BOWL Judgments of the Book of Revelation.

When Jesus says the sun will darken and the moon won’t give light and that the powers of the heavens will be shaken, that appears to be a reference to the SIXTH SEAL in Revelation 6:12 “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.” The LORD’s words are also a reference to the FOURTH TRUMPET in Revelation 8:12 “Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.” And the LORD Jesus Christ apparently also alludes to the SEVENTH BOWL Judgment in Revelation 16:17 “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18. And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.

Interestingly enough, before the final Bowl Judgment Jesus Christ says in Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed [is] he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” Also, the LORD says to the “dead church” Revelation 3:3 “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

If we watch, the LORD’s return won’t be a total surprise to us — we will be able to discern the “hour” in which HE is coming. That is, we don’t know the exact day or time literally — but based on what HE shares with us in HIS Holy Scriptures, we are able to discern the climatic setting of HIS return to the earth (Matthew 24:36; 46-51).

So it appears the rapture may occur after the Tribulation — after the final Bowl Judgment, which occurs after the Seventh Trumpet has sounded. So, of course, both Paul and Jesus Christ agree. It is during this time, that we can expect to be “caught up” with the our LORD and SAVIOR Jesus Christ. As the LORD says in Luke 17:

31. “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods [are] in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 34. “I tell you, in that night there will be two [men] in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35. “Two [women] will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36. “Two [men] will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” 37. And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

And vv 37 is a reference to Matthew 24:26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; [or] ‘Look, [He is] in the inner rooms!’ do not believe [it.] 27. “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28. “For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

In summary:

- The Rapture is not a lie, as it is documented in and supported by the Holy Scriptures of the LIVING GOD. It is a fact that the Saints will literally be “caught up in the air” in like manner to Christ Jesus’ ascension back to heaven, and HIS return to Earth.

- The Saints will not be raptured BEFORE the awful Tribulation time, or the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world. The Holy Bible supports AT LEAST a mid-Tribulation and even a post-Tribulation rapture.

- The rapture is not a vehicle in which to spare the Saints from tribulation and persecution — Christ Jesus will “keep” the Saints from the judgments that the whole earth will face in a way unknown to us. Christ Jesus said that not one of HIS faithful servants will ever be lost — we may be imprisoned or beheaded for professing faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth (as many have since HE left the earth, and many do today all over the world), but our place in HIS Kingdom is guaranteed.

So, as Jesus says, we really can’t love our lives, this life or build up treasures on this earth — if this is what you cling to — what will you do when your life is threatened, when the comforts that you are used to get taken away and when the earth is shaken and treasures are worthless? What will you do?

If you believe that a rapture is your escape from the hour of trial that is coming upon the WHOLE EARTH, please re-examine the Holy Scriptures. Re-examine yourself, daily, and see in whom or what you really trust. Because I tell you this, if you really are hoping in a rapture to carry you out of this world (remember the LORD’s prayer in John 17:15) before the Anti-Christ comes along and starts persecuting the Saints (read Dan 7, vv. 25 specifically) then you are in for the shock of your life and will be utterly shaken.

What greater test of one’s faithfulness to and trust in our LORD and SAVIOR Jesus Christ than this Tribulation period? …Consider the thoughts that are possibly running through your mind right now. Let us pray in the name of our LORD and SAVIOR Jesus Christ for strength, faithfulness and wisdom.

Now, for those of you who believe in a pre-Tribuation rapture who want to argue and tell me that I’m wrong, don’t know how to read the Holy Bible or am deceived — why is that you believe in a pre-Tribulation rapture? I’m not talking about providing passages from the Holy Bible to support your stance. What I’m saying is, if you, who profess faith in Jesus Christ, knew that in about three months you were scheduled to be taken and shipped off to China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Algeria or some such place where the citizens are imprisoned, executed and abused and harassed by their neighbors for being a true Christian — and Jesus revealed that HE would come and get you before that time and that you have nothing to worry about… what would you be doing in the mean time? …And what are you doing now?

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EXTRA NOTES OF INTEREST – What happens to the dead?

I have also heard some use the argument, in an attempt to dispel the rapture occurrence, that we don’t go directly to heaven or hell once we die — that we just return to the dirt and that’s the end of us — until the LORD Jesus Christ’s return to the earth. GOD’s decree against Adam’s sin is used to illustrate their point, quoting “from dust you are and to dust you shall return (Gen. 3:19).” But, mankind is obviously not just a body, but has a soul, too… and the soul definitely is not decayed and decomposed into dust upon the body’s. As Jesus Christ says in Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

I have never read inconclusive evidence in the Holy Scriptures that souls simply die and sleep (i.e., remain totally unconscious) until Jesus comes and the earth and the sea give up their dead. To the contrary, I have noted a few passages which indicate that it is likely that souls in full consciousness go to a place once they die.

For example, in Luke 16:19-31, the LORD Jesus Christ teaches using a parable about the poor man Lazarus and the unnamed rich man. Lazarus was always by this rich man’s home begging, but apparently the rich man scorned him and didn’t extended any kind of help to Lazarus. The two eventually die…and end up in different places (vv 23): “And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” The rich man talks to Abraham and asks him to send Lazarus to help ease his torment in the flames.

From this parable, it is clear to me that souls have a destination when the body dies — heaven or hell (as the fallen angels who rebelled against GOD are in their own place until the time of Judgment, as mentioned in 2 Peter 2:4 and alluded to in 1 Corinthians 6:3). Now, you can try arguing with this passage, but why would the LORD Jesus Christ confuse HIS listeners even more by introducing to them a concept with which they would be totally unfamiliar?

There is also 1 Peter 3:18-20 in which Peter makes mention that Jesus Christ, “being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while [the] ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”

It appears to me that these “spirits in prison” are the ones who were not saved during the flood — which was the whole earth’s population at that time, minus Noah and his family (8 total). While the ark was being prepared over what could have been 100 years, people had ample opportunity through GOD’s divine grace to repent and turn to HIM, but they chose not to do so (as it is now… ample opportunity for the world to repent, but no, we’ll just go about business as usual, shaking our fists at GOD until things get very unusual).

And finally, in Revelation 6:9 John writes, … I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10. and they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11. Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both [the number of] their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they [were,] was completed.

These “souls under the altar” appear to be Saints who were martyred (possibly throughout time and/or during the Tribulation) who, when their full number is reached, will have the blessing of reigning with Jesus Christ on earth 1,000 years, as revealed in Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then [I saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received [his] mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

In Revelation 20:5 it reads “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.”

So, the martyred souls live and reign with Christ for a thousand years; the dead do not live again (which I interpret to mean, receive immortal bodies, based on 1 Corinthians 15:51-58); and the Saints alive at the time, who have not tasted death, will have residency in Christ’s Kingdom during this 1,000-year reign, but apparently will not have all the same privilege as the martyred Saints at this time.

Based on these passages from the Holy Bible, it appears to me that each and every soul has a place of rest or torment before the great White Throne Judgment occurs, when ALL are judged (human and angel).

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