Sermonette: Are You Ready for the Rapture?

#095s
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 18-Sep-93; 16 minutes

Are you ready for the rapture? It is coming, but not in the way the bumper stickers portray it. It is not, “Warning! The owner of this vehicle believes in the rapture!” And it is not in the way the local Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, and the like, believe that it will happen.

The rapture is, indeed, a biblical teaching. It is very plain and very simple. But the problems begin when theologians start tinkering with the timing of it. And you wonder how they can misplace the timing of the rapture, when it is so clearly and so often spelled out in the Scripture.

So, today we are going to look at the true teaching about this subject from the Bible, and find out when it really does occur.

First, I see a lot of skeptical looks out there on your faces. I would like to prove my statements that the rapture is a biblical teaching. And maybe I should interject, here, that the church has always avoided calling it “the rapture,” because of the Protestant-Pentecostal, worldly connotations that it has. I am going to show you that it is in the Bible, but it is not the way that the Protestant world has portrayed it to be.

Really, this is called, “a difficult scripture,” or “prove the doctrine,” or “disprove a worldly doctrine” sermonette, so that we can see this in its true light.

I Thessalonians 4, verses 16 and 17 is where they get their main teaching for what they call the rapture. You will see from the scripture that it is a biblical teaching.

I Thessalonians 4:16-17 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. 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.

This is the rapture of the saints.

We in the churches of God call it the first resurrection. And we have done that for a purpose. It is to show that our belief in what this rapture is, is different from how the Protestants view it.

Now the phrase, “shall be caught up,” in verse 17 is where they get this term rapture.

I Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them.

This is the Greek word harpaggisomitha (it is not important), but the Latin translates that as rapio, which just means, “to be caught up.” It is the same word. Where the other meaning of the word rapture comes in, “to get caught up in something so that you are in awe of it and somewhat mesmerized.” It is the same word and has the same meaning. One is just figurative, where the other one is literal—to be caught up. So, it really has no mysterious, arcane, or clouded meaning that you have to really be an adept to understand. It just means to be caught up. It is very simple.

Like I said, we in the churches of God have avoided using the term rapture, and I am going to try to avoid using the term rapture from here on out. We call it the first resurrection. Let us see if I can do that, because we do tend to regard it after a while as a wild-eyed Pentecostal, almost loony teaching. You know, here somebody is driving down the road and suddenly the car goes careening into the other lane because there is no one there. God has raptured him out.

Instead we have used other terms to discuss it like, “at Christ's second coming;” “When we shall be changed;” or most often, “At the first resurrection.”

Now, I am in favor of these euphemisms, because I do not like the connotations of the word rapture. I am sure we do not want to be labeled with others who have a false teaching on this subject.

Our teaching has always been that on the day that Christ returns to earth to fight His enemies and to establish His throne on the earth, the dead in Christ will rise first, just like it says here in I Thessalonians 4. And those who are alive—the converted on the earth—will rise; they will be caught up to meet Him in the air. And I cannot see how anyone can read anything else into this very clear scripture. It is just plain as day right there—the trumpets will sound; Christ will return; the dead rise first; and then the people who have been/are converted who God allows to be there in the first resurrection will be caught up and changed without having to go through the physical death process. It will be, but it will not be. It is kind of one of those mysteries that suddenly after being physical, we will be spirit and caught up together with Him.

Even though this is very clear, the theologians in the world have managed to make some very strange assumptions and reasoning about it. There are actually three different views of this and I will give you just a synopsis of what each one is. They are divided into pre-tribulational, mid-tribulational, and post-tribulational.

Pre-tribulationists put the rapture of the church at the beginning of that seven-year period I was talking about on Trumpets, and it would be when right about the same time that the beast would sign that treaty with Israel. At that time, either just before or just after that time, the church would be raptured, and they would not have to go through any of the Tribulation, the precursors to it, the first birth pangs, or the tribulation of the Day of the Lord at all.

But there are two areas in this that makes it invalid. The first thing is that Christ's return must be split into two parts. It is kind of like on the first pass He misses and just takes a few people with Him. Then He goes back to earth to try for a second pass, and He makes it on the second one seven years later. I mean, that is kind of a ridiculous way of doing it. But they split it up, so that He comes back at the beginning of the seven years and takes His believers back to heaven, and then He comes back seven years later for His real second coming, which would actually be His third coming. And so it gets real confusing. And also the other thing is, if the church leaves the scene for seven years, who are the saints that Satan persecutes during the Tribulation? There is no one here to persecute if He has taken all his believers.

The mid-tribulationists envision the rapture at the midpoint of the seven-year period when the beast comes into the Temple and proclaims himself to be God. They get this from II Thessalonians 2. But this view has the same problems as the first one. Christ has to come twice, because it says that they are raptured, they are caught up when Christ returns, so they have to have two returns at the end, and also this other thing about there will not be any Christians to persecute.

We in the church would be considered in the post-tribulationists camp. The church will remain on the earth during the entire Tribulation. Some will be protected in a place of safety in preparation for their duties in the Kingdom. And others will be required as God sees fit to go through the Tribulation and possibly suffer martyrdom. Christ will return once to earth, gathering His elect and fighting the beast all in one fell swoop. Just one time. And it is the one that fits the best. You do not have to shoehorn some sort of teaching into the Bible by believing that people will be changed when Christ returns.

How do we know this? Let us go back to I Corinthians 15, and we will see that everywhere you look on this subject in the Bible, it is very clear. There is no need to reason this thing out. It is just right there.

I Corinthians 15:51-52 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—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.

That is exactly the same sequence of events that Paul described earlier actually in I Thessalonians 4. The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and they will be changed right in that order: trumpet, resurrection, and the change. It is very simple.

Paul says, “at the last trumpet.” So, what is the last trumpet? Let us go back to Revelation 11. The last trumpet is the seventh of the last-trumpet plagues. Let us read what verse 15 has to say.

Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded [the last trumpet is sounded]: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"

Guess what? The trumpet sounds and Christ returns to set up His Kingdom. If we need any more clues about when this occurs, let us go to verses 11-13:

Revelation 11:11-13 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Guess what? This is also the first resurrection. He called them to meet Him in the air. Verse 13: in the same hour, there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake 7,000 men were killed and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Now look in verse 19. The last sentence there in the verse:

Revelation 11:19 And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

Let us go back one chapter to chapter 10, verse 7. This is an explanation of when the seven the thunders will be finished.

Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

God says that the whole mystery will be cleared up when the seventh angel, the seventh trumpet sounds, and that is when Christ returns. It will be clear to everybody what God's plan is. So everything will be cleared up. The mysteries will be over with, and that is when it happens—Christ returns.

Let us go to Matthew 24 and get the very, very, very clear statement of Christ.

Matthew 24:30-31 “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. 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.”

Here it is again. Let us look at the sequence here.

First, there is a sign of Christ coming; they will see Him coming; the trumpet the sounds; the angels are sent out; and the last one, the elect are gathered.

It is the same sequence that we have seen in all these other verses. There is no mystery. It is just very simple right there in the Bible. You will see Christ returning, trumpet sounds, the elect are gathered. So easy.

You might want to put this down in your notes to look at it later. It is Joel 2:1-11. The trumpet sounds in verse 1. That is what starts the chapter out. In verse 10 there is the earthquake, and the heavenly signs that are mentioned. It says the earth quakes before them, and after them there are great signs in heaven. And then in verse 11 this army is called, “The Lord's Army.” I think specifically it says, “His army.” Verse 11: “The Lord gives voice before His army.” And this is the army of God that comes back at His return.

Also, you might want to put down Isaiah 27:13. This has to do specifically with Israel. The trumpet sounds in that verse, and the captives from Israel and the worshippers of God are gathered in the same order. So at the last trump, Christ returns, the dead in Christ are raised, and the people who are on earth worshipping God—converted people—will be caught up together with Him in the air when He returns.

It is so plain. I really am amazed to see how much confusion there is out there on this subject. It really led a lot of people astray. It has really put a lot of people to sleep, because they do not have the fear of the Tribulation, for one, to goad them on a bit to change.

If they are going to be changed and raptured away to gaze at God's face forever before the 3.5 years before the Tribulation starts, they have got it made.

So the Bible spells it out so clearly. We do not need an advanced degree, do not need to go to a seminary to understand the details of the timing of this. It is just when we read the plain scriptures and take it at its word that everything comes out nice and easy in an easy-to-understand order.

You know Christ came to this earth the first time to magnify the law. What that means is He came to clarify what had been written in the Old Testament and expound upon it. When you magnify something, the details may be there; they may be small, and you cannot see them. But when you magnify it, you get a better look at it. And in the Olivet Prophecy, He gave us the order of when these things would occur.

He is coming again. And this time He is going to finish the mystery of God, as we saw there in Revelation 10:7. And you can be assured that if you diligently seek Him, and work on developing righteous character, you will be caught up together with Him, and the rest of the saints, and meet Him in the air as He returns at the last trumpet.

RTR/rwu/drm