The Apostle Paul speaks of the Rapture of the Church many times in his letters (or epistles) sent to the churches which he had established through the preaching of Christ during his travels. He sent letters to the churches so that though he was absent from them, each church group in every city could continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. And passing these letters around from city to city, and from church to church, all the churches were able to grow in Christ with the same understanding, and virtually at the same time.
The Rapture (as it is known today) is called by various terms in the New Testament such as: the gathering of the saints, our hope of glory, the catching away, the resurrection of the just. This event is the end of our salvation. It is graduation day for the true Church! It is our reward for fighting the good fight of faith in our daily battles as we overcome. The Apostle Paul constantly refers to the rapture as the object and end of our hope, because the change of the human body into a glorified body is what Jesus himself attained in resurrection! We have a promise and a hope to be what he is! This Christian Resurrection or rapture is the payoff for living the true christian life!
But if you listen to many preachers and teachers in the Church today you would think it does not rate any significance. This is satan's way of changing the focus of the church to the love of the world. We are told to love not the world nor the things that are in the world, but church leaders whether knowingly or unknowlingly are teaching the church to love the world. This is facilitating the falling away of the church. Preachers must wake up and preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ before it is too late!
Paul spoke to the Church of the Thessalonians several times about the Rapture. Verse 13 infers that the Christians in the Church of the Thessalonians were experiencing a great deal of grief when fellow Christians died. Paul admonished them not to be sorrowful and full of grief the way unsaved people are when their loved ones die. He also explained the reason for their sorrow by saying, they "have no hope". In other words, unsaved people have no hope of ever being reunited with those they love and have lost in death!
But we who are saved have a promise that we will be reunited in the Rapture with our saved loved ones when the Lord returns for His Church. (This is the reason we must do all we can to get others saved while there is still time) Look what Paul says by the Spirit of the Lord:
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
This means that if we believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, we must also believe that those who died in him will be resurrected and brought back with Him. Paul added that Jesus personally explained how this would happen:
"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."
Paul repeats Jesus in saying that those who are still alive at his return will not hinder Him from resurrecting those who are dead in Him. But rather, those who are dead will be raised and changed first, afterwards, those who are still alive. Here is how the Lord Jesus said it will happen:
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.
Firstly the archangel shall shout. At that shout the Lord shall come out of Heaven! Next the trumpet of God shall be blown. And when that trumpet sounds those who died in faith shall be resurrected, changed into glorified bodies and go up from the earth to meet the Lord Jesus in the air! Secondly, those who are still alive shall be changed in the same manner and caught up together with those who were just raised from the dead, all to meet the Lord in the air!
And from this moment we shall forever be with the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Now let us prepare for this great event by cleansing ourselves from sin and produce the fruit of righteousness and holiness. And if a fellow Christian dies before the Lord returns, let us comfort one another with the knowledge that we shall all be reunited in the Rapture of the Church!
Hallelujah! And Praise the Lord forever!
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