January 23
How did this teaching of the apostle Paul ever come to be called the Rapture? The answer lies in the word translated "shall be caught up" (Greek harpagésómetha). In Latin, this word is rapere, from which "rapture" is derived. Free of any arcane or mysterious interpretation, it simply means "to be caught up," "snatched," or "seized."
The difficulty in understanding begins when people confuse this meaning with another definition of rapture that has nothing to do with the biblical concept: "a state or experience of being carried away by overwhelming emotion; a mystical experience in which the spirit is exalted to a knowledge of divine things." When people blur these meanings, a picture develops of a strange, otherworldly experience preached by fire-breathing preachers to compel sinners to repent before God's wrath burns them to cinders.
Those who teach the Rapture frequently begin with I Thessalonians 4:16-17, but soon afterward they move into areas unsupported in the Bible. They make assumptions that are suspect. Worse, they fail to consider the clear order of events presented in Revelation, pinpointing when this astounding miracle will occur.
What should they believe? That at some point in the near future, Jesus Christ will return and "snatch away" all Christians on the earth. Those who believe in Jesus will rise to meet Him in the air, and He will whisk them off to heaven for a 3 ½-to-seven-year Marriage Supper.
In the meantime here on earth, untold destruction occurs when professing born-again Christians suddenly vanish while at the controls of cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, heavy equipment, and the like.
Unsaved relatives and friends will frantically and unsuccessfully search for their raptured loved ones. The media will provide 24-hour coverage of the mysterious disappearance of millions of people, speculating wildly on its cause—everything from a mass alien abduction to shifting dimensions and levels of consciousness… — Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Biblical explanation of the event is most authoritative, so no matter what men theorize about the day, we who trust in His name should embrace only His words to our hearts. I Thessalonians 4:13-18 gives what is perhaps the most expansive information regarding the Rapture.
It says, “Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep (deceased), so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep as Christians.
”For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Perhaps the best information we possess in the matter is vague because our God desires that our faith be rooted in our relationship with Him rather than in the promise that one day we shall be caught up to meet Jesus in the air and dwell eternally with Him.
Perhaps He desires that our faith be so alive that our passion for meeting Him will pale only in comparison to our passion for living for Him in the day-to-day reality of our lives. Perhaps then we can say as did Paul, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain,” Philippians 1:21.
Perhaps then we won’t concern ourselves about the “How?” or the “When?” or the “Where?” of the Rapture because we will already be basking in the beauty of Christ’s presence and power with us!
No comments:
Post a Comment