What Does Rapture Mean?

What Does Rapture Mean Exactly?

According to "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"

The Rapture is a term in Christian eschatology which refers to the "being caught up" discussed in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when the "dead in Christ" and "we who are alive and remain" will be "caught up in the clouds" to meet "the Lord".

 

My son is in the Air Force over seas and he called me to ask me where he could find information about the Rapture in the Bible because some of his friends were asking about it.  So I thought this was an important topic to talk about.  To the Christian: The Rapture is something they are looking forward to.  As a Christian, I believe in the Rapture and hope to clarify a few things with those who don't fully understand what it is.

 

The Rapture is when the Christian believer will be called up to Heaven to live with God.  It will be a time when this world has become so wicked that God decides it is time to call his people home.  A Christian's home is with God and not on this earth.  We are just pilgrims passing through.

 

Here are some verses to read related to the rapture: (These are from the Bible Gateway)

 

Matthew 24:31
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

 

1 Corinthians 15:52
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16
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:

 

^{Revelation 4:1
After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as if it were a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.}    

² And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

 

^{Revelations 5:13} And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

 

What happens after the Rapture?

 

It will not be a pretty sight.  This world will become more wicked and God will cast his judgement upon the earth.

 

Joel2

1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

² A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

³ A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
¹⁰ The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
³¹ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

Revelations 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Who can be saved?

Joel 2:³² And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.