So many of today's churches are wrapped up in this idea of a rapture. It was invented in the mid 1800's by an English preacher named John Darby. I've never found anything about it in the Bible. I believe what the Bible says and it doesn't say that.
Prior to John Darby...for eighteen and a half centuries...the church had a different view regarding the verses in 1 Thessalonians. They understood em’ to be about Jesus’ second coming. John Darby saw em’ differently. And a lotta people nowadays see em’ as John Darby saw em’. Regardless of how these verses are interpreted...for most people who are followers of Jesus...we all still hope for, and look forward to, Jesus comin’ back again.
For sure , many believers of Jesus are wrapped up in the idea of the coming rapture. Thankfully, it’s more than just an idea—it’s scriptural. “Rapture” does not appear in Biblical text but comes from the Latin word rapiemur, which means caught up. It is taken from the Greek word harpazo, which means to snatch away or caught away.
Acts 8:39, 2 Cor 12:2, 4, Rev 12:5, and 1 Thess 4:17
Harpazo is the Greek word for rapture and is referred to in 1 Thess 4:17
“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.”
1 Thess mentions the return of Christ and 1 Thess 4:15-17 is the clearest picture of the upcoming rapture. If we (believers) are still alive, we will go up literally in the air to meet Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:50-57 also refers to the rapture. We will be changed and the dead will be raised incorruptible in the twinkling of an eye.
Luke 17:26-37 also gives us a picture of the rapture by Jesus.
Judgment can’t fall on the world until believers are gone. Luke 17:26-36
God has not appointed His children to wrath. 1 Thess 5:9-10. God will deliver us from His wrath that will be poured out on the earth during the tribulation. The tribulation is wrath, not judgment. Rev 6:16-17. The church is not mentioned during the tribulation.
...but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:8-11
God’s own will be spared from the upcoming tribulation’s horrors. Rev 3:10
I don’t envy unbelievers the day after the rapture. God is in control, and Jesus is coming again.
