Rock Chuck,
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, and Revelation 4:1 describe the same event that immediately precedes the Great Tribulation.
We won't find the English word "rapture" in the KJV Bible. But we do find the event. The Greek word used to describe the catching away of the saints in 1 Thessalonians 4 is "harpazo". It means catching away, seizing by force.
Jesus is coming to "catch away" His children! It will be in the twinkling of an eye, time indivisible. Scripture is full of facts about this.
John Darby didn't invent the Rapture 200 years ago. Jesus did before time began! Psalm 119:89
John 14:1-3 Jesus said He is preparing a place for us. He WILL come again to receive us unto Himself. Why? To shield us from the wrath to come. This world will be judged. Sinners will be damned. The earth and everything in it will burn with a fervent heat. THEN He will bring down a new Heaven.
Whether living in body or sleeping in the grave, I am going when He calls!!!
I LOVE JESUS!!!
You are correct, sir, There will be a rapture and I believe it is coming soon. But what is soon. Only a word, as is rapture.
Rapture is not a word that is found in Scripture. But it is used to describe a very biblical doctrine; the return of Christ and the gathering up of his elect. This doctrine is central to the hope that we have as believers, or should have. There are many passages throughout the NT that speak to it.
There are three passages in the New Testament that do provide us with explicit information about this event and over a dozen more.
Matthew 24:30-31 is a portion of Jesus’ teaching about his return. In this passage he says that all the peoples of the earth will see him coming in the clouds. And that with a trumpet call, he will send his angels to gather his elect from throughout the earth.
In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul defends the future resurrection of believers. And in verses 50-55 he describes what that will be like. It will happen in a moment, at the last trumpet. When the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, and the living believers will be changed.
The third passage is also from Paul and is in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. In this passage Paul is seeking to encourage the believers in Thessalonica concerning some of their members who had died. He assures them that the Lord will return from heaven, along with a trumpet call. And when that happens, the dead in Christ will be raised, and those still alive will be caught up together with them.
