Rapture
Definition: The belief that faithful Christians will be bodily caught up from the earth, suddenly taken out of the world, to be united with the Lord “in the air.” The word “rapture” is understood by some persons, but not by all, to be the meaning of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The word “rapture” does not occur in the inspired Scriptures.
When the apostle Paul said that Christians would be “caught up” to be with the Lord, what subject was being discussed?
1 Thess. 4:13-18, RS: “We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep [“those who sleep in death,” NE; “those who have died,” TEV, JB], that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (Evidently some members of the Christian congregation in Thessalonica had died.
Some seem to have misunderstood Paul and thought all believers would live until Christ returns. When some died, the question arose.
Paul encouraged the survivors to comfort one another with the resurrection hope. He reminded them that Jesus was resurrected after his death; so, too, at the coming of the Lord, those faithful Christians among them who had died would be raised to be with Christ.)
Who are the ones that will be ‘caught up in the clouds,’ as stated at 1 Thessalonians 4:17?
Verse 15 explains that they are faithful ones “who are left until the coming of the Lord,” that is, they are still living at the time of Christ’s coming. Will they ever die?
Paul answers your question in 1 Cor 15:51-52:
"Listen, I tell you a mystery (something never before revealed).
We will not all sleep, but we
will all be changed."
Some will not experience death and the grave, but
all believers, whether alive when Jesus comes again or in the grave,
will receive changed, imperishable, immortal, physical bodies fit for heaven.
According to Romans 6:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 15:35, 36, 44 (quoted on pages 314, 315), they must die before they can gain heavenly life. But there is no need for them to remain in the death state awaiting Christ’s return. They will instantly be “caught up,” “in the twinkling of an eye,” to be with the Lord.—1 Cor. 15:51, 52, RS; also Revelation 14:13.
Will Christ appear visibly on a cloud and then take away faithful Christians into the heavens while the world looks on?
Did Jesus say whether the world would see him again with their physical eyes?
The answer to that question is seen in Ac 1:9-11 and 1 Thess 4:16.
Ac 1:9-11: ". . .he was taken up
before their very eyes, and a
cloud hid him from sight. . .'why do you stand there looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in
the same way you have seen him go into heaven.' "
The
same way would be with
clouds, and
seen physically
by human eyes.
1 Thess 4:16: ". . .the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a
loud command, with the
voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. . ."
This scenario does not describe a secret, silent, or invisible coming.
It describes a very manifest,
very audible, and very visible coming.
John 14:19, RS: “Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you [his faithful disciples] will see me; because I live, you will live also.” (Italics added.) (Compare 1 Timothy 6:16.)
What is the meaning of the Lord’s ‘descending from heaven’?
Could the Lord “descend from heaven,” as stated at 1 Thessalonians 4:16, without being visible to physical eyes? In the days of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, Jehovah said that he was going to “go down to see” what the people were doing. (Gen. 18:21, RS) But when Jehovah made that inspection, no human saw him, although they did see the angelic representatives that he sent. (John 1:18) Similarly, without having to return in the flesh, Jesus could turn his attention to his faithful followers on earth to reward them.
In what sense, then, will humans “see” the Lord “coming in a cloud”?
Jesus foretold: “Then they will see the Son of man [Jesus Christ] coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:27, RS) In no way does this statement or similar ones in other texts contradict what Jesus said as recorded at John 14:19. Consider: At Mount Sinai, what occurred when God ‘came to the people in a thick cloud,’ as stated at Exodus 19:9? (RS) God was invisibly present; the people of Israel saw visible evidence of his presence, but none of them actually saw God with their eyes. So, too, when Jesus said that he would come “in a cloud,” he must have meant that he would be invisible to human eyes but that humans would be aware of his presence. They would “see” him with their mental eyes, discerning the fact that he was present. (For further comments, see the main heading “Return of Christ.”
Is it possible for Christians to be taken to heaven with their physical bodies?
1 Cor. 15:50, RS: “I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”
To rightly divide 1 Cor 15:50, an understanding is required of Paul's usage of
"
flesh and blood"-- is the earthly, perishable,
corrupt,
weak,
sinful,
mortal body;
"
perishable" -- is the same as "flesh and blood";
"
imperishable" -- transformed
incorrupt,
sinless,
immortal body fit for heaven;
"
natural body" -- the same as "flesh and blood" and "perishable";
"
spiritual body" --Paul
never uses the word "spiritual" to denote the non-corporeal, non-physical, or non-material. He
always uses it to denote the province of the Holy Spirit. See his use of the word "spiritual" in
Ro 1:11, 7:14, 15:27; 1 Co 2:13,15, 3:1, 9:11, 10:3,4, 12:1, 14:1,37; Gal 6:1: Eph 1:3, 5:19, 6:12; Col 1:9, 3:16.
So when Paul says "flesh and blood" cannot inherit the kingdom of God, he is saying that
corrupt,
weak,
sinful, immortal bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He is not saying there will be no bodies in heaven.
In Paul's usage, the
spiritual body is a
physical body.
Likewise, Paul's analogy in 1 Co 15:35-44 on the relation of the seed to the plant shows
both the
continuity between the natural body and the spiritual body (i.e., both are physical),
and the radical
change between the natural body and the spiritual body (i.e., from corrupt to incorrupt, from sinful to sinless, from mortal to immortal).
But as the plant is a
transformation of the seed, and not a
departure from the seed, so the spiritual body is a
transformation of the physical body, and not a
departure from the physical body.
So again, Paul is not saying there are no physical bodies in heaven, he is saying the natural physical body will be transformed into the spiritual physical body.
Does the experience of the prophet Elijah contradict this? Not at all. It must be understood in the light of Jesus’ clear statement centuries later: “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” (John 3:13, RS) Although Elijah was seen as he “went up by a whirlwind into heaven,” this does not mean that he went into the spirit realm. Why not? Because he is later reported as sending a letter of reproof to the king of Judah. (2 Ki. 2:11, RS; 2 Chron. 21:1, 12-15) Before humans invented airplanes, Jehovah there used his own means (a fiery chariot and a whirlwind) to lift Elijah off the ground into the heaven where the birds fly and to transport him to another place.—Compare Genesis 1:6-8, 20.
