What is the Rapture?
The rapture is the moment when the Lord Jesus comes down from heaven and takes His own to Himself. He raises the dead in Christ first. He changes living believers in an instant. Both are caught up together in the clouds to meet Him in the air, and so to be with Him forever. The rapture is His coming for His people, not His public appearing to the world.
What the word "rapture" means
The word "rapture" means to be snatched away, and it covers two groups of people at one moment. Michael Hardt sets out what happens to each:
Michael HardtThe rapture at which Christ will come to "snatch away" (such is the meaning of the word rapture) all true believers: those who have died will be raised and those who are alive will be transformed, and both shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17).
The term itself is not found in the Bible, and J. T. Mawson explains why he still uses it, and what it must not be taken to mean:
J. T. Mawson"Appearing" is a Biblical word; "rapture" is not... But it is a convenient and effective word. Wherever I have used it, it stands not for a rapture of the mind or spirit, but for the actual, bodily catching away of the saints of God to meet the Lord in the air.
What happens at the rapture
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 describes the rapture:
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, 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, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (ESV)
Leslie M. Grant draws attention to who the descent is aimed at, and to the mood it should create:
Leslie M. GrantThis comes about by the Lord's sudden descent from heaven. He comes not in judgement, not to appear to the world, but simply and only for believers... This is the rapture, and it is a prospect to fill the heart with comfort.
How fast the change will be
Living believers are not raised from death; they are changed. F. B. Hole marks how fast that change will be, and what its speed rules out:
F. B. HoleWe shall not all "sleep" (i.e. die) but we shall all be changed, whether alive or dead at the moment when the Lord comes for His saints. The change will involve the swallowing up of all that is mortal or corruptible about us, in life and in victory. We shall "all be changed," you notice, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" — not in many, or at least several, different moments. That is what a partial rapture, or a series of partial raptures, would mean.
How the rapture differs from the appearing
J. T. Mawson separates the rapture from the appearing by two small words, "for" and "with":
J. T. MawsonIt would not be right to say that the Coming Again of the Lord Jesus will be two comings. Yet Scripture makes it clear that it will be in two stages. The first will be His coming FOR His saints: they are to be "caught up" to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:16-17). This is known as the Rapture. The second, His coming WITH them, is called the Appearing — that is, when He shows Himself to the world.
Who will be caught up
Every believer goes at the rapture. J. T. Mawson works this from the wording of 1 Thessalonians 4:
J. T. Mawson1 Thess. 4:15-16 divides the saints into two classes only, those who are "the dead in Christ," and "we who are alive and remain." There are no saints outside those two classes, and they are to be "CAUGHT UP TOGETHER." None are to be left behind. One glorious, eternally united company will be caught up to be for ever with the Lord. They go not because they have been faithful, but because the sovereign grace of the Father has made them fit for that destiny, on the sure basis of His all-atoning blood.
Arno Clemens Gaebelein answers those who make some spiritual attainment the entrance requirement:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinEvery child of God, no matter how ignorant, how weak in himself, how imperfect in walk and service, is nevertheless a child of God and as such belongs to the Father's house... There is no such thing taught in the New Testament as a "piece-meal rapture."
Where the rapture takes believers
The destination is the Father's house. J. A. Trench notes what the Lord did there before coming for His own:
J. A. TrenchHe mentions, for the first time in Scripture, the Father's House... and connects with it His going to prepare a place for His own, the emphasis lying in "I go" to prepare it... In going there on the ground of accomplished redemption He fitted it as the place for us, and us for the place.
What difference the hope makes now
Waiting for the Lord changes how a person lives. H. H. Snell calls it a purifying hope and refuses to fix a date:
H. H. SnellWe cannot be truly hoping for the Lord's return from heaven and walking carelessly at the same time... If we are looking for Christ, we cannot tie ourselves to what we know He will disapprove of... The Lord Jesus Christ may come tonight. I do not say He will; to say that would not be according to Scripture. But I say He may come.
Summary
- Snatched away — "Rapture" means the actual, bodily catching away of believers to meet the Lord in the air. The word is not in the Bible; the event is, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17.
- For, then with — The Lord comes for His saints at the rapture, and with them at the appearing. That is two stages of one return, not two comings.
- All, in a moment — The Lord raises dead believers and changes living ones "in the twinkling of an eye." One moment, one company, no partial rapture.
- Grace, not attainment — No saint is left behind. The ground of being taken is His all-atoning blood and the Father's grace, not personal faithfulness.
- Home, and holiness now — The destination is the Father's house, where Christ went to prepare a place for His own. Waiting for Him purifies the one who waits.