The Raptures
Bible Study Time 7-30-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 7-30-06
Last week we looked at the Day of the Lord and the fact that the Prophet Amos said that the Day of the Lord was not a day to which the unbelieving Jews should be looking forward. In fact he said that it would be a day of great darkness without a any brightness at all.
We saw that the Day of the Lord is a general reference to the time when Jesus Christ will rule and reign upon the earth, but Amos was pointing out the fact that the nation of Israel will have to go through the great tribulation period before the blessings of the kingdom come to the earth.
Jesus spoke of the great tribulation period in Matthew, Chapter 24, and said that when the world sees the antichrist proclaiming himself to be God in the temple in Jerusalem, those who are wise will run for cover:
Matthew 24:21 (NKJ)
21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
During the evil days of the tribulation period, God will allow the antichrist to destroy the unbelieving Jews while the believing remnant will be protected and prepared for the kingdom. The Lord Jesus went on in Matthew 24 to say that:
Matthew 24:29-31 (NKJ)
29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Here we see a rapture of believers at the end of the tribulation period. All of the people in all of the nations will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.
It is interesting to note that the only time the expression “Son of Man” is used in the Old Testament is in Daniel, Chapter 7, where Daniel sees into the future and sees “One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven” to establish a kingdom in which all the nations of the earth serve the Son of Man in an everlasting dominion.
It would seem then that when the Lord Jesus referred to Himself over and over again as the Son of Man, He was making a subtle reference to Daniel, Chapter 7, and to the fact that He was the promised Messiah who will someday come with the clouds of heaven to establish the everlasting kingdom.
In Matthew 24, the time for subtlety had passed as Jesus clearly stated the fact that after the tribulation period, all the world would see Him coming as the Son of Man with the clouds of heaven to establish the kingdom. He said that at that time His angels would sound a great trumpet and gather His elect from one end of heaven to the other.
In I Corinthians, Chapter 15, the Apostle Paul spoke as a minister of the New Covenant. He was anticipating the coming of the Son of Man to establish the New Covenant Kingdom. He said:
I Corinthians 15:50-53 (NKJ)
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Paul was no doubt excited to reveal this great mystery that when the Son of Man returns to gather His elect, He will catch them up into the clouds of heaven and give them a new, glorified body before He descends to the earth to establish the kingdom. Paul said that this was a mystery. It was something that Amos did not know about. It was something that Daniel did not know about, but God used the Apostle Paul to reveal this great mystery that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
It seems that most of the prophets simply envisioned the Messiah coming to the earth to establish the kingdom, but as spectacular as that would be in itself, it’s actually going to be even more spectacular. Paul said that when Christ returns, all believers will get a new, immortal body, whether they are dead or alive. Those living will be raptured and those in the grave will be resurrected. All believers will get a new, glorified body, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Paul said that this would all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. Well, when we look at the last trump of Revelation, Chapter 11, what do you think we find? We find a resurrection and a rapture. Let’s read in Revelation 11 and verse 15:
Revelation 11:15-18 (NKJ)
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: (This is the last of the seven trumpets) And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."
When the seventh trumpet sounds, that will signal the time when the dead will be judged. When God resurrects the bodies of all believers who have died, that will be a judgment in an of itself. Those who are left in the grave are those who will be resurrected after the thousand year reign of Christ to face the Great White Throne Judgment.
But at the last trump of the tribulation period, the dead will be judged and God will give rewards to the prophets and to the saints. Paul gives us more information about this event in I Thessalonians, Chapter 4, where he says:
I Thessalonians 4:15-17 (NKJ)
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, as the Son of Man comes down with the clouds of heaven, He will catch up the saints into the clouds to meet Him in the air. Sometime after Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians, he apparently heard that some false teachers were teaching that the resurrection and rapture had already taken place, so he wrote his second letter the Thessalonians to emphasize that the resurrection and rapture which is associated with the Day of the Lord cannot take place until after the antichrist is revealed. In II Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Paul said:
II Thessalonians 2:1-3 (NKJ)
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
All of these things that the Lord Jesus was talking about concerning the tribulation period, and all of these things that John was talking about concerning the seventh trumpet, and all of these things that Paul was talking about in these Acts-period epistles relate to the everlasting dominion which will be given to the Son of Man when He returns with the clouds of heaven.
All of the great men of faith in the Old Testament times knew about and longed for this everlasting kingdom, but it was not until after the apostasy of Solomon’s kingdom that the prophets began to reveal the need for a New Covenant. They said that the covenant given at Mt. Sinai did not have the spiritual power to deliver the people from sin and generate the conditions which would be necessary for the everlasting kingdom.
At the last supper, the Lord Jesus offered the wine and said, “This is my blood of the New Covenant.” After the resurrection of Christ, the Apostles went out as ministers of the New Covenant, but it seems that only the Apostle Paul realized the significance of the New Covenant. He is the only one who actually stated that he was a minister of the New Covenant.
During the time period covered by the book of Acts, Paul went out preaching as a minister of the New Covenant, and he said that one reason for the salvation of the Gentiles was to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy. In Romans 11, he said:
Romans 11:7,11 (NKJ)
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
Paul continued to hope and pray that the Jews would accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah so that they could receive the blessings of the kingdom at that time. He continued to look for the coming of the Son of Man who was to come with the clouds of heaven to catch up the Elect, but at the end of the Acts period, God revealed to Paul that the New Covenant had been rejected by the Jews.
God revealed to Paul that the return of the Lord to establish the kingdom had been postponed and that he was to reveal to the world God’s new program for the people of our present age. This program is the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ.
Therefore, after the Acts period, Paul never mentioned the New Covenant again, he never mentioned the earthly kingdom again, he never mentioned the tribulation period or the antichrist again. Instead, he revealed that the Church which is the Body of Christ is a new creation of God in which Jews and Gentiles are brought together in one body and that Christ is the Head of that body.
We today, as members of the Body of Christ, have a heavenly calling rather than an earthly calling. We have nothing to do with the earthly kingdom of Israel’s New Covenant. Rather, we have been seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Paul revealed this program for the Church in the epistles which he wrote after the Acts period. These epistles include Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians as well as his letters to Timothy and Titus. In Colossians, Paul said:
Colossians 1:24-26 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
Paul said that this mystery concerning the Church, the Body of Christ, completes the word of God. When John wrote about the tribulation period in the book of the Revelation, he did reveal some new details about the tribulation period, but he was not revealing a new program. He was adding to our knowledge of those programs which had already been revealed. He was actually giving the details of the time when the New Covenant program will come back into play and the kingdom will finally be established in and through the believing remnant of the nation of Israel.
But as Paul revealed the details concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ, he shared with us the fact that even before the tribulation period of the New Covenant program begins, the Church which is the Body of Christ will be taken out of this world to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Philippians 3:20 says:
Philippians 3:20-21 (NKJ)
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
In Colossians 3:1 Paul said:
Colossians 3:1-4 (NKJ)
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Therefore, as we approach the end times, we serve the Lord with confidence, preaching the good news that salvation is a free gift from God which is given to all who believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Well, I see our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
We saw that the Day of the Lord is a general reference to the time when Jesus Christ will rule and reign upon the earth, but Amos was pointing out the fact that the nation of Israel will have to go through the great tribulation period before the blessings of the kingdom come to the earth.
Jesus spoke of the great tribulation period in Matthew, Chapter 24, and said that when the world sees the antichrist proclaiming himself to be God in the temple in Jerusalem, those who are wise will run for cover:
Matthew 24:21 (NKJ)
21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
During the evil days of the tribulation period, God will allow the antichrist to destroy the unbelieving Jews while the believing remnant will be protected and prepared for the kingdom. The Lord Jesus went on in Matthew 24 to say that:
Matthew 24:29-31 (NKJ)
29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Here we see a rapture of believers at the end of the tribulation period. All of the people in all of the nations will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.
It is interesting to note that the only time the expression “Son of Man” is used in the Old Testament is in Daniel, Chapter 7, where Daniel sees into the future and sees “One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven” to establish a kingdom in which all the nations of the earth serve the Son of Man in an everlasting dominion.
It would seem then that when the Lord Jesus referred to Himself over and over again as the Son of Man, He was making a subtle reference to Daniel, Chapter 7, and to the fact that He was the promised Messiah who will someday come with the clouds of heaven to establish the everlasting kingdom.
In Matthew 24, the time for subtlety had passed as Jesus clearly stated the fact that after the tribulation period, all the world would see Him coming as the Son of Man with the clouds of heaven to establish the kingdom. He said that at that time His angels would sound a great trumpet and gather His elect from one end of heaven to the other.
In I Corinthians, Chapter 15, the Apostle Paul spoke as a minister of the New Covenant. He was anticipating the coming of the Son of Man to establish the New Covenant Kingdom. He said:
I Corinthians 15:50-53 (NKJ)
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Paul was no doubt excited to reveal this great mystery that when the Son of Man returns to gather His elect, He will catch them up into the clouds of heaven and give them a new, glorified body before He descends to the earth to establish the kingdom. Paul said that this was a mystery. It was something that Amos did not know about. It was something that Daniel did not know about, but God used the Apostle Paul to reveal this great mystery that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
It seems that most of the prophets simply envisioned the Messiah coming to the earth to establish the kingdom, but as spectacular as that would be in itself, it’s actually going to be even more spectacular. Paul said that when Christ returns, all believers will get a new, immortal body, whether they are dead or alive. Those living will be raptured and those in the grave will be resurrected. All believers will get a new, glorified body, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Paul said that this would all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. Well, when we look at the last trump of Revelation, Chapter 11, what do you think we find? We find a resurrection and a rapture. Let’s read in Revelation 11 and verse 15:
Revelation 11:15-18 (NKJ)
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: (This is the last of the seven trumpets) And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth."
When the seventh trumpet sounds, that will signal the time when the dead will be judged. When God resurrects the bodies of all believers who have died, that will be a judgment in an of itself. Those who are left in the grave are those who will be resurrected after the thousand year reign of Christ to face the Great White Throne Judgment.
But at the last trump of the tribulation period, the dead will be judged and God will give rewards to the prophets and to the saints. Paul gives us more information about this event in I Thessalonians, Chapter 4, where he says:
I Thessalonians 4:15-17 (NKJ)
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, as the Son of Man comes down with the clouds of heaven, He will catch up the saints into the clouds to meet Him in the air. Sometime after Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians, he apparently heard that some false teachers were teaching that the resurrection and rapture had already taken place, so he wrote his second letter the Thessalonians to emphasize that the resurrection and rapture which is associated with the Day of the Lord cannot take place until after the antichrist is revealed. In II Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Paul said:
II Thessalonians 2:1-3 (NKJ)
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
All of these things that the Lord Jesus was talking about concerning the tribulation period, and all of these things that John was talking about concerning the seventh trumpet, and all of these things that Paul was talking about in these Acts-period epistles relate to the everlasting dominion which will be given to the Son of Man when He returns with the clouds of heaven.
All of the great men of faith in the Old Testament times knew about and longed for this everlasting kingdom, but it was not until after the apostasy of Solomon’s kingdom that the prophets began to reveal the need for a New Covenant. They said that the covenant given at Mt. Sinai did not have the spiritual power to deliver the people from sin and generate the conditions which would be necessary for the everlasting kingdom.
At the last supper, the Lord Jesus offered the wine and said, “This is my blood of the New Covenant.” After the resurrection of Christ, the Apostles went out as ministers of the New Covenant, but it seems that only the Apostle Paul realized the significance of the New Covenant. He is the only one who actually stated that he was a minister of the New Covenant.
During the time period covered by the book of Acts, Paul went out preaching as a minister of the New Covenant, and he said that one reason for the salvation of the Gentiles was to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy. In Romans 11, he said:
Romans 11:7,11 (NKJ)
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
Paul continued to hope and pray that the Jews would accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah so that they could receive the blessings of the kingdom at that time. He continued to look for the coming of the Son of Man who was to come with the clouds of heaven to catch up the Elect, but at the end of the Acts period, God revealed to Paul that the New Covenant had been rejected by the Jews.
God revealed to Paul that the return of the Lord to establish the kingdom had been postponed and that he was to reveal to the world God’s new program for the people of our present age. This program is the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ.
Therefore, after the Acts period, Paul never mentioned the New Covenant again, he never mentioned the earthly kingdom again, he never mentioned the tribulation period or the antichrist again. Instead, he revealed that the Church which is the Body of Christ is a new creation of God in which Jews and Gentiles are brought together in one body and that Christ is the Head of that body.
We today, as members of the Body of Christ, have a heavenly calling rather than an earthly calling. We have nothing to do with the earthly kingdom of Israel’s New Covenant. Rather, we have been seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Paul revealed this program for the Church in the epistles which he wrote after the Acts period. These epistles include Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians as well as his letters to Timothy and Titus. In Colossians, Paul said:
Colossians 1:24-26 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
Paul said that this mystery concerning the Church, the Body of Christ, completes the word of God. When John wrote about the tribulation period in the book of the Revelation, he did reveal some new details about the tribulation period, but he was not revealing a new program. He was adding to our knowledge of those programs which had already been revealed. He was actually giving the details of the time when the New Covenant program will come back into play and the kingdom will finally be established in and through the believing remnant of the nation of Israel.
But as Paul revealed the details concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ, he shared with us the fact that even before the tribulation period of the New Covenant program begins, the Church which is the Body of Christ will be taken out of this world to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Philippians 3:20 says:
Philippians 3:20-21 (NKJ)
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
In Colossians 3:1 Paul said:
Colossians 3:1-4 (NKJ)
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Therefore, as we approach the end times, we serve the Lord with confidence, preaching the good news that salvation is a free gift from God which is given to all who believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Well, I see our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
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