Skip to main content

Will there be a rapture?

Are we going to be 'raptured', that is: snatched away to leave this earth?

There is basically only one key verse in the bible that would suggest believers will be flying through the sky to be taken away from earth when Jesus comes back. That's in 1 Thessalonians 4.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who remain, 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. 18 Therefore, Or encouragecomfort one another with these words.

The first time Jesus came as Messiah He was riding on a donkey to ride into Jerusalem and proclaim He was the promised King, son of David. The second time He will come with the clouds according to Acts 1:11 and Daniel 7:13.  

1 Thess 4:17 says we will be together with Jesus forever. How is this possible, if WE leave earth and Jesus comes here to stay? Right now WE are on earth and Jesus is in heaven. But then we switch places? We go to heaven and Jesus goes to the earth? Then we are still not together forever.  

When Jesus rode on the donkey to enter Jerusalem, all the people came out to greet Him. Paul says here that when Jesus comes back for the second time with the clouds, we will go out to greet him there too. It means we do not leave earth, but we just go out to bring Jesus in. Thus when Jesus comes back with the clouds, we meet and greet Him and we all go back to earth to stay.

Second, have a look at Efesians 2. 

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your offenses and sins, 2 in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Exactly the same word 'air' is used as in 1 Thessalonians 4. Who is this 'prince of the AIR? Since we only know of kings of lands. It is satan, who is the prince of the spiritual world on earth (not in heaven). As you see, the word air not only means the air we breath, but can also have a spiritual meaning.


Now for billions of people to meet Jesus physically in the sky... that is going to be a logistic nightmare. Rather Paul seems to suggest that we will meet and greet Jesus to bring Him in, and that we are going to be spiritually connected and united with Him. It means Jesus will be King not just in heaven, but also in the air and on our land from the moment He comes back.

Conclusion: we are not going to be snatched away from earth, but from death. When Jesus comes back He will stay and we will be with Him forever on a new earth.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 13 cannot be properly understood without Daniel 7

In Revelation 13 it is talked about a beast coming from the sea (verse 1), a beast coming from the earth ( verse 11) and and a living image (or idol) of the beast (verse 14) that has to be worshipped as a god (verse 15) but in fact is a human (verse 18). Beast from the sea In Daniel 7 four beasts come from the sea: Daniel 7:3 And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. They look like a lion, bear and leopard, but the fourth is unspecified (verses 4-7). In verse 23 it says those beasts are KINGDOMS: Daniel 7:23 “This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush it. Those kingdoms can be identified as the Babylonian empire, the Persian empire, the Greek empire of Alexander the Great which was divided among his four generals and the Roman Empire. The beast from the sea in Revelation 14 consists of a lion, b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Matthew 24 can only be understood when synced with Luke 17 and 21

According to tradition Mark gathered quotes and events from Jesus when Peter spoke. As such and because Mark was not a witness himself of these events, the result is not very chronological. Nevertheless Mark did a good job, because Matthew who was a witness follows him to a very large extent, but he did not change a lot regarding to the chronology either. But this was confusing at some points, therefor Luke says in the first four verses of his report, that he went through the previous written material (as well as adding new things from witnesses) to put it into a consistent and chronological order. One of the problems with Mark is his chapter 13 and Matthew's chapter 24. Quotes from Jesus about the destruction of Jerusalem and of the second coming of Christ were mixed together. Therefore Luke splits those into two. Chapter 17 is only about the coming of Christ and chapter 21 first is about the destruction of Jerusalem and then switches to Jesus' second coming. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why most of Revelation is not chronological

There are many reasons why Revelation should not be treated as an exclusively chronological timeline of events. There is some chronology, but there are also a lot of intertwined visions with overlaps. For instance the Beast from the Sea in chapter 13 is the Roman empire. But the Whore riding the Dragon in chapter 17 with it's seven kings is also a depiction of the same Roman empire. Next, the vision of the Woman with the 12 Stars (chapter 12) is about (true) Israel giving birth to Jesus and being persecuted by the dragon (devil/Roman Empire). It ENDS with the Woman being kept safe for 1260 days. The Vision of the  Two Witnesses  (chapter 11) STARTS with a period of 42 months or 1260 days. Whatever your interpretation is of the Vision of the Two Witnesses (chapter 11), it happens AFTER that of the Woman with the 12 Stars (chapter 12), but it is written BEFORE it. There are many repetitions. Another reason is that there are many repetitions of the same event. ...
Post a Comment
Read more