The Rapture
The word rapture is not found in the bible verbatim ie there are synonymous words to this in our present word, but in the Greek word is Harpazo which means to grasp, or to lift. The word abduction was taken from the translation of harpazo into Latin which translates rapiemur or rapio meaning abduction. But even though there is no word abduction, there is biblical evidence that rapture is biblical truth. In prophetic chronology, the rapture is the next imminent biblical event that is to occur. Although it is one of the greatest prophetic events that have to happen however and curiously there are not many scriptures about it. Many erroneously take scriptures concerning the second coming as if it were the rapture, these two however are completely different. The abduction of the church will come without warning or warning (Jesus only opens the heavens so that we enter, does not come down to earth), will be suddenly, the second coming however (Jesus returns to the earth literally) is full of signs and Prodigies (we will abound on this, later).
1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17 Nor do we want you, brethren, to be ignorant of them that sleep, that ye sorrow not as others that have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 For this we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we who are living, who have remained until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to receive the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Luke 17:34 I tell you, that night there will be two in a bed; The one will be taken, and the other will be left
1 Corinthians 15: 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep; But we will all be transformed 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, to the final trumpet; For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
John 5:28 Marvel not at this; For the time will come when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, 29 and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life; But those who have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation. These scriptures evidence a rapture, or a sudden rapture. In the Old Testament we have scriptures about the resurrection of the dead that coincide with the rapture.
Isaiah 26: 19 Your dead shall live; Their corpses will rise again. Awake and sing, dwellers of the dust! For thy dew is as the dew of vegetables, and the earth shall give her dead.
Daniel 12: 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall be awakened, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting confusion.
3 The wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; And those who teach righteousness to the multitude, like the stars to everlasting eternity.
Hosea 13: 14 I will redeem them out of the hand of Sheol, and deliver them from death. O death, I will be your death; And I will be your destruction, O Sheol; Compassion will be hidden from my sight.
It is interesting to note that all the biblical quotations in the Old Testament mention the resurrection of the dead, but unlike the quotations in the New Testament does not mention the rapture of the church the reason for this is obvious: the Old Testament prophets did not They were given knowledge of the church, they only prophesied concerning Israel. Because this was a secret of a high rank that only God knew even angels, so that by dying on the cross, God makes the Gentiles joint-heirs with the promises given to Israel. Ephesians 3: 4 reading what you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, 5 mystery that in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit : 6 that the Gentiles are joint heirs and members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel
There are three positions or points of view of the abduction:
Pre-Tribulation: stipulates that the church will be raised or raptured before the great tribulation.
Mid-Tribulation: stipulates that the church will be raised in the midst of the great tribulation, ie after the first 3 1/2.
Post tribulation; Stipulates that the church will be raptured after the great tribulation
PS: I wrote this some time ago, and I decided to share it I think and hope it is a blessing.
Written By Robert Pool
Translated by Bruno Smith