Rapture Review (part 1)

Last Sunday at Grace Church we completed a five week study on the rapture of the church. This study was very well received and produced a lot of interest. In fact, our attendance for the first five Sundays following Christmas this year was up 14% over the first five Sundays after Christmas one year ago and up 39% over the first five Sundays after Christmas two years ago. Before we move on to our new February series on Sunday mornings, I thought it would be good to do a little review about the rapture. So in today and tomorrow’s blog entries I have given brief answers to 22 review questions about the rapture. For more details on these simply go to the sermon page at our church website (www.lgbc.org) and listen to any or all of these five messages under the series title, Back in the Future which took place from December 31st through January 28th.

What is the rapture? It is a coming event in which Jesus will return in the air for His church.

Who made the first promise of the rapture? Jesus did when He said that He would come again to receive His followers unto Himself so that where He was they would be also.

Is the word “rapture” in the Bible? The word “rapture” is not in our English Bibles. It is a transliteration of the Latin word which is translated “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

What main passages in the Bible speak of the rapture? John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; and 1 Corinthians 15:51-58.

Is the rapture the same thing as the second coming of Christ? The second coming of Christ is a different event that happens 7 years after the rapture, at the end of the tribulation, when Jesus returns to the earth with His church to set up His 1,000 year kingdom on earth.

When will the rapture occur? The rapture could happen at any time. Though we cannot set an exact date for the rapture, there is solid Biblical evidence showing that it will occur prior to the 7-year tribulation on earth.

Will the rapture include believers who have already died? At the rapture the bodies of all dead believers in Christ will be resurrected.

What happens to believers today when they die? Their soul goes immediately to be with the Lord but their bodies remain here on earth until the resurrection at the rapture.

Why does the Bible refer to dead believers as being asleep? The Bible refers just to the bodies of dead believers as asleep because the bodies of dead believers are in a temporary state of repose.