“But i would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” —1st Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Anything Other Than a Pre-Tribulation Rapture Removes The Prophesied Element Of Surprise
The strongest evidence in the Bible of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture (that is, the Biblical doctrine that Jesus Christ will return FOR the saints BEFORE the 7-year Tribulation period) is the PROPHESIED ELEMENT OF SURPRISE! Plainly, the Lord Jesus taught that NO MAN KNOWS THE TIME of His return. Matthew 24:44, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Luke 12:40, “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.” Anything other than a Pretribulation Rapture (in time of event) totally REMOVES this Biblical element of surprise.
The Bible predicts the Rapture, telling us that it will be unpredictable, imminent, without warning, and will be visible only to THE SAINTS. When Jesus raised up from the dead, 1st Corinthians 15:6 teaches that the Lord appeared bodily to over 500 BRETHREN AT ONCE. The Lord did not appear to any unsaved people after His resurrection. The Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene, His 12 apostles, over 500 disciples at once and others. There is no record of any unsaved person seeing the Lord in His resurrected body.
Likewise, the Lord will only appear to the saints at the Rapture when He comes. The unsaved world, although no doubt they will be adversely affected to some degree by the Rapture, will not see Christ at that time. The world will see Christ 7-years later when He returns to the earth riding on a white horse of judgment at the Second Coming. I have listed the 28 contrasting differences between Christ Second Comingsuch as the fact that the saints will be GOING UP at the Rapture, but they will be COMING DOWN at the Second Coming.
Granted, the Rapture is a more difficult doctrine in the Bible to discern, simply because it requires a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the chronological order of prophetic events. God created time as a mean of letting His children know what will happen next on His prophetic time line. The Lord calls us His friends, as He clarified in John 15:15, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” The Lord as our friend is telling us what He is going to do in the future. What an awesome Savior!
I marvel when I think about how our omnipotent God chose to live in my body as a Christian believer, being as close as is possible with me as His child. Jesus wanted to be so close to each of His children, that He planned before we were even conceived to live within our very being, uniting with our very soul. 1st Corinthians 3:16-17 teaches that the believer's human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. My human heart and mind cannot fathom such awesome love, to think that the God Who spoke the universe into existence, would choose and make it possible to live within my very body continually, never to leave me (1st John 4:4; James 13:5).
There is probably not a more controversial doctrine than the Rapture of the saints in the Bible. Skeptics love to point out that the word “Rapture” is not found in the Bible, but neither is the word “Bible.” So why do we use the term Bible? The word “Rapture” does NO injustice to the Scriptures. The teaching of the Rapture is Biblical. The word “Rapture” means “to be caught away,” which is plainly taught in 1st Thessalonians 4:17. Many critics of the Rapture doctrine have stressed this fact over and over, that is, that the word “rapture” is not found in the Bible. However, the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible either. Nevertheless, the word “Godhead” most certainly is found in the Bible (if you have a non-corrupted Bible). I prefer the word “Godhead” for this simple reason. This is why modern Bible butcherers completely removed the word “Godhead,” so Satan could attack the deity of Christ.
