The Rapture And Second Coming

Often times the rapture of the Church and second coming are used interchangeably. That is a mistake. These are two distinct events in the future regarding the Lord Jesus Christ and his Church.  Let’s break it down.

The English word rapture does not appear in the bible. It’s a transliteration of the Latin word Rapio which means to seize, snatch away with force. The Greek term is Harpázō which contain the same meaning, to spoil, to seize, to catch away.

The verses that deal with the rapture are I Corinthians 15:51-53 and I Thessalonians 4:16-18.

I Corinthians 15:51-53 – Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (a euphemism for death), but we shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. For this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and the mortality must put on immortality.

I Thessalonians 4:16-18 – 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 the meet the Lord in air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.

The apostle Paul is the writer of both sections of scripture. He’s describing what sequence of events that will take place during what we call today, the rapture of the Church. For those of us who are pre-tribulationalists such as the writer of this article, we believe Jesus will snatch his Church out of the earth prior to the time of the seven year period called the Tribulation, or as it’s called by the prophet Jeremiah, the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7).

The rapture I believe is seven years before the second coming of Jesus Christ. The interim is the tribulation.  Here some passages that describe the Lord’s second coming:

1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. 4 The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Psalms 110:1-4 (KJV)

1 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. 8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. 9 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

Zech 14:1-9 (KJV)

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matt 24:27-30 (KJV)

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2 Peter 3:10 (KJV)

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Jude 1:14-15 (KJV)

Other passages one can read are in the book of Revelation chapter 6, 11 and 19. 

The rapture is the catching away of the church into heaven. The dead in Jesus rise first; meaning their spirit will re-unite with their body from the grave which is now immortal, no longer subject to disease, sickness and death. It will be a perfect body; just like Jesus’ resurrected body (Philippians 3:21). That’s the blessed hope of the believer! If one died of cancer, the cancer is gone forever! If one died of aids, leukemia, diabetes, or any other disease, you’re forever healed. 

The living believers’ bodies will be changed instantly, and they’ll be caught, snatched up to meet the Lord in the air.  Jesus will not subdue his enemies and set up his kingdom at this time. The seven years to follow will be the most horrific in human history. The likes we’ve never witnessed before nor will ever see again (Matthew 24:21). It’s the time of God unleashing his holy wrath against the world for their sins. After this period is over, the Lord Jesus will return to destroy his enemies, and set up his kingdom on earth forever with his saints [(Revelation 19:11-21; Matthew 25:31-46) (i.e. the Church and those who believed and were saved during the tribulation, i.e. the seven years)].