The Rapture Special Lesson 1

	Review--

	What is the Rapture?  

	1 Th. 4:16-17 where we saw the Greek verb for snatched away and then the word rapture comes from the Latin Vulgate. rapio

	Then we looked at wider context of this passage from 1 Thess. 4:13-18 and saw that this passage was about resurrection and that the being “snatched away” was what happens to believers at the coming (parousia) of the Lord (15). 

	We then looked at the echelons of resurrections as delineated by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:23-24

	Christ the first fruits

	Believers at his coming (parousia)

	Those at the end-- that would be the millennial believers in mortal bodies and then we move into the eternal new heavens and earth. 

	We looked at 1 Cor. 15:50-53, where it described how the mortal body changes to the immortal. That is the mystery there. 

	Then we started answering the biggest question about the rapture. 
	When is the Rapture--Resurrection?  

	We started comparing the scenes of the Second Coming with the Rapture scenes because there are those who say they are not the same event and that is good reason to have the rapture come before the Second Coming. 

	Then we started looking at the Second Coming passages that give various details the Second Coming
	Is. 13:9-12  where we saw this time as
		the day of the Lord with wrath and anger, 
		sinners destroy   (9)
		supernatural darkness (10)
		world punished for its evil and iniquity (11)
		people dying off and becoming rare  (12) 

	Zech. 12:3-14:21, Siege of Jerusalem   
		On that day (12:3,4,6,8,9,11;13:1,2,4 continues in ch. 14)
		day of battle, LORD fighting against the nations (3)
		On that day, LORD standing on the Mount of Olives, (4)
		the fleeing of the remnant (5)
		Lord comes with all his holy ones (5)
		supernatural darkness and then light (6-7)
		then looking forward to the Millennium when the 		LORD will be king over all the earth. (8-9)

	Joel 2:30-32 
		Cosmic wonders   (30)
		supernatural darkness (31)
		day of the LORD  (31)
		deliverance for survivors whom the LORD calls (32)

	Joel 3:14-16
		day of the LORD (14)
		supernatural darkness (15)
		LORD roars from Zion, heavens, earth trembles (16)
		LORD a refuge for his people, stronghold for Israel (16)

	Of course there are a number of other Second Coming passages in other prophets like Jeremiah and more in Isaiah. 

	No where do we see the rapture or even a resurrection mentioned. 
	Is that because it does not happen?  No, it is because that is not what the Israelites need to hear at this point. They want to see deliverance and when they think of deliverance, they think in terms of being alive on earth at that time. And it is answered as we say on the day of the LORD when the LORD brings judgment and delivers his people. 

	Now let’s move to the New Testament

	When our Lord comes the first time, he tells his disciples when that gathering will be. 

	Matt. 24:29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those 	days The Sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (30) “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. (31) And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

		The passage clearly says that after the tribulation of those days-- darkness--then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky-- tribes mourn seeing the Son of man coming on the clouds (30) then sends out his angels and gathers up his elect from one end of heaven to the other (31).

	Mark 13:24 ¶ “But in those days, after that tribulation, the 	sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
	Mark 13:25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and 		the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
	Mark 13:26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming 	in clouds with great power and glory.
	Mark 13:27 And then he will send out the angels and 			gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the 		earth to the ends of heaven.

	Notice that when the LORD talked about his Second Coming, he speaks of the gathering of the elect.
		
	Luke 21:25  “And there will be signs in the sun and moon 	and stars, and on the earth nations will be in distress, 	anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves,
	(26) people fainting from fear and from the expectation of 	what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens 	will be shaken. (27) And then they will see the Son of Man 	coming in a cloud with power and great glory.(28) Now 	when these things begin to take place, straighten up and 	raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing 	near.”
						                                                                    		One part of that redemption is the resurrection of 	our bodies. 

	Rom. 8:23  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having 	the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within 	ourselves waiting eagerly adoption as sons, the redemption 	of our body.

	Even Luke in writing does not mention the gathering but he does say get ready for it-- “your redemption is drawing near.”
	Then Luke tells of Jesus speaking of the fig tree. So--
	
	Even Parallel Passages Do Not Have the Same Detail

	Now that we have seen that many Second Coming passages have different details than others. Let’s go the epistles and look at them in detail with that understanding. 

	We started on the first one when we looked at 1 Thess. 4:13-18 where he was writing in response to the issue of what happens to those Christians who have already died in relation to his coming. Obviously Paul was not trying to give a Second Coming description either in brief or detail. Those things had been taught. 
	But in the next chapter of 1 Thess. the issue of when this rapture-resurrection comes up. Let’s pick it up from 1Th. 4:16.  

	Paul has just finished writing the end of chapter 4.

	4:16  Because the Lord himself, will come down with a 			command shout, with the voice of the archangel and 			with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will 			rise up first,  

	4:17  then we who are alive, who are remaining will be 		snatched away together with them in the clouds for a 			meeting of the Lord in the air; And so we will always be 		with the Lord. 

	4:18  Therefore comfort one another with these words. 

					1 Thessalonians 5

	5:1  Now as to the times and the periods, brethren, 				you have no need of anything to be written to you.
 		
	V. 2 tells then why he does not need to write them--

	5:2  For you know accurately that the day of the Lord 			will come just as a thief in the night. (3) When they are 		saying, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes 	on them just like labor pains on a pregnant woman and 		they will not escape. 

	The same day of the Lord we saw in our Second Coming passages above.							                                          
	The idea of a thief in the night is the surprise and fear that comes with a thief’s sudden appearance (Matt. 24:42-43). 

While the antichrist is ruling the earth from Jerusalem and the general unbeliever population sides with him and his globalist anti-Christian policies they are saying “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes on them. They are living the lie in unreality. 
This sudden destruction comes hard and fast as a pregnant woman suddenly gets a labor pain.  

 It was often the case as it is today that those who promote the lie are making false claims and the phenomenon is that they really believe it. That is deception--sometimes self-deception.  
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Speaking of false prophets, Ezekiel speaks for the LORD:

	Ezek. 13:10 Precisely because they have misled my people, 	saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when 	the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with 			whitewash, (to make it look sturdy when not)
									                                                    
	Jer. 6:13 	“For from the least to the greatest of them,
			everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
	 		and from prophet to priest,
			everyone deals falsely.
	Jer. 6:14 	They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
			saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
			when there is no peace.
							  		ESV

Think of the millions right now in the U.S. who believe that everything is fine-- economy, government growth, a woke military, trans-movement etc. They believe the lie of socialism and globalism, which is right down the path of the antichrist. 
Their minds and lives are dissipated (Lu. 21:34). 

This is in the same passage we saw Jesus describing his Second Coming we saw earlier where it said --

	21:28b  raise your heads, because your redemption is 	drawing near.”

	Luke 21:34  “But watch out for yourselves so that your 			hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and 			drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not 		come on you suddenly like a trap;

	Luke 21:35  for it will come upon all those who dwell on the 	face of all the earth.

	Luke 21:36  “But stay on the alert at all times, praying 		that you may have strength to escape all these things that 	are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of 			Man.”

Even though there will be judgments falling around the earth, many will carry on their lives like there is no God, or accountability or judgment coming. 

Believers won’t be saying “peace and safety.” The antichrist’s regime and his rulers are out to capture and kill believers.  
The day of the Lord is a period of time when both judgments and the Second Coming occurs (Rev. 3:3;16:15).

	Back to 1 Thess. 5

	1 Th. 5:4  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the 		day should overtake you like a thief; (5) for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; (6) So then we should not be sleeping as the rest, but must stay alert and sober.(7) For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 

Believers are not in the dark to be suddenly surprised because they know that when they see the last signs of judgments that Christ is about to arrive. Besides the bowl judgments they expect to see the armies of the world converging on Israel and Jerusalem. Believers are raising their heads because their redemption is drawing near (Lu. 21:28). 

	5:8  But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having 		put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a 				helmet, the hope of salvation. (9) Because God has not destined us for wrath but 	for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (10) who died for us, so that whether we are awake or 	asleep, we will live together with Him.

	As day people, we know what is going on. We have our spiritual armor on-- holding the line-- of faith. We are not destined for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (10). We will not face the final wrath at the Second Coming, nor will the wrath of the bowl be poured out on us. Those are directed at unbelievers, those who worship the beast. 
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Second Thessalonians provide us some of the clearest passages on the timing of the rapture. 
	By reading through the first letter to the Thessalonians, we see that they are a church which is hungry for truth. For that the world and the devil were going after them. They were suffering. 
	Picture yourself as a Thessalonian, you are suffering under great persecution. Paul writes you. 

	2 Th. 1:3  We ought to always thank God for you brethren, 	as is worthy because your faith flourishes and the love of 		each one of you all to one another is increasing. (4) 				Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the 		churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the 		persecutions and afflictions you are enduring— (5) This is		evidence of a righteous judgment of God so that you be 		counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are 		suffering, 

	3 Their wearing their breastplate of faith and love (1Th. 5:8) and demonstrating their perseverance and faith during persecutions. 

	5 The proof that they were worthy of the Kingdom of God was their endurance against suffering. That was evidence of God’s righteous judgment toward them. 

	V. 6ff. addresses the judgment coming on their persecutors.   

	2 Th. 1:6 if (since) indeed, it is right for God to pay back 	those who are afflicting you with affliction (7) and to give 	relief to you who are being afflicted along with us, at the 	revelation (apokalupsei-n.) of the Lord Jesus from heaven 	with his mighty angels (8) with flaming fire inflicting 	vengeance to those 	who do not know God and do not obey 	the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (9) These will pay the 	penalty—eternal destruction, away from the presence of 	the Lord and from the glory of His power, (10) when he 	comes to be glorified in his saints and be marveled at 	among all who have believed on that day— for our 	testimony to you was believed. 

	The word revelation. 
	In Luke 17:24, Jesus is describing how his return will be obvious. 
	
	Luke 17:24  For just like the lightning flashes and lights 		up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of 		Man be in his day. (26)And just as it was in the days of 		Noah, so will it 	be in the days of the Son of Man. (27)  			People were eating, they were drinking, they were 				marrying, they were being given in marriage— up to the 		day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and 			destroyed them all. (28) Likewise, just as it was in the days 	of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, 	planting and building, (29) but on the day Lot went out 		from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and 	destroyed them all. (30) so will it be on the day when the 		Son of Man is revealed. (apokaluptetai v.)  

	Same words, similar description -- same event. 
		This is the same event we have in  2 Thess. 1:6 ff.

	In v. 6-8, Paul writes about payback for their suffering and then when they will get relief.  This is the rapture/resurrection.  
	The relief comes at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his mighty angels (8) with flaming fire (judgment) inflicting vengeance to those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

	9-10 further defines when this happens. 

	8-9 with flaming fire--judgment 

	10  when?  he comes to be glorified in his saints . . .

	So those afflicting you are going to get paid back for what 	they are doing to  you and you get relief-- When does this 	happen?  at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven 	with his mighty angels. That is Second Coming 	description (Zech. 14:5-7; Matt. 16:27; 24:31; 25:31).

	Matt. 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his 		angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay 		each person according to what he has done.

	Matt. 24:31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and 	all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious 	throne.

	It also best describes  1 Thess. 1:10
	
	1 Th. 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he 	raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us out of 		the coming wrath.

	It is a reasonable question to ask-- but that return did not happen to Thessalonians of that first generation of Christians. 
	So was Paul misleading them?  No-- He specified when he said in 7b “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his mighty angels with flaming fire.” 
	But the application for them as it is us-- is know that relief comes when we are with the Lord. Here it is referring to the ultimate relief that comes when Christ returns. It would be directly applicable if we are of that generation.