October 18, 2006 - What You Need To Understand: About The Rapture

Audio Version

October 18, 2006By Rev. Steve Bass

INTRODUCTION

• Riding home after playing golf last Friday
• Wanted to talk about the game of my life
• Bill Henderson brought up the Rapture
• What can I say? It’s an occupational hazard
• Christians are incredibly interested in the Rapture
• Note:
• Word Rapture never appears in Bible
• Odd people get so keyed-up about it
• Why this happens:
• People are curious
• People are confused
• No reason to be curious- no reason to be confused
• God wants you- God expects you
• To know the truth about the Rapture of the Saints
• Before we get started let’s define two words:
• Rapture- Means to seize quickly or suddenly- transported to a state of extreme happiness or joy
• Saint-
• Not someone canonized by RCC
• Biblically a saint is someone who knows Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord
• Rapture of saints- A specific time when all born-again Christians will be suddenly taken from this land of sorrow to be with God

SCRIPTURE BACKGROUND

• Read 1 Thessalonians 5:4-9
• Paraphrase: Because you belong to Christ your thinking about these matters should be clear-headed and sober. God wants you to know the truth- and let the truth set you free
• Note that most of the theories about Rapture (pre- post, etc.) have only been around about 100 years
• Some churches identify themselves by the doctrinal theory they subscribe to
• General observation about people who become so obsessed about Rapture
• They’re spending too much time studying timelines, etc
• When they should spend more time focusing on what Bible actually says
• Discuss the First Coming/ Second Coming reality
• First Coming-
• Jews spent centuries dreaming of- and being taught about it
• When Jesus came they missed it- turns out their theories had been all wrong
• Second Coming-
• Everybody will get it wrong
• But God will get it right
• Note how you approach text as if never read- never heard any of theories
• Take it at face value
• What would you know?
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
• Ignorant-
• To be uninformed
• To lack understanding
• Clearest teaching in New Testament on Rapture
• Not coincidental- this is what God wants you to know
• Stay focused on it
• "We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him."
• Notice what Paul is doing here:
• Tying saving faith in Christ
• Died
• Rose Again
• To a belief in the Second Coming
• Normal to be interested in Second Coming
• It’s not some sort of pipe dream
• It’s an absolute- etched in stone- event that will have a direct impact on each and every one of us
• Note problem for Thessalonian Christians
• Paul taught them about Rapture- taught them to hope in Second Coming
• Then loved ones started to die-
• What a tragedy to die before Jesus Comes Again
• Their untimely death caused them to miss out on all the excitement
• Paul says that won’t be a problem. In fact- read 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17
• This is one of the most difficult passages of Scripture in the Bible
• Reason: There seems to be a breakdown in logic between verse 14 and verse 16
• In 14.../ In 16...
• It says that people who have died knowing Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord will accompany Christ back to Earth
• It says the dead in Christ- people who have died knowing Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord- will rise first- or be resurrected
• Problem:
• If you’re with Christ in the air- which indicates you’re alive already
• How can you be resurrected- or rise first?
• Some Christians- Martin Luther for one- have resolved by expressing a belief in soul sleep
• Theory: When you die your physical body is buried and your soul sleeps in the grave until Jesus comes
• Compare the soul asleep to being under general anesthesia- as you experience it:
• You die
• As far as you’re concerned- next instant is Second Coming
• To a certain degree-
• Does solve the problem between 1 Thessalonians 4:14&16
• But conflicts with other passages of Scripture
• 2 Corinthians 5:6-8
• Point:
• No lag time between physical death and experience of being at home with the Lord
• Years of being pastor taught me people facing death- or grieving death of loved one- are interested in one thing:
• Am I going to be all right?
• Is my loved one all right?
• Message of 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 is that when a Christian breathes last breath on Earth- instantly goes to be with Jesus
• Get back to 1 Thessalonians 4- simplest explanation also best
• Verse 14- People who have died in Christ will accompany Jesus on His trip back to Earth
• Verse 16- Their bodies be called out of grave and will be transformed into Resurrection Body!
• 1 Corinthians 15:51-57
• 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 goes into greater detail about this event
• Talk about ‘Secrets Of The Dead’ episode
• Trying to identify- by DNA- Titanic victims
• Note process
• Exhumation
• Nothing there
• Body completely disintegrated
• Christ delays long enough inevitable ashes to ashes
• No problem for God
• He created the world- can figure out how to call a disintegrated body from grave

THE HOPE OF THE RAPTURE

• One of the dangers in studying the Rapture is to go beyond what the Bible says
• As long as you stick to what Word of God says- you can’t go wrong
• Go beyond Bible- indulge in speculation- that’s where trouble starts
• For instance- look at verse 17
• Seems straight-forward- doesn’t it? But it still generates controversy
• Some Christians read verse and claim it means Christians will meet Jesus in the air and accompany Him as He establishes His kingdom on Earth
• Others read and conclude- We meet Jesus in the air- then we go with Him to heaven
• PEOPLE! Get with the program! Focus on what’s really important:
• Whether it’s here on Earth- or in heaven
• WE’RE GOING TO BE WITH JESUS!
• That’s what God wants us to remember
• 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
• Fact: Paul wrote these words to encourage discouraged people
• He doesn’t get bogged-down in detail and speculation
• Instead he stays focused on the big picture:
• Jesus is Coming Again
• Those who have died in Christ- or live until the coming of the Lord- will have an equal share in the celebration
• After the Rapture we’ll be together with the Lord in heaven
• In the OT the Bible says: Where there is no hope- no dream- no vision- the people perish
• Apart from the hope of Christ people are in a state of spiritual and emotional death
• Apart from the Truth that Jesus is Coming Again-
• This is all there is
• And this isn’t enough
• As Christians we live with the hope that someday we’ll be swept up into a glorious eternity in the presence of God
• It will happen in a moment- in the twinkling of an eye-
• But it’s going to happen
• Following her imprisonment from a Nazi concentration camp Corrie ten Boon wrote these words: We are not a post-war generation- we are a pre-peace generation. Jesus is Coming Again!
• Let us pray