We have covered the “What and Who” of the Rapture. Today we are covering the “Where”! The Rapture and the Second Coming are not the same event. The Church meets Jesus Christ in the air, not on earth.
Act 1:9-11 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (10) And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; (11) Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
1Th 4:17 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.
When Jesus Christ comes to end World Word III at the end of the Tribulation, He actually and literally steps foot on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Zec 14:4 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.
So the Rapture is not going to happen after the Tribulation. The Church meets Jesus in the air. Harpazo, the Greek word for Rapture, is defined as “caught up or to snatch away.” The Church will be caught up and snatched away into the clouds to meet Jesus there. Then we will go to Heaven with Him!
At that moment, believers will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Their earthly bodies will be changed into eternal bodies, just as Jesus had when He rose from the dead. The world will not see the changing of the old body to the new body as one cannot even measure the “twinkling of an eye.” Now the world might see us rising away from the earth, but they won’t see that change from earthly body to eternal body.
1Co 15:51-55 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, (52) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [Heaven cannot accept an earthly, corrupt body. This is why a change has to be made.] (54) So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (55) O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Th 4:14-18 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [Jesus will bring the souls of those believers who died before the Rapture to meet their glorified body in the air.] (15) 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. (16) 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: (17) 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. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
What a glorious event it will be indeed! I have been waiting for the Rapture since April 1980. I longingly await the blessed hope of Titus 2:13! Friend, if you are not born again, it is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Don’t you want to be a part of the Church when she is raptured into the clouds to meet Jesus? (1 Thessalonians 4:17) Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!
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