The Rapture – The Who, What, Where, and Why of the Rapture of the Church
The Rapture – The Who, What, Where, and Why of the Rapture of the Church
By Chris Schang
The rapture of the church is an end times event foretold in the Bible where God takes believers from the age of Grace to Heaven during what will be seen as a sudden and unexpected disappearance from Earth. The rapture is described as occuring before the Tribulation period when God pours out his wrath on unbelieving Israel and unrepentant sinners. For this reason the rapture is referred to as the pre-tribulational rapture.
Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. Revelation 3:10
The rapture of the church will bring to a close of the church age as we know it. The age of grace will finally be over as the Holy Spirit will not be sealed within believers as He is now. The Holy Spirit will return to his role as seen in the previous Old Testament times where believers worked out their faith and salvation. While the word rapture is not specifically mentioned in the scriptures, the event is clearly foretold in the Bible.
According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thes. 4:15-17)
So from the scriptures we know that the rapture of the church is for believers living during the age of grace who have been saved through faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
