Will there actually be a Rapture?

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Elijah19

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I don't really know the answer to this question, so I'd like some Biblical insight into it. Please provide a full explanation of the doctrine if you are familiar (I'm pretty blank on it), and provide solid Biblical evidence for or against the event as you are able.

Is it a Biblical doctrine or not, and what Bible verses talk about it?

Please note this well:
I am not starting this thread as a place to debate about when the rapture will happen (should it do so), but about whether the rapture will happen. Actually, I don't even mean this post to be for debate at all. All I want is to know the Truth from people who know.

I know that the timing of this event is a significant subject of debate among many of my Christian Brothers and Sisters, but for me it is good enough just to say that Jesus will win in the end! Ultimately, I don't really care when it will happen if it does, because I'm saved either way, and will never let go of Jesus... rapture or no rapture... be it Pre, Post, or Middle Tribulation. The time frame or existence of this phenomenon will not affect my Salvation, only the hour at which I meet my Lord. Hence, let all debates on the time-frame of this event be saved for different threads... I do not care when it happens, but only if it happens.

I want to believe the right thing about this doctrine, so please tell me what it is. I am completely open to either possibility (rapture or no rapture) provided I have the proof. Know that you have an unbiased/impartial audience in me. I only judge by the Bible which I hear and read, and no other standard will I use...
 
Elijah19 said:
I don't really know the answer to this question, so I'd like some Biblical insight into it. Please provide a full explanation of the doctrine if you are familiar (I'm pretty blank on it), and provide solid Biblical evidence for or against the event as you are able.

Is it a Biblical doctrine or not, and what Bible verses talk about it?

Please note this well:
I am not starting this thread as a place to debate about when the rapture will happen (should it do so), but about whether the rapture will happen. Actually, I don't even mean this post to be for debate at all. All I want is to know the Truth from people who know.

I know that the timing of this event is a significant subject of debate among many of my Christian Brothers and Sisters, but for me it is good enough just to say that Jesus will win in the end! Ultimately, I don't really care when it will happen if it does, because I'm saved either way, and will never let go of Jesus... rapture or no rapture... be it Pre, Post, or Middle Tribulation. The time frame or existence of this phenomenon will not affect my Salvation, only the hour at which I meet my Lord. Hence, let all debates on the time-frame of this event be saved for different threads... I do not care when it happens, but only if it happens.

I want to believe the right thing about this doctrine, so please tell me what it is. I am completely open to either possibility (rapture or no rapture) provided I have the proof. Know that you have an unbiased/impartial audience in me. I only judge by the Bible which I hear and read, and no other standard will I use...
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How do you define "rapture"?
I don't know of any theologians that believe in absolute truth and the authority of Scripture, and yet reject rapture.
Such a view does not exist to my knowledge.

If you believe in the Return of Christ, the Resurrection of the dead Saints, and the gathering of those Saints still alive at His Return,
then you believe in the rapture.
 
There will be a "calling up" after the tribulation WHEN the Messiah reurns;

Mattithyah 24:29-31, "Immediately, but after the tribulation of those days will the sun be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then will all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His malakim with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of earth to the other."

1 Corinthians 15:50-54, "Now I say this brothers: that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Yahweh; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.Behold, I show you a secret truth: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory."

Graphical Illustration of the evens in Revelation and when He will return

rev time line.jpg
 
By "Rapture" I mean the mass-disappearance of the Saints from the World while the heathens are left on Earth to suffer. I was never brought up around doctrines about the "rapture," and the word was never known to me until recently. I was always told that the "Return of Christ, the Resurrection of the dead Saints, and the gathering of those Saints still alive at His Return" was not the "rapture" per se, but the "last judgement and resurrection." I was always told that the rapture was a completely different concept unique from those events altogether, as described above. I may be wrong in this knowledge, but from all the Christian teachings I have ever heard throughout my lifetime, the subject of the rapture was never integral to any of them and these events... let alone ever even mentioned.
 
I think most life on the planet will be dead by the time He returns;

Isayah 24:1-6, "Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty and makes it waste, perverts the face of it and scatters abroad its inhabitants; And it will be: as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his owner; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with him who takes usury, so with him who gives usury to him: The land will be utterly emptied and utterly plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away, the world mourns and fades away, and the haughty people of the earth languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants of it, because they have transgressed the Laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant. Because of this, the curse has devoured the earth, and they who dwell therein are desolate; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left."

Mattithyah 24:21-22, "For then will be great tribulation, such as has not come to pass since the beginning of the world to this time--no, nor ever will be. And unless those days were shortened, there would no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened."

Mattithyah 24:29-31, "Immediately, but after the tribulation of those days will the sun be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then will all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His malakim with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of earth to the other."
 
The doctrine of rapture comes from the misinterpretation of some biblical verses. This doctrine is very famous and considered orthodox in America because it has been brought there by puritans.

Here is what a New Testament scholar has to say about rapture:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxzf00qrErw
 
Remember when Jesus told the rich man who had stocked away for the future that his life would be demanded that night? That car crash, that heart attack, that your-ticket-is-punched moment is most likely to be your rapture.
 
No secret rapture, for sure!

Maybe a meet and return? Not sure about that one, just that I am eagerly awaiting the Messiah's return!
 
I have nothing to say concerning this matter as of now, but I will let you know what I believe after I have done some more woods time. Maybe it's a surprise. I also have not yet placed understanding this on the top of my priority list...but I am just another part of the body. I will say this...something awesome that I have not witnessed before will happen very soon..for some reason God has led me to believe in some kind of surprise though... which I would not be surprised if God wanted to give His children a harmless surprise.
 
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Angela53510 said:
No secret rapture, for sure!

Maybe a meet and return? Not sure about that one, just that I am eagerly awaiting the Messiah's return!
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Hebrews 13:14
"For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."

Phillipians 3:20, "But our citizenship is in heaven, out from which we also eagerly wait for our Ruler, Yahshua Messiah the King."
 
Jon4TheCross said:
I have nothing to say concerning this matter as of now, but I will let you know what I believe after I have done some more woods time. Maybe it's a surprise. I also have not yet placed understanding this on the top of my priority list...but I am just another part of the body. I will say this...something awesome that I have not witnessed before will happen very soon..for some reason God has led me to believe in some kind of surprise though... which I would not be surprised if God wanted to give His children a harmless surprise.
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just thinking out loud here, maybe there are other verse concerning this matter IDK, but from my reading I always understood there would be no surprises, as in, if it will happen, His prophets spoke of it, for He is and to illustrate He is the Mighty One. again there may be other verses in this matter IDK these were the only I could think of.

Amos 3:7

New International Version
Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

New Living Translation
Indeed, the Sovereign LORD never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.

English Standard Version
“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

New American Standard Bible
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets.

King James Bible
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Lamentations 3:37

New International Version
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?

New Living Translation
Who can command things to happen without the Lord's permission?

English Standard Version
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?

New American Standard Bible
Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?

King James Bible
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
 
A theif in the night is a surprise to those not watching...but harmless to those who are. So both are true. What I mean by a surprise that is harmless is concerning the son not even knowing the day nor the hour.
 
ok I misunderstood what you were saying, sorry. I thought you meant something "extra" my fault. that is not to say He wont reveal personal things to us, but IMO not a world level, I think even the 2 witnesses will do nothing bur restore truth, but THAT IS JUST IMO.
 
When I hear or use the word "rapture", I do not directly associate it with "disappearance",
but to the gathering of the living, to the side of Christ, at the moment of His Return,
the very moment when we are transformed with heavenly bodies.

"Disappearance from earth", or "being transported/translated directly to heaven", is not a clear teaching of the Scriptures regarding rapture, but an added assumption of men.
 
I won't deny I have been through some experiences that I cannot describe. I cannot claim to know concerning the time or exact understanding of the rapture or catching away. Jesus said to speak what I know and testify concerning what I have seen. What I believe is this...
God wants me to live on water only according to the flesh. For 3 years I have been struggling with accepting this fact, probably because I am weak and wasn't ready. Why owater only? It had to do with a promise made the first time I went into solitude for the 40. God has been telling me for some time now to do it indefinitely. I know there truly is just one needful thing. I don't know what will happen, but I will be starting for the woods again in a week or so, and I will not be eating food according to flesh again...no matter what happens.

I have no idea what is going to happen exactly, but no doubt I believe a change is in order concerning this earthen vessel.

Keep me in your prayers. I am nothing without Him, and will be relying on Him for more than 40 this time.
 
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

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.
 
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