The word “rapture” does not occur in the Bible. The concept of the rapture, though, is clearly taught in Scripture. The rapture of the church is the event in which God removes all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth during the tribulation period. The rapture is described primarily in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. God will resurrect all believers who have died, give them glorified bodies, and take them from the earth, along with those believers who are still alive and who will at that time also be given glorified bodies. “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 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
The rapture will be instantaneous in nature, and we will receive glorified bodies at that time. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The rapture is the glorious event we should all be longing for. We will finally be free from sin. We will be in God's presence forever. There is far too much debate over the meaning and scope of the rapture. This is not God’s intent. Rather, in regard to the rapture, God wants us to “encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
Fishbait, the rapture interpretation requires a Jesus who descends from heaven (as per 1 Thess. 4:13-18) but immediately returns, for they say, three and one half or seven years. Then, as the interpretation goes, Jesus descends again---
a third time! And guess what happens during
this convenient second chance, between this second and---
third time! That's right, a nation of neo-Pharisees calling themselves "Israel" accept Jesus and the New Covenant. Do you see then, why the Dispensationalist-Futurist establishment needs their "rapture" interpretation, why they need the idea of a Jesus who descends from, but goes back to heaven. It's all about creating a second chance for today's Pharisees, for their non-Christian "Israel." But there is no second chance. Take a look.
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: 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. 1 Thess. 4:16-17
Where, in this text do you see a Jesus who goes back to heaven?
It isn't there. It does say "meet the Lord in the air," but all this means is
we rise to "meet" Him on His way down. "Meet," in this context, describes an age old method of meeting someone as they approach you. Example: When our president visits a city its citizens come to "meet" him. This does not mean that the president immediately returns to Washington, or that if he did, he would take everyone back with him. Neither therefore is there anything in the so called rapture texts about a Jesus who goes back to heaven. The Bible colleges, and the seminary professors know this, but they need the idea of a second chance, without which they would be unable to pass off a nation of counterfeit, Revelation 2:9; 3:9 type Jews, as "Israel." This is why they would have us focus on the resurrection as "a rapture."
By calling it another name it's easier to deceive people with the idea of something that happens before "the first resurrection" (Rev. 20:5). We should always raise a red flag when someone insists on describing something in scripture---by using a word which is not. For more proof of no second chance when Jesus returns read the kingdom parables in Matthew 13.
