Rapture Arguments

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 4:17

That a rapture will take place in the forseeable future has a firm bases in the bible. We give 23 scriptural arguments and finish with an argument of common sense.

1. The Lord is a God of miracles. Most of them are his usual way of acting in his creation - the wonders that are spoken of in the book of Job. Sometimes He chooses to divert from His usual way of acting, especially in difficult circumstances for mankind, as was the case with the rescue of Israel out of Egypt after many years of harsh slavery. The Endtime would also be characterized by utmost difficulties, a tribulation, never seen before. One could imagine that God will again perform miracles to get his people out of harms way.

2. The New Testament church is called 'the body of Jesus Christ' and 'the temple of God', even the wife of Christ. Whereas Jesus is in heaven and God is in heaven, the church, his body, his wife, his temple, is still on earth. One might expect this situation to be temporal and to see a change in this situation once the eternal is on the horizon. The temporal situation that is taught in the Bible presupposes the going of the church to heaven, i.e. the rapture of the church.

3. The Holy Spirit came from heaven to take his dwelling place in the church, as tongues of fire. According to Revelation 5, the Holy Spirit will again be sent out once the last phase before Jesus' return to earth, the great tribulation, will start, this time, not as tongues of fire but as the eyes and the horns of the Lamb, not slowly moving with the pace of the church but 'sent out into all the earth'. This presupposes a going to heaven of the Holy Spirit, together with the church in the rapture of the church.

4. The Bible teaches us that the church has a destiny in heaven, not on earth. 'But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.' - Phil.3:20,21. If our citizenship is in heaven, we might expect to go there once. This presupposes a rapture of the church.

5. The Bible teaches us that our life is hidden with Christ in God and that when Christ appears, we will also appear in glory. The last presupposes a rapture of the church, together with a glorification.

6. Christ is called 'the heavenly man', whose image we will once bear. This means that we will be 'heavenly people', with a destiny in heaven, not on earth. Like Christ went to heaven after his resurrection, likewise the dead in Christ will go the heaven when they will be resurrected. This presupposes a rapture of the church.

7. Jesus compares the ones that partake in the resurrection to the angels that do not marry and that reside in heaven. This at least suggests that the resurrected will, like the angels, also dwell in heaven, which necessitates a rapture of the church.

8. In the old testament, God took some of those that walked with Him up into heaven. Why then would Jesus leave his body, his bride to remain forever on earth? He would not. He will come to take her home, in the rapture of the church.

9. In the upper room, shortly before his sufferings, Jesus fully opened his heart to his disciples in order to share his most dearest of secrets with them. The first was about the many rooms in his Father’s house and that He was going there to prepare a place for them. And that He would come back and take them to be with Him that they would also be where He was. This can only mean one thing: the rapture of the church.

10. To the church in Philadelphia, being the 6th phase in church history, Jesus promised to keep them from (away from) the hour of temptation that would come upon the whole earth to test the inhabitants of the earth. This promise was given to them because they had kept the word of his perseverance. It was during this church phase, between 1700 and 1900 that important prophetic truths were rediscovered, one of them being the rapture of the church. Prophecy could be seen as God's long-suffering in executing his plans. Those holding on to these truths - the last 4 church phases that still exist, including Philadelphia - would not enter the perilous times the rest of the book speaks of. This presupposes the rapture of the church.

11. The book of Revelation shows us a heavenly scene just before the Lamb takes the book in order to open the seals and to set into motion the Endtime events. Twenty-four elders are part of this heavenly scene and they (1) show characteristics of the overcomers of the 7 church phases in history, (2) offer prayers to the Lamb and (3) sing of their being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from every tribe and language and people and nation. These 24 elders therefore cannot be angels or old testament saints and thus have to be the saints of 2000 years of church history. This presupposes a rapture of the church - which is seen at the start of chapter 4 in the picture of John hearing a voice 'speaking like a trumpet that said, “Come up here..." (Rev.4:1).

12. In Revelation 6 we read of cries of revenge by martyrs of whom the souls are awakened from death by the Lamb that opens the fifth seal of the scroll. The cry for revenge is something that is strange to the New Testament church, the martyrs of which have followed Christ's example in prayer for forgiveness for their enemies. This presumes that the church period has come to an end and thus presupposes the rapture of the church.

13. In Revelation 7 we read of a clear distinction between the 144,000 out of the twelve tribes of Israel on on hand and an innumerable multitude out of every nation, tribe, people and language on the other hand. This presumes that the church period has come to an end for in the church the distinction between Jew and gentile was canceled. This presupposes a rapture of the church before the events of Revelation 7, that is before the start of the blowing of the seven trumpets.

14. In Revelation 11 the temple of God, the altar and those worshiping there are to be measured, indicating that temple service is again recognized by God. This can only mean that the period of the church has ended, a period in which an earthly temple had no place because the church itself represents the temple of God, with each believer in it. The ending of the church era presupposes the rapture of the church.

15. In Revelation 11 the two witnesses of God are named the two lampstands or candlesticks. The Greek word, used here, lychnia, is also used to describe the 7 lampstands that symbolize the 7 phases of church history. That two other lampstands are in place means that a new era has started in which a new light is shining. This is underscored by the way the two witnesses will operate: killing those that attack them with fire and having power over rain and over waters. like Moses and Elijah once had. The ending of the church era presupposes the rapture of the church.

16. In Revelation 12 we read of a very special rescue operation for 'the woman that 'had given birth to the male Child' - that is the people of Israel. The rescue operation looks much like the rescue of Israel through the Red Sea at the Exodus - with one difference: the earth replacing the sea as grave of the armies (pictured as flood) that will persecute Israel. God coming to the rescue of Israel means that the period of the church is past. The ending of the church era presupposes the rapture of the church.

17. In Revelation 14, we read of the 144,000 sealed, together with the Lamb on the Mount Zion. It is at the start of Messiah's reign over the earth: 'For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' Zion being central in God's plans means that the church period has come to an end, which presupposes the rapture of the church.

18. In Revelation 19, we hear about the bride of the Lamb instead of the 24 elders, which are never mentioned again. She wears much the same clothing:  'it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints' - 'and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments'. The bride being clothed with righteous deeds of the saints must mean she is a representation of the saints, just like the 24 elders. Also in Revelation 19 we see the heavenly armies accompanying Jesus on his return on the white horse. They are dressed in the same garment (same Greek word: byssinos): 'And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses'. The heavenly position of the church that is painted in this imagery presupposes the rapture of the church.

19. On two occasions the 'New Jerusalem' is seen coming down from heaven. The New Jerusalem is called the bride of the Lamb and thus it is a new analogy to the heavenly body of the church. She comes down out of heaven, from God, once a new heaven and a new earth have been created. She also comes down from heaven while nations still exist, in the millennial kingdom of Christ. The coming down of the body of saints presupposes the rapture of the church.

20. In Mathew 25, we see Jesus on his throne of glory to judge the nations. The nations are split in the sheep and the goats. But there is a third category: the brethren of the Lord, the treatment of whom is important in the distinction between sheep and goats. In the church age such a third category does not exist. The only relevant distinction is between believers and non-believers. This suggests the era of the church is past, which presupposes the rapture of the church.

21. There is a very explicit Bible text with the word 'rapture' in it, in Greek 'Harpazo', in Latin: 'Rapturo', in English 'Caught up': 'For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.' The word 'Harpazo', 'snatch away' can also mean a horizontal movement, as in the case of Philip in Acts 8: 'And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away (Harpazo)...But Philip found himself at Azotus'. However, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, the direction of the being 'caught up' or 'Harpazo' is vertical, heavenward: 'caught up...in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air'. In light of the above 20 arguments it is inconceivable that the saints of the church would directly return to earth after having met the Lord in the air. We will be with the Lord forever and this being together with Him starts not on earth. It starts in heaven and will remain there for most of eternity. For our citizenship is in heaven.

22. The continuation-of-life-texts after the Rapture-text is another indication of the rapture. When ignoring the chapters for a moment and reading on from 1 Thessalonians 4 to Thessalonians 5, one gets the strong impression that life on earth will go on for a short while, be it with a lot of havoc and chaos:

'Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.'

The talk of peace and security is often heard, while in the background preparations are going on for the greatest war in history. Mind the difference between 'you' (the believers) and 'them' (the unbelievers). For 'you' that day won't come as a surprise while sudden destruction will come upon 'them'. How come that no destruction will come upon believers? With the enormity of chaos on earth, especially for those repenting and turning to God, who will be severely persecuted, one would expect hardship for the Christian also. Why does Paul speak as if it won't come upon them? Well, didn't he mention the rapture at the end of chapter 4? That is why.

23. The revelation of the lawless one can only happen in absence of the Holy Spirit that indwells the church, as taught by the apostle Paul: 'And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.  And then the lawless one will be revealed'. There is only one power strong enough to restrain the pollution of the world by lawlessness, it is the Holy Spirit in the church. No other explanation is satisfactory (such as the Roman empire - which is already gone for many centuries - and which itself has been and will remain a source of lawlessness). The withholding power of the Spirit concerning worldly lawlessness necessitates the rapture of the church before the darkest period in history will start.