Rapture Context

The text above directly follows the 'rapture texts' of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, which is explained on the previous pages. The division of Bible books in chapters and texts is man-made and should not be taken into account. From his unfolding of the prophetic mystery of the rapture of the church, Paul directly goes on with the description of the earthly context in which the rapture would take place. The circumstances at the rapture Paul calls 'the times and seasons'. These 'times and seasons' would be characterized by the following:

1. A thief in the night

The world will be in complete ignorance about the coming of the Lord in the rapture of the church. This wordly ignorance is why the enormous worldwide rapture event will come as 'a thief in the night'. Paul does however not mention the rapture as a separate event but he relates the world's ignorance to 'the day of the Lord'. This 'day of the Lord' is not a normal day of 24 hours. The day of the Lord is the era during which creation will experience the presence of the Lord in a thousand year long sequence of his mighty and earth-reshaping actions. Among these actions are the judgments that will be brought over backslidden humanity during a short period of 3.5 years that is called 'the Endtime', 'the great tribulation' or 'the hour of temptation'. Among these actions is also the rescue of a totally downtrodden people of God by the powers of this world, the Palestinians.  Among these actions are also multiple resurrections of multitudes of dead peope. Among these actions is also the regenerating influence of his Spirit on as many people that are still receptible or honesty and truth. Among these actions is also the taking away of the curse from creation so that universal righteousness, peace and abundance will arise all over the earth.

That 'the day of the Lord' is an era of 1000 years, is indicated as follows:

(1) while speaking of 'the day of the Lord', Peter writes: 'But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.' (2 Peter 3:8).

(2) In the same letter, Peter also writes: 'But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.' (2 Peter 3:10) This indicates that the coming of the day of the Lord will be as a thief in the night (completely unexpected to the world) and that it ends in the passing away of the heavens. The book of Revelation teaches us that Jesus will reign for a thousand years. Therefore the day of the Lord must be about a thousand years.

(3) In the gospel of John, the day of the Lord is called 'the last day', the last era of 1000 years before the end of the present heaven and earth, as we saw under (2). This 'last day' would be characterized by the resurrection of those that believed in Him (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54). It would however also be characterized by the judgment upon unbelievers (John 12:48). We know that the resurrection of believers will happen at some moment during the return of Jesus, be it at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:17, 1 Corinthians 15:51,52) or at the second coming, about 3.5 years later (Revelation 20:4).

The rapture of the church is the very first action of the Lord at the 'day of his coming'. For this 'coming' the New Testament frequently uses the word 'Parousia', which has a broader meaning than just 'coming'. It means presence and can thus include a longer time span than just one day of 24 hours. In the case of the Lord, it is a 'coming', a 'presence'  of thousand years.