The Rapture is described in I.
Thess. 4:15-17. “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. For the Lord HIMSELF shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel
(Michael) and with the trump of God; and the DEAD IN CHRIST
shall rise first; then we which are ALIVE AND REMAIN (saints
only) 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.”
From this we see that “The Rapture” will be twofold.
1. The Resurrection of the "DEAD IN CHRIST.”
2. The Translation of the "LIVING SAINTS.”
This two fold character of “The Rapture” Jesus revealed to Martha
when He was about to raise her brother Lazarus. He said to her, "I am the
'Resurrection and the Life,’ he that believeth in Me, though
he were dead yet shall he LIVE (First Resurrection Saints);
and whosoever LIVETH (is alive when I come back) and believeth in
Me shall NEVER DIE.” John 11:25, 26. This twofold
character of The Rapture, Paul emphasizes in his immortal chapter on the
Resurrection.
“Behold, I show you a Mystery, we shall not all Sleep,
but we shall All Be Changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised and we shall be changed. For this
Corruptible (the dead in Christ) must put on incorruption,
and this mortal (the living saints) must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written,
DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.
O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?
O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY? I. Cor. 15:51-57.
The last two lines refer only to those
who are “changed without dying,” for it is only those who will not die
who can shout -
"O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?
“O Grave, Where Is Thy Victory?”
In II Cor. 5:1-4, Paul expresses his
longing, and the longing of the Saints, to be among those who should not
be “unclothed” by Death, but who should be “clothed upon” by Immortality
“without dying.”
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle (the body),
were dissolved (that is die), we have a building of God, a house
not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this (body) we groan,
earnestly desiring to be ‘clothed upon’ with our house which is from
heaven; if so be that being ‘clothed’ we shall not be found naked. For
we that are in this tabernacle (the body) do groan, being burdened; not
for that we would be 'unclothed’ (by death), but 'clothed
upon’ (by immortality), that ‘mortality’ might be swallowed up of
life.”
In his letter to the Philippians, while Paul hopes that -
"If by any means he may attain unto The (out from among the dead)
Resurrection, yet he pressed toward the mark for the 'prize’
of the High (out and up) Calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Phil 3:11-14.
That is, while Paul would esteem it a great thing to “rise from the
dead” at the First Resurrection, and be “caught up” with those who
should be “changed,” yet he would esteem it a “prize” if he could be
caught up “without dying,” that is, live until Jesus came back.
THE
RAPTURE WILL BE A “SURPRISE”
“Watch therefore; for ye know not what
hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the Goodman of the
house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have
watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the
Son of Man COMETH.” Matt. 24:42-44. “Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk
naked, and they see his shame.” Rev. 16:15. “But of the 'times’
and the 'seasons’ brethren, ye have no need that I write unto
you. For yourselves know perfectly that the ‘Day of the Lord’ (the day
of His Return), so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they
shall say, 'Peace and Safety;’ then sudden destruction
cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not
escape.” This refers to the Second Stage of Christ’s Coming, the
“Revelation,” when He shall take vengeance upon His enemies. II Thess.
1:7-10. But Paul adds – “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that
that day (the day of His Return) should overtake you as a
thief.” I Thess. 5:1-4.
We see from this that when Christ comes back it will be when we are
not expecting Him. He will come as a thief comes. A thief does not
announce his coming. He comes for a certain purpose. He does not take
everything there is in the house. He takes only the precious things, the
jewels, the gold, the silver and fine wearing apparel. He does not come
to stay. As soon as he secures what he is after he departs. So Jesus at
the Rapture will come and take away the saints only. The thief leaves
much more than he takes. He leaves the house and the furniture and the
household utensils. So the Lord at the Rapture will leave the wicked and
the great mass of the heathen behind for those who will be taken will be
comparatively few.
We must not forget in our study of this subject that there are to be
two resurrections of the dead. The first, of the Righteous dead
before the Millennium, and the second of the Wicked dead after
the Millennium. Rev. 20:4-6. The subject cannot be treated fully in this
pamphlet but will be found in the author’s larger work on
“Dispensational Truth,” in the chapters on “The Resurrection” and
“Spirit World” with charts.
THE
RAPTURE WILL BE “ELECTIVE”
It will not only separate the saints
from unbelievers, but it will separate husbands from wives, brothers
from sisters, friends from friends.
“I tell you, in that night there shall
be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be
left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and
the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,
and the other left.” Luke 17:34-36. The words “men” and “women” in this
passage are in italics. That means that they are not in the original,
and so the passage should read there shall be “two in one bed,” husband
and wife, or two brothers, or two sisters, or two friends. Two in “bed”
indicates night; two grinding at the mill, morning or evening; two in
the field mid-noon. This shows that the Rapture will happen all over the
earth at the same time or as the Apostle describes it in a "moment,”
or the "twinkling of an eye.” “As the lightning cometh out of the
east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man Be” (Matt. 24:27) is the way Jesus puts it.
The “Rapture” will be the most startling “event” of this Age and
Dispensation. As it is to occur in the "twinkling of an eye” and
all over the earth at the same time, that part of the world that
is not asleep will witness the event. As to the "Shout of the Lord,”
the “Voice of the Archangel,” and the "Trump of God” we do
not know whether their sound will be heard and distinguished by others
than the “dead in Christ” and the “living saints.” We know that one day
the Father spoke to Christ in a voice that He understood, but the people
who stood by mistook it for “thunder.” John 12:28, 29. When the Lord
appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and spoke to him, the
men that journeyed with him stood speechless, “hearing a voice,” but
seeing no man, and not understanding what was said. Acts 9:3-7. We know
however that the “dead in Christ” will hear the sound, for it will be
“intensely penetrating.” There will be no graves so deep, no catacombs
so rock covered, no pyramids or mausoleums so thick but what the sound
shall reach their depths and the “dead in Christ” shall hear the cry –
"awake ye sleeping saints and arise from the dead, it is MORNING, the
morning of the FIRST RESURRECTION.”
On the morning of that glorious day the air will be filled with the
“spirits” of the “Dead in Christ,” come back to earth to get their
bodies, raised and glorified. Whether the cemeteries and country church
yards will look like ploughed fields, and monuments and grave slabs be
overturned and vaults and places of sepulcher be shattered by the exodus
of those who found their last resting place there, and thus testify to
the fact of the literal bodily resurrection of the dead, or
whether the sainted dead shall slip out of their sepulchers without
disturbing them, as Christ arose and left the tomb without breaking the
seal, the angel rolling away the stone simply to show that the tomb was
empty, we are not told, only the event itself will disclose the manner
of the First Resurrection.
If the dead slip out of their places of sepulcher without disturbing
them, the First Resurrection will be secret and probably unknown to the
world, but it will not be so with the “Living Saints” who are
translated. If it is night on our side of the globe when the Rapture
occurs the community will wake up in the morning to find all the real
Christians gone, disappeared in the night. Many may hear the sound
of the “Midnight cry” -
"BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH,"
but thinking it only thunder, will turn over for another nap, but in the
morning they will find the bedroom door locked, with the key on the
inside, just as they locked it before retiring, and the clothes of the
loved one who occupied the room with them lying where they were placed
when taken off the night before, but that loved one, who was a
Christian, missing. Husbands will wake up to find that Christian wives
are gone, and wives will wake up to find Christian husbands gone.
Brothers and sisters will be missed, and dear children absent, and not
an infant will be left behind. Many faithful servants and employees will
not report for duty, and the world will awake to the fact that the Bible
is true, and the much despised doctrine of the Pre-Millennial Coming of
the Lord to gather out His saints is no fanciful interpretation of
Scripture.
If it be day with us when the Rapture occurs, the "EVENT”
will be startling. As it was in the days of Noah (Matt.
24:36-39), the people will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building.
If it be a pleasant time of the year, the boats, and cars, and parks
will be filled with pleasure seekers. If it be in the midst of the week,
and during the business hours of the day, the shops and stores will be
filled with shoppers and the mills with toilers, and the streets of the
cities lined with men and women and children on pleasure and business
bent. Suddenly a noise from heaven will be heard like a great peal of
thunder. The people will rush to doors and windows, and those on the
streets and in the fields will look up to see what has happened. To the
vast majority it will be but a startling and alarming sound, but
to many it will be the
"VOICE OF THE LORD."
But when the people recover from their surprised and affrighted
condition they will discover that a great many people are missing, and
that the missing were the best people in the community. The large
Department Stores, Banking Institutions, Manufacturing Plants, and other
places of business will find their working force depleted by the loss of
faithful employees. People walking on the streets will find their
companions gone, and the streetcar lines will be blocked because of
absent motormen, conductors and teamsters. Railroad and steamboat lines
will be crippled, and confusion will reign everywhere. In many homes the
servants will be missing and members of the family will come home to
find loved ones gone.
At first the whole thing will be a Mystery, until some one who
had heard or read about the “Rapture of the Saints,” realizing what has
happened, will explain the situation.
But one of the surprises of that day will be that so many professing
Christians, and among them many ministers and Christian workers, will be
left behind, while some who were not known to be Christians will be
missing. The next day’s papers will be full of what happened the day
before, and many of them will be swelled to twice their ordinary size by
the pressure on their advertising columns for information as to missing
ones, and for help to fill important vacancies and positions of trust.
For a few days the excitement will be intense. Then the people will
settle down to the inevitable. With the exception of a few who will
repent and turn to God, the mass of the people will become more hardened
and wicked than before, and some who lost loved ones will be embittered.
As the Holy Spirit will have gone back with the “Raptured Ones,” and the
“Saints,” the SALT of the earth, been taken out, there will be
nothing to prevent the rapid degeneration and "Moral Putrefaction”
of those who are "left,” and sin and iniquity and all manner of
crime and worldliness will increase and pave the way for the
manifestation of Antichrist, under whose administration the world will
rapidly ripen for judgment.
