The Scriptural Future Event: The Rapture

Scripture teaches the “rapture” of the saints, even though the word itself isn’t in the Bible. It comes from a Latin word that would translate the terminology, “catching up.” This “catching up” looks well represented in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “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. ” Notice in verse 17, “caught up.” That’s rapio in Latin from which the word “rapture” comes.

You can read this rapture teaching in other places: John 14:1-3, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, and Philippians 3:14 and 21. From reading scripture, you can and will see what one might call a prophetic calendar. Scripture prophesies future events. The next event on that calendar is the rapture.

When will the rapture occur? No one knows when, but it will happen any moment. Nothing is stopping it from happening in the next second. Titus 2:13 says this about the rapture: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” The Apostle Paul there calls it “that blessed hope.”

In 1 Thessalonians 4:18 the Apostle Paul says about the prospects of the rapture, “Comfort one another with these words.” If you have the assurance of your salvation, you get hope and comfort from the thought of the rapture. If you are not sure about your salvation, it’s not very comforting, because you’d be left behind.