The Bible doctrine of the Pretribulation Rapture of the body of Christ is an oft-ignored and much maligned subject here at the end of the falling away

The blessed hope of every born again Bible believer living in the Church Age dispensation is the Pretribulation Rapture, or catching away, of the body of Christ. Paul says that we are to speak about it, teach it, preach it and to comfort one another with the words in the Bible showing us the rapture. But in our day, because we live in the time Paul calls the ‘falling away’, the doctrine of the Pretribulation Rapture is not only not taught and not preached from the pulpit, it is maligned by lukewarm Laodiceans who cannot or will not ‘rightly divide’ the scripture. Today my message is ‘Sunday Morning Rapture’, everything you should know but don’t because no one taught it to you about the soon-coming catching away of the body of Christ into the clouds.

“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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17,18 (KJB)

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SUNDAY SERVICE STUDY NOTES: Sunday Morning Rapture

Sunday Morning Rapture

The Rapture Is A New Testament Mystery Concerning The Church

The first thing we need to establish is that the church was not revealed in full in the Old Testament, and neither was the Rapture. The Old Testament contains types, shadows, patterns, and prophetic pictures, but the direct doctrinal revelation is given through Paul.

The Rapture was a ‘mystery’ truth

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (KJB)

“Behold, I shew 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

This is foundational. Paul does not say, “I remind you of what Isaiah fully explained.” He says, “I shew you a mystery.” That means the full doctrine was not plainly revealed before.

The church itself was a mystery not made known in other ages as it is now

Ephesians 3:3-6 (KJB)

“How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:”

The church as one body was not the subject of open Old Testament revelation. Therefore, the catching away of that body before the time of Jacob’s trouble is also not laid out in full doctrinal form in the Old Testament.

Christ and the church are joined as bridegroom and bride

Ephesians 5:30-32 (KJB)

“For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

The church is not Israel. The church is the body and bride of Christ, and the removal of that bride before the outpouring of wrath fits the pattern of Scripture.

The Classic Rapture Passages

The Lord descends, the dead in Christ rise, and living saints are caught up

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (KJB)

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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, 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

You will notice the following:

This is for “the dead in Christ” and those alive in Christ.
The saints are “caught up”.
They meet the Lord “in the air”.
Christ does not here come to the earth to set up the kingdom.

This is a comfort, not a warning of wrath.

The Instantaneous Change Of The Church

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (KJB)

This is not the slow gathering of tribulation survivors into a kingdom. This is the instant transformation of the church.

Victory over death

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (KJB)

“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? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Rapture is the church’s bodily victory before the wrath to come.!!

The Church Is Told To Wait For God’s Son From heaven

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 (KJB)

“For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

That is pretribulation language. The church is not appointed to enter the wrath and then survive it. Jesus “delivered us from the wrath to come.”

Appointed not to wrath

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 (KJB)

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”

In the immediate context, Paul has just spoken of “the day of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 5. The church is not appointed to that wrath.

Looking for that blessed hope

Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

The blessed hope of the church is not the rise of Antichrist, not the seals, not the trumpets, not the vials. It is Jesus Christ.

Christ Promised To Receive His Own Unto Himself

John 14:1-3 (KJB)

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

This fits the Rapture beautifully:

Christ comes for His own.
He receives them unto Himself.
He takes them to the Father’s house.

This is not the same scene as His return to earth in judgment.

The Church’s Citizenship And Bodily Change

Our conversation is in heaven, not here on the Earth. Believers are not looking for a ‘Golden Age’ here on Earth, and should reject it when offered.

Philippians 3:20-21 (KJB)

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

Again, the church is looking up, not bracing for the outpouring of divine wrath.

The Appearing Of Christ For His People Produces Purity And Patience

1 John 3:2-3 (KJB)

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

This is church hope: transformation at His appearing.

The coming of the Lord draweth nigh

James 5:7-8 (KJB)

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”

Though James has a strong tribulation flavor doctrinally, the principle still shows the saints living in expectation of the Lord’s coming.

The Church Is Kept Out Of The Hour, Not Preserved Through It

Kept from the hour of temptation not preserved through it. Big difference.

Revelation 3:10 (KJB)

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

Notice carefully:

Not merely kept in temptation.
Not merely kept through temptation.
Kept from the hour itself.

That is removal before the global trial begins.

The Twenty-Four Elders In Heaven Before The Tribulation Judgments Unfold

Revelation 4:4 (KJB)

“And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.”

Revelation 5:9-10 (KJB)

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

Before the seal judgments begin in earnest, a redeemed company is already seen in heaven, crowned and enthroned.

The Rapture Is A Comfort; The Second Coming Is Terror For The Unrepentant

1 Thessalonians 4:18 (KJB)

“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Revelation 19:15 (KJB)

“And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

Those are not the same event.

Old Testament Pictures, Patterns, And Prophetic Hints Of A Pretribulation Rapture

Enoch: Removed Before The Flood Judgment

Enoch walked with God and was taken

Genesis 5:24 (KJB)

“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

The New Testament confirms Enoch was translated

Hebrews 11:5 (KJB)

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

Enoch is a powerful picture of the church:

He walks with God.
He is taken out.
He does not see death.
He is removed before the flood judgment falls.

Noah, by contrast, is preserved through the flood and pictures a remnant preserved through tribulation.

Noah: Preserved Through Judgment, Like Israel Through The Time Of Jacob’s Trouble

Genesis 7:16 (KJB)

“And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.”

Noah is not a picture of the church being raptured. Noah is a picture of a preserved remnant through judgment. That actually strengthens the distinction:

Enoch = removed before wrath.
Noah = preserved through wrath.

Lot: Removed Before Fire Fell

The angels could do nothing until Lot was out

Genesis 19:22 (KJB)

“Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.”

Jesus uses Noah and Lot as end-time patterns

Luke 17:26-30 (KJB)

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Lot’s removal before fire falls is another pre-wrath pattern.

Isaac And Rebekah: The Gentile Bride Called Out While The Son Is Absent

Genesis 24:63-67 (KJB)

“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

Dispensationally this is a beautiful picture:

Abraham pictures the Father.
Isaac pictures the Son.
The unnamed servant pictures the Holy Spirit.
Rebekah pictures the called-out bride.

Joseph Takes A Gentile Bride Before He Reveals Himself To His Brethren

Genesis 41:45 (KJB)

“And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.”

Joseph receives a Gentile bride before his later reconciliation with his brethren, a strong picture of Christ taking a predominantly Gentile church before Israel’s national restoration.

Boaz And Ruth: The Kinsman Redeemer Takes A Gentile Bride

Ruth 4:13 (KJB)

“So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.”

Again, not a formal doctrinal proof text, but a remarkable pattern of redemption and marriage.

Jacob’s Trouble Is For Jacob

Jeremiah 30:7 (KJB)

“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”

It does not say the time of the church’s trouble. It says Jacob’s trouble.

New Testament Passages Showing The Tribulation Is Not The Church’s Appointed Portion

1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 (KJB)

“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 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

The contrast is plain:

they / them = world under judgment
ye / brethren = church not appointed to that wrath

Christ delivers believers from coming wrath

Romans 5:9 (KJB)

“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

We are accepted in the Beloved, not reserved for condemnation

Romans 8:1 (KJB)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

The tribulation is a period of divine judgment on a Christ-rejecting world and for the purging and restoration of Israel, not for condemning the body of Christ.

The Blessed Hope Compared With Israel’s Second Advent Hope

The church waits for Christ from heaven

Philippians 3:20 (KJB)

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

Israel awaits Messiah’s manifestation to earth

Zechariah 12:10 (KJB)

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

The church’s hope is heavenly; Israel’s kingdom hope is earthly.

The Rapture Vs. Second Coming

The Rapture:

Christ comes in the air — 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (KJB)
He comes for His saints — John 14:3 (KJB)
The church is caught up — 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (KJB)
Bodies are changed instantly — 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (KJB)
It is called a blessed hope — Titus 2:13 (KJB)
Believers are delivered from wrath to come — 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (KJB)

Second Coming:

Christ comes to the earth — Zechariah 14:4 (KJB)
He comes with His saints — Zechariah 14:5 (KJB); Revelation 19:14 (KJB)
He comes in judgment and war — Revelation 19:11-15 (KJB)
He destroys Antichrist — 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (KJB)
He establishes visible kingdom rule — Revelation 19:15 (KJB)

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

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THE BIBLE BELIEVERS SUNDAY SERVICE: Sunday Morning Rapture