The Rapture

 

Photo Source: Artificially Generated 

Biblically, What is the Rapture?
The Rapture, according to Scripture, is the future event when Jesus Christ will return, and believers—both those who have died in Him and those still living—will be suddenly and gloriously caught up to meet Him in the air. The Apostle Paul describes it in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, saying that “the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still 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.” Similarly, 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 teaches that in “a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet,” believers will be transformed, putting on incorruptible, glorified bodies. Biblically, the rapture is not a secret escape invented by human imagination but the promised hope of Christ’s visible return to gather His people, assuring them of eternal fellowship with Him.  Although its exact timing in relation to the tribulation is debated, the central truth is that the rapture is the climactic fulfillment of the church’s blessed hope in Christ Jesus (Titus 2:13), arriving suddenly and unexpectedly at the end of this present age.  Nobody knows the day or hour, which ought to lead all believers to live in readiness and holiness.

The Origin of the Word Rapture
The word “rapture” does not appear in most English Bibles (at least not the mainline modern translations that I checked), but it originates from the Latin “rapturo,” a translation of the Greek word “harpazō” (ἁρπάζω), which means “to seize, snatch, or catch up.”

• This term is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “Then we who are still 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” (CSB).
• The Latin Vulgate (otherwise called the Vulgate) translates harpazō as rapiemur (“we shall be caught up”), from which the English word “rapture” is derived. The Vulgate is the Bible translated into Latin by Jerome in the late 4th century, commissioned to bring consistency to the many differing Latin versions then in circulation.  It became the standard Bible of the Western church for over a thousand years, shaping theology, worship, and scholarship throughout the Middle Ages. Jerome translated most of the Old Testament directly from Hebrew and revised the New Testament from Greek manuscripts, aiming for clear Latin that ordinary people could understand. The Vulgate is especially important because its earliest version(s) greatly influenced doctrine. For instance, its wording in Matthew 4:17 shaped Roman Catholic teaching on "penance" in comparison to what would become the later Protestant understanding of "repentance." Roman Catholic doctrines rejected by the reformers concerning Mary in Luke 1:28 are another example ("full of grace" vs. "found favor with God"). Similarly, the translation of the word "sacrament" as it relates to marriage, rather than "mystery," in Ephesians 5:31-32 is another example.
• The Vulgate was the most influential Bible in Western Christianity until the Reformation and continues to hold lasting significance today. During the Reformation, the influence of the Vulgate was diminished because Reformers turned back to the original biblical languages—Hebrew and Greek—rather than relying on Jerome’s Latin for the formation of church doctrine. This return to the original languages of Scripture challenged certain doctrinal positions of the Roman Catholic Church (a few examples are provided above), which had been interpreted from Jerome’s Latin.  This return to the Sources (ad fontes in Latin) helped to make the original text widely accessible.  Reformers such as Luther, Calvin, and Tyndale translated Scripture directly into the vernacular languages (German, French, and English) from the original Hebrew and Greek texts, thereby bypassing the Vulgate.  From then on, the Vulgate remained central in Roman Catholicism, but it no longer held exclusive sway over all of Western Christianity, particularly Protestantism. 
• Yet, one of the Vulgate's enduring legacies is precisely the translation choice in 1 Thessalonians 4:17—rapiemur—from which we derive the very word ‘rapture.’ This reminds us how God has used the history of translation to carry the hope of Christ’s return through the centuries, and while the word itself comes through Latin, the truth it expresses rests firmly on the inspired Greek Scriptures.  

Thus, the doctrine is based on a biblical term.  The rapture is not a foreign concept imposed on Scripture, as some have wrongly argued over the years.

The Biblical Basis of the Rapture
Several passages speak of Christ’s sudden return for His people. For example:

• John 14:1–3 – Jesus promises to prepare a place and come again to receive His disciples to Himself.  This passage is not a technical rapture passage, but it remains relevant nonetheless. Jesus’ promise is about final reunion with Him, which could apply equally at death (Philippians 1:23) or at His second coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). The text doesn’t mention resurrection, catching up, or trumpet blasts—the explicit “rapture language” found in Paul’s letters. Historically, though, this passage has been understood as Christ’s assurance that His followers will dwell eternally with Him. Today, these verses are more commonly associated with modern pre-tribulational beliefs about the rapture. 
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 – The clearest text: the dead in Christ rise first, then the living are caught up together with them to meet the Lord.
• 1 Corinthians 15:50–52 – At the last trumpet, in a moment, the dead will be raised imperishable, and the living will be changed.
• Matthew 24:29–31; 36–44 – Jesus describes His coming as sudden, unexpected, and compared to Noah’s day.

Together, these passages show that the rapture is about Christ’s visible, decisive return to gather His people.

The Major Views of the Rapture
Christians have interpreted the timing of the rapture differently in relation to the “tribulation” (a period of testing and judgment spoken of in the last days):

1. Pre-tribulation rapture – Christ comes before the tribulation to remove believers, then returns visibly after it (popularized in dispensational teaching since the 19th century and by popular books like Left Behind, but such ideas are not new to that period. For example, see: A Brief History of the Pre-Trib Rapture).
2. Mid-tribulation / Pre-wrath rapture – Christ raptures believers during or just before the most intense part of the tribulation, some where around the 3.5 year mark of the 7 years foretold in Scripture.
3. Post-tribulation rapture – The church goes through the tribulation, and Christ’s second coming and the rapture are one event at the end.  This has been the most predominant view within the church, historically.
4. Historic premillennial / amillennial views – Many in the early church did not distinguish a separate rapture event from the second coming; rather, they saw it as a single, climactic return of Christ. Note: Amillennialism means “no literal millennium.” It does not deny the millennium of Revelation 20, but interprets it symbolically as the present reign of Christ in heaven, rather than a future earthly reign. Historic premillennialism is the belief that Christ will return before (pre-) a literal millennium (a thousand-year reign) on earth. It is called “historic” because it was widely held in the early church, long before dispensationalism or the pre-tribulation rapture were developed. 

Importantly, though, what should unite Christians is not the timing but the certainty: Jesus is coming again to gather His people!

Why No One Knows the Day or the Hour
Jesus Himself said plainly:

• “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36, CSB).
• “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7).

Traditional Christian teaching holds:
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." 
- Mt 24:36.

“For this reason, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will."
- Mt. 24:44

• The time of Jesus' return is hidden and should keep believers watchful and faithful (Mark 13:32, Matthew 24:36, 42-44).
• Not even the Son (Jesus) in His incarnation claimed knowledge of the day (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32).  Philippians 2:6–7 shows He voluntarily limited Himself in certain respects).  
• When Jesus says He does not know the day or hour, it is not because He lacks deity, but because He willingly submits to the Father’s authority in His incarnate mission. Jesus’ statement underscores the surprise nature of His return. If even the incarnate Son did not claim to know the exact time, then no one else should presume to know it.

A major problem is this:  Anybody claiming to know the exact date of Christ’s return is a false teacher, contradicting Jesus’ own words!

• Thus, when people set dates (as we've seen in the news over the past few weeks), those people reveal that they do not take Scripture seriously. And when others follow them, it shows that they have not read (or do not believe) their Bibles—because Jesus emphasized that it will be a surprise for all of us.

The Traditional Christian Posture Toward the Rapture
The church throughout history has emphasized:

• Hope – The rapture/second coming is the blessed hope (Titus 2:13).
• Watchfulness – Believers are called to live in readiness, not speculation (Matthew 25:1–13; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11).
• Holiness – The certainty of Christ’s coming motivates purity and perseverance (1 John 3:2–3).

The point here is not to chart timelines, but to encourage believers to persevere, remain faithful, and be prepared for the Master's return.  Christians should certainly not attempt to divine the time of His return by looking at the moon, stars, or by listening to false prophets.

What About Waiting 2000 Years? Doesn't the Bible say Jesus is Coming Soon?
The Bible reminds us that God’s sense of time is not like ours: “With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day” (2 Peter 3:8). What feels to us like a long delay—two thousand years since Christ promised to return—is not slowness on His part but patience, “not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). In His perfect wisdom, God has stretched out history so that countless souls, generation after generation, might be brought into His family. And when I think of that patience, I can’t help but be thankful—because if Jesus had returned earlier, before I was born, I would never have had the chance to hear the gospel, to believe, and to know the joy of salvation. His waiting means mercy for me, and mercy for you.  Isn't that wonderful?

What About Those Who Die Before the Rapture?  (The Resurrection and the Intermediate State of the Body– a tangential but highly related topic)
The concept of a future bodily resurrection is consistently presented throughout Scripture (Job 19:25–27; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 22:23–33; John 11:24–25; Revelation 20:4–6, 11–14, others). Jesus Himself declared this hope when He told the Sadducees that God is “the God of the living” (Matthew 22:32) and when He promised that “all who are in the tombs will hear His voice” and rise, “those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28–29).

The Bible describes two resurrections: the resurrection of the righteous to eternal life and the resurrection of the unrighteous to judgment. Revelation 20:6 refers to the resurrection of believers as the “first resurrection”—a blessed and holy event that occurs in stages throughout God’s plan of redemption. Christ, the “firstfruits” (1 Corinthians 15:23), was the first to rise never to die again, and all who belong to Him will follow in their appointed order: church-age believers at Christ’s coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17), Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs at the second coming (Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:4), and those who believe during the millennium at its close (Revelation 20:5). By contrast, the second resurrection refers to the resurrection of the unjust, which takes place after the millennium and leads to the “second death”—eternal judgment in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11–15).

Between death and the resurrection lies what Christians sometimes refer to as the intermediate state. Scripture teaches that when believers die, they are “absent from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23). Their souls are safe in Christ’s presence, experiencing conscious joy and rest, though not yet clothed in their final glorified bodies (2 Corinthians 5:3–4). The unbelieving dead also remain conscious, but in a state of torment and separation from God, awaiting final judgment (Lk. 16:19–31).

The Bible does not teach “soul sleep” (the idea that believers are unconscious between death and resurrection) but instead consistently affirms conscious fellowship with Christ after death. Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), not at some far-off time after a long sleep. Paul longed “to depart and be with Christ—which is far better” (Philippians 1:23) and taught that to be “away from the body” is to be knowingly “at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The martyrs under the altar in heaven are portrayed as crying out to God in conscious worship and prayer (Revelation 6:9–11). While Scripture often uses “sleep” as a metaphor for physical death (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14), this refers to the body’s rest in the grave, not the soul’s condition. The consistent witness of Scripture is that believers immediately enter Christ’s presence at death, awaiting bodily resurrection at His return.

This raises the question: Do the dead have some kind of pre-resurrection or temporary body?
Scripture is not explicit. One could say that believers who have died (then and including today) are in some kind of pre-resurrection body in Heaven because the Bible does not affirm that a human soul and spirit can exist non-corporally (without some kind of body). However, the consistent teaching of the church is that the dead await the final resurrection for their glorified bodies. Some passages suggest that the departed are not utterly “naked spirits.” In Jesus’ parable, the rich man in Hades and Lazarus are described as speaking, seeing, and even having a “tongue” and a “finger” (Luke 16:24). Some theologians, however, caution against building a theology of Hell from a single parable. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared as recognizable men in glory (Luke 9:30–31). Revelation 6:9–11 portrays the souls of martyrs crying out to God and being given white robes to wear (suggesting they have some bodily form, unspecified). These may be symbolic, but many theologians have suggested that God grants some form of interim embodiment or that the soul itself takes on bodily likeness until the final resurrection. Others caution that these are pictures meant to affirm identity and conscious existence, not to describe an actual, temporary body.

What is certain is that at Christ’s return, the dead in Christ will rise, and their souls will be reunited with their final, glorified, imperishable bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51–53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). The living who belong to Christ will be instantly transformed, so that both the resurrected and the translated will together “meet the Lord in the air” and “always be with the Lord.” Human beings were created as embodied souls, and salvation will not be complete until body and soul are reunited in glory. This is why Paul both rejoices in being with Christ after death and yet “groans, longing to be clothed” with his heavenly dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:2–4).

Unbelievers, too, will be raised—Daniel 12:2 says “some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt (judgment).” Jesus warns us to “fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Just as believers will be fitted with resurrection bodies suited for eternal life, so unbelievers will be fitted with resurrection bodies suited for eternal punishment (for example, consider human flesh as it is known today: it cannot withstand fire for eternity without disintegrating and regenerating-- thus an eternal body for punishment is assumed for the unjust who are punished eternally). The Bible calls this the second death, eternal separation from God in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14–15).

Thus, the traditional Christian view is clear: all will be raised, believers to eternal life with Christ, unbelievers to eternal judgment. Within that truth, Christians acknowledge mystery. Whether the saints in heaven and the lost in hell experience a form of interim embodiment remains debated, but what is certain is that believers who die are safe, conscious, and joyful in Christ’s presence, while unbelievers are in torment awaiting judgment. The blessed hope of the church is not only to be with Christ at death but to be raised and transformed at His coming, sharing in His victory forever (Titus 2:13).

Summary
The rapture comes from the biblical idea of believers being caught up to meet Christ at His return. Christians differ on when it will occur, but all agree it will be sudden, climactic, and a comfort for God’s people. Scripture warns us that no one knows the exact day or hour—not even Jesus in His earthly ministry—and so any date-setting should be rejected. The proper Christian response is to live in hope, readiness, and holiness, knowing Christ will return at the Father’s appointed time.  Jesus is coming again soon!

"Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”   -- John 3:3

Have you been born again?  The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin is death.  However, there is Good News!  The Bible also says that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 3:23 and 6:23).  Is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior?  If not, why not?