I first heard of the Rapture way back in the early 1970’s when I was in college. At that time, a great controversy kept us all talking–Was the Rapture pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib? Some of us were sure that God was going to zap Christians out of the world and into heaven before the Great Tribulation when the Anti-Christ would take over the world. Others weren’t so sure about that as they said the Rapture wouldn’t come until the middle of that time period or even at the end of it. Throughout all of these discussions, we were making an assumption that really has no biblical basis. Furthermore, as we have been talking about here, if we are an integral part of the spiritual warfare leading up to the return of Christ, why would God take us off the battlefield?

     Do you know that the word “Rapture” isn’t even in the Bible? However, there are several verses in the Bible which seem to indicate a catching up of believers connected with the coming of Christ. First, as we discussed in my last post, the two dead witnesses were revived with the breath of life from God and were caught up into heaven (Revelation 11:11-12. There’s also a similar narrative in the next chapter where a woman gives birth to a manchild who is immediately caught up  to God and His throne (Revelation 12:1-3, 5). We’ve already discussed the two witnesses as representing the two covenants and the catching up of them as being the re-establishment of the power and authority they had. I propose that the catching up of the manchild represents a similar happening. Let’s infer that the woman who gives birth to the manchild is the Church who is clothed in light (the sun representing Christ) with the false light under her feet (the moon representing Satan) and who has a crown of twelve stars on her head (representing the second covenant). Might the manchild be the 144,000 believers who are the first to find their places seated on the right hand of God as they learn to fight the kingdom of evil in their prayer closets? Like the catching up of the two witnesses, this catching up of the manchild may also represent the authority of Christ being activated here on earth. Thus, the catching up into heaven may not be a literal happening, per se, but rather a figurative image–once the covenants and the manchild were caught up, Satan couldn’t touch their authority.

      Now, in I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul talks about what would happen when Christ returned to the earth. Listen to what verses 16 and 17 say:

   For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

I want to add a second passage for us to think about as we work through the meaning of the catching up mentioned here. Let’s look at I Corinthians 15:51-55:

   Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immorality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on  immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?”

If we put these two passages together, I think we can infer that us meeting the Lord in the air represents the change that takes in our bodies. Our mortal bodies will put on immortality as we shake off death and as our victory over the kingdom of evil is fully manifested. If Christ is returning and we are putting on immortality, what would be the point of us being “raptured” to heaven? With this in mind, I propose that this catching up and meeting Christ in the air is the outward manifestation of our freedom from death which will be under our feet at that point. 

   Let’s summarize what we have discussed so far in this series of posts: Satan sets out to kill the power of the two covenants of God with the human race and to push the world into deception and competitiveness strong enough to destroy the human race. As the world edges closer to that destruction, God releases the power of righteousness (freedom from sin and guilt) and the power of the resurgence of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. A small group of believers from throughout the Church are called to their prayer closets and are the first to discover the ability to bind the forces of evil and loosen the forces of good. As they take their places as sons of God, Michael and his angelic forces are released to wage war against the kingdom of evil and the resulting battle of Armageddon (spiritual warfare) brings massive trouble to the human race as Satan tries to hold onto his power of deception. During this trouble, massive multitudes of people realize that God’s absolute love was and is manifested through Christ to provide the human race with power to overcome the kingdom of evil. These multitudes flee to the throne of God for His help in this time of horrendous trouble. The battle rages until there is only one enemy left–death.  At this point, Michael the archangel (Jude 9) shouts in victory, the last trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ arise, we who are alive on earth put on immortality, and Christ descends to take his place as King of kings and Lord of lords! Amen and amen!

     Then, as Revelation 19:7-19 talks about, the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place. John’s description of this feast portrays some pretty gory details such birds eating the flesh of kings, commanders, mighty men, horses, their riders and of all men both free men and slaves. If we put these verses together with Matthew 24:28 (KJV) which says, “For wherever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together,” the marriage supper sounds like a bloody carnage. Again, looking at this event from the figurative language aspect, I’m thinking that this marriage supper is part of God’s revenge on the kingdom of evil. Satan and his cohorts are going to lose everything they have–their very “life” is going to be destroyed and all the destruction, loss, and death that they have caused is going to fall. In the place of destruction, loss, and death, the human race is going to be given back everything that has been taken from them. We are going to feast upon the destruction of the kingdom of evil and Satan and his cohorts will be helpless to stop us. If this is the case, then Isaiah 40:31 is a verse for us to hold onto as we work our way towards the marriage supper of the Lamb, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

     Except where noted, all scripture verses are taken from the NASB. As always, please feel free to comment–just keep it respectful.

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.