Last week I left you with a question. If the N.T. clearly shows that the second return of Jesus Christ is going to be a secretive event where no one will be expecting Him, how do we reconcile it with the clear teaching that it will be disclosed to all and everyone will be expecting Him?

You might remember that while Jesus was with His disciples, one of the things He told them was that after His resurrection and ascension He would one day return. And, that until that time, they should be His witnesses to the world.

The disciples were very interested in Christ’s second coming as we see from Matthew’s gospel.

MAT 24:3 "As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

The last couple of weeks we saw that of the many signs concerning the end, which Jesus told them about, the first He mentions was a great deception that overtakes the world and that false teachers will enter the church and pervert His truth, even scoffing at the idea that He would return.

In the next 28 verses of Matthew 24 our Lord continues to give numerous signs and then says in MAT 24:33 "Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door."

Our Lord makes it clear that there will be many signs and wonders which the world will expect as His return is at hand. But then, we come to verse 44 of Matthew 24.

MAT 24:44 "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

This appears to be a contradiction. And yet, we find as we study the word of God that there is no contradiction at all. There will be a secret coming of Christ "for" His church and there will be a coming "with" His church to the earth which everyone will expect.

In regards to this coming which is preceded by world-wide catastrophes; the moon turning blood red, the sun being blotted out, fire reigning down from heaven and so forth, it will be made clear that God is involved in sending a blatant message to the world that He’s coming back very soon. The unbeliever will not have to take a course in spiritual discernment to figure this out.

This is what we saw last week in the passage found in Revelation which speaks of people all over the earth fully realizing that this is a judgment from God and they are about to be judged when He arrives.

REV 6:16 "They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

This is a message to the world to expect Jesus to come back as Judge and King and Conqueror. But there is a separate message to another group of people which is entirely different. It is a message to the Body of Christ, the church, to expect something which is accompanied by no particular sign or wonder other than the sign of Noah.

For this to happen there will be no out-of-the-ordinary sign which we should expect. It’s true that Jesus speaks of wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and so forth, but they are all in relation to birth pangs, not the actual birth of the wrath of God to come.

At the writing of the N.T. there were certainly wars and rumors of wars together with earthquakes and volcanic activity around the world, but what our Lord wants us to realize is that there will be an increase in these activities. But they will still be seen as ordinary.

Everybody’s talking about El Nino these days and the havoc it has created around the world in relation to the weather patterns. And no one could deny that there has been an increase in strange phenomena as it relates to localized weather or even in geologic activity. Everyone is still waiting for California to fall into the ocean.

But, even with this increased activity the world is not expecting judgment from God. They’re blaming it on global warming or the cutting down of the rain forest or any number of other things man has supposedly done to contribute to the problem. But when the end comes the world will not be blaming mankind or El Nino, they will realize the Creator is on His way.

Jesus points out that even though there will be an increase in global problems we still must expect His return which will not be surrounded by events out of the ordinary. We find this in Luke’s gospel.

LUK 17:26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all."

In the days of Noah no one was expecting anything. And in like manner Jesus tells us it will be the same for us when He returns. This is, however, not a return of our Lord in the midst of chaotic catastrophes or during Armageddon, but is actually found in the calm of normal life. When taking all of these things into consideration one must conclude that this return of Christ comes before "God pours out His wrath upon the earth as described in Revelation. Otherwise He could not say that His coming would be at a time similar to the days of Noah just before the flood." (Dave Hunt)

There is an inescapable truth being taught and that is that there are two separate events surrounding the second coming of Jesus Christ. One is called the rapture of the Church, the other is His physical return to this earth.

This morning I want to look at the first of the two: The Rapture. As stated earlier this event will be a secret event with no fan fare, no warning signs which would bring attention to it, and nothing which would appear out of the ordinary, until it happens. There are several passages which tell us of the secretive nature of the rapture of the Church.

1TH 5:1 "Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night."

REV 16:15 "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

Even Peter makes mention of this before the full blown wrath is about to come upon the earth in the letter we’ve been studying, 2Peter.

2PE 3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare."

"Secretly, like a thief, Christ will take out of this world His church," (Dave Hunt). But, it won’t be long after this that the world will realize that something is very very wrong. And so, as we look at this event of the rapture we need to understand that there does not have to be any extraordinary signs prior to the rapture for it to occur.

In fact, this was the case even in Peter’s day and Paul’s. They too expected the soon return of our Lord and Savior to come to take them out of this world that they may be with the Lord forever.

But when we talk about the rapture what exactly are we talking about? And if we believe in the rapture, why does the word rapture not appear anywhere in the Bible? And why should we expect the rapture in our lifetime when so many before us expected it and yet it never happened?

These are all legitimate questions, which we’ll be dealing with this morning, plus some additional ones.

The word rapture appears no where in the Scriptures and for this reason many people have concluded that such an event will never happen. If, however, all of our doctrines concerning Christ are dependent upon a particular word to describe a doctrine appearing in the word of God, then the Jehovah witnesses would have a legitimate case against the teaching of the Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God in three persons.

We normally speak of this as the trinity. And yet the word trinity appears no where in the word of God. Well, then how do we arrive at such a teaching? Quite simply by studying the whole counsel of God’s word, which clearly shows that this one true God has revealed Himself in three persons.

Does this mean we fully understand all of the eternal implications of such a truth? No. But, it doesn’t mean it is any less true. It is the same with the rapture of the Church. The word appears nowhere in the Scriptures but it doesn’t mean it’s not clearly taught.

The word rapture actually comes from the Latin translation of 1Thessalonians 4:17.

1TH 4:17 "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

The word caught up is the Latin rapturos. The Greek word in this text for caught up is harpazo which comes from a derivative of another word which means:
(1) to seize, carry off by force
(2) to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly
(3) to snatch out or away

And so, it might be quite appropriate to refer to this event as the "Great Snatch", but it has popularly been called, "The Rapture". Either way, the idea is the same. God is coming back for us to take us out of this world. It is an integral part of our salvation. And there are a number of passages which deal with this.

The first time we have any indication of this event is found in John’s gospel as he is recording the very words of Jesus on this subject.

JOH 14:2 "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

Many people believe that when Jesus speaks of going to prepare a place for us that He means there is a major construction project which He and possibly the angels in heaven have been laboring over for almost 2,000 years. I’ve heard it said, as many of you have, that if it only took 6 days for God to create the world, imagine what kind of a place He has in store for us which has taken this long to put together.

But the context of John doesn’t speak of Jesus going to construct a place in heaven, but only that He is going to prepare a place for us. In the context, it is quite clear where Jesus was going. This conversation was taking place at the last supper and Jesus was about to go to the cross for our redemption.

When Jesus spoke of going to prepare a place for us, He was talking about going to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins so that we might have access to heaven and His eternal fellowship. That’s the place He went to. The place called Golgatha. The place of a skull, where His blood was shed and His body broken on our behalf.

But there are other places in the Scriptures which deal with this second coming of Christ for His church known as the rapture.

1TH 4:16 "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words."

1CO 15:51 "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."

Paul speaks of this event as a mystery. It is a mystery to the degree that this was not something the O.T. saints had any clear teaching on. And yet, even the O.T. saints had an example of this as they looked to Enoch and Elijah.

GEN 5:21 "When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.
22 And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years.
24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."

This phrase, "God took him away" means that Enoch did not experience death. He was taken bodily out of this world into the presence of God. Now we’re clearly told that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God and so Enoch’s translation must have included a changing of his body.

HEB 11:5 "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God."

Now, Enoch was a man who was taken to be with God before the flood of the entire earth. But there was another man after the flood who also did not experience death, but was taken up to be with God.

2KI 2:11 "As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind."

By the way, when our Lord speaks of being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which means that even after a believer leaves this world through death, God is still the God of the living, which means we are still very much alive and conscious after death. We see this clearly at the Mount of transfiguration when our Lord took three of His disciples to have a heavenly encounter.

MAT 17:1 "After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus."

Notice that Moses and Elijah are very much alive. Moses died a natural death while Elijah was raptured in a sense. This also confirms that even the O.T. saints were not placed in some depository outside of heaven waiting for Christ to open heaven for them after His resurrection.

This experience of the transfiguration happened in an O.T. setting. Christ had not yet consummated the New covenant in His blood. He was still in the process of fulfilling the law which we couldn’t fulfill. And yet, He appears with two O.T. saints who were living and enjoying the blessings of that city whose architect and builder is God.

But the N.T. saints are given a promise that a group of them, in time, will also not experience death. This is what the rapture is all about. It is a promise from Christ that He will take us to Himself prior to our deaths.

This was the reason Paul was trying to encourage the saints in Thessalonica. They were concerned for those who had died in Christ. They were afraid that if Christ came back for the Church that somehow their deceased friends in Christ would miss out on this blessed event. Paul assures them that will not be the case.

1TH 4:13 "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words."

What an encouragement; to know that the Lord doesn’t forget any of His people. And what He wants us to understand is that our place with Him is heavenly in nature. And when He comes back for us that is where He will take us. Many have asked the question: ‘where is heaven?’

My response is I don’t know, if by that you mean some particular location in the universe. But I do know this. Wherever Jesus is with the Father, is where heaven is. Remember, He told the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise.

The word paradise which Jesus uses with the thief is the exact same word He uses in the book of Revelation.

REV 2:7 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

Our home, our hope is to be with Jesus. PHI 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,..."

MAT 19:23 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. Therefore, the kingdom we will ultimately possess for eternity will be a heavenly kingdom with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

But there will be some very interesting events surrounding this occurrence we know as the rapture. And it has to do with preparing our bodies for heaven. Paul touches on this in his letter to the Romans.

ROM 8:23 "Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24 For in this hope we were saved...."

In the letter to the Corinthians Paul begins to give further explanation as to what he means by all of this.

1CO 15:40 "There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."

And with the verse I read earlier there is also a vivid picture of what we will receive.

PHI 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

Do you realize what this means? We are going to receive our bodies back, but they will not be like the bodies which were put into the ground. They will be glorious like our Lord’s. They will be perfect in every way without blemish or restrictions. They will be able to dwell with our Lord in heaven and yet will allow us to be part of the return of the physical return of Christ when we come back to this earth with Him for the millennial reign.

But I’m getting ahead of myself just a bit. The question is, when do we get this glorified body? The answer is at the rapture of the Church. When our Lord comes back for us we will immediately be transformed from our lowly earthly estate to an imperishable glorified person with a body like our Lord’s.

1CO 15:50 "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed -
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality."

You see the rapture is not just an escape from this world, it is a transformation to perfection with our Lord, not just with a spiritual body, but with a body others will recognize. The body that was buried will be the same body that will be resurrected from the dead. Was that not the case with Jesus? When He rose from the dead did He not have the same body?

Yes, in fact, He showed that same body to the disciples and Thomas was asked to put his hands into our Lord’s side and his fingers in his hands. And yet, it was that glorified body which could appear and reappear at will as He walked through walls. There were no physical restrictions.

But that old decrepit body we possess, the one which has a hard time seeing or playing softball, or running a 10K race, or just dealing with the trials of life, will have no problems at all. It will be a body fit for life. Life eternal. And it will be the perfect age, whatever age that is.

What a glorious thing to look forward to. To be resurrected unto life to meet our Lord in the air to be with Him forevermore. To meet our same Lord who told Martha on one occasion; "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die...." (JOH 11:25-26)

But something else happens at the rapture. It will be a busy time for us. You see, on that day when our Lord comes back for us there will be a judgment. It won’t be a judgment to determine our guilt, because Jesus has already paid for that. Rather it will be a judgment to determine our rewards in heaven.

1CO 3:12 "If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.
14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."

All of this is meant to prepare us for a great battle. The bride of Christ will come home to her groom. And there will be rejoicing in heaven as they are united. In fact, "in Christ’s day the Jewish bride was taken to the father’s house where [both betrothed husband and wife] were in seclusion in the honeymoon quarters for seven days." (Dave Hunt)

In similar fashion, we will spend the last week of Daniel’s prophecy, which is 7 years, with our Lord, before the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place just before the battle of Armageddon.

REV 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear."

At this point the bride of the Lamb will be ready to come back to this earth with her Champion. Just as we saw that the bride has clothed herself with fine linens given to her by the bridegroom who is Christ, the prophet Zechariah tells us how we are to play a role in the physical return of Christ.

ZEC 14:4 "On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him."

You and I will come back with our Lord to rule and reign with Him in this earth for a thousand years. But there is that troubling time for the earth during those 7 years of tribulation before our Lord’s physical return with His saints.

We’ll look at that next week. But the question should be asked, how should the rapture effect our lives? What should it do to encourage as well as motivate us?

1JO 2:28 "And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

May our lives demonstrate a purity and love for Christ and be faithful witnesses of the true gospel where we will not be ashamed at His coming for us to be with Him forever.