or the hour of Christ’s return at the Rapture. But one day billions of people will suddenly vanish from the face of the earth. Are you ready?
- Dr. David Jeremiah
Tradition has it that Sir William Curtis, an alderman who became the Lord Mayor of London, once called for a toast to the “three R’s” of education: “readin’, ritin’, and ’rithmetic”—publicly displaying his own lack of education in the process. The “Three R’s” were picked up and have been used since as a summary of the essence of education.
If you want to display your eschatological literacy (eschatology is the doctrine of future events), you can summarize the Rapture under the following “Four R’s:” return, resurrection, rapture, and reunion.
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God...”
Jesus Christ Himself—not His angels, His Spirit, or His apostles—will come for His Church. This is just as the two angels spoke to the apostles when Christ ascended into heaven: “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). That means it will be personal, physical, and visible. And it will be audible. There will be “a shout,” the “voice of an archangel,” and the sound of “the trumpet of God.” These will be sounds like nothing ever heard on earth before.
When Jesus returns for His own, there will be NO missing it and no mistaking it. It will happen with fanfare! Learn more here.
The next portion of verse 16 says: “And the dead in Christ will rise first.”
The second “R” in the chronology of the Rapture is the resurrection of those who have died in Christ. The Bible calls this “the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:5-6).
Consider carefully the words of William Barclay, a great British commentator on the New Testament: “If a man has lived in Christ, and died in Christ, even if he is dead, he is still in Christ. That means that between Jesus Christ and the man who loves Him, there is a relationship which nothing can break. It is a relationship which overpasses death. Because Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again, so the man in Christ shall live and die and rise again. Nothing in life or death can ever separate him from Christ.”
The dead in Christ get priority when Jesus comes back for His own! Read more about this great resurrection here.
Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Dr. David Jeremiah answers some of the most frequently asked questions about heaven, including “do pets go to heaven?”
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“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up . . . .”
That’s it—the Rapture of the Church. The original Greek verb is harpazo, or rapio in the Latin.
The Greek verb contained at least these four elements.
Verse 17: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Family reunions are wonderful—hugging and embracing those we haven’t seen in ages. But there is a reunion coming, the likes of which earth has never seen. But it won’t happen on earth; it’s going to happen in the air.
The dead in Christ will rise from their graves first. Then those Christians alive at the time of the Rapture will follow immediately—“caught up together with them in the clouds.” Christian friends and family members will be reunited in a moment of time, and they will all enter heaven together in their brand new, glorified bodies.
There are going to be three grand reunions that take place that day. First, dead bodies will be reunited with their spirit that has been in heaven with Christ since the time of death. Second, deceased and living believers are going to be reunited. And third, all believers are going to be united with the Savior who died for them so that they might spend eternity in the presence of God.
For more on the Rapture, including answers to many of the most-asked questions check out The Great Disappearance from Dr. David Jeremiah.
