WHAT IS RAPTURE?
First of all let me make it clear to you that the term RAPTURE is not biblical. You can search from Genesis to Revelation you will not find any word like Rapture. It comes from a Latin word ‘RAPIO’ which means "SNATCH AWAY” or "CARRY OFF”. In Greek it is termed ‘HARPAZO’ and thus it is linked to the event when all the perfect saints in Christ shall be snatched away by the power of the Holy Spirit to meet the Lord in the air or sky to travel with Him to the place He Jesus has prepared for His true believers. This means when one hears about RAPTURE it simply refers to the process or medium by which one can go to God from this earth, either from the dead or the living.The bible has it on record that some people have been whisked away (raptured) before, hence the expectation of modern day Christians about this medium of going to the Father in heaven. Apart from Christ Jesus, the centre of our faith, `who was taken away after His resurrection from the dead, there are other reports which show redemption through rapture. So read the following yourself:
(9) "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (10) And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; (11) Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” ACTS 1:9-11
"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.” HEB.11:5
"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” GEN.5:24
(1)"And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal…………………………………… (11) And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (12) And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.” 2KINGS 2:1,11,12
Since these texts above have given us three separate examples of rapture, we ought to believe that the promise of our redemption through rapture is sure. Irrespective of the timing of such events, let us now consider also the promises of rapture in the following quotations below:
(49) "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,52 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.53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.54 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.” 1COR. 15:49-54
(13) "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.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.15 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.16 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:17 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. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1THESS. 4:13-18
(1) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (2)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. (3) 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.” JN.14:1-3
Now considering the various texts above about the promises to take us to God the Father through rapture, one can easily say that Christ’s direct words in the book of John did not make mention of THE ACTUAL MEANS He would travel with us: But don’t forget that He later specified it during His mount sermon just before His agony on the cross. Christ made it open to us when He asserted that He would send His Angels to gather all His elect from the four corners of the earth to meet Him in the sky.
(30) "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.(31) And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” MATT. 24:30,31
Again the beloved Apostle John who wrote the First Epistle of John for the Christian world also made it clear that we shall also be like Christ on the day that He shall appear for our redemption. That is we will have to bear the divine incorruptible image of God before rapture could be possible. As such the earthly body must be replaced with the heavenly one so as to enable us travel by that Godly invisible nature. This is why Apostle Paul also convincingly stated in 1COR. 15:51-53 that, we shall be changed to resemble the true incorruptible nature or image of God on the day of RAPTURE.
"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.” 1JN. 3:2
I hope you are now clear with the medium through which we shall be taken to God. The reason why it would be so is that when Jesus was making His promise, He knew very well that His Father’s PLACE used as a promise to us is not earthly and that the only means to get there, is to replace our earthly bodies with the divine invisible body to make us able to be whisked away. Hence the use of the statement "I will come again, and receive you unto myself”(JN.14:3). That is to say He knew He had to go back to the Father in heaven, prepare some place there for us and later come back to pick us to heaven. So that is Rapture for you on the day of our redemption.
Please bear in mind that the day of our redemption is the day on which Christ shall return to this earth since His ascension to the Father in heaven. Remember, in His promise He said He would return to us after He had gone to prepare a place for us all in His Father’s house. This simply implies that Christ himself will come to cause this rapture on the fateful day he would be ready to pick us to the Father in Glory.CONTINUE HERE