Mary Fairchild
The following is based on the phonetic writing of the expository teaching tapes of Pastor Jim Mooberry.
Many people believe that we are living in the shadow of the most spectacular event of all history—that is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. This return of Christ will be for the purpose of subduing the nations of the world and establishing the earthly kingdom of God. Nothing since the Great Flood will compare to it in earth history.
But, for the Christian, the greatest event that is coming is the REMOVAL OF THE CHURCH FROM THE EARTH PRIOR TO CHRIST’S RETURN TO THE EARTH. This event is called the rapture of the Church. IN A MOMENT AT THE SOUND OF THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WILL LEAVE THIS PLANET TO MEET JESUS CHRIST. The rest of the world will wonder at what happened and the Bible speaks of this event and eludes to it through almost every book in the New Testament. Yet many Christians are unaware of it completely.
The term “rapture” does not appear in the New Testament. Its an English translation of the Greek word “harpazo.’ The meaning of “harpazo” is “to snatch up,” or “seize by force,” or to “take away by force.” Our English word “rapture” is really a derivative of the Latin “rhapizo” which is the Latin translated “harpazo.” Many times in the New Testament this word is used in the sense of “stealing.” sometimes “carrying off,” sometimes “dragging away,” but four times it is used in the sense that “God’s Spirit carries someone away.”
1. ACTS 8:39-40: “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip (harpazo) and the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at A-zo’-tus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caes-a-re’-a.”
A-zo’-tus was formerly known as Ashdod. It was about 25 miles away from where they were when they were in the water. So the Spirit of God picked him up and lifted him up and took him away by force. And the Ethiopian eunuch didn’t
see him—he just disappeared. That is the word “harpazo.”
2. 2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-4: “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man,
(he’s talking about himself)(whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;). How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter.”
Paul is talking by himself—“…was caught up into heaven (harpazo).” He was snatched up to see this vision in heaven.
3. 1THESSALONIANS 4:14-18—describes the Church being caught up(harpazo—snatched away by force) by the Spirit of God to meet the Lord in the clouds.
4. REVELATION 5—where it says the manchild, which is figurative of Jesus, “was caught up (harpazo) into heaven to the right hand of God.”
5. JOHN 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself (rapture); that where I am there ye may be also.” “Parabaino” means to recede to oneself.
6. I THESSALONIANS 1:10: “And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” “Broulomai” means to rescue or deliver.
1. HARPAZO: to “catch up” or “snatch up.”
2. EPISUNAGOGE: he’s speaking of our gathering together and our Lord’s coming and our gathering
together to Him. 2 Thessalonians 2:1.
3. ALALAZO: to “change” or to “transform”. 1 Corinthians 15:51
4. PARABAINO: means to “recede to oneself.” John 14:3
5. BROULOMAI: means to “rescue or deliver.” 1 Thessalonians 1:10
6. EPIPHAINO: an “appearance” or a “manifestation.” Titus 2:13
7. PAROUSIA: an “arrival” or a “being present.” James 5:7-8
There are many different words used in the New Testament to describe this event, but the one that we use for this event is “harpazo.” Which is translated “rapture” in theological terms. Not every use of the word in the New Testament is specifically referring to this event called the rapture of the Church. THE CONTEXT TELLS US THE MEANING. The biblical revelation concerning the rapture reveals that it can probably best be described with three words; it is a
REMOVAL, RESURRECTION, and it is a RENDEZVIOUS.
THE REMOVAL
Inherent in the word “harpazo” is the concept of removing something or someone from its present existence to another existence and the rapture accomplishes that in two realms. First there is a removal from coming wrath. From the ancient times the prophets of God had predicted that there would be a coming time of great trouble and distress on the earth prior to the coming of the Messiah to establish his kingdom. This was to be a time of judgment and tribulation called the day of the Lord.
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is the day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned
against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver, nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land” (Zephaniah 1:14-18).
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”(Revelation 6:15-17).
Now the Spirit of God had revealed in the New Testament that the Church was to be exempted from this time of God’s wrath. Both of the Thessalonian epistles have the greatest amount of information in them in teaching about this event than any other epistles in the New Testament.
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
Paul is commending these Thessalonians about what a testimony they have throughout the ancient Near East—everyone was hearing about what happened to the Thessalonians because it was so dramatic how they (vs.9) turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.(Vs. 10) And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead(Jesus), who delivers us form the wrath to come. He’s not just talking about the wrath of God’s judgment on us, that’s already been taken care of through our faith in the Cross, he’s talking about the wrath that is literally going to come on the earth and we are promised that we will be exempted from that. Also in that same epistle in 5:9 he says “For God has not destined us wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. And in that chapter he’s talking about the wrath of the day of the Lord which begins with the tribulation. This removal form the time of wrath is called the “blessed hope” in Titus 2;13.
The first removal that the rapture accomplishes is it removes the Church from the sphere of God’s wrath as it comes upon the earth. Since the sphere of this wrath is the world, deliverance from it would necessitate perfect shelter or else to be removed from the world itself.
The second removal is from the earth, not only removal from the sphere of wrath, but removed from the earth—caught up (harpzo).
“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. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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. 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: 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. Wherefore comfort on another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
The object in view are two groups of people here. Both Christians, but there are those who are dead in Christ who have died, and those who are still living at the time of the coming of Christ a the rapture. At the moment the rapture occurs there are two states in which these Christians can exist; the ones who have died and those who are alive. Both groups are caught up together and there destination, is says, is the clouds, or the upper atmosphere. Christ is waiting to meet them. One other detail is, remember when Phillip was raptured temporarily in chapter 8, that he disappeared, and that is what happens during the rapture—we’ll just disappear from the earth. We’ll no longer be seen.
Christ will descend from heaven into the upper atmosphere, dead Christians will be raised and living Christians will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the clouds and the Church will thus be removed from the wrath of the tribulation that subsequently will come upon them.
THE RESURRECTION
The whole act of being re-embodied from being a soul that is in the body of death is called resurrection. It is a figure of speech because it is to be the body coming back out of the grave and standing on the earth again, but, in fact what it is His bringing with him the souls who are with Him now who have died in Christ and this resurrection is really the rejoining of the glorified body at that moment. For those of us who are alive, this happens to us without dying. Inherent in the process of the resurrection of the Church is the simultaneous event called the resurrection.
The rapture involves not only a transportation—that is transportation from one place to the other, but also a transformation, the change of our body and our existence. This occurs to both groups, the dead and the living at the same time.
First, the dead in Christ. Their present condition is that of absent in body and present with the Lord.
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
These are the souls that are with Christ right now that have believed since Pentecost. It’s possible that, at this time, that the Old Testament could be raised as well, I prefer to believe that that will be at the end of the tribulation before the kingdom.
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven”(2 Corinthians 5:1,2).
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may able even to subdue all things unto himself”(Philippians 3:20, 21).
We were made to exist in a body. Right now the dead are disembodied. The second group it will happen to is the living in Christ. If it happens tonight this is who we are—we are in that verse. Those who are alive and remain until He comes will experience an instantaneous transformation.
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:50).
Not all shall sleep… Not every generation shall die. One will not experience physical death, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. Death is swallowed up in victory. From that point on we will always be in a glorified state of existence. We have been saved from the penalty in Christ, we are being saved from the power of sin now through sanctification—one day we will be saved from the very presence of sin in a new glorified body.
THE RENDEZVIOUS
The destiny of the Church is to spend eternity with her Saviour. At the rapture we meet Him and all the saints of the Church age to begin our life together. That’s not to say that we do not have a relationship with Him now. But this will be face to face. Now we are separated physically, then we will be together. Now His face is hidden, then you will see it. Now we must walk by faith, then we will walk by sight.
No one can set a date—that is forbidden by the Lord. He said “no one knows the day or the hour.” But the issue sets upon the relationship of the rapture to the PRE-TRIB RAPTURE: the rapture will begin prior to the beginning of the rapture which will be seven years long. That the Church then will be with Christ until He returns to the earth—so there is a distinction between the rapture and the return. The rapture is not revealed to be a reward for godly living. It is a birth right for all who are members of the body of Christ.
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In the moment, in the twinkling of and eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51, 52).
“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” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE
By the nature of what we are dealing with, all positions are built upon inference from Scripture. We don’t have one particular Scripture passage that tells us exactly, although I think there is at least one, but, in the debate people say there isn’t. So we are building from inference and from teaching that is there.
First, THERE IS A CONTRAST BETWEEN THE RAPTURE AND THE RETURN. Just as Christ’s earthly ministry has two phases, the first was His incarnation, the second when He will come in His glory— The Bible teaches that His Coming has two phases too. The rapture of the Church is the first phase. His return to the earth is the second phase.
The movement of the Church at the Rapture is from the earth to heaven. While, in the Return of Christ, it’s from heaven to the earth. In the Rapture Christ comes for His saints and takes them to His Father’s house (John 14:3). At the Return of Christ we return from heaven to the earth. These two aspects of our Lord’s coming are clearly delineated. The only real issue is the time between the two.
Second, THERE IS A NECESSITY OF AN INTERVAL BETWEEN THE TWO COMINGS. A gap of time is needed between the rapture of the Church and the Return of Christ to facilitate the events that are predicted to take place during that time. There needs to be time for the judgment of believers, which occurs at the Rapture of Christ. Time for the Marriage of the Lamb(Rev. 19).
Who will populate the Millennial Kingdom? We know when the kingdom starts that Christ in Matthew 25 said He’s going to judge the world when He comes back. He’s going to put the goats on one side and the sheep on the other side and He’s going to judge the world and the goats are going to be cast off the earth into the lake of fire. And “sheep” are going to come into the kingdom. These are mortal beings that will begin to populate the earth again and the kingdom. They are those who survived the tribulation, so they are believers. If the Rapture would occur at the same time as the Return, all the believers that are on the earth at the time will be members of the Church and if they are taken off the earth and meet Christ on the way down who’s left on the earth? That is a serious problem for post-tribulation viewers of the Rapture.
The New Testament teaches that Christ will return for his Church at any moment—immanent. Christ
can return for His Church tonight. There’s no need for any prior signs.
“So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Corinthians 1:7).
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ”(Philippians
3:20).
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:14).
THE NATURE OF THE TRIBULATION
The Bible teaches that the primary purpose of the tribulation is a time of preparation and Israel’s restoration and conversion. It’s also a time to judge the nations, but the primary purpose is to restore Israel. God brings Israel back and puts it through the fire to prepare it and restore it for the Messiah the second time He comes.
“For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break this yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto hem. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: tough I make a full end of all nations whether I have scattered thee,
yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished” (Jeremiah 30:3-11).
“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the later days, if thou turn to the Lord they God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice” (Jeremiah 4;29, 30).
“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only some, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10).
THE CHURCH IS MENTIONED OVER AND OVER IN THE FIRS THREE CHAPTERS OF REVELATION, ….the letters to the churches. Christ is speaking to the churches, the angels of the churches, but when chapter four starts “NO MORE CHURCH.”
FROM CHAPTER 4-19 THE CHURCH IS NOT EVEN IN SIGHT. This describes the period of tribulation, this is highly significant because God’s purpose for the tribulation is to restore Israel, judge the nations—not the Church.
THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH
The plan and purpose of God for the Church is different than that of the plan and purpose that He has for Israel. This contributes to the logic that God will remove the Church for the time of testing that was intended for Israel and the nations and not for the Church.
THE PROMISE OF RESCUE: “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God: And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10).
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
The letter to the church of Philadelphia: “Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”(Revelation 3:10). These letters are written to certain churches, but each letter, just like the letter to the Philippians, “ ,” is to the church as a whole. When we read the letter to Romans we don’t think “Oh, that’s just to the church of Rome.” These letters also apply to all of the churches. He speaks to different situations in each one, but the promises he makes to them go for all of them and go for us. In Revelation 3, He makes the promise “Because you have kept the word of my perseverance I will also keep you from the hour of testing.”
That’s the hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. In the contempt of this book He absolutely must be talking about the tribulation and he says “I will keep you from that hour.” You won’t even go into that time period.
THE RESIDENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
In 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Paul has written to the Thessalonians a follow-up letter. They’re really shook up because evidently somebody, by a letter supposedly from Paul or a prophecy has told them that they are already in the day of the Lord. It’s their understanding that they’ve missed the Rapture or something is terribly wrong. Perhaps they were told a partial Rapture theory. So Paul writes them this letter.
THE “RESTRAINER” IS THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH THE CHURCH… of restraining people. He’s like a governor on the plans of Satan. He cannot bring his plans to fruitation while the Church is still here. The Holy Spirit’s ministry through the Church continues to restrain him, but is says that there will be a time when that restrainer will be taken out of the way. “Out of the way” is really a spatial concept, it’s “out of the midst.” So the restrainer is going to be removed from the midst so that he will let his plans begin to flow and the antichrist will appear. If the Holy Spirit indwells the Church permanently, if He is taken out of the midst—the Church must be taken out as well. That will be before the antichrist is revealed. The antichrist presents himself at the temple at the midpoint of the tribulation, so that’s why the Rapture must be at his revelation at the signing of that treaty that begins the seven year period of Daniel’s 70th week. The word apostasy there means literally “departure.” If it means departure of faith it means the great apostasy of the Jews as they enter into a treaty with the son of perdition.
It doesn’t make any sense that Paul was writing this letter unless he was trying to teach them that their was a Rapture that was pre-trib. The residence of the Holy Spirit is a great significance. What is the significance practically? For holy living. The Rapture teaching of the New Testament is modeled after the engagement and marriage cycle of ancient Judaism. When a woman and a man were engaged it was called betrothed. It was a very legal situation in Judaism. It usually lasted for one year and then there was the wedding. During that time the groom was preparing a place for his bride. And often at his father’s house preparing a room, preparing a place for her. The bride’s purity and loyalty was tested during that year to be faithful to him and she would prepare her wedding gown and prepare for that great day. It’s a beautiful picture of Revelation 19 and the wedding at the Lamb and His bride. We are His bride. Our faithfulness and purity is being examined and tested during this time by our lives preparing our garments because it says the fine linen white and clean are the righteous acts of the saints. It’s a beautiful picture and it should have an impact on our daily life. He could come at any moment.
Be prepared. Walk to be found walking in faith and look forward to the coming of Christ. This puts a premium on every opportunity to evangelize the lost. This is doubly true of world missions. Wherever this truth has been taught and behind it has been a powerful motivation for living. The doctrine of the pre-trib Rapture gives Christians great hope for the future. The study of prophecy is never to be separated from its practical impact. The doctrine of the pre-millennial, pre-trib Return of Christ gives us a correct view of history, its progress, and its ultimate goal.
During the tribulation the work of the Holy Spirit will revert back to the pattern He followed in the Old Testament. Before Pentecost there was no guarantee of a person who was a believer being permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit often came upon people (indwelled them) for purposes of God the king. The Holy Spirit could be removed from where it indwelled as well. That’s why David cried “remove not thy Holy Spirit from me.” Not that he lost his salvation, but in that particular time and dispensation the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was not a permanent gift, that was not given until Pentecost because it’s a beginning of the New Covenant blessings.
After the Church is raptured, the Holy Spirit will still be in their midst regenerating and convicting them. It’s just that we have a great privilege of being temples of the Holy Spirit right now. His residence in the Church ceases for a season. He will still be there on the scene, He is omnipresent and no one can be saved apart from His ministry.
Most likely, at the beginning of the kingdom there will be a second Pentecost and that’s where Joel 2 will be fulfilled where he says “God says I’ll pour out my Spirit for all mankind” because all mankind will be saved at that moment as they start the kingdom. Your sons and daughters will prophecy and have dreams and there will be this great beginning of the Millennial Kingdom period. Although we don’t have a lot of revelation of what life will be like in the kingdom, it’s
reasonable to believe that the indwelling of the Spirit will begin again.
Ultimately, the Church of Jesus Christ is what will summarize and include all of the people of God one day. The children of the believers that begin the Millennial Kingdom will have to each, themselves, trust in Christ. That’s why at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, when Satan is released again for a season there are plenty of people there that he can cite for that familiar rebellion because they have been under control
“The Rapture.” VARIOUS SCRIPTURE 3/9/97. The Faithful Word. Pastor Jim Mooberry