Questions About The Rapture

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Today, let’s focus on the sequence of events that will unwind when Christ calls all the Saints, living and dead, to join Him in the Rapture. I have looked at different aspects of the Rapture. It is worth reiterating you will not find the word “rapture” in the Bible but we are dealing with a principle recorded in the Word. I have, also, written about the time of the Rapture, who will be in the Rapture and all those good stuff. Please read those other articles before you read this one because background information concerning the Rapture is covered in them.

On an ordinary day or night, everyone will be doing his usual chores then suddenly there is global destruction. Simultaneously, globally, Saints will disappear because they heard the final call of Christ Jesus. Two will be in the bed and one disappeared because the Rapture took him.

Can you imagine the chaos, carnage, destruction and fear because the Rapture snatches away Saints of Christ in motion. Imagine pilots flying commercial airplanes all over the world disappeared from cockpits because the Rapture took them. The similar thing will happen for all modes of transportation buses, cars, truck, trains, bicycles, motor bikes pedestrians and even the motionless, possible asleep.

Michael the archangel of the Lord Jesus Christ will sound his “trumpet” and all the Saints of Christ will hear and respond, this is the Rapture.

The dead Saints will respond first. The response has two phases first, the resurrection of the dead and second, the translation of the resurrected and the living.

First, let’s look at the response of the Saints of Christ that are dead. All the Saints in Christ on hearing the sound of the trumpet of Archangel Michael will instantly receive a new body. Remember, Brethren we are speaking about the power of God here, not the capabilities of a man, but the Almighty God, therefore believe this account of the Rapture.

All Saints will receive an immortal body. This is a miracle because irrespective of how the Saints in Christ died they will (not shall but will) possess glorified bodies. If the Saints were cremated or died in a fire the Romans burned (many alive); if animals ate them say alligators, sharks, lions (like some of the early Saints that Romans placed in stadiums and wild animals ate them as sports for the audience); during the Rapture they will have new and glorified bodies.

The Call of Christ will Transform our Bodies at the Rapture

The Archangel Michael will descend with a shout but in reality the shout is really the Lord shouting but through the Archangel Michael voice, 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, which will accomplish this miraculous change of the bodies of Saints. We have seen this happen before.

First, the Jesus Christ demonstrated what the Rapture will accomplish on our dead bodies when he called Lazarus to life. Lazarus was dead for four days when Jesus called, “Lazarus, come forth.” This man had started to decompose but at the voice of Jesus Christ, his entire body gloriously and miraculously instantly rejuvenated because as a Saint of Christ, for he was a disciple of Jesus Christ, he heard the voice of Jesus, John 11:43.

Lazarus came forth alive not smelly, not rotting and decaying but with flesh like a newborn baby. Can you imagine how the audience touched and poked Lazarus to see if he was OK? Observe, Jesus did not say, “come forth” because all the dead would obey him. Instead, he specifically called Lazarus and he obeyed. The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead demonstrates exactly how the call of Christ will transform our bodies at the Rapture.

The focus of the Rapture is not on the soul, it is not on the spirit but on the bodies of the Saints of Christ. Again, Jesus demonstrates that the dead bodies of Saints are the focus of the resurrection and the focus of the Rapture. Do you recall what happened after Jesus’ resurrection?

After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, “many bodies of the Saints” got up out of their graves because the power of Jesus’ resurrection opened their graves. The “bodies” of these Saints went into Jerusalem “and appeared unto many,” Matthew 27:52-53.

Now, let’s talk about this! The bodies of the dead Saints did not appear to the living looking like the pictures from a horror movie, no! They appeared alive and in good health. Only those who saw them knew they were dead and they did not appear to everyone.

Many graves were opened after Jesus’ resurrection. However, who got up and appeared to others? SAINTS? Saints of Christ Jesus got out of their graves and appeared to living Saints of Christ Jesus. The dead Saints were demonstrating the power of Jesus Christ, to the living Saints, at the resurrection of the Saints and at the Rapture to give them hope and prepare them for the Rapture.

Focus of Both the Rapture and the Resurrection is the Body

Let’s examine another incident, which demonstrates that the dead bodies of Saints are the focus of the resurrection, and demonstrate the power of Jesus Christ at the Rapture. It’s for this reason Satan is obsessed with dead bodies. That is why he fought or “contended” with Michael the Archangel over the location of Moses’ dead body.

Moses died in Mount Pisgah and the Lord buried him in a secret valley. Nobody knows where he is buried but the Lord. However, Satan’s fascination with dead bodies motivated him to confront the chief angel of heaven concerning the situation of Moses’ body. Michael rebuked him, Jude 1:9.

What is the one thing that Satan cannot do? He CANNOT give life!

Now, concerning, the Rapture and those Saints of Christ that are alive, the dead will resurrect and receive their new incorruptible bodies. Then, those Saints in Christ that are alive will instantly receive glorified bodies like the resurrected.

Together, both the resurrected and the living transformed Saints of Christ will experience the Rapture. Together all shall be “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air, 1 Thessalonians 4:17. That is the description of the Rapture.

Earlier, I told you that the focus of both the Rapture and the resurrection is the body of Saints of Christ. However, where are the soul and the spirit of the Saints of Christ during the Rapture? First, this may surprise you but it is the Word of God, the soul and the spirit of the Saints of Christ is not on earth. They could not be on earth because Satan would have found them. When a Saint dies in Christ, the Lord does not hide his soul and his spirit in the earth as he did to Moses’ body.

Unless the Lord hides, something in the earth humanity cannot hide anything in the earth from Satan because he will find it. He is wise. That’s why he is searching for the body of Moses. When a Saint in Christ dies both his spirit and his soul go back to God, Ecclesiastes 12:7. Therefore, neither the soul nor the spirit of the Saint of Christ participates in the Rapture.

During the Rapture, the souls and the spirits of the Saints in Christ are in heaven and they don’t leave heaven. The Lord declared that all the souls belong to Him, Ezekiel 18:4. Therefore, he keeps them in heaven with Him away from Satan, Revelation 6:9-11.

Can you imagine what Satan would do to the souls and spirits of dead Saints in Christ if he had access to them in the earth? The souls of unbelievers are transported to hell immediately after death. If Satan had the power, he would rather our souls and spirits go to hell than heaven but he is powerless on this.

 At the Rapture, we Have Victory Over Death by Jesus Christ

The Rapture of the Saints of Christ is to demonstrate to Satan that Jesus has victory over death. For that reason the dead bodies of Saints in Christ has the focus of the Rapture. The Rapture will occur very quickly, in the blink of an eye, or “in the twinkling of an eye.”

At that moment in time when the last trump of God shall sound, and the saints hear the voice of Christ, and our bodies undergo a nanosecond metamorphosis from “corruptible” to ” in-corruption,” and from “mortal” to “immortality” death is defeated. In a nanosecond “Death is swallowed up in victory” because we cannot die anymore. That is why the body is so important to the Rapture.

Up until the Rapture of the Church of Christ only Jesus, being the first fruit of them that slept, died and lived forever, so that he must have preeminence in all things. However, at the Rapture, the last enemy of Jesus Christ, death, is destroyed, 1 Corinthians 15:26.

The Rapture will demonstrate that what Jesus did for himself he has done for the Church, we will live forever with him. At the Rapture, we have victory over death by Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:57.

Then, we can say “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians 15:55.

Finally, let’s recap. The focus of the Rapture and the resurrection of the Saints of Christ is the body. The soul and the spirit are not participants in either the resurrection or the Rapture of the Saints. What makes us mortal? We are mortal because we die; death is the departure of both the soul and the spirit from our bodies.

If the souls and or the spirits of the Saints of God were involved in either the Rapture or the resurrection, we would be mortal during the Rapture.

Death is the departure of the soul from the body, for example, when Rachael was dying her “soul departed”, Genesis 35:18. On the other hand, the body without the “spirit” describes death, James 2:26. Here, we observe both the departure of the spirit and the soul caused death. If we adopt one position the departure either of the spirit or the soul result in death, we neglect the departure of the other for the same reason. Therefore, so that the Scriptures are not broken, both the departure of the soul and the spirit result in death.

The soul and the spirit are always together, only the Word of God can separate them, Hebrews 4:12. When a Saint dies in Christ, his soul and his spirit immediately do back to God in heaven because He gave them and they belong to Him, Genesis 2:7. The souls of Saints are always before God in heaven worshipping Him, Revelation 7:9-17.

The transformation of the body of the Saints of Christ at the Rapture means we will not have a gender. The Rapture will make us like the angels in heave, not male or female but glorified bodies, Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:25 and Luke 20:35.

Only the Saints Will be in the Rapture

Satan is pre-occupied with dead bodies because he does not know how to give them life but he is very knowledgeable in the manipulations of souls and spirits to accomplish his deeds. Horror movies demonstrate this via their fascination of dead bodies coming to life this is Satan greatest wish.

But Jesus Christ went to hell and collected the keys of death and hell and by his resurrection from the dead; we have victory over Satan via the Rapture of the Saints in Christ.
In closing, irrespective of how you die in Christ Jesus at the Rapture you will receive a glorified immortal body from God when you hear his voice. Through our resurrection and Rapture Jesus Christ will demonstrate to Satan and all the Kingdom of Darkness that he is God over all, the living and the dead, and that he must be worshipped.

Accept Jesus Christ today and participate in the Rapture. Believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Believe his Gospel spoken by Him, the Apostles and his contemporary representatives and be apart of the Rapture. Confess your sins to him, turn from your sinful ways and follow Christ.

Only the Saints will be in the Rapture. You cannot be in the Rapture and disobey Jesus’ commandments. Find a Jesus preaching, teaching church and be baptized in water by immersion calling on the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. You will not hear the voice of Jesus at the Rapture if you have not taken his name in baptism. Receive the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues as the Spirit allows you to because your body will not transform during the Rapture if you don’t have the Spirit and power of Christ Jesus living in you.

Having, done all stand because we know NOT the time of the Rapture but be ready and waiting because the Rapture will be at a time when you don’t expect Jesus to come.

Please leave your comments concerning, How The Rapture Will Occur.

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