What Is the Rapture?
What Is the Meaning of Rapture?
Answer: When it comes to “rapture,” most believers in the Lord think that when the Lord comes, He will lift the saints into the air to meet Him and that this is what being raptured is. This view is mainly based on this verse in the Bible: “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). And because of this scripture, we start to hope that the Lord will take us into the air when He comes. And we have hoped for this kind of rapture for many years.
As we know, this verse “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” is Paul’s words, not the Lord Jesus’, neither was it enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The saints’ rapture belongs to the mysteries of the kingdom of God. No one but God knows it. If we interpret and define it based on our own imaginations and ideas, this would seem unreasonable and too arrogant. Paul is not Christ but a corrupt man, who cannot express truth; it was unavoidable that his word was blended with man’s will and imagination. So, Paul’s word cannot be the basis for us to enter the kingdom of heaven.
When we investigate the rapture and entry into the kingdom of heaven, we should go by the words of the Lord Jesus and the words enlightened by the Holy Spirit rather than man’s words in the Bible. It is because that only God’s words are truth. The Lord didn’t say that He would rapture people into the air in the future. At the beginning, God made mankind out of clay on the earth. He had them live on the earth and manage all things, and demanded that they manifest and glorify Him. The destination God has prepared for man is not in heaven but on the earth. God has made it clear long ago that He will establish His kingdom on the earth, dwell with men on the earth, and the kingdoms of the world will certainly become kingdoms ruled by Christ. Just like what Revelation says: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). Thus, God’s kingdom will eventually be established on the earth, not in heaven. We humans are always looking to be taken up into heaven, which is thoroughly our notions and imaginations, and our extravagant desire. It does not match the truth or the reality of God’s work. As for the rapture into the kingdom of heaven, we should base our faith in it on God’s words, for that is accurate and in accordance with His will.
Someone may ask, “Since God’s kingdom is on the earth, then how would people be raptured?” I saw a passage of God’s words on a gospel website: “‘Being caught up’ is not being taken from a low place to a high place as people imagine. This is a huge mistake. Being caught up is referring to My predetermining and selecting. It is targeted at all those I have preordained and chosen. Those who have gained the status of firstborn sons, the status of My sons, or My people, are all people who have been caught up. This is most incompatible with people’s notions. Those who have a share in My house in the future are all people who have been caught up before Me. This is absolutely true, never-changing, and cannot be refuted by anybody. This is the counterattack against Satan. Anyone I preordained shall be caught up before Me.” It can be seen that rapture is not what people imagine—rising from a low place to a high place or from earth to heaven. Rather, it refers to receiving God’s work. Just as when the Lord Jesus did His work, those who rejected the old laws and received His work of redemption were raptured. Similarly, when the Lord Jesus returns in the last days, those who have been selected by God, and receive His kingdom gospel and come before His throne—they are raptured.
Source From: Find the Shepherd