The rapture of the saints who are alive is an expectation that is fostered by what is written in the book of First Thessalonians.
- For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Ideas of ecstasy and being emotionally moved beyond having commonsense are associated with the idea of rapture, but the term used to express what happens when people are caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, has the Latin meaning of being carried away.
The expectation of being caught up into the clouds at the second coming has been the providence of the Christian Church since the days of Pentecost. Uninformed individuals have deceived many into believing that this was not the case. The aforementioned Scripture puts paid to any arguments that the rapture is not going to happen according to Scripture. This is because it is going to happen.
From God’s perspective, what is to happen soon has probably already happened. From our perspective, what is to happen soon takes on an immediacy that varies from person to person. Some people see something happening soon within the framework of a couple of decades, other people think in terms of minutes. When thinking in terms of centuries, a couple of decades is soon. When thinking in terms of quenching one’s thirst, soon can literally mean within a couple of seconds.
Many people think that the return of the Lord is going to happen this year. Many more think it could happen anytime today. Whereas, those who wait upon the Lord, and delight in His presence, think it has already happened—well, at least until they have to encounter the hostile world, again.
When Lord Jesus returns, He is going to reign on Earth. There is going to be quite some excitement and much carnage before He does though. There have even been weird rumblings in certain places that President Trump is the last trump. But he does have sons, so this could not be the case.
- 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. (1 Corinthians 15:52)
One thing is for sure, if President Trump were the last trump, he hasn’t been blown yet. Unless, this is a reference to the uproar that is being made by those malcontents who hate the fact he now resides in the oval office. Then maybe not.
One thing has to happen before there will be any return of Lord Jesus Christ, somebody has to declare himself to be God and everybody has to receive the mark of the Beast—with the exponential AI advancements, and the likes of Google, Zuckerberg, et al., the Day of the Lord is not far away.
Footnotes
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