What is the rapture and when will it occur?

from the old testament

• The rapture of the church is not recorded in the Old Testament.

from the new testament

• "Rapture" is a term used by Christians to explain an event described by the apostle Paul who wrote, "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, 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, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, emphasis added).
• The Greek term in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 meaning "caught up" is harpazo, which means to seize suddenly or snatch. In Latin the word is rapio, which means to seize and carry away; “rapture” comes from from this Latin word.
• Paul teaches that Christ will come in the future for those who belong to Him. The "dead in Christ" will be resurrected first and be gifted with glorified bodies when He comes. Believers in Christ who are alive at that time will be instantly transformed from their earthly state to their eternal state and will not experience death. Instead, they will be caught up to be with all those who have previously gone on to be with the Lord and be transferred to heaven. Paul speaks about this generation of believers who will not taste death when he says, "Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51).
• Jesus will come at some point for His church. There is debate as to whether the rapture is a separate event from the second coming; however, there is no debate as to Christ coming for His people. No one knows the exact timing of when this will occur. Jesus confirms this in Luke when He says, "You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Luke 12:40).

implications for today

Five main theories have been put forward about the timing of the rapture; these concern what is known in prophetic biblical teaching as the "tribulation" period, which is mentioned by Christ in Matthew 24 and described in great detail in Revelation 4—19. The five hypotheses are:

1.Post-tribulation – believers are raptured at the end of the tribulation period, when Christ returns in judgment (cf. Revelation 19).

2.Pre-wrath – believers are caught up somewhere between the sixth and seventh seals described in Revelation.

3.Mid-tribulation – living believers are taken in the middle of the tribulation period.

4.Partial rapture – only faithful believers are taken to be with Christ at the beginning of the tribulation, with unfaithful Christians being left to endure it.

5.Pre-tribulation – believers are caught up to be with Christ before the tribulation begins.

Sincere and learned believers hold to each one of these theories. However, at CompellingTruth.org we believe that when Scripture is examined as a whole, the pre-tribulation rapture position appears to have the most biblical evidence in its favor. Further information about this can be found in "Is pretribulationism right? Will the church be raptured before the tribulation?"

The pre-tribulation view states that, at present, all believers are living in the church age, which has no specified time period given to it in Scripture. At some point in the future, Christ will return for His bride, the church, and evacuate believers from earth before the start of a seven-year period in which God will pour out His wrath on an unbelieving world. The tribulation will climax with the bodily return of Christ, after which He will establish a perfect reign that lasts one thousand years. Once that reign has concluded and one final rebellion crushed, God creates a new heaven and Earth and the eternal state begins.