The
Rapture
“Now
when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a
cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward
heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also
said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you
into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts
1:9-11 (NKJV)
Let
me start at the beginning for the better understanding, “The word Rapture is
not in the Bible.” So if you are
unfamiliar with the Word of God, (Bible), don’t waste your time looking. However there are many scriptures that show
places in the Bible that relate to it. I
really don’t know why they brought the word, “Rapture” into the Bible. After studying the Bible in different
languages during revisions, what it really means is a “Catching Up” or a
“Catching Away”; a taking up into Heaven.
At this point, notice today’s Bible
verse above, “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him.” After Jesus died and rose again, he finish
his time on earth by taking the disciples outside of Bethany where He rose into
heaven. In other words, He was raptured!
Jesus was taken into heaven and there were more taken up after him. As we study further in the Bible we see others
were also taken up into heaven.
In the New Testament we see in the
Revelation 11:3 that during the Tribulation, God sent two witnesses to
Jerusalem to prophecy and no one could kill them. Many think God sent Enoch and Elijah to prophecy
because they were two people that never died.
The Bible tell us in Hebrews 9:27 that it is appointed man once to die
and then the judgement. Looked what
happened to those witnesses. God gave them great power to kill those who came
against them for a certain amount of time.
When the time came God allowed them to be killed and their bodies were
not put in graves and the people partied for 3 ½ day, they were so glad to be
rid of the prophets.
God also told us in Revelation 11:9 that for
three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare
at their bodies lying in the street and no one will be allowed to bury them. After
being dead for 3 ½ days God breathed life back into them and they stood
up. People were terrified, and they
heard a voice calling out, “Come up here!”
At that point the witnesses rose up into heaven - they were caught
away. Now get this! “It’s
appointed men to die once.” They
died before God gave them life again. God did not forget what he said in his
Word.
There
were two times in the Old Testament people were raptured. The first was in
Genesis 5:24, was Enoch who was the father of Methuselah, the man who lived
longer than anyone else. The Bible tells
us that, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” The second one that
was raptured was Elijah the prophet that was talking with Elisha. “Suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and
separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
The
New Testament gives us more understanding. Look in I Thessalonians 4:17, Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall
always be with the Lord”. Another
great scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NLT) “But let me reveal to you a
wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will
happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For
when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.
And we who are living will also be transformed.
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