Excerpt

Caught Up Together in the Clouds

While talk of the Rapture focuses mainly on the actual event itself, little is discussed about what happens to believers after the Rapture. Will we be strumming harps on the wispy clouds of Heaven? Will we be floating around aimlessly, drifting about the cosmos like feathers on the breath of the wind? Actually, its not what you may think.

The moment the Rapture occurs, something startling happens. Living believers in Christ are not only met with their new heavenly bodies, but they also reunite with former believers from prior generations in a great and joyous gathering in the clouds:

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 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 4:15-17).

Notice the Apostle Pauls voice of authority in this matter. He claims that by the word of the Lord he has received this revelation. This isnt Pauls opinion, or his conjecture. It is God speaking directly through Paul to deliver this important message.

Paul explains that before the living are dealt with, the dead in Christ rise first. Does this mean well see caskets suddenly broken open, tombstones knocked asunder, and skeletons rising into the sky? Not exactly.

While they may be buried under six feet of earth, the dead in Christ are not simply unconscious, or unaware; for Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). They have a spiritual form in Heaven, but not a heavenly body like the one Jesus has.

This event that Paul describes is the marrying of a believers spiritual form to a new heavenly body that, like Jesus resurrected body, is physical yet spiritual:

Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them (Luke 24:39-43).

Following the resurrection of deceased believers, we which are alive and remain (living believers) are caught up to meet Jesus in the air. And beyond this point, we will be with the Lord forevermore, dwelling in our eternal home, Heaven.

The term caught up implies a quick snatching away; an instantaneous event; an irresistible force drawing something or someone in. The author recalls an annual tradition in elementary school whereby we released a number of helium-filled balloons into the air with tags indicating their origins. Once we released the feather-light globes, they were immediately caught up by the winds of the lower atmosphere and quickly floated away. It was always so exciting to hear where the balloons landed and how far away they were able to travel. In the same way, the Rapture is a sudden, instantaneous, irresistible event that snatches living believers in Christ up into the sky for a joyous, eternal reunion.

How can one be sure this catching up of living believers describes the Rapture as opposed to the Second Coming? The answer lies in what Jesus is doing at the time of this event.

Clearly, Scripture tells us that we meet Jesus in the air when God snatches us up. He is in the clouds, waiting to receive us. At the Second Coming, however, Jesus is not exactly socializing in the clouds and mingling with the newly Raptured. Rather, He is coming down out of Heaven in glory on a white horse and with the armies of Heaven to destroy the Antichrist (Revelation 19:11-21) and to set up His kingdom (Revelation 20:4).

Thus it is clear that two separate and distinct events are evident: First, the Rapture of the Church where Jesus meets us in the air, then at a later time, the Second Coming of Christ where He comes down out of Heaven to defeat evil and set up His kingdom.



The Rapture: Our Comforting Hope

Some in the Christian community eschew the Rapture, relegating it to pessimism and escapism. Those Rapture folks are just so negative all the time, one may say, Im getting tired of hearing their talk about everything getting worse. However, God sees things differently. In fact, He urges His believers to talk about the Rapture often, because its a comforting hope. A comforting hope? The Apostle Paul advises:

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. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).

With all the problems of today, it most certainly is comforting to know that Jesus could come for us at any time. Some battle depression; others are overstressed; and still others suffer intense physical pain for long periods of time. Some have relationship problems, issues at school, or perhaps are undergoing serious medical treatment. When lifes problems press in and grow so intense as to be almost intolerable, who wouldnt want Jesus to come back for us in the Rapture? Our loving God reminds us of the glory we eagerly look forward to:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).