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Ready for the Real Rapture

Brian Messerli
01/19/25 - Praise and Preaching Service

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 [These were relatively new Christians and they were concerned about what would happen to the Christians who had died when Jesus comes back.  Would they miss out on Heaven?  And Paul says no way!  In fact, when Jesus returns, they’ll be raised from the dead!] - It seems like everyone you talk to, no matter what denomination they’re from, believes in something called the rapture.  Years ago, there was a movie called “Left Behind,” starring Nicholas Cage, and it was all about the events surrounding the rapture.  That movie, of course, is based on the number one New York Times bestselling “Left Behind” series written by Tim Lahaye, a series that was translated into over 30 languages and sold over 65 million copies.  Millions of people believe those books and the Left Behind movie to be based on the teachings of the Bible, but I’d like to demonstrate from Scripture that our popular modern day concept of the rapture is simply not the real version of the rapture we find here in 1 Thessalonians 4.  It’s more of a science fiction version.

The modern version of the rapture is that at some point Jesus will come back and secretly take all Christians to heaven for a period of 7 years.  Those Christians who have died will be resurrected and brought to Heaven along with those who are still alive.  In the meantime, all the wicked will be “left behind” on the earth where they will experience a 7-year period of tribulation and chaos.  At the end of the 7 years, Jesus will come back with those Christians He took to heaven in the rapture and reign with them on the earth for 1,000 years.  At the end of the thousand years, the wicked will be raised from the dead and sent to Hell for all eternity, but the righteous will be in Heaven forever.  Have you ever seen the bumper sticker which reads, “In case of rapture, this vehicle will be unmanned?”  That’s because in the modern science fiction version of the rapture, Jesus is going to actually snatch up all the Christians and their bodies from the earth, so if a Christian is driving a car, they’ll disappear and that car will veer off out of control and cause a wreck.  Sometimes you’ll see the rapture illustrated with pictures of empty shoes and a pile of clothes on the ground because Christians will be snatched to Heaven.

The reason I started with 1 Thessalonians 4 is because this is THE go-to passage for people who believe in the rapture.  When Paul says “We who are alive and remain will be ‘caught up’ together with them in the clouds,” the phrase “caught up” in Latin is “rapere,” where we get the term “rapture.”  So the word rapture is actually very Biblical.  If someone asks, “Is the rapture in the Bible?”  The answer is “Absolutely!  But NOT the popular conception of the rapture depicted in books and movies.”  Our more modern concept of the rapture originated in the 1800’s through the teachings of a man named John Darby, and then it was heavily popularized when the Scofield study Bible started promoting it in the pages of its margins in 1909.    

Understanding the real rapture matters because the science fiction version of the rapture is like a theological gateway drug that opens up the door for all kinds of other false theories that must go along with it, like the literal 7 years of tribulation, the reign of the anti-christ, and the thousand year reign of Christ on earth.  If you accept the rapture, you’ll have to accept all those other false things which are part of a larger system taught by John Darby called dispensationalism, which leads you down a really complicated web of different positions within the system like whether it’s a pre-tribulation rapture or a post-tribulation rapture, or premillennial or post-millennial return of Christ, and so if we can make sure we have an accurate understanding of Bible teaching on the rapture, we’ll nip the rest of this overly complicated stuff in the bud.  It also matters because because if the modern science fiction version of the rapture is true, it means the wicked will have a second chance to repent, either during the 7 years of tribulation or during the 1,000 years of Christ’s reign on earth!  While that sounds great, it’s an extremely dangerous idea because the Bible teaches there will be no second chances once Jesus comes back in the real rapture, so the time to repent is right now!

- With all that said, I want to make 3 points this morning about the real rapture that contradict our more modern concept, and in doing so, my main goal is not just to make sure we’re informed academically, but to make sure we’re spiritually ready to meet Jesus in the real rapture.

1. In the Real Rapture, Jesus’ Return Won’t be Silent or Invisible

• Our modern concept of the rapture says Jesus will return silently and secretly snatch Christians to Heaven without anyone seeing Him do it.  They’ll see the visible results like the piles of clothes on the ground and the unmanned vehicles, but they won’t see Jesus.  In fact, one writer said when it happens, the wicked will be confused by it and write it off as a terrorist attack or some sort of media hoax.  But here’s the irony.  The passage most heavily used to support the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4, and notice again what it says in…
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:16 - The “catching up” of the righteous into the clouds of v. 17 cannot possibly describe a silent rapture because Paul says it’ll be VERY noisy!  Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout, and his voice will be accompanied by the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God!  Jesus’ return will be heavily advertised by a super loud sound!  And not only will people hear it, they’ll see it!
    • 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 [Modern rapture theory says Jesus brings us up to heaven to relieve us from the suffering of the coming 7 years of tribulation.  But look at what this verse says will happen when Jesus comes to bring us relief from suffering] - When Jesus comes to bring Christians relief from the suffering in the world, it won’t be silent or invisible at all!  Jesus’ coming will be signaled by a great noise and also by the great sight of an army of mighty angels in flaming fire!   He actually calls it a “revealing” here.  Jesus will be “revealed” from heaven with His mighty angels.  Some Bible verses refer to Jesus’ second coming as an “appearing.”  Those are all very visual words, not secretive invisible words.  People won’t be confused thinking, “Wow what just happened to my friend?  He vanished right in front of me!”  No, they’ll know exactly what happened because they’ll hear it and see it!   
      • Acts 1:9-11 [This is the only “left behind” scenario the Bible ever talks about.  After Jesus rose from the dead, was with His apostles for 40 days, then ascended back to Heaven to be with God, He left His apostles behind to continue His work on the earth] - The angel announces to the apostles that when Jesus comes back, He’ll be descending on a cloud and they’ll be able to watch him come down from heaven just as visibly as they watched Him ascend into heaven.  Look at one more with me.
        • Revelation 1:7 - Notice there is nothing here about Jesus coming back secretly and invisibly to snatch the righteous up from the earth.  Every verse about Jesus’ return is about a loud and clear signal to the whole world, both visually and audibly, that Jesus has returned in judgment!

2.  In the Real Rapture, There's Only One Resurrection

• Modern rapture theory says there are two separate resurrections at different times.  1) When Jesus initially comes back in the rapture, there will be a resurrection of the righteous.  2) After the 7 year tribulation and the thousand year reign of Christ on earth, all the wicked dead will be resurrected and judged for all eternity.  But look what Jesus says in…
  • John 5:28-29 - Notice Jesus doesn’t say, “there’s a time coming when the righteous will hear God’s voice and come forth from the tombs, but the wicked won’t come forth from the tombs until a much later time.”  No, He says an hour is coming, and it’s within that same hour that ALL who are in the tombs, both the righteous AND the wicked, will be raised from the dead and will face judgment.  So Jesus doesn’t predict two separate resurrections separated by time, He predicts one resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked at the same time!
  • Matthew 13:28-29 [Here Jesus tells a parable about a man who was growing wheat, but an enemy came in and sowed tares among the wheat.  Tares are just weeds that look similar to wheat, but they’re not.  So one of this man’s slaves asked him what he wanted to do about it.] - Now, there are two VERY important things I want to point out about this text.  First of all, the farmer’s solution is to NOT uproot the tares, but rather to do this:
    • Matthew 13:30 - Let’s look at this first part for a second:  He says “Allow them both to grow together until the harvest.”  Luckily for us, a little later the disciples ask Jesus to explain what this parable means, and look what He says.
      • Matthew 13:37-38 - So so far we know that Jesus is the farmer, the wheat are the righteous people and the tares are the evil people.  Earlier He said He would allow both the wheat and the tares, both the righteous and the wicked to grow together until the harvest.  Now we need to know what the harvest is.
        • Matthew 13:39-40 - So Jesus tells us in this parable that He will allow the righteous AND the wicked to live on the earth together UNTIL the end of the age when the wicked will be burned in judgment and the righteous will be preserved.  Do you all see how this passage confirms what Jesus said earlier about there being one resurrection for the wicked and the righteous, and it’ll happen at the same time?  He doesn’t say, “I’ll gather up the wheat into my barn, but I’ll leave the tares behind for over a thousand years, but then when the thousand years is over, I’ll burn the tares.”  No, He let’s the wicked and righteous live and die together on the earth, then at the end we’ll all be harvested and brought to judgment together, one to the barn of heaven, and the other to the fires of hell.
          • The second important thing about this text is that it teaches the exact opposite of modern rapture theory, which says it’s the righteous who are taken away first, and then the wicked are judged later.  But notice in this parable Jesus says the exact opposite!
          • Matthew 13:30 - “FIRST gather up the tares and burn them!”  Here Jesus is talking about the wicked being gathered FIRST before the righteous are gathered into Heaven.  So it’s backwards from modern rapture theory.  I’ll show this to you in another verse that’s just so ironic because it’s another favorite verse used but hose who promote the science fiction version of the rapture.
            • Matthew 24:40-41 - On the surface, this looks like it’s teaching the modern concept of the rapture.  You’ll have two men out in the field, and one of them will just be taken away and another will be left behind.  Same thing with these women grinding at the mill.  But here’s the irony.  Modern rapture theory teaches that it’s the RIGHTEOUS who will be taken and the WICKED will be left behind.  But these verses actually teach the opposite!  Look at the verses right before it!
              • Matthew 24:37-39 - Who was it that was taken away by the flood in Noah’s day?  It was all the wicked people.  Then Jesus says, “it’ll be the same when I come back.”  Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and another will be left.  So in this passage, the people who will be taken are the wicked, not the righteous!  Please understand, these verses aren’t teaching some mysterious disappearance of wicked people vanishing from our sight either, like modern rapture theory in reverse.  No, it’s simply using judgment language to show that the wicked will be punished and they will not last, but the righteous will be preserved.  This whole chapter is about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, so the point is, just like the wicked were taken away by the flood in Noah’s day, so will the wicked be taken away by the Romans when they come in and wipe out the city.  And of course this chapter does foreshadow the final return and real rapture of Christ, in which case the wicked will be taken away by the fires of judgment when He comes back with his mighty angels in flaming fire!

3.  In the Real Rapture, When Christ Returns, It’s All Over

• Modern rapture theory says once Jesus comes back and takes all the righteous away, there’s still a lot more stuff that’s going to happen on the earth.  Like 7 years of tribulation, the anti-Christ will rise to power and make people’s lives miserable, and at the end of 7 years Jesus will come back a second time in the battle of Armageddon to defeat the anti-Christ, bind Satan, and will reign on earth for a thousand years.
  • But the Bible says when Jesus comes back, that’s it, everything will be over, there is no more tribulation or Satan or suffering or death because everything evil will be destroyed and all things will be restored!
  • 1 Corinthians 15:22-25 [This chapter is all about the hope of our final resurrection when Christ returns] - Paul says when Christ comes, that’s the end, when He gives the kingdom back to His Father because He will have accomplished His goal of conquering all evil, even conquering death itself by resurrecting us!
    • 1 Corinthians 15:54 - When Jesus returns, death will be defeated, and that’s the last enemy to go!  When He comes back, we’re resurrected, death loses, and that’s the end!
  • 2 Peter 3:10-13 [People were doubting that Jesus was going to come back and destroy the world because the world had been the same for thousands of years!  But they forgot about the time God sent a flood to destroy the world in Noah’s day.  He uses that to tell them there is going to come another time when God will destroy the world, except this time it’ll be by fire!] - When Jesus comes back, it’ll be to purge everything with fire and usher in a new heavens and a new earth.  Notice, when Jesus comes back, there is no 7 more years and then 1,000 more years after that where the wicked have a second chance to repent.  No, when He comes back that’s the end, which is why Jesus is waiting so long to return.
    • 1 Peter 3:9 - It’s because v. 9 He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.  Jesus hasn’t returned yet because He knows when He does, it’s all over and the fate of the wicked is sealed forever.  They won’t have any more chances to repent.  And knowing this Peter also says in v. 11, “We ought to be people living in in holiness and godliness so we’ll be ready for the real rapture.”

Practical Admonitions:

A) Beware of “Christian-based” Movies

• Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for movies with positive messages that point people to God.  But I say “beware” because many of them teach things that contradict the Bible, and we need to be careful assuming just because it’s Christian-based that it’s actually based on Christ’s teachings.  And let’s be honest, it’s so much easier to watch a movie than it is to study, think, and reason our way through the Bible like we’ve done this morning, so we may be tempted to watch the movie without asking whether it was based on the book.  And believe me I know this temptation firsthand because I’m a person who would always rather watch a movie than read a book.  I always joke that whenever people read the book first, it ruins the movie for them because they’re always saying, “What’s the deal?  They left out this part and totally changed this other part,” and I tell them, “I don’t know what you’re problem is, I thought it was great!”  That may work with Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings, but I can’t afford to have that attitude with the Bible.  We’ve got to read the book, even if it ruins the movies for us!  Because in the real rapture on the final day of judgment, we won’t be standing in front of the movie version of God; we’ll be standing in front of the real God and the real Jesus, so we better make sure we’re getting our information about them from the right sources; from the word of God, not from AMC or Netflix.   

• B) Keep it Simple
• I’m sure someone who believes in the more modern concept of the rapture is going crazy right now because they’re thinking, “Brian, you haven’t even mentioned the 70 weeks in Daniel 9, or the thousand year reign mentioned in Revelation 20.”  But I assure you I’m aware of those passages and how modern rapture proponents use them to support their views.  But those are from apocalyptic books, which are highly symbolic, yet they’ve been literalized and turned into timetables, and such a complicated web of doctrines it can make your head explode trying to wrap my mind around it.  But God did not design His word to confuse us to death, and as we’ve seen this morning, He’s given us so many plain passages on this subject.  Whatever the harder passages like Daniel and Revelation and Zechariah are teaching on this subject, it cannot contradict the simpler passages.  Yet in my experience, people will interpret these plain simple passages in light of the complicated ones!  They’ll say, “This simple passage can’t mean that because this other complicated passage tells us something else.”  That’s backwards!  Good Bible study interprets the complicated passages in light of the simple ones!  If the simple ones say when Jesus comes back, that’s the end, it’s the final day of judgment, then whatever Revelation and Daniel mean, they can’t mean when Jesus returns, it’s NOT the end and there’s still way more stuff that’s going to happen.  Dispensationalism is one of the most confusing theological systems I’ve ever seen, but when you just keep it simple because Jesus kept things simple and spoke with the common man in mind, it’s all so much clearer, and you’ll find that the Daniel and Revelation passages fit perfectly with the simpler ones.

• C) Get Ready for the Real Rapture Right Now
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2-6 [In the passage right after the rapture section in 1 Thessalonians 4 where we started]
• The real rapture could happen at any moment, even before the end of this sermon.  And when Christ comes back, there won’t be any more chances to repent.  There will be destruction and no escape for the wicked.  Which means if you’re not a Christian and you’re walking in darkness, the time to make your life right with Him is right now, to become a son or daughter of light by believing in Him and being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.  And if you’re already a Christian, but you’ve been living in the darkness and haven’t been sober or alert, the time is now to wake up from your sleep, so you can have the hope again of being “caught up” in the air with Him when He comes in the real rapture.