The Bible and the Rapture

Page 5

    Let's look at another verse of scripture, and see what else happens on the last day.
St. John 12:48 ...He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

    We have seen that the resurrection was going to be on the last day, but now we see that judgement also will take place on the last day. We now have two very important events which both take place on the last day. Let's make another drawing and try to present these events in a visual representation of each one's relationship to the other.

LAST DAY

Resurrection, Judgement

Figure 2.

    Now that we have established that the resurrection is going to take place on the last day, and that judgement also will take place on the last day, let's look at more of the scriptures to see if there is a conflict with this conclusion or if the rest of the Bible backs up what we have covered up to now.

I Corinthians, chapter 15...
51. Behold I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52. 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.

    Now we see a little different piece of the puzzle. Here we see the dead shall be raised, (the resurrection). When? ...at the last trump. Let's look at more scripture. Here's First Thessalonians, Chapter 4...

15. 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.

NOTE: The word prevent, in this connotation, (Refer to the Oxford English Dictionary.) means to precede, or to come before . It does not mean to stop. Hence, the scripture says that we which are alive and remain when Jesus returns will not be raptured up before the resurrection.

16. 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:
17. . 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.

    We have now learned a lot from the scriptures in I Corinthians and I Thessalonians. (1) We see the resurrection of the dead. (2) We see this taking place at the last Trump. (3) We see that this also takes place when Jesus returns (The Second Coming). (4) We see that these scriptures also bear witness with previous scriptures, that Jesus is coming again, and He shall return in the clouds.

    Now let's put these scriptures on the visual display and take another good look at what we have so far.

LAST DAY

Resurrection.......Judgement

LAST TRUMP

Jesus Returns.......Resurrection

Figure 3.

    There is another scripture we need to look at which will tell us what else happens when Jesus returns. In II Timothy 4...

1. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.