Cyber-Discipleship

2. In the Rapture, Jesus does not come to us; we go to Him.

^“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 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.

Those who argue against a Rapture say that we believe that there are two Second Comings: a visible one and an invisible one. This is false. There is only one Second Coming and it will happen at the end of the age (more on that later). The text tells us that Jesus does not come to the earth but only to the upper atmosphere. He may not even enter the earth’s atmosphere but be in space. The Bible does not say. But it does describe His ascension.

In the opening chapter of the Book of Acts, it reads speaks of how Jesus gave His Disciples the promise of the Holy Spirit and the command for them to remain in Jerusalem until the promise was fulfilled. It goes on to say, “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” So what happened? Did He float up into outer space or did a doorway into Heaven open up but the Disciples did not see it because their view was obstructed by the cloud? The same could be true of the Rapture. Somewhere, up above the clouds, Christ could be standing at the doorway of Heaven waiting to welcome us home.

Another picture of the Rapture is in the 4^th chapter of the Bible in the Book of Revelation. John writes:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

There are a few things we can see in this passage. First, John writes, “after these things…” What things was he referring to? He had just finished writing a letter to the Seven Churches. It is believed that the Seven Churches represent the stages of the church age—going from a Church that loves Jesus to a church that is lukewarm. Sounds familiar? If this is the case, John may be hinting that at the end of the church age, the Rapture will happen. Second, there is a doorway in heaven and someone is standing in or at the doorway. Third, the voice was like the sound of a trumpet (same terminology used in Paul’s passage above). Finally, the voice says, “Come up here.” This could be Jesus’ call (shout) to us to come home.

Although some of this is speculation, one thing is certain. Jesus does not come back to the earth. His return to earth is chronicled in the 19^th chapter of the Book of Revelation. We go meet the Lord in the air.