The hope of millions of Christians is that before the great Tribulation they will be caught up at their resurrection to meet the Lord in the sky and be taken to live with Him in heaven for ever. This belief is based on 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17 which, in the King James Bible, says:

For the Lord Himself shall DESCEND from heaven with a shout and, 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.

While the above words are absolutely true the “rapture” belief held by many goes beyond them, adding words like “heaven” which are not in the text, ignoring the vital purpose of this event and overlooking the important reason for it found in the context.

The aim of the context

The Apostle Paul’s aim in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 was to COMFORT believers sorely grieving for those who had died (verses 13 and 18). They should not sorrow as others, who thought death parted them for ever from their loved ones, Paul wrote. Rather, they should expect to meet them again in the great “catch up” in the clouds.

The direction of the Lord’s journey

Note the important word DESCEND, The Lord is leaving heaven to come DOWN to earth. There is nothing in the passage, to suggest He does a mid-air U-turn to go back to heaven taking saints with Him. To hold that He will do so is to believe a fable and the cost of trusting such a fallacy is to lose hold of the truth as 2 Timothy 4:4 asserts.

God’s purpose for the catching up

In their bid to escape trouble on earth and find safe haven in heaven, “rapture theory” believers overlook God’s important purpose in executing the “catching up” event. It is that the resurrected redeemed and those alive at the time should MEET the Lord in the air. Being properly, lovingly and officially MET by his people is of great importance to God.

That is why the Greek word for MEET, the noun apentesis (meeting) derived from apantao (to MEET), occurs only three times in the New Testament, each time stressing God’s demand that when He visits He should be properly greeted and met.

Thus, in Matthew 25: 1-10 the Lord tells of the ten virgins who “went forth to MEET the bridegroom (i.e.  Jesus the Messiah come to marry his Jewish bride, Israel). While He tarried (long time passing) the maidens “slumbered and slept”. At midnight there was a cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to MEET Him”. In this picture of the coming kingdom five virgins forgot to take spare oil for their lamps and when they went to “buy” oil missed out on the coming of the King. The takeaway from the story is that the coming King must be properly greeted and MET.

In Acts 28:15 brethren journey 33 miles from Rome to the Three Taverns, then a further 10 miles to Appi forum, to MEET the Apostle Paul, whose ship had landed him at Puteoli and was on his way to Rome. Their long journey was to MEET and greet the apostle and escort him on the rest of his journey. When Paul saw the brethren he “thanked God and was encouraged”.

You see, being properly MET matters so much to God that when rebellious mankind won’t lay on a fitting reception He goes to extraordinary lengths to arrange one Himself. Thus, since both Israel’s king and its religious leaders refused to greet their long-awaited Messiah at his birth God sent a throng of angels and some (probably smelly) shepherds fresh from sleeping with sheep in the fields) to do so (Luke 2: 8-14).

And when officialdom failed to turn out to fittingly receive Him on his later kingly entrance to Jerusalem God arranged an impromptu welcome of ordinary people waving palms and crying “Hosanna in the highest”, meaning “Your salvation here to save us now” (Matthew 21:4-9). And, again, when He came as king to the temple, his temple, it was little children who cried out to praise and greet Him while the priestly rulers tried in vain to shut them up (Matthew 21:12-16).

So it should come as no surprise that in the future great “catching up” prophesied in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 we are told the Lord will raise from the dead tens of thousands of saints and take upwards living believers just to MEET and greet Him then accompany Him downwards as he returns to earth.

So what should be our hope today?

Surely, if God after resurrecting the “dead in Christ” and catching up believers then alive to meet Him in the clouds, will then reverse his downward journey and take them to heaven then 1 Thessalonians 4:17 should say so. But it does not.

For those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, the issue turns on what hope of being forever with Him we should hold on to, living as we do in the “perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1-9), the “latter times” of the soon closing “dispensation of the grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-2).

Is it the hope of a “rapture” which will hoist us out of harm’s way as worse trouble looms? Or will it be that wonderful preceding event the Apostle Paul told us eagerly expect. If so we should be…

…Looking for that blessed hope even the glorious APPEARING of the great God even our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13.

Because it is at his APPEARING our hope, that of being with Christ for ever, in his kingdom of heaven brought upon earth, will be realised. Thus in 2 Timothy 4:1-2 the Apostle Paul charges Timothy to preach the most important message to us in our time:

I charge thee therefore before God and (even) the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his APPEARING and KINGDOM … preach the word (i.e. this word of his appearing); be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

John Dudley Aldworth

You’re welcome to contact me at the email address below.

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com

Website: https://www.dayofchristmnistries.com/rss/all.xml