The Bible in 20 Cs, “Caught Away!”

Rev. 4

 

“Hey preacher, why do you talk about the rapture when the word is not even in the Bible?”

The word isn’t in your Bible, but you know what is?  The rapture!  Also not in the Bible:  The word Trinity.  Now, raise your hand if you believe in the Trinity.  We needed a word to help our puny minds to be able to take in the great truth of our one God in His 3 personages.  Also not in the Bible are the words missions or missionary.  Yet we see Paul taking his missionary journeys.

 

The person making the rapture statement may or may not believe in the rapture.  Maybe they are saying it doesn’t exist at all.  I can’t help them if God doesn’t help them. 

 

On the other hand, let’s suppose they do believe in it, but are just pointing out the truth that they don’t see that word in print.  They are technically correct…but actually, not entirely correct.  That person should understand that the word “rapture” is not in the English Bible.  Our language did not originally have a single word which could fully encapsulate the meaning.  And so two words were used, such as in:

1 Thessalonians 4

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.

 

Which two words mean to be ‘raptured?’  “Caught up”

 

The Latin Vulgate used the word “rapio” which means to seize or snatch away.  It is from that Latin root that the term rapture was coined in the mid 1800s.

 

But before there was the Latin, there was the original Koine Greek in which our NT was penned.  The original Greek word is harpazo [harpadzo] which means to be openly, quickly caught up or removed, as in, from above, by force.  God used the Greek because it is so descriptive.  Most Greek words are complex, rich words, like a painting, full of meaning and pregnant with deep truth.  Many Greek words, when moved into English, require multiple words to convey fully and accurately.  Harpazo is also used in the NT for catching fish or picking fruit. 

 

Jesus said in the first verses of John 14:2-3…

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

 

Looking again at

1 Thessalonians 4

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.

 

The meaning is clear.  So call it what you want, whether a catching away, a rapture, or “bye bye time.”  The meaning is clear…and let me be clear:  I want to go.  And I WILL go!  I have a promise from God.  Do you?

 

Luke 21:28

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

 

The signs of the times that Jesus predicted are all around us, and we are told to look up – why?  Because we will be caught up!

 

Titus 2:13

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

 

Now, while we are told to look up, it doesn’t mean to sit on our roof wearing a white robe, just waiting around. 

 

Luke 19:13

Occupy till I come.          

 

We have a job to do!  We are watchers on the wall.  We are to speak up and affect our culture.  We are to stand up and declare the truth.

 

The church is mentioned 19 times in Rev. 2 & 3, but in Rev. 4:1, the church disappears!  [off the radar]  And is not seen again until ch. 19 when we find the church returning w/ Christ [from heaven] to earth at the battle of Armageddon!

 

To use radio language, we would say that in 4:1, the church goes “off the air”.  Why does the church go off the air in 4:1?  I’ll tell you why, because the church goes “in the air” in 4:1!!  This verse is a picture of the rapture of the church!  We can only imagine that glorious ride!  Are you excited about making that trip?  Are you watching for Him?  Working?  Witnessing?

 

What if it happened during church?  Would you fly away?  Or would you be left behind in panic, realizing you should have made sure?

 

The rapture is the next event on God’s prophetic time table.  It probably won’t be long!  All the prophecies have been fulfilled.  There is nothing holding back the return of Jesus Christ, it is imminent, it could happen ANY moment…and though we do not know the day or the hour, right now, we are closer to the return of Christ than any humans have ever been in the history of the world!  He’s almost at the door!  He’ll open it and usher His children in!

 

        The world scoffs at these things, just as they did in Noah’s day, but no one will be laughing on the day when millions, including all young children, suddenly vanish!

 

When does it happen?  Just before the Great Tribulation…

 

7 Reasons for a Pre-tribulation Rapture: 

1. Not one time is the church mentioned in a Bible text discussing the tribulation
2. In all the writings of Paul, the church is never mentioned in connection w/ the tribulation or wrath to come.
3. The church has already been judged at Calvary [purpose of trib. is judgment!]
4. The pictures of Enoch/Lot, etc. [all Bible types picture pre-trib]
5. Rev. 19 pictures church in Heaven during the tribulation.
6. The coming of Christ for His saints is always pictured as sudden and unexpected [imminent]  If the trib. was going on, you could simply count down on your calendar if the rapture was at the end.
7. “Comfort one another with these words” – the rapture teaching wouldn’t be a comfort if it didn’t happen until after hell breaks loose on earth.

 

Right now, God is still striving w/ rebellious mankind…

…calling / convicting / convincing / saving sinners…but there’s coming a day very soon when God’s patience will give way to God’s wrath…and there will be an avalanche of God’s judgment poured down upon the world which rejects Christ.  It will be a judgment so terrible, so severe, so beyond comprehension, that God will not allow His church to go thru it!

 

I Thess. 1:10 says we as God’s children are waiting for Christ’s return, and that we are not appointed unto wrath!

       

Many people in this room, in their lifetime, have seen mankind harness the atom, and develop capabilities to destroy the entire earth in less than 30 minutes/Israel established as a nation, and the dispersed Jews return to Israel by the hundreds of thousands (just as the Bible predicted would happen just before Christ returns)/Israel has become the hub, the hotbed of all that goes on in the world/Jews recapture the city of Jerusalem for the first time in 2000 years, in a war that took only 6 days/computers change the world…linked together w/ instant communication/the cashless society is nearly a done deal/heard of more earthquakes in your lifetime than the last 500 years put together/technology advance a million fold!

 

If you are old enough to get a discount at restaurants, then you’ve seen in your lifetime the divorce rate go from 1 in 8 to what it is today when divorces outnumber marriages every year/crime rate increase by over 500%/birth of the church of Satan in 1969/one-world government begin to be formed…the new world order/one-world church…ecumenical movement/unprecedented increases in famines, natural disasters, incurable diseases/there’s an intensity building up, an expectancy is in the air…

…but as believers, we need not run around w/ headline hysteria, we are to simply look up, for our redemption draweth nigh!  We are to faithfully and patiently wait for our Savior, who will soon come bursting thru the blue w/ the sound of a trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye.

 

When the Bible says that, it means in a millisecond, in an instant…therefore, when the rapture occurs, if you’re not saved, there will not be time to get saved, it will be too late for you.

 

If you are a Christian, and not living for God, there will be no time to make it right.  Your salvation is secure, but will you be ashamed when He comes?  You won’t be able to ask Him to wait…

 

Wait, Lord, I want to win a soul for you!  My brother, my father, my spouse, my kids, my friend, neighbor, my co-worker!

Wait, Lord, I want to obey you and be a tither/got bitterness in my heart toward someone/looking at porn right now, let me turn it off/(stamp foot) let me put this out!

 

The message of the rapture is “be ready”/do it now, for the Lord could come at any moment.  Be watching…be ready!

 

Let’s pretend the rapture just happened, and we were whisked away.  What would happen…what would you see…what would you hear?

 

v.2   Behold, a throne!

 

What we will see upon arrival in Heaven:

The Master on the Throne

 

V3   jasper and sardine stone=great in glory

 

Word translated jasper could mean diamond=radiance, beauty, infinitely pure.  Then there’s the Sardine stone=deep red, symbolizing blood of Christ

 

In the OT, the high priest wore a breastplate…in it were 12 stones, representing the people of God, the 12 tribes of Israel.  The 1^st and last stones in that breastplate were these 2!

 

Not only great in glory, but great in grace.

 

Look at end of v. 3: rainbow

 

After God destroyed the world w/ a flood, He made a covenant w/ man, and put in the sky His symbol of that covenant…the rainbow, a picture of God’s grace.  It’s not about LGBTQ rs, tuv…

Most rainbows are multi-colored, but this one is emerald green…the color of the earth.  And us earth-dwellers, raptured away, will realize that once and for all, the storms of life are over!  …in heaven, beholding the throne we realize, all the storms are over!

 

“It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus, life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ.  One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase, so bravely run the race, ‘til we see Christ!”

 

Can you see Him on the throne?  Great in glory, great in grace, and:

 

Great in government

v. 5  what a change!  One moment we’re beholding the rainbow of peace, and the next the lightning’s flashing and the thunder’s crashing!

Though the storms are over for us, down below the storms are brewing like never before as God’s righteous judgment goes forth upon the earth from His mighty Throne. 

 

Time out!  Where will you be when the rapture occurs?  Will you be witnessing this scene we’re describing in heaven, or will you be left behind in the storm which originates from His throne?

 

There’s only the 2 choices:  be raptured away by Jesus, or be left behind by Jesus…and what you do w/ Jesus now determines what He will do w/ you then!

 

We’ve seen the master on the throne, great in glory/grace/government…

 

What will happen to you at the rapture?  Will you be right with God, or will you be left behind, preparing for the storm that will end your life, and begin an eternity separated from God in hell?

 

What you do w/ Jesus right now, will determine what Jesus will do w/ you then!  Are you rapture-ready?

 

1.     Appeal to the unsaved.

2. Christian, are you being left behind in this race of life?  If the rapture occurred soon, would you be crying out, “wait!”?

 

By “right with God” we don’t mean perfect, but forgiven…your sin has been paid for and you have accepted the payment.  If not, you’ll be left behind.

 

Some may be saved, but not right with God, and that’s different.  You have a relationship with God…He’s your Father, you’re His child, and your eternity is secure, but like Lot, you’re not in good fellowship with Him.  You still have a relationship, it’s just a poor relationship, and in a way you’re being left behind…not experiencing the abundant life God wills for you. 

John 10:10

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

 

Make sure you’re Right with God, and not Left behind!