WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE?

One of these days, and I believe very soon, millions upon millions of people will suddenly disappear from the face of the earth. I know this sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie script but it actually will occur. I am referring to what is commonly known as the “Rapture (snatching away) of the Church.” By church, I mean all those people who have genuinely placed their faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty for all sin. This does not refer to any particular church denomination/s nor does it refer to any group in any particular geographic area of the world. There are many people who attend churches everywhere who are there for their own agendas and not genuine believers in Jesus. I cannot pretend to know who they all are because I cannot know the true heart of anyone. But God does know and He will make the determination of who is raptured and who is not.
Let’s back up a little and look at why and when the rapture will occur. The Bible is replete with prophecies about the “End Times.” Two of the most vivid explanations of the horror of the “last days” are found in the words of Jesus in Matthew 24 and the Book of the Revelation. Jesus describes the final days this way; “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”(Matt 24:21-22) The Book of Revelation describes these last days as a time of the pouring out of God’s wrath against a disbelieving and evil world. People during this time will have decided to worship the Anti-Christ as God and received the “mark of the beast” on their hand or forehead. All the nations of the earth will come against the people of Israel to destroy them and the earth in the “Battle of Armageddon.” This is when Jesus Christ will return to the earth and “cut short” those days and do away with the Anti-Christ, the False Prophet and all those who made war against Israel.
You may be asking “what does this have to do with the rapture of the church?” As I mentioned, Revelation clearly describes this time as the pouring out of God’s wrath on the earth. There are some interesting observations we can make about what happens to people who are in right standing with God when He pours out his wrath. Going back to Matthew 24, Jesus said that the last days would be like the days of the flood. The account of the flood is recorded in Genesis chapters 6-8. Jesus said this; “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man (Jesus). For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37-39) The Genesis account of the flood also describes those as times of incredible wickedness and evil on the earth. The flood was a time of God’s wrath against an evil and unrepentant people, except for Noah and his family who were in right standing with God. Noah and his family along with the critters he gathered were kept safe from the wrath of God. Like Noah, those of us who have believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are in a place of safety from God’s wrath. Romans 8:1-2 states; “Therefore, there is now no condemnation (wrath) for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Other Biblical passages that reinforce this idea of protection from God’s wrath include; (Jude 24) “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy”; (1 Thessalonians 1:10) “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us form the coming wrath.”; (Revelation 3:10) “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”; (1 Thessalonians 5:9) “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” With these and many other assurances from the Bible we can have absolute certainty that God will not subject those who are in right standing with Him to His wrath. This does not mean that those who are His will not suffer.
OK, when will the rapture happen and what exactly is it? As to when it will happen we do not know the day or the hour but we can be confident that it will occur before the wrath of God is poured out on the earth. If it occurred after, then the promises of God would be untrue. And if we have learned anything about God it is that He cannot lie. So the snatching away of all true believers will be before the 7years of “Great Tribulation” and pouring out of God’s wrath.
The rapture of the church is described in some detail in two places in the Bible. One is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and the other, 1Corinthians chapter 15. (1Cor. 15:50-53) “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will be all changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” (1 Thes. 4:16-18) “For the Lord himself will come down from haven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (raptured) with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
So there you have vivid descriptions of the event and a good idea of the timing. Some of you will snicker and scoff, but do so at your own peril. Look at Psalm 1. I am not interested in whether you believe me or not, so I encourage you to look these things up for yourselves. If you find that I have misquoted to misused Scripture then disregard me. In fact I encourage you to never take any teaching as true without checking it out for yourself. The Word of God is true and can stand up under your scrutiny. You are responsible to God on your own. No one else can do that for you. I hope to see you at the Rapture!