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BIBLICAL
PROPHECY - PROPHECY QUESTIONS |
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Does the Bible
actually teach about a Rapture? |
| Dr.
John Ankerberg: Where do you find the word
Rapture? Look at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul says, "But I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren." They had some questions. Number one was, they
were expecting the Rapture. We know that from 1 Thessalonians 1:10 where it
says they had turned from their idols to the living God and they were
"waiting for God’s Son to come from Heaven." What was their question? As
they were waiting for God’s Son to come, the Rapture, some of their fellow
Christians died. And they got to thinking about the fact, well, why is it
they died? Are they going to miss out on the Rapture? Will they not have
glorified bodies to be translated in a moment and meet us in the air with
Christ? No, they didn’t know what the answers were to those questions. They
were afraid. Maybe they even thought, you know, I might not ever see Mom or
Dad ever again because I’m going and for some reason they’re staying.
So they asked these questions to Paul via Timothy and so
he’s addressing their questions. He said, "I don’t want you to be ignorant
about these things and specifically about those which are asleep." He says,
"That ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Well, we as
Christians do sorrow, but we don’t sorrow as those that have no hope. "For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again," the foundation for anybody
going in the Rapture is to believe that Jesus died for our sins, paid for
them on the cross. He paid a debt we could never pay. He was put into the
ground. He rose again and is living now.
That’s the foundation. Those who believe that, he says,
"them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." What does he mean
there? If you die before the Rapture of the Church, the body goes into the
ground. Dr. Walvoord says, "Your spirit goes to be with the Lord." When the
Lord comes out of Heaven, he says he’s going to bring our spiritual bodies
with Him. We’re going to be reunited with our physical bodies at the
Rapture. Paul says, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord—this
isn’t something that Paul made up. This is "by the word of the Lord"—that we
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord."
You’ve got the two groups. Those that they were concerned
about that had already passed on, that were asleep, that is, died in the
Lord. And then those that were living. He said, "We which are alive and
remain until the coming of the Lord shall not prevent" or precede "them
which are asleep. 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."
So here are these two groups again. What happens to them?
A parent, a child, a friend died. If they knew the Lord, then the Lord is
going to bring their spiritual soul with Him and reunite that with their
physical bodies. In fact, they will be brought up first, then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them. That word "caught up
together" comes from the Greek word harpazo. It literally means "to
snatch out" or "to seize." It’s like a thief grabbing a purse. He seizes it.
The word Rapture comes from the Latin Vulgate (which is the Latin
Bible) rendering of raptus from which we get the popular term
Rapture. So if you were reading your Latin Bible and you got down to verse
17 you would see raptus, rapture. That’s where the Bible teaches the
Rapture. It means we have been snatched out; we’ve been caught up by a
mighty act of power by the Lord. This is where the Bible teaches the Rapture
of all believers. "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. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."
Now, if you hook that up with John 14 where Jesus said, "I
go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also." Where is He now? Where is He preparing a place for us? In Heaven. We
meet the Lord in the air. We put these two passages together and we learn
that we meet the Lord in the air and He takes us to the Father’s house.
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ANKERBERG SHOW |
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DR. JOHN ANKERBERG'S RESPONSE TO CREATION QUESTIONS
Dr. John Ankerberg answers your
questions on creation in the following article available both as
a downloadable PDF and broken down into individual questions for
online reading. Click the link below to read:
Does Scientific Evidence Today Show
that God Created the Heavens and the Earth? And What Does the Bible Say
About When He Created?
Facing Financial Facts -
How to Kill the Debt Monster
AUTHOR:
Riser, Dr. Steven C.
For an increasing number of people, debt is becoming a real monster. The fear and dread that comes from debt is just as real as a predator in the home. So how can you dispatch the debt
monster?
The Coalition of Nations
in Daniel 11
AUTHORS:
DeYoung, Dr. Jimmy
One of the major trends for the last days is a coalition of nations that will come against Israel. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung describes those nations and what brings them together.
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Copyright 2006, Ankerberg Theological Research Institute
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