Inner Peace Baptist Church

The Rapture

Do not get overly concerned when you do not find the word "rapture" in your Biblical Concordance.  This word comes from the Latin word "raptere" which was the translation of the Greek word "harpazo" meaning "snatched up."  Over time the word rapture was used to describe the event when the Church is "snatched up" out of this world to go to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.  By the way, you will not find the word "trinity" in your concordance either, but yet it is an acceptable Biblical Concept.

What is the Rapture?

As stated above, the rapture of the Church is the event, prophecied in the Scripture, when Jesus Christ comes back to earth (at the cloud level) and snatches up the Church from this world and takes us back to heaven with Him. 

Promise of the Rapture

On the night of His betrayal, Jesus shared with the 11 disciples the promise of the rapture.

John 14:1-3
14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 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.
KJV
  

Verse 3 solidifies the promise.

How will the Rapture take place?

From the Scriptures noted below, the sequence of events are:

1. The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with the souls and spirits of saved individuals, who are part of the Church, but has gone to be with the Lord through death
2. The Lord, with the departed saints, will stop and hover at the cloud level
3. The bodies of the departed saint who came with the Lord will be raised from the dead as glorified bodies
4. Each "soul and spirit" of each saint that came with Jesus will be inserted into their corresponding body
5. Next, all living individuals who are saved Biblically, along with those under the age of accountability, will be changed from normal mortal bodies to immortal glorified bodies
6. After being transformed these individuals will rise to the cloud level to meet the Lord and the saints that came with Him from heaven.
7. The whole company of individuals hovering in the clouds will be escorted back to heaven by the Lord Jesus Himself

 This entire process, according to the Scripture, will take only a fraction of a second otherwise known as "the twinkling of an eye".

Will you be a part of the company of saints taken up in the rapture?  If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior the answer is "Yes".  If you have not, regardless of the Church or Denomination you belong to, the answer is "No". 

Scriptures"

1 Thess 4:13-18

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 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:

17 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.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
KJV

1 Cor 15:35-57

35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
KJV

What are the indicators to inform you that the Rapture is near?

There are no warning signs.  There are no unfulfilled prophecies that must take place before the rapture can occur.  The bottom line is that the rapture can take place at any moment.  Even before you finish reading this sentence. 

No one will have time to prepare for it; neither will you be given sufficient time to complete your unfinished business.   One second you are doing whatever you are doing and by the time you blink your eye, the entire rapture process has taken place and you find yourself in heaven, if you are saved. 

Are you rapture ready?  Are you saved?

What will be the effect of the Rapture to the World left behind?

One second after the rapture, there will be not one "saved" person left in this world.  There may be some individual who attended church still on earth, but obviously, they were not saved.  What a shame!