THE RAPTURE: A DEATH AND A RESURRECTION?

***   John 12:24 - "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
***   1 Corinthians 15:22 - "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
***   1 Corinthians 15:35-38 - "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up?  And with what body do they come?  Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:  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:  but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body."
***   Hebrews 9:27 - "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

Based upon just these verses, the idea of a Rapture would appear to be impossible.  Think about it.  The Rapture, as most understand it, does not include death.  However, what if the change that takes place in that moment, in that twinkling of an eye, involves death and an immediate "resurrection?"  After all, there are only two Resurrections:  the Resurrection of life, and the Resurrection of damnation (Jn. 5:29).  All of us will be a part of one or the other.  According to Revelation 20:4-6, we shall "shall reign with Him a thousand years."  Does that include those who are taken up in the Rapture?  Paul wrote that to be absent from this earthly body was to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).  That means that those who are part of the Rapture, will have put off this flesh and put on our glorified bodies:  we are part of the First Resurrection:

***   Christ is first (1 Cor. 15:23).
***   The "dead in Christ" (members of the Church who have died) will be raised up at the time of the rapture (1 Th. 4:16 and 1 Cor.15:52). Those Christians who are living on earth at the time of the rapture will also "be changed" and receive new bodies (1 Cor. 15:51-52). ***   Old Testament believers will be raised up after the time of tribulation (about seven years after the rapture) according to Daniel 12:1-2.  Believers who die during the tribulation will also be raised up at this time according to Revelation 20:4.

 

I believe this reconciles the "all die" passages with the Rapture teaching.