THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH!

THE RAPTURE:  DOCTRINE OF THE BODILY REMOVAL OF BELIEVERS!

John 14:1-3 - Let not your heart be troubled:  you believe in God, believe also in Me.  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.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:9-11 - And to wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, Who delivered us from the wrath to come. - - - But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have died, that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, those also who died believing in Jesus, will God bring with Him.  For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have died.  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 who 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. - - - For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we live or have died, we should live together with Him.  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you have been doing.

Note:  * "Caught up" is from the Greek word harpazo which is translated from the Latin Vulgate rapiemur from which the Rapture is named.  Harpazo is also found in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 and Revelation 12:5.

OTHER BIBLICAL EXAMPLES SUPPORT THE DOCTRINE OF A RAPTURE!

Genesis 5:23-24 - And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:  and Enoch walked with God:  and he was not; for God took him.

Hebrews 11:5-6 - By faith Enoch was translated* that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated* him: for before his translation* he had this testimony, that he pleased God.  But without faith it is impossible to please Him:  for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Note:  * The Greek word here is metatithemi, which means "to remove" - see Galatians 1:6).

Genesis 7:15-18 - And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.  And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him:  and the LORD shut him in.  And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.  And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

Genesis 19:6-7 - And while Lot lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him:  and they brought him forth, and set him outside the city.  And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for your life; look not behind you, neither stay you in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.

Luke 17:26-29 - And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

2 Kings 2:1, 11 - And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. - - - And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Revelation 4:1-2 - After this I* looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:  and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter.  And immediately I was in the spirit:  and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.

Note:  * "I" is the Apostle John (see Revelation 1:1-4).  The Book of Revelation is divided into three periods of time:  the past, the present, and the future (see Revelation 1:19).  Notice that the Lord is beginning to describe the things yet to come.  From that point on, the Church is not mentioned; it has been caught up into heaven, symbolized by John being caught up.  The things yet to come include the seven-year Tribulation, the Second Coming, the Millennium (1000 year kingdom), the Great White Throne Judgment, and Eternity with the New Heaven and New Earth.  

THE RAPTURE OF TRUE BELIEVERS IS IMMINENT!  

ONLY THOSE WHO ARE BORN AGAIN WILL BE LEAVING!

TRUST IN JESUS TODAY AND YOU WILL BE BORN AGAIN!