The Significance of the Rapture event
• While we await the gentile age to end in the catastrophic era of the great tribulation, but the Bible promises us hope for the Church.
• The hope in question is encapsulated in the supernatural event called rapture.
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ , who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him”(I Thessalonians 5:9,10).
• The word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible. However, the use of the word is implied in the scriptures. It is derived from the Greek word “harphazo”, which literally means to snatch up, grasp or carry off. The rapture event is described as a moment of great ecstasy or wild excitement.
• The meaning of the concept is implied in
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• And, that those believers who will be alive when Christ comes like a thief in the night will exit the earth in mortal bodies that will instantaneously be changed into immortal, incorruptible and glorified bodies WITHOUT HAVING TO PASS THROUGH DEATH, IS DESCRIBED BY THE APOSTLE PAUL AS A MYSTERY OR PART OF DIVINE REVELATION THAT HAD NOT BEEN KNOWN BEFORE! (I Corinthians 15:51).
The Controversy about the Rapture Event
• As beautiful as the thought of rapture is, but the Church is divided on the exact timing of this beautiful event.
• Some within the Christian circles hold the view that rapture will occur before the great tribulation. Undoubtedly, these have the best hope. Some argue that rapture will occur in the middle of the great tribulation and; others see rapture occurring after the great tribulation. Unquestionably, these are hoping for the best.
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However, the confusion on the issue of the timing of rapture is owing to failure to rightly divide the Word of