The Rapture: Our Blessed Hope

Remember the Swing/Big Band Era? People would gather together in different clubs to hear the best music played by the best musicians and bandleaders. Some of the bandleaders included Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, and many more. I personally wasn’t born yet, but I do enjoy listening to the recordings of those classic songs. I personally enjoy listening to the sound of the trumpet and the rest of the horn section.

While we may enjoy listening to this great music, particularly the horn section, there is still one trumpet, yet to sound, that I know I and the rest of the Body of Christ are waiting to hear! It will take place at the Rapture, the catching away, of the Body of Christ. This is the Blessed Hope (Titus 2:13) of every believer that has trusted in Christ as his/her Savior.

The Bible talks about three resurrections that are still in the future. Every person will be raised some day. Not all at the same time, but eventually we all will be resurrected. Christ’s resurrection was a picture of what is to come. “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” (1 Cor. 15:23) When Paul says that Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits, he is saying that Christ’s resurrection is the example of what the future resurrections will be like. In 1 Corinthians 15:23, Paul uses the pronoun “they” and not “we,” because here he is specifically talking about the kingdom saints who will be raised at the Second Coming of Christ. This is the first resurrection. The second resurrection in the prophetic order of resurrections is the resurrection of the damned. When we continue reading the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, we read in verses 25-26 that Christ, “must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet,” and “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” The unsaved will be resurrected, judged, and thrown into Hell. Christ will cast sin, death, and Satan as well as all of the unsaved people into the Lake of Fire. That will be their second death. However, the Apostle Paul writes to us, the Body of Christ, about another resurrection, which is the secret resurrection (it was only revealed to the Apostle Paul).

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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." (1 Cor. 15:51-52)

“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 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.” (1 Thess. 4:16-17)

Notice the use of the pronoun “we,” instead of “they.” We, the members of the Body of Christ under the dispensation of grace, will be raised at a secret resurrection that was only revealed to the Apostle Paul. It is a part of the “revelation of the mystery,” (Rom. 16:25) which was given to Paul. This resurrection will happen before the Tribulation starts. Therefore, it will also take place before the 1^st and the 2^nd prophesized resurrections. In other words, it will happen before God decides to come back to Israel and continue what He set aside (the Prophetic program).

Secret Resurrection	1st Prophesized Resurrection	2nd Prophesized Resurrection
Body of Christ	Kingdom Saints	The unsaved of all ages

So, was Peter wrong when he declared that the last days had begun in Acts 2:16-17? According to what Peter knew at that time, he was right. However, he didn’t know God would interrupt the program and promises made with Israel and bring in the dispensation of grace with Paul as the Apostle of the Gentiles. When Peter writes his second epistle later, which is after the mystery was revealed to Paul, then and only then did he know and understand what God did.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

“Who will (desire) all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)

Peter learned that God set aside Israel temporarily and ushered in the dispensation of the grace of God, because of the longsuffering that God has towards us. God doesn’t want anyone to perish. Instead, He wants to have a relationship with all of us. Peter recognized that Paul was given new information that wasn’t revealed to him or the other apostles. In 2 Peter 3:15, Peter writes, “Even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you.”

Now, we don’t know when this current dispensation of grace will end, but we do know it will end with the Rapture. Paul himself was expecting the Rapture to come during his lifetime. He didn’t know that this dispensation would continue this long (about 2,000 years). That is why it is so important to accept Christ as your Savior right now, because he could come back at any moment. “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:1-2) Christ will meet His Church, which is His Body, in the air and He will take those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be with Him in Heaven. All you have to do is believe that He paid for your sins, was buried, and He rose again on the third day. (1 Cor. 15:3-4) Once you do that, you too will be able to look forward to that Blessed Hope, the Rapture, when Christ will resurrect the saints of the Body of Christ. You too can look forward to hearing that trumpet that will sound at the Rapture and enjoy it!

Fact of the Resurrection	1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Importance of the Resurrection	1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Order of the Prophesized Resurrections	1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Mystery of the Resurrection	1 Corinthians 15:51-52