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1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Behold, I tell 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 trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with Him.

A shout, a trumpet, caught up, asleep, dead, not appointed for wrath, in the twinkling of an eye – what does all this mean?  Even though the word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible it is referenced here.  The word “rapture” means to be “caught up or caught away.”  When Christ returns at the rapture, graves will be opened and those believers who are asleep will ascend to heaven to be with the Lord.  Those who are still alive will be transformed, their bodies must “put on immorality”; all accomplished in the “twinkling of an eye”. 

Resurrected believers and transfigured believers will be caught up together to meet Christ somewhere between heaven and earth.  This is the blessed hope of the church – that the Lord will return to take us out of the world to “ever be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:17).  Christ delivers believers from the wrath to come, from the great tribulation.

Paul understood that the rapture could take place during his lifetime.  It did not.  How much closer to the rapture are we?  What must still happen before the rapture occurs?  The answer is nothing!  The rapture of the church could happen at any time, even today.   The Word of God insists that believers today be ever watchful and eager for Christ to return and take them to heaven. 

Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:18, “Therefore, comfort one another with these words.”  Be alert!  Be spiritually awake and morally alert, continue walking in love, faith, and the knowledge of your salvation so you won’t be “left behind”.

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