Can You Clear up the Question of the Rapture?

[Updated August 21, 2023]

Hi Mike,

I have been reading some on your site. Do you have any studies on the rapture, or what is your take on it? I could not find anything at all about it. I’m trying really hard to grasp your beliefs. I guess it would be hard for anyone who has been taught different, their whole life. Could you make it more clear to me about how you see things playing out for people who do not make it to heaven? Are people tossed in a fire, by God or what? Why is there no mention about another chance to make it to heaven, after having God says… depart from me, I know you not, in scriptures? Believe me, I do not want to believe in such a thing, but I never read Paul, Jesus, Timothy or any of the rest write… “Don’t worry, if you miss this train, there will be a next.” If you have any additional teachings, that I could learn from, it would be greatly appreicitive, if you could hook me up.

Thank you and God bless,

R____

Hi R____,

Thank you for your questions and for explaining why you are struggling to see that “as in Adam die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” You are exactly right; I, too, have not read anyone in the bible say, “Don’t worry, if you miss this train, there will be a next.” That was not and will never be the attitude of anyone in whom the zealous and fervent and loving spirit of Christ dwells. Christ was not and He is not lukewarm, and He will not abide a lukewarm spirit in anyone who will be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. Here is what Christ has to say to anyone whose attitude is, “Well, everyone is going to be saved, so I’ll just catch the next train.”

Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Those words are written to “the church at Laodicea”, but they are also written to “he that has an ear to hear”, and anyone with “an ear to hear” has that “ear to hear” as a gift given to them. If you do not have that gift, then there is no way you can possibly “hear what the spirit says unto the churches”.

The fact that we must be given to hear His Words as a gift was revealed to us when Christ was asked by his disciples why He spoke to the multitudes in parables

Mat 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

They see what they read but they do not understand what they are reading. They hear what they read but they do not understand what they hear.

Christ clarifies this statement that it is “not given… unto… them… to understand”, when He tells us this:

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [Greek, drags] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Just a few verses later Christ reiterates this principle:

Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

That being so, it would be monstrously evil for a so-called “loving heavenly Father” to condemn the multitudes of Matthew 13 who “are not given to understand” to eternal flames of literal fire. So while you will not find Christ telling the seven churches of Asia “Don’t worry, if you miss this train, there will be a next”, neither will you ever read of Him threatening them with eternal hell fire if they are “lukewarm” or if they “have the doctrine of the Nicolaitans [or] the seat [Greek: ‘thronos‘, throne] of Satan” is within them. Oh yes, you can read Mark 9 in the King James English translation, and with the false doctrine of eternal torment already in place, you can make the scriptures say that sinners will burn in hell in literal flames for all eternity. However that is not to be found anywhere in scripture in the original languages. It simply is not there.

If you want to know what God is really doing with His human creatures then please take the time to read the series of studies entitled The Spiritual Overview of the Plan of God. Read that series of studies beginning at this link: The Biblical Overview of the Plan of God

Having an overview of anything is like looking at a picture of a puzzle you are putting together. It really helps to know where the blues, the reds, the yellows, etc. are before you even get started. Then you can begin looking for the blue pieces to place in the sky and the green pieces to put in the grass, and the white pieces to put in the house, etc. So it is with the Word and work of God. When you get a good overview of what God is doing, it is so much easier to know what is taking place in your life, and where it all fits in the overall plan of God. Without that proper overview, you really struggle just to know what the purpose of the puzzle is, and what it will look like when it is finished.

So read that series of studies, and you will be much better equiped to answer a lot of questions you may now have.

You asked specifically about the false doctrine of a rapture of Christians out of the plagues which are coming on this earth. Matthew 24 tells us that it is the wicked who will be taken away, and it is “the old man”, within each of us who will be taken away. Being “caught up… to meet the Lord in the air” is a spiritual statement which has nothing to do with being taken off to another planet called ‘heaven’. Notice what Christ actually said there in Matthew and in Proverbs about who is taken and who is left:

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Pro 2:21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
Pro 2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Pro 3:23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
Pro 3:24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
Pro 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

“The flood came and took all [the wicked] away… So shall also the coming of man be”. “So” means ‘in like manner’. The next two verses make the same point, and yet the false doctrine of the rapture would have us to believe that ‘the coming of the Son of Man will be the exact opposite of the days of Noah, and this time the righteous will be taken away and the wicked will be left on the earth.’ That’s how rapture followers understand these scriptures:

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

We were just told, “The flood came and took them [the wicked] all away”, and yet the false doctrine of a rapture twists our minds to think that it is the righteous who was taken away, even in the face of these words of scripture:

Pro 10:30 The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

Here are two links to more information on this subject which I have already dealt with in much more detail. Please take the time to read these links, and if you still have any questions, feel free to get back to me.

Is There Ever a Rapture?
The Idea of The Rapture

Your brother Christ,

Mike