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Transcript 321A — The Coming of Christ and the Rapture
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I want to ask a question about the rapture, and looking for the coming of Christ. Now this person that told me this said, "Now you may not like what I'm going to say, but I'm not looking forward to the coming of Christ, but I'm looking to the rapture." And I wanted to know if there's any difference. Would that be the same?
HC: Let's read I Thessalonians 4. The question is, what is the rapture, or what is the coming of Christ?
In I Thessalonians 4:14 we read, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, then also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the believers that have ever died, are living and reigning with Christ in Heaven right now. Their bodies are in the grave, but in their souls they're in Heaven. And they will come with Him. They are the ones who have fallen asleep. Any believer, right up to the very present day, who has died, is in Heaven and will come with Him.
And then it goes on: "For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God." You see, the Lord Himself is coming. And with the trump of God, with the shout of command, every eye shall see Him. There's nothing secret about this. "And the dead in Christ shall rise first." All of the bodies of those who have been living and reigning in Heaven in their souls will be resurrected. "Then we which are alive [that is, those of us who have not died] and remain, shall be caught up together with them." In other words, the bodies of these who have previously died will be resurrected, and we who are believers will also be changed into our resurrected bodies and be caught up in the air with them, to meet the Lord in the air. "And so shall we ever be with the Lord."
You see, this is right on the last day. This is the end of time. This is the rapture. The rapture is the first thing that happens when Christ returns, the resurrection of all the bodies that are in the graves and the rapture of the believers to be with Christ. This will leave all the unsaved standing for judgment.
CALLER: Then the rapture and the coming of Christ are the same then.
HC: One and the same. It's exactly one and the same. There could be no rapture except Christ came. There could be no resurrection unless Christ came.
CALLER: I see. Well, you hear these things from the pulpit, and then you can't understand what it is.
HC: You can also read Matthew 24, where it speaks about the coming of Christ, in verse 29, where God says, "'Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven." In other words, the universe is beginning to collapse. "And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."
And notice the first thing that He does. "And He shall send His angels, with a great sound of a trumpet. And they shall gather together His elect, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Now that's saying the same thing as I Thessalonians 4. He's coming, and there's the sound of the trumpet, His angels are active, and He'll gather His elect. That's the rapture. He's gathering His believers from wherever they are.
CALLER: Thank you, Brother Camping.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.