Who Will be Raptured? The answer is the Church. Those who died in faith previous to the Church age will have to wait a bit longer to get their new bodies.
From Footsteps of the Messiah, pgs 142-149, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum
B. The Rapture of the Church
In this section, the rapture will be discussed in detail, followed by the timing of this event.
1. The Actual Event
Three key passages need to be studied for an understanding of the rapture. They are John 14:1-3, I Thessalonians 4:13-18, and I Corinthians 15:50-58.
a. John 14:1-3
1 Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
While this passage does not detail the rapture, it contains the promise of it: Yeshua promised to return for the believers. Nothing is revealed as to the time or the circumstances, only the fact that He will come for His saints. The purpose is to take them to where He was then going. Since Yeshua was then going to heaven, this is a coming to take the saints to heaven and not to the earth. This is important because in post tribulationism, the saints meet the Lord in the air and return with Him to the earth. But that is not the promise here. Yeshua is coming to take the saints to heaven. This fits well with pretribulationism.
b. I Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Yeshua will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 16 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 Messiah shall rise first; 17 then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
This passage describes the course of the rapture. In verses 13-15, Paul answered a question that was raised in Thessalonica: Do believers who have died miss out on the benefits of the rapture? The people who asked this question understood that there was a rapture to come, but they did not understand how dead saints would be involved in the event. Apparently, while Paul had been with them, he had taught some truths concerning the rapture as it related to the living, but not to the dead. But now, some believers had passed away, and those they left behind were distressed not knowing what the future had in store for them. So, Paul comforted the bereaved family members with the truth that dead believers will not miss out on the benefits of the rapture; in fact, they will receive them first.
Speaking of the death of believers, Paul said that they were “asleep” (v. 13). When used as a synonym for death, the term “sleep” is applied to believers only, never to unbelievers. Thus, the Bible views the death of believers as a temporary suspension of physical activity until the believer awakens at the rapture. Just as physical sleep is temporary (a temporary suspension of physical activity until one awakens, yet there is no suspension of mental activity), so is death: It is a temporary suspension of physical activity until one awakens at the resurrection. Therefore, I Thessalonians 4:13 does not teach “soul sleeping,” for there is no cessation of spirit-soul activity, only of physical activity.
Having stated that the dead believers benefit from the rapture before the living do, Paul spells out the chronological sequence of the rapture in seven stages to show why this is true (vv. 16-17). First, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. At some point in the future, Yeshua will come out of the heaven of heavens and descend into the atmospheric heavens.
Second, the Lord’s descent will happen with a shout. The Greek word used is that of a command of a military leader who comes out of his tent and issues an order. One day, the Chief Commander will come out of His heavenly tent and give the order for the resurrection and the translation to occur.
Third, the Lord’s descent will also happen with the voice of the archangel. Angels are often used to put God’s plan into motion. Michael the Archangel will be used in the case of the rapture. The content of what the voice says is not stated. But if known military procedure can be applied to this situation, then this is simply a repetition of the original order. The sub-commander repeats the order (the “shout”) of the chief commander. Yeshua will give the command for the course of the rapture to begin, and it is Michael’s task to set it into motion, so he repeats the command.
Fourth, the Lord’s descent will also happen with the trump of God. The sound of the trumpet was used as a summons either to battle or to worship. With Michael’s repetition of the command, the trumpet sounds, and this triggers the rapture itself. Thus, this trumpet serves as a summons for the plan to get into motion.
Fifth, the dead in Messiah shall rise first. This is the resurrection, and it is why the dead believers will not miss out on the benefits of the rapture. To the contrary, they will begin to enjoy the benefits of the rapture first. The expression “in Messiah” limits the resurrection at the time of the rapture to those who were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body, which only began in Acts 2. Thus, this resurrection of dead saints is to be limited to church saints only. The Old Testament saints will be resurrected at a later point in God’s prophetic program.
Sixth, then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds. The resurrection of the dead saints is followed by the translation of the living saints. Every believer without exception will be removed from the earth and will be united with the Lord Yeshua in the heavens. The living believers will be caught up with the dead ones. The expression “to be caught up” is the source of the term “rapture.” The Greek word used in I Thessalonians 4:17 is harpazo. When the verse was translated into Latin, the word rapio was used. The English word “rapture” comes from this Latin source. Charles Ryrie explains:
Rapture is a state or experience of being carried away. The English word comes from a Latin word, rapio, which means to seize or snatch in relation to an ecstasy of spirit or the actual removal from one place to another. In other words, it means to be carried away in spirit or in body. The Rapture of the church means the carrying away of the church from earth to heaven.[32]
Seventh, the raptured saints will meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord. Both the resurrected dead believers and translated living believers will meet the Messiah in the air. Once they have been united with Him in the air, they will permanently remain with Him and return with Him into heaven, as already promised in John 14:1-3.
It should be noted that I Thessalonians 4:13-18 does not provide details as to the timing of the rapture, as it focuses on the chronological sequence in which the events will occur.
c. I Corinthians 15:50-58
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 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. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua Messiah. 58 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord.
This passage deals with the change in the nature of the bodies of the raptured saints. Verse 50 declares the necessity of this change, stating that flesh and blood are unable to inherit the kingdom of God, and decay cannot inherit immortality. The background to this statement is found in Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.
This is further developed in Genesis 3:17-19:
17 And unto Adam he said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field; 19 in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.
Because of sin, man has become subject to corruption and mortality. All men are seen as guilty, by imputation, of participating in Adam’s sin, according to Romans 5:12-14:
12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned: 13 for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come.
Mankind is living under the sentence of death, where his physical body is subject to corruption and mortality. The sin nature is in it, and the results of sin are evident in the death of the body. This kind of body, subject to sin, mortality, death, and corruption, cannot enter into the eternal state. A change will be necessary (resurrection or translation) before the bodies can enter the kingdom of God.
In verses 51-52, the change is described. The emphasis is on the rapidity of the event. It will be done in an instant. The Greek word for “instant” is atomos. The word “atom” originates from this term. The emphasis is that the change will happen in an “atom” of time. It will be that quick. Furthermore, it will be in the twinkling of an eye. This is not a reference to blinking, but rather to a sudden flash of recognition. It is like seeing a person, and then in a sudden flash recognizing who he is. It is this sudden flash of recognition that is meant by the “twinkling of an eye,” and so, the expression also emphasizes the rapidity of the change.
The event is said to happen at the time of the last trump. Both midtribulationists and posttribulationists try to identify this trump with the seventh trumpet of the book of Revelation. However, when Paul wrote I Corinthians, Revelation had not been written yet. The Corinthians would not have had any knowledge of seven trumpets. But Paul used the definite article “the” before “last trump,” and so he must have expected his readers to know what he was talking about. The only knowledge they would have of trumpets are those spoken of in the Old Testament. The last trump refers to the Feast of Trumpets and the Jewish practice of blowing shofars during this feast. There are a series of short trumpet sounds followed by one long trumpet blast which is called the tekiah gedolah, “the great trumpet blast.” This is what Paul meant by “the last trump.” As such, it says nothing concerning the timing of the rapture; only that the rapture, whenever it comes, will fulfill the Feast of Trumpets. Furthermore, the last trump is the same as the trump of God found in I Thessalonians 4:16. This verse explained that at the sound of the last trump, the dead are raised as incorruptible, and the living will be changed. According to verse 52, the problem that keeps the dead body out of heaven, corruption, will be changed through the resurrection, and the body will become incorruptible. The mortal living will put on immortality through translation.
The nature of the glorified body is not the subject of much revelation. What is revealed clearly about the resurrection body is found in I Corinthians 15:35-49 and 53, where Paul made six points:
It is an incorruptible body (v. 42).
It is a glorified body (v. 43).[33]
It is a body of resurrection power (v. 43).
It is a spiritual body (vv. 44-46).
It is a heavenly body (vv. 47-49).
It is also an immortal body (v. 53).
It is possible that additional information as to the nature of the glorified body of the believer may be gleaned from a study of the nature of Yeshua’s resurrected body. But some caution must be used, as this source of information has one major drawback: It is not always easy to determine if what was true of the body of Yeshua was due to His resurrection or due to His deity. Thus, some of the following observations concerning His body could possibly be true of all resurrected bodies. But they may not all be true, for some may be related to His divinity. The following list summarizes these attributes of Yeshua’s body:
✡ Yeshua’s voice was recognized as being the same as the one He had before His death and resurrection (Jn. 20:16).
✡ His physical features were recognized, though not always immediately (Jn. 20:26-29; 21:7).
✡ It was a very real body of flesh and bone, since it was embraceable (Jn. 20:17, 27).
✡ The resurrected Messiah was able to suddenly disappear (Lk. 24:31) and go through walls (Jn. 20:19).
✡ It was a body that was able to eat food (Lk. 24:41-43).
A number of these attributes may be true of all resurrected bodies, but whether this is the case cannot be known until the rapture.
First Corinthians 15:54-58 explains that the change from corruption to incorruption and from mortality to immortality results in the final victory over death.
