My contention continues to be that the answer to this question can be found within one verse. It is a statement by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ to John, the disciple Jesus called “beloved.”
I believe there is a singular word to describe the reason for the Rapture. We will, I hope, get to both the Scripture passage and the word that I believe answer the question “Why the Rapture?”.
First, we need, for those not familiar with the term “Rapture” to provide a definition.
The word “rapture” isn’t expressed as that term in the Bible, at least not in the English versions. It is given in the Latin Vulgate, however, as rapturo—translated from the Greek language in which the New Testament was mostly written. The Greek word for the great snatching away (being “caught up”) is harpazo, and it eventually became called the “Rapture” by most in the English-speaking world.
It is the “twinkling of an eye” moment the Apostle Paul prophesied will take place at some unknown time, a time only God the Father knows. Here is the Scripture passage encompassing that stupendous event:
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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18)
So, what is the purpose of this event Paul tells believers to “comfort” ourselves in, considering that it will take place at some unknown instant? Certainly, the great apostle spent much writing time telling of this call of Christ into the clouds of glory. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, for example.
Paul, himself, looked for this event to happen during his time on earth. He preached and taught, assuring the believers in Thessalonica that this event hadn’t yet occurred—because many of them feared it had happened and they had missed it somehow. Paul went to great lengths to explain the truth of the Rapture—the harpazo. (Read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.)
So, again, why the Rapture? To be given so much ink by the most prolific writer of the New Testament, and by one of God’s most prominent prophets, the Rapture must have monumental significance.
The Rapture is indeed one of the most significant events that will play out in human history. This is because it is a rescue from the most horrific time in all of human history. Jesus, the Creator of all things, said the time to come will be the worst to ever occur, even until His return at Armageddon (Revelation 19:11).
Here, again, is what the Lord said of that ultimately evil time that is about, at this very moment, to burst upon a judgment-bound world.
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)
God is about to pour His righteous judgment and wrath upon a world of rebels–those who have totally turned their backs on Him. Planet earth is about to endure the global warming and climate change–and, much worse, the wicked Ephesians 6:12 sorts are constantly and falsely declaring. The Lord of Heaven–Creator of all that is—is about to demonstrate who is in total charge.
He is a righteous God and cannot allow the rebellion to continue beyond the point He has determined.
But “righteous” is the key word here. God is righteous. And His righteous judgment and wrath are not for those who are righteous, but for those who are unrighteous.
Now to get to the Scripture and the word promised at the beginning of this article.
The Scripture that encapsulates the reason for the Rapture in one verse is the following:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
Jesus’ words of comfort were to all believers in Him for salvation down through the ages, as well as for the church at Philadelphia. It is a promise to keep all believers of the Church Age (Age of Grace) out of the Great Tribulation He told of in Matthew 24: 21.
And that brings us to the single word that encapsulates that salvation. It is the word “righteous.”
All who are righteous will be kept from the Tribulation. This is because God the Father sees all who have believed in His Son Jesus for salvation as being “in Christ.” That is, all born again are seen through God’s holy eyes as being covered by the precious, holy blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ. This means that we who accept Jesus as Savior are clothed in the righteousness of the Son of God, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in order to bring all who will accept His sacrifice to redemption and reconciliation with God the Father.
To miss accepting this truth is to die in sin and go to the lake of fire, or to go through that horrific time called the Tribulation, if still alive when it begins. To accept God’s free, grace offer of salvation is to go to the Savior, Jesus, when He calls, as the Apostle Paul has prophesied.
The Rapture is to spare you terrible anguish and separation from God forever. Here is how to make sure you go in the Rapture, and to Heaven–and not into eternal torment.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
Terry James Prophecy Line 
SPOT ON! Let me add 1 more thing brother! WE (those in Christ, our Lord) CARRY within us HOLY SPIRIT so we “the Church” are part of what is holding back the EVIL that will rise upon this world thus (logically) we HAVE TO BE GONE. It is…….simple and easy to grasp and the enemy knows the rapture WILL happen as well and they have set up the perfect cover for it. The beast system is ready to roll and all “they” have to do is start flippin’ switches and bring in Mr. fix it all.
So…….for me? It’s simple: I or WE can not “go back” and there is nothing to go forward to and honestly, I am camped out at the edge of the Red Sea waiting for those waters to part so we can go to safety.
May God bless you all and keep you in His mighty care! MARANATHA
LOVE this analogy!
Beautifully explained, be righteous in our Lord.
I can’t remember where I read this, but whoever wrote it made an excellent point:
Since believers have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, if they were left down here for the Tribulation, God would essentially be punishing himself.
That would not make any sense at all.
One of the reasons for the Tribulation is God’s last appeal to a fallen humanity to wise up in general and to get Israel to the place where it will accept the fact that Jesus is indeed the Messiah it has been waiting for all the time.
There are two ways a person will ultomately experience Jesus – either as savior or judge. During the last seven years of history, those left behind will find out what the latter means. Some will accept this vivid lesson and become believers while most will continue to refuse the last chance they will ever have to make things right between themselves and God.
For those who still refuse, they will have only themselves to blame for all eternity.
Yesterday I was listening to Tom Cote of Watchman River and he discussed the verse that Jesus said in 1 Thess 5:3 “For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”
I’ve always assumed Jesus meant that when people believed peace and safety were accomplished, then sudden destruction would come. It never occurred to me that it could mean people were simply talking about it, calling for it, and saying that phrase over and over again. Just as they are now. That is a different perspective. And a hopeful one for us.
Praying today is the day!
I watched that episode too! Thank God we will not be here as what we see now is already bad…..I just pray for our unsaved family and society.
Amen!
Considering the calls for “peace and safety,” I think this call be continue to grow as the world becomes increasingly unstable.
It will peak in the post-Rapture chaos and those left behind will urgently seek out an “Answer Man” for this purpose, just as Germany accepted Hitler to deal with its major problems after World War 1 without regard to his very dark nature.
Next time around, the choice will be for the worst and most wicked despot of all.
I often think of the many people who have devoted significant parts of their lives to trying to figure out when something that Jesus said we will never be able to figure out is going to happen.
I don’t spend much time worrying about a rapture and tribulation. Most people believe a narrative about the rapture and tribulation that was created by John Nelson Darby in the 1800’s.
I don’t believe the idea of the Rapture, or the tribulation the world will face in the Last Days is at all a new one, Wayne. It is more of a rediscovery of what the early church realized almost 2000 years ago. Here is some evidence:
Regarding the appearance of the signs he mentioned of the last days, Jesus said:
Luke {21:28} And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
1 Thessalonians {1:9} For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; {1:10} And to
wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, [even] Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians {4:15} 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 prevent them which are asleep. {4:16} 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 Christ shall rise first: {4:17} 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. {4:18} Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians {5:9} For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, {5:10} Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him.
Referring to the church in Philadelphia, which represents all which are faithful, Jesus said:
Revelation {3:10} Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
I don’t “worry” about the Rapture or the Tribulation as such, but I am following Jesus’ advice:
Mark {13:35} Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: {13:36} Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. {13:37} And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
As far as the Tribulation, I think we are already seeing plenty of the precursors already and they pretty much speak for themselves.
I hope you find this information useful.
Thank you for sharing those thoughts. They are helpful. And you are right. Apocalyptic ideas are not new. My point is that Darby created his own narrative about the Rapture by assembling a group of unrelated Bible verses.
I think that one of the challenges that we face has to do with the fact that we continue to struggle with what to do with the parts of the Bible that are considered to be apocalyptic literature.
Apocalyptic literature is written in incredibly difficult times to assure people of God’s power to win and bring deliverance. That’s the point of the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation. Even the Gospels were written during a time when people of faith were overwhelmed by the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and needed to know that everything wasn’t lost. We can even sense people’s struggles with apocalyptic literature in biblical times. St. Paul once wrote: “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). This passage wasn’t written to address laziness. It was written to condemn those who were so focused upon the apocalyptic return of Jesus that they stopped working and became a burden to others.
Personally, I find apocalyptic literature in the Bible to be both hopeful and assuring. I know that God delivers and will carry me through difficult times – which is an outgrowth of my understanding of apocalyptic literature. When and how it will ultimately happen is not my concern.
Thanks very much for your thoughtful comments, Wayne. To be sure, some verses concerning End Times can be open to interpretation, examples would be Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, Post-Trib timing of the Rapture, and there are more, but I think enough is clear enough for us to get a general idea of what’s to come.
I do believe that the true church will be spared the horrors of the Tribulation based on those verses I brought up before. Of course, if others disagree, they are certainly entitled to their own viewpoints.
As I said previously, the Rapture idea was very much part of the early church. The wedding connection Jesus spoke of was no accident because it presented a scenario his Jewish disciples would find very familiar. These are points that Ken correctly pointed out in his comment (Thank you for those observations, Ken!).
That apocalyptic passages are not in all one place is not uncharacteristic. For example, we see references to Jesus in many diverse places in the Bible:
His birthplace: Micah 5:2; Luke 2:1-6
Concerning the Messiah: Isaiah 9:2-7; Isaiah 50:5-8; 52:13-53:1-12, Psalm 22, plus the gospels.
Naturally, there are many more examples on many other topics, but I think you get the point.
As I said before , I don’t “worry” about these things, but, following Jesus’ admonition to “Watch,” I’ll keep doing just that!
Glad to have this dialogue with you.
While Darby created a modern-day teaching of the Rapture, to Ed’s point the principle of the imminent return to gather the believing church goes all the way back to the church fathers.
Jesus himself used the Galilean wedding as a parable for His return for His Bride (the Church) and solidified the contract at the last supper. Often considered a Passover seder, it also included the elements of the wedding contract/betrothal ceremony between the bride and groom, officiated by the groom’s father.
The bride and groom went their own ways to prepare for the wedding, the bride making the gown, the groom adding an abode onto the fathers house. When the father decided the time was right he (and only him) told the groom to “go get his bride”. She is then carried on an elevated chair by the groomsmen to the wedding supper to the blast of the shofar.
What groom (or groom’s father for that matter) would wish his bride to go through the horrors of the tribulation just before the wedding celebration. Jesus used this parable because his disciples were Galileans and would readily understand the analogy. To anyone else it would be mystery.
Yes, I’m just so vexed in my soul daily with all I see, so much grief for all those perishing and adamant in their rebellion along with what I see coming for my people Israel. Yet I know He knows all things and does all things well, so that nothing will be unrighteous and all will work to glorify Him. I also like the analogy of waiting for the waters to part. There is nothing back in Egypt to tempt me. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!