Post by bibelleser on Nov 23, 2017 15:59:15 GMT
Is the rapture a mystery that has been unknown until Paul revealed it?
Some well known bible teachers consider the rapture to be a mystery because Paul wrote to the Corinthians the following:
"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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality." (1Cor 15:51-53)
Of course, in these verses Paul talks about a mystery. But is it the rapture? Did Paul really talk about the rapture in this passage? Before we come to an answer we should have a look to what happens when we get raptured. 1Thess 4:16-17 provides 7 single events which will then take place:
(1) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven
(2) with a cry of command,
(3) with the voice of an archangel,
(4) and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
(5) And the dead in Christ will rise first.
(6) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
(7) and so we will always be with the Lord.
Seven consecutive events. The first: The Lord will descent from heaven - is this event the rapture? No. The cry of a command, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God - are these events the rapture? No.
Which of these seven events describe the rapture? Answer: Event number 6, because "rapture" or "to be raptured" means "to be caught away" (Acts 8:39) or "to be caught up in the clouds" as it is expressed here.
Now, what about the other events? Aren't they necessary, too? Yes, indeed, they are necessary, because otherwise the rapture up in the clouds will not happen. There are 5 events mentioned which need to happen first (event no. 1 to 5), but they do not execute the rapture. They just prepare the rapture, but the rapture itself is event number 6 only.
It is necessary to distinguish preparation from execution. If you do not separate the rapture from its preparation you have to include all other events, even the resurrection (of the dead in Christ) in the rapture. But it is resurrection, not rapture.
Furthermore, if you include resurrection, your "rapture-understanding" can't be considered as a mystery, because Jesus already informed about resurrection prior to Paul (e.g. John 6:40). Therefore, in order not to mix up different things, it is really necessary to have a clear understanding about what is rapture and what not.
Now let's go back to 1Cor 15:51-53. What is the content of the mystery which Paul revealed here? We shall not all sleep - is that the unknown mystery? No. Jesus already said to Peter: "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" (John 21:22). Furthermore, he said: "Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes." (Matt 24:46). Therefore: "we shall not all sleep" is no mystery.
The unknown mystery, however, was the following: Paul informed about a new event, which had never been known before - All our bodies will be changed. The dead as well as the living ones. The dead will be changed together with their resurrection, and the living ones will just be changed. The result is the same in both cases: our bodies will be prepared for being raptured. This is indeed new information which had never been revealed before.
If we now insert this new information in the sequence of the seven events above, we have to put it into event number 5, because the change of the bodies of the dead in Christ happens during their resurrection (they will be raised imperishable). Therefore, the mysterious change of our bodies does not belong to the rapture itself. It is not an event of the rapture, but an event of it's preparation.
Hence, the rapture itself was no mystery which needed to be revealed by Paul.
This result may probably open our view to see the rapture already announced in the Gospels (e.g. John 14:3).
Some well known bible teachers consider the rapture to be a mystery because Paul wrote to the Corinthians the following:
"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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality." (1Cor 15:51-53)
Of course, in these verses Paul talks about a mystery. But is it the rapture? Did Paul really talk about the rapture in this passage? Before we come to an answer we should have a look to what happens when we get raptured. 1Thess 4:16-17 provides 7 single events which will then take place:
(1) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven
(2) with a cry of command,
(3) with the voice of an archangel,
(4) and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
(5) And the dead in Christ will rise first.
(6) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
(7) and so we will always be with the Lord.
Seven consecutive events. The first: The Lord will descent from heaven - is this event the rapture? No. The cry of a command, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God - are these events the rapture? No.
Which of these seven events describe the rapture? Answer: Event number 6, because "rapture" or "to be raptured" means "to be caught away" (Acts 8:39) or "to be caught up in the clouds" as it is expressed here.
Now, what about the other events? Aren't they necessary, too? Yes, indeed, they are necessary, because otherwise the rapture up in the clouds will not happen. There are 5 events mentioned which need to happen first (event no. 1 to 5), but they do not execute the rapture. They just prepare the rapture, but the rapture itself is event number 6 only.
It is necessary to distinguish preparation from execution. If you do not separate the rapture from its preparation you have to include all other events, even the resurrection (of the dead in Christ) in the rapture. But it is resurrection, not rapture.
Furthermore, if you include resurrection, your "rapture-understanding" can't be considered as a mystery, because Jesus already informed about resurrection prior to Paul (e.g. John 6:40). Therefore, in order not to mix up different things, it is really necessary to have a clear understanding about what is rapture and what not.
Now let's go back to 1Cor 15:51-53. What is the content of the mystery which Paul revealed here? We shall not all sleep - is that the unknown mystery? No. Jesus already said to Peter: "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" (John 21:22). Furthermore, he said: "Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes." (Matt 24:46). Therefore: "we shall not all sleep" is no mystery.
The unknown mystery, however, was the following: Paul informed about a new event, which had never been known before - All our bodies will be changed. The dead as well as the living ones. The dead will be changed together with their resurrection, and the living ones will just be changed. The result is the same in both cases: our bodies will be prepared for being raptured. This is indeed new information which had never been revealed before.
If we now insert this new information in the sequence of the seven events above, we have to put it into event number 5, because the change of the bodies of the dead in Christ happens during their resurrection (they will be raised imperishable). Therefore, the mysterious change of our bodies does not belong to the rapture itself. It is not an event of the rapture, but an event of it's preparation.
Hence, the rapture itself was no mystery which needed to be revealed by Paul.
This result may probably open our view to see the rapture already announced in the Gospels (e.g. John 14:3).