The Rapture is simultaneously one of the most debated and one of the most personal doctrines in prophecy. Debated because scholars disagree sharply about its timing. Personal because if it's pre-tribulational and imminent, it could happen before you finish reading this lesson. Not in the next generation. Now. That changes how you live — if you actually believe it.

Last time we saw that the resurrection is bodily and that heaven is a real, physical place. Now we examine the event that begins the believer's journey there: the Rapture — the catching away of the Church before or during the Tribulation period.

Even a single reading of these passages will prove that there will be such an event — the Lord descending from Heaven to take, in a moment of time, all the dead and living in Christ out of this world. Honestly, it's hard to see how anyone could fail to understand this if they'll just be honest and believe what's plainly written.

For example, look at 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17: "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."

With language that clear, you'd have to deliberately deny what's written — or simply believe it will happen exactly as stated. There's really no room for misunderstanding here. If someone doesn't believe in the rapture, it's because they don't believe the Bible.

Now, the rapture is called "the coming of the Lord," but it's never called the second coming of Christ. At the rapture, Christ doesn't appear visibly to people on Earth — He comes in the air above the Earth to catch up the dead and living saints, who rise together to meet Him there.

There are many different ideas about these two comings, and that's caused a lot of confusion. So many Scriptures have been misapplied to one coming or the other that you can see why people get tangled up. Here's the key distinction: The rapture is purely a New Testament doctrine and was first revealed to Paul as a special revelation 1 Corinthians 15:51-58. The second coming, however, isn't just a New Testament teaching — it's one of the chief themes of the Old Testament, as we'll see in Lesson Forty-nine.

The Old Testament prophets never saw the New Testament Church, much less the rapture of the Church. So we shouldn't call the rapture "the second coming" or "second advent" of Christ — He doesn't come to the Earth at that time. And we shouldn't call it "one stage or phase" of the second coming, either. At the rapture, the Lord doesn't remain in the air during the tribulation and then complete a "second stage" by coming to Earth. No — the rapture is a distinct coming, not to the Earth, but in the air, where Christ meets the saints and takes them back to Heaven to present them blameless before God John 14:1-31 Thessalonians 3:131 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.

Here's where ministers sometimes confuse people. They'll say that many signs must be seen and many prophecies fulfilled before the second coming of Christ — and then, in the same breath, say He might come tonight or at any moment. How can both be true? If they wouldn't mix up the rapture with the second advent, the contradiction would disappear. The rapture can happen at any moment; the second advent cannot happen until certain events take place.

Think of it like this: imagine you're expecting two different guests. One could knock on your door at any second — no warning needed. The other has told you they won't arrive until after certain things happen first. If you mix up which guest is which, you'll be thoroughly confused about what to expect and when!

These two comings simply cannot be mixed if we want to understand either one clearly. The Scriptures that apply to one don't apply to the other. Not one passage under the second advent in Lesson Forty-nine refers to the rapture, and not one passage we'll list below refers to the second coming. There's not a single Bible passage that treats both events as if they were one.

They are two distinct comings, separated by several years — not two "phases" or "stages" of the same coming. The rapture takes place several years before Christ's literal advent to the Earth, because the saints come back with Him at that time. The saints are in Heaven before God — not in the air — from the time of the rapture until they return with Christ to reign as kings and priests Revelation 19:14Zechariah 14:5.

This seems clear from several facts: the saints are judged, given their rewards, and partake of the Marriage Supper in Heaven, not in the air Revelation 19:1-102 Corinthians 5:9-10. Christ departs from Heaven at His second advent to Earth — not from the air Revelation 19:11-212 Thessalonians 1:7-10. The rapture must happen first — Christ must come for His saints 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 before He can come back to Earth with them Zechariah 14:5.