The Rapture is NOT a Mystery

For those who are not familiar with the rapture doctrine, it is a Biblical doctrine which teaches that the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, both the dead and the living during the Second Coming of the Lord, will be given a glorified body (eternal body) and will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). The word "rapture" is not found in the Bible but it is based upon the phrase, "caught up together." The Evangelicals are divided as to when that event would take place in the future. The divisions are as follows:

• Pretrib- the rapture will happen before the Tribulation period.

• Midtrib- the rapture will happen in the middle of the Tribulation period.

• Posttrib Prewrath- the rapture will happen after the Tribulation period but before the pouring of God's wrath.

• Classical Posttrib- the rapture will happen after the Tribulation and/or the pouring of God's wrath.

But in this article we are not going to deal about the timing of the rapture. Instead, we are going to scrutinize the claim of many believers that the rapture is a mystery. According to that claim, the Old Testament saints knew nothing about the said event, it was hidden from them, it was kept secret and that it was revealed only to the Apostle Paul. The aforementioned claim gained popularity among the pretribbers.

But Is it true? Is it Biblical?

The only set of verses in their arsenal which supposedly support their claim about the rapture as a mystery revealed to Paul is 1 Cor. 15:50-53. But an honest student of the Word would readily admit that the mystery there is the changing of the bodies of the dead and the living believers during the Resurrection. In fact, the entire chapter 15 tackled specifically about the resurrection and not of the rapture.

The resurrection precedes the rapture according to Paul in 1 Thess 4:16-17. That simply means that the resurrection is not the rapture itself. Instead, it is an event that will happen before the latter.

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.

Paul is clear enough in telling us that prior to the catching up (rapture), the dead in Christ shall RISE FIRST (Resurrection). Thus, the resurrection precedes the rapture.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Paul never said in 1 Cor 15 that the rapture is a mystery at all. What is mysterious is the changing of our bodies from corruptible to incorruptible- a phenomenon which characterize the Resurrection. Although the resurrection will happen on the day of the rapture but that doesn't make the former as the rapture itself. Resurrection is the mysterious changing of our bodies from corruptible to incorruptible while the rapture is the catching up and or the gathering of ourselves together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Resurrection first followed by the rapture.

Thus, the rapture is NOT a mystery.

@rgPhotography "Telling stories through the LENS."