Rapture and Revelation
Two things are of vital importance, in order to the right understanding of this subject, and these are:
First. The distinction between the Rapture and the Revelation.
Rapture means to be caught up, or away.
Revelation {d7roKdXvlf/L<: — apokalupsis) means Appearing or shining forth or manifestation.^
The Rapture occurs when the Church is caught up to meet Christ in the air,- before the tribulation; and
The Revelation occurs when Christ comes, with His saints, to end the Tribulation, by the execution of righteous judgment upon the earth.
At the Rapture, Christ comes into the air for His saints.*
At the Revelation, He comes to the earth with them.^ He
(1) Rom. 8:19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
(2) 1 Thes. 4:14. For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring
with him.
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, so
shall we ever be with the Lord.
(3) 2 Thes. 1:7. And to you
who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his
mighty angels.
8. In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know
not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9. Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of his’ power;
10. When he shall come to be
glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe.
Jude 14. And Enoch also, the
seventh from Adam, prophesied
of these, saying, Behold, the
Lord Cometh with ten thousand
of his saints.
15. To execute judgment upon
all, and to convince all that are
ungodly among them of all their
ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners’ have spoken
against him.
(4) John 14 :3. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I
will come again, and receive you
unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also.
(5) 1 Thes. 3:13. To the end he may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. certainly must come for them before He can come with them. The assurance that God will bring them (Greeklead them forth) with Jesus (1 Thes. 4:14) is evidence that He will first come for them, they being caught up to meet him in the air. Verse 17. The Greek word here rendered ^’to meet” signifies a going forth in order to return with. The same word is used in Acts 28:15,*^ where the brethren came out to meet Paul and had a season of thanksgiving with him at Appii Forum and the Three Taverns, when he was on his way to Rome. This exactly accords with our being caught up to meet Christ and afterward retummg to the earth with Him.
Again, at the Rapture Christ comes as the Bridegroom’ to take unto Himself His bride, the Church.^
At the Revelation, He comes, with His bride, to rule the nations.^
Zech. 14 :5. And ye shall flee
to the valley of the mountains;
for the valley of the mountains
shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye
shall flee, like as ye fled from
before the earthquake in the days
of Uzziah king of Judah: and the
Lord my God shall come, and
all the saints with thee.
(6) Acts 28:15. And from
thence, when the brethren heard
of us, they came to meet us
as far as Appii Forum, and the
Three Taverns; whom when
Paul saw, he thanked God, and
took courage.
(7) Mat. 25:10. And while
they went to buy, the bridegroom
came; and they that were ready
went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
(8) Eph. 5:25. Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church, and gave
himself for it;
26. That he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word.
27. That he might present it
to himself a glorious church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without
blemish.
28. So ought men to love
their wives as their own bodies.
He that loveth his wife loveth
himself.
29. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30. For we are members of
his body.
31. For this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and
shall be joined unto his wife,
and they two shall be one flesh.
32. This is a great mystery:
but I speak concerning Christ
and the church.
(9) Rev. 2:26. And he that
overcometh, and keepeth my
works unto the end, to him will
I give power over the nations:
27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev. 5 :10. And madest them
to be unto our God a kingdom
and priests; and they reign upon
the earth.
At the Rapture He comes only to meet the saints in the air, 1 Thes. 4:17.
At the Revelation, He comes to the earth,^^ and His feet stand upon the same Mount Olivet from which He ascended.^^
At the Rapture the Church, like Enoch, is taken out of the world. ^2
At the Revelation, the Millennial Kingdom is begun.^^
In Luke 21:28, the Rapture is referred to at the beginning of the Tribulation. “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Redemption here meaning the first resurrection, same as in Rom. 8:23.)^^
In Luke 21:31, the Revelation is referred to, when “these things” (the Tribulation) have come to pass, and the kingdom of God draweth nigh.
Rev. 19 :15. And out of Ms
mouth goeth a sharp sword, that
with it he should smite the
nations; and he shall rule them
with a rod of iron: and he
treadeth the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God.
See also Rev. 12 :5.
(10) Acts 1:11. Which also
said. Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven?
this same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall
so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven.
(11) Zech. 14:4. And his
feet shall stand in that day upon
the mount of Olives, which is
before Jerusalem on the east;
and the mount of Olives shall
cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the
west, and there shall he a very
great valley; and half of the
mountain shall remove toward
the north, and half of it toward
the south.
5 lnd the Lord my
God shall come and all the
saints with thee.
(12) Acts 15:13. And after
they had held their peace, James
answered, saying, Men and
brethren, hearken unto me:
14. Simeon hath declared how
God at the first did visit the
Gentiles, to take out of them
a people for his name.
15. And to this agree the
words of the prophets; as it is
written,
16. After this I will return,
and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen
down; and I will build again
the ruins thereof, and I will set
it up:
17. That the residue of men
might seek after the Lord, and
all the Gentiles, upon whom
my name is called, saith the
Lord, who doeth all these things.
(13) Rom. 8 :23. And not
only they, but ourselves also,
which have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption, to cit, the redemption of our body.
The Rapture may occur any moment.^*
The Revelation can not occur, until Antichrist be revealed, and all the times and seasons (which point to the day of the Lord) in Lev. 26, Daniel and Revelation be fulfilled.
The Revelation ushers in the day, the Day of the Lord.^^
The failure to make this distinction has led to great confusion among- commentators upon this subject.
For instance: In 2 Thes. chapter 2, the apostle, in the first verse, speaks of the Rapture, to-wit: the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him, o,’ whieli He had written so fully in the previous epistle, especially in the 4th chapter.
In the second verse he speaks of the Revelation, or Day of the Lord,* which could not come, except there be a falling away first, and the “man of sin” and “that wicked,” or the Antichrist, be revealed.
And yet, most commentators have argued that the apostle, in both of these verses, referred to one and the same event, and thus they have made Scripture contradict itself.
But we see plainly, that Paul had no intention of contradicting Christ’s admonitions, unto all, to watch for His coming, as being imminent. Mark 13:35-37; Luke 12:35- 40. He only made the distinction, as above stated, between the Rapture and the Revelation. The persecuted Thessalonians thought that they were in the Tribulation, and that the Day of the Lord had set in.f But Paul corrects them, first by remindmg them that the Lord had not come for
♦Greek, the oldest MSS. read KvpCov = Lord, not xpo’tow = Christ. See Beugels’ Gnomon and others.
t ev4(TTr)Kev (enesteeken) which authorized version renders “at hand,” means to be present, or to have set in. See same word in Rom. 8:38; 1 Cor. 3:22; 7:26; Gal. 1:4; Heb. 9:9, in each place rendered “present.”
(14) Mat. 24:42. Watch a thief in the night, therefore; for ye know not what Luke 17 :30. Even thus shall hour your Lord doth come. it be in the day when the Son
(15) 1 Thes. 5:2. For your- of man is revealed.
selves know perfectly that the Aiso 2 Thes. 1:7-10; 2 Pet.
day of the Lord so cometh as 3 :10-12, etc.
them yet, as He had said that He would (1 Thes. 4:15-17), and then by addmg certain other things which must occur before the Day of the Lord should come. He had told them that the Day of the Lord should come as a thief in the night (1 Thes. 5:2), but that they were not of the night, and therefore He exhorts them to watch and be sober. (See also Lu. 21:36.i«)
iVnother evidence of the difference between the Rapture and Revelation consists in the fact that the Church is to escape the Tribulation, which precedes the Revelation. (Mat. 24:29-30.)
Enoch, a type of the Church, by his rapture, — that is by being caught away or translated (Heb. 11:5) — escaped the flood.
Christ says, in Luke 21 :36, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accomited worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
And in keeping with this injunction He gave a blessed lromise to the Church, in Rev. 3 :10, viz.: “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 tnem that dwell upon the earth. Behold I come quickly,” etc. A special hour, or time, of temptation — !, e., trial — is here mentioned, which shall come upon all the world ( otKoi;/xei/r;-oikoumenee — the whole habitable — same word in Mat. 24:14 — all the world).
It is a time of trouble not limited to Judea, but as extensive as the mhabited earth. This accords with the great tribulation described in Mat. 24:21, a “tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world... nor ever shall be.”
Jesus promises to keep the Church from, or (ck) out of this tribulation, or hour of temptation, that is, the watchful and prayerful believers will escape it. Luke 21 :36. Now, as it covers the whole earth, there is no way
(16) Luke 21:36. Watch ye escape all these things that shall therefore, and pray always, that come to pass, and to stand beye may be accounted worthy to fore the Son of man. of escape from it, but to be taken out of the world, and this is accomplished by the Rapture. Acts 15:14, and 1 Thes. 4:17, which thus presents a glorious deliverance for the Church.
The elect, ^”^ a portion of Israel, will be gathered back to Jei-usalem,’^ and pass through the fire, or great trial.-**
Like Enoch, the Church escapes from it.
(17) Mat. 24:22. And except
those days should be shortened,
there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect’s sake those
days’ shall be shortened.
(IS) Isa. 65:9. And I will
bring forth a seed out of Jacob,
and out of Judah an inheritor of
my mountains: and mine elect
shall inherit it, and my servants
shall dwell there.
See also verses 15 and 22, and
Rom. 11:5-7.
(19) Isa. 1:26. And I will
restore thy judges as at the first,
and thy counsellors as at the
beginning: afterward thou shalt
be called. The city of righteousness, The faithful city.
27. Zion shall be redeemed
with judgment, and her converts
with righteousness.
Zech. 10 :6. And I will
strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of
Joseph, and I will bring them
again to place them: for I have
mercy upon them: and they shall
be as though I had not cast
them off: for I am the Lord
their God, and will hear them.
7. And they of Ephraim shall
be like a mighty man, and their
heart shall rejoice as through
wine: yea, their children ishall
see it, and be glad; their heart
shall rejoice in the Lord.
8. I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
9. And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries;
and they shall live with their
children, and turn again.
10. I will bring them again
also out of the land of Egypt,
and gather them out of Assyria;
and I will bring them Into the
land of Gilead and Lebanon; and
lylace shall not be found for
them.
(20) Zech. 13 :S. And it shall
come to pass, that in all the
land, saith the Lord, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die;
but the third shall be left therein.
9. And I will bring the third
part through the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined,
and will try them as gold is
tried: they shall call on my
name, and I will hear them: I
will say. It is my people; and
they shall say, The Lord is my
God.
Psa. 57 :1. Be merciful unto
me, O God, be merciful unto
me; for my soul trusteth in
thee: yea, in the shadow of thy
wings will I make my refuge,
until these calamities be overpast.
Isa. 26 :20. Come, my people,
enter thou into thy chambers,
and shut thy doors about thee:
hide thyself as it were for a
little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21. For, behold. the Lord
cometh out of his place to punish
the inhabitants of the earth for
their iniquity: the earth also
shall disclose her blood, and
shall no more cover her slain.
Also Psa. 27 :5; 31 :20.
Like Noah, Israel passes through it.
So the Church should humble herself to walk with God (Micah 6:8), as Enoch did (Gen. 5:24), having the testunony that she pleases God,-i and watch for the Rapture at any moment.
The Jews, through their dates and seasons, may look for the Revelation, or day of the Lord, a day of thick darkness to them, in which there is no light at all.^^ Yet, in it they will accept Chnst-^ and “at evening time it shall be light,” and “living waters shall go out from Jerusalem.” Zeeh. 14:6-8.
The Rapture, or being caught away, at the coming of the Bridegi’oom, is full of the sweetest comfort for the believer, and therefore Paul says, “Comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thes. 4:18.
But the Revelation of Christ with His Saints, to take vengeance on the ungodly, is full of solemnity and terror to them who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.24
(21) Heb. 11:5. By faith
Enoch was translated that lie
should not see death; and was
not found, because God had
translated him: for before his
translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
(22) Amos 5:18. Woe unto
you that desire the day of the
Lord! to what end is it for you?
the day of the Lord is darkness,
and not light.
19. As if a man did flee from
a lion, and a bear met him; or
went into the house, and leaned
his hand on the wall, and a
serpent bit him.
20. Shall not the day of the
Lord he darkness, and not light?
even very dark, and no brightness in it?
(23) Zcch. 12 :9. And it shall
come to pass in that day, that
I will seek to destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem.
10. And I will pour upon the
house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon
me whom they have pierced, and
they shall mourn for him, as
one mourneth for his only son,
and shall be in bitterness for
him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.
(24) Rev. 6 :12. And I beheld
when he had opened the sixth
seal, and, lo, there was a great
earthquake; and the sun became
black as sackcloth of hair, and
the moon became as blood;
13. And the stars of heaven
fell unto the earth, even as a
fig tree casteth her untimely figs,
when she is shaken of a mighty
wind.
14. And the heaven departed
as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and
island were moved out of their
places.
15. And the kings of the
earth, and the great men, and
the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and
every bond man, and every free
man, hid themselves in the dens
and in the rocks of the mountains;
16. And said to the mountains
and rocks, Fall on us, and hide
us from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb:
17. For the great day of his
wrath is come; and who shall
be able to stand?
Also 2 Thes. 1:7-10.