The Rapture

The first significant event is God's timetable of the end times is the Rapture of Christians.  Sometimes this is referred to as the Rapture of the Church.  The Rapture is the future event when Jesus Christ will descend from heaven to resurrect the bodies of dead believers (Christians) and transform the bodies of living believers.  This occurs in the blink of an eye and then Jesus escorts all believers into heaven to live with them forever.

The word Rapture never occurs in the Bible.  The words "caught up" in I Thessalonians 4:17 translate in the Greek to mean to snatch, to seize suddenly, or to transport from one place to another.  The word Rapture is alluded to several times in three main passages of the Bible.

John 14:1-3

"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me (Jesus).  In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

I Corinthians 15:51-55

"Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

I Thessalonians 4:13-18

"But we do not what you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, withthe voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.   Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words."

There are five main beliefs on the timing of the Rapture:

1. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture: The Rapture will occur before the Tribulation period begins.
2. The Mid-Tribulation Rapture: The Rapture will occur at the midpoint of the Tribulation
3. The Post-Tribulation Rapture: The Rapture will occur at the end of the Tribulation, right before the second coming of Christ to earth.
4. The Partial Rapture: faithful, devoted Christians will be raptured before the Tribulation, but the rest of the Christians will be left to go through the purging of the Tribulation.
5. The Pre-Wrath Rapture: The Rapture will occur about three-fourths (5 years) of the way through the Tribulation, when he wrath of God begins to be poured out on the earth at the seventh seal (Rev. 6:17).

Revelation 3:10 is God's promise of deliverance of Christians from the Tribulation period.  "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth." This verse provides a very strong argument for the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.