What Time Is It - Rapture

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WHAT TIME IS IT? – 2

Even the newscasters’ voices were terror filled, as much as they tried to mask it. Every conceivable explanation was proffered… Thousands were dead in plane crashes and car pileups. Emergency crews were trying to clear the expressways and runways, all the while grieving over loved ones and coworkers who had disappeared. Cars driven by people who spontaneously disappeared had careened out of control.  The toughest chore for emergency personnel was to determine who had disappeared, who was killed, and who was injured, and then to communicate that to the survivors.  Local television stations from around the world reported bizarre occurrences, especially in time zones where the event had happened during the day or early evening.

CNN showed via satellite the video of a groom disappearing while slipping the ring onto his bride’s finger.  A funeral home in Australia reported that nearly every mourner disappeared from one memorial service, including the corpse, while at another service at the same time, only a few disappearances.  At a burial, three of six pallbearers stumbled and dropped a casket when the other three disappeared.  When they picked up the casket, it too was empty.  At a Christian high school soccer game most of the spectators and all but one of the players disappeared in the middle of play, leaving their shoes and uniforms on the ground.

-      Left Behind by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins

Luke 12:40 NIV
40You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

John 14:1-3 NIV
1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NLT
51But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 ESV
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

John 11:14 NIV

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,

 

Acts 7:59-60 NIV
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 7:59-60 NIV
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

2 Corinthians 5:8 NIV
8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:23-24 GNT
23I am pulled in two directions. I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ, which is a far better thing; 24but for your sake it is much more important that I remain alive.

1.     The Basis of the Rapture

1 Thessalonians 4:14 ESV
14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

John 14:19 NIV
19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

1 Corinthians 6:14 NIV
14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

2 Corinthians 4:14 NIV
14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 ESV
14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

1 Thessalonians 4:15 ESV
15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep

2.    The Blueprint of the Rapture

1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV
16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

John 5:25 NIV
25Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV
16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 ESV
17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NLT
51But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 ESV
17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

3.     The Blessing of the Rapture

1 Thessalonians 4:18 ESV
18Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Luke 12:40 GNT
40And you, too, must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 NIV
1Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Revelation 16:15 NIV
15“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”