Moving On: What happens when your time as a believer on Earth is over?

Moving On: What happens when your time as a believer on Earth is over?

Last week we discussed the fact that Jesus said that He will raise up believers on the last day. We explained that “the last day” will be that day when He comes to personally remove all believers from the Earth, whether they have already passed away, or are still alive. Again, we stress that it is not about when this event will take place, but that it will take place. While we may certainly have commented about this in other articles, let us look at the reality of the rapture – the mystery referred to by Jesus, and that mystery revealed to Paul.

Many scolars and believers disagree with the concept of the rapture because they say the word “rapture” does not appear in the English Bible. It does, but our English translations do not always translate the word exactly the way it means in the original Greek. The rapture is the event of us moving on from this Earth, which is just a temporary place to stay, to our eternal home in heaven.

Jesus talks to His disciples about an event when He will come and take believers to be with Him. The way He is going to do it did not really matter to Him at the time He spoke to the disciples. However, later the method was revealed to Paul. There is an incredible similarity between John 14:1-4 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³And 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. ⁴And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. – John 14:1-4

¹³But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¹⁶For 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: ¹⁷Then 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. ¹⁸Wherefore comfort one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Let us look at the similarities in the two passages side by side:

The similarity in the words and the order used makes it impossible not to accept that both Jesus and Paul referred to the same event. As we said last week, the Bible is God’s progressive revelation to mankind, showing His plan for all of us, throughout the ages. At the time Jesus spoke to His disciples, they were still living in the dispensation of the Law. By the time Paul was called as a missionary, the dispensation of grace (the Church Age) had already started. Thus, what Jesus referred to (receive you, verse 3) was revealed to Paul (caught up, verse 17). Both Jesus and Paul referred to a time when we as Christian believers would move on. Our time on Earth is limited and it is not our destination. See how well Paul describes it. The phrase “the things which are seen are” refers to our earthly existence while “the things that are not seen” refers to our future abode in Heaven. The first is temporary; the last is permanent.

¹⁸While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:18

The key to understanding the rapture is found in the Greek word ἁρπάζω, which is transliterated as “harpadzo” and means to take to seize, catch up, or snatch away. It implies to do something very quickly, and most importantly, publicly. The rapture will not be a secret event as some suggest. It will be a public event, demonstrating the start of God’s intervention in the affairs of man. The time is ready when God will make an end to the Church age, remove the true believers, and then pour out His wrath on an unbelieving world, as we see in Revelation 4 to 19. Only after that will Jesus return to take total control of the world and reign as it was intended to be.

Another interesting aspect of harpadzo is that it is related to the Greek word αἱρέομαι (hairéomai) which means to take something because it is a personal choice. That we will be taken out of this world before God’s wrath unfolds, is a personal choice Jesus makes! He will do it because He loves you, and He loves the Church, his bride. To explain ρπάζω (harpadzo) some more, let us look at another instance in the New Testament where it is used:

³⁹And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea. – Acts 8:39-40

Philip discussed the essence of salvation to the Ethiopian eunuch, this man came to salvation, and he was immediately baptised. With the work done, the Holy Spirit removed Philip from the scene, and he was then found in Azotus, some distance away from the lonely road leading towards Gaza. Imagine being in one place and immediately being moved to another, completely unhindered by the restrictions of time and space. This is what the rapture is all about. When the work of the Church is done at the end of this dispensation, we are removed.

Conclusion

Always be on the look out for signs of the rapture, our blessed hope:

¹¹For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, ¹²Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; ¹³Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; ¹⁴Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. – Titus 2:11-14

What do you expect heaven to be like? Watch this video clip. We have only been given small bits of information about what heaven may be like, but this already makes it worth believing:

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