Daily Devotional for Sunday, April 28

The Rapture of the Living

“For 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; 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,” 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 17.

After hearing Timothy’s report, the team writes to reassure the Thessalonians concerning Christians who die. What happens to them when Jesus returns? Their words comfort not only the Thessalonian believers but all believers afterward. The team declares by “the word of the Lord,” words equivalent to the Old Testament’s “Thus saith the Lord,” that the living will not prevent or precede those already asleep. The dead will rise first.

Paul goes on to give even more exciting and awe-inspiring details. After graves of the godly break open, as they did when Jesus arose (Matthew 27:52, 53), those who are alive will be “caught up, snatched, taken away” (harpagēsometha) with the dead in the clouds. This “snatching” is raptus in Latin, so “rapture” is used to describe it. One commentator describes it as “the force and suddenness seen in the irresistible power of God.” In 1 Corinthians 15:52, Paul tells us this “mystery” will happen in the twinkling of an eye. We will be caught up in a flash to a meeting with the Lord Himself.

It is interesting this meeting takes place in the air. It is not immediate entrance into Heaven, nor is it here on earth, but in between. What a victorious day that will be! “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

THOUGHT
And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, “Even so" it is well with my soul. (Horatio G. Spafford)

Kelli Reynolds