CAUGHT UP OR DELIVERED OUT?
by Ernestine Young

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The “Rapture” Text

I Thess. 4:16, 17 is generally considered to be the 'proof text' concerning the doctrine of the secret rapture of the church. Upon close examination, let us consider what the writer is really teaching.

“For 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: 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.”

The phrase “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout” refers to the basic doctrine of the second coming of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Rev. 19:11 16. That is the blessed hope of each believer and the whole body of Christ.

The second coming of our Lord shall NOT be secret for “...every eye shall see Him” Rev. 1:7. Matthew 24:30 31 says that His coming shall be visible and with the great sound of a trumpet.

John the Apostle says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (I John 3:2, 3).

The phrases “With a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” describes the manner of His appearing. It is certainly not SECRET. It reminds us of the circumstances of the giving of the law to Moses with all Israel being present. The whole world would certainly be aware of His coming in such a manner. John the Revelator says, “Every eye shall see him” (Rev. 1: 7).

When the Apostle Paul states that “The dead in Christ shall rise first,” he is describing the resurrection of those in Christ. “Then we which are alive and remain” talks about those “in Christ” who are living and on the earth. “Shall be caught up” could mean 12 inches off the ground. It could be describing the joy of the experience, or various other things. It does not have to mean “go to heaven, cloud 19, paradise, Mars, Venus or any other place far removed in space. We have to gain our understanding of the Scriptures from the context of the Scripture. “Together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” describes the meeting place as the clouds and the air. Clouds could also refer to the “cloud of witnesses” which are people, Heb. 12:1 There is air at ground zero. We walk, talk and live in the air. We have clouds at ground zero which we call fog. One does not have to go very far UP to be in the clouds.

“And so shall we ever be with the Lord” tells us that we will always be with the Lord, not that we shall FOREVER be in the air. The simple, logical meaning is that we meet the Lord and will always be with Him from that time forward. The only other question is; where is the Lord going to be? That is answered in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus' prayer was “thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” The Lord is coming back to establish His kingdom ON THE EARTH. Since the Lord is going to be on the earth, this is where His people will be also.