Andy Woods: The Rapture: What & When (Part 1)

Is the rapture real? When does it happen—and how is it different from the Second Coming? In this clear, Scripture-rich message, Pastor Andy Woods begins a mini-series on the doctrine of the rapture, answering the “what” question with ten key truths (first four covered today). You’ll see why the rapture matters, how it differs from Christ’s Second Advent, what “harpazō” means, and why this blessed hope is a comfort and a reunion for every believer.

Key Scriptures

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18
• 1 Corinthians 15:50–58 (preview for Part 2)
• John 14:1–4
• Revelation 19; Zechariah 14:4; Isaiah 53; Isaiah 9:6–7
• 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:21–23; Matthew 23:37–39

What You’ll Learn

• Why the rapture is an important doctrine for Christian growth
• How the rapture and the Second Advent are distinct events
• The meaning of harpazō (“caught up”) and the origin of the word “rapture”
• How the rapture is a reunion with loved ones “in Christ” and a source of comfort

Let’s open in a word of prayer. Father, we thank You for today. We thank You for this morning. We thank You for the grace that You give us, and we do lift up our country during this tumultuous time. I just pray that You’ll be with us today as we seek to teach Your Word and that it would still minister to people via technology. I pray for our leadership—our president and everybody from the highest levels down—as they seek to make decisions on our behalf. I pray You’ll give them wisdom. I pray that You’ll encourage Your people today. And I pray also, Lord, that this coming week we will keep You foremost on our minds, as we’re entering a Holy Week with Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, and today being Palm Sunday. I ask that You’ll magnify Yourself today in Your church. We lift these things up in Jesus’ name. God’s people said, “Amen.”

All right, I’m assuming I’m good to go. Let’s take our Bibles, if we could, and open them to the book of 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

Having last week in Sunday School completed our teachings on angelology—the doctrine of angels—I had announced that we were going to study the doctrine of Scripture. But I kind of changed my mind a little bit midweek, because one of the things people are wondering about in the midst of the current crisis is: a lot of people think we’re in the Tribulation Period now—mistakenly—and they want to know, “Have we missed the rapture?” There’s so much mis-teaching today about the rapture that a lot of people aren’t even sure whether the rapture is a true, Bible-based doctrine.

So, in this climate of fear and uncertainty—when it’s so easy to get our minds off of the Blessed Hope—what I wanted to do, beginning today in Sunday School, is teach for several weeks on the doctrine of the rapture: What exactly is the rapture, and when is it going to take place relative to the future seven-year Tribulation Period?

We’re beginning a series—this is Part One: “The Rapture: What and When.” What I’d like to start to do this morning is begin to answer the “what” question: What exactly is the rapture?

Here at Sugar Land Bible Church, as I’ve taught recently through the books of Daniel and Revelation, I’ve had many opportunities to sort of tangentially bring up the rapture; but to my knowledge I have never done any direct teaching on the rapture itself. So this series is directly on the subject of the rapture—which, as you probably know, is one of the most explosive and controversial subjects in modern-day Christianity.

What is the rapture?
This morning we want to develop ten truths about the rapture in an attempt to answer the “what” question. The first four or so truths we’re going to develop from 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, and then the remaining truths we’ll develop from 1 Corinthians 15:50–58. I’m not sure how far we’ll get this morning, but we’ll get as far as we can on this list of ten; what we don’t complete today, we will pick up next week where we left off.

Notice, first of all, 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. There are probably three central passages on the rapture. One is right here in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; a second is 1 Corinthians 15:50–58; and a third one you’ll find in the Upper Room, John 14:1–4, where we believe that Jesus introduced the doctrine of the rapture for the very first time.

But notice 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says this:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again—now that’s interesting because we’re coming up on Resurrection Sunday, and here we’re learning that the rapture is intimately linked to the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus—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 will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Truth #1: The rapture is an important doctrine.

I have to highlight that in this postmodern age in which we’re living—where everybody is uncertain of almost everything—uncertainty is often valued as humility. People are mistaking humility with uncertainty, and a lot of people have this attitude about the rapture: that it’s really something you can be agnostic about. “It doesn’t matter what you believe; it’s an intramural conversation among brothers; there’s room to disagree.”

I actually had a seminary professor tell me that the rapture is what he called a C-level doctrine. In other words, the A doctrines are the most important—like the Trinity—then there are B doctrines, and he gave the rapture about a C (maybe even a C-minus). I’ve never understood that mentality—where people can look at the Bible and say, “This part is important, but that part is less important.”

The rapture is an important doctrine. Why do I say that?

• Paul disclosed the doctrine of the rapture to new Christians. He’s writing to the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, you see they “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.” These were brand-new converts, largely Gentiles (see Acts 17–18). Within probably less than six months to a year, Paul wrote to this new church. And to that brand-new group of believers, Paul disclosed the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).
• In 1 Thessalonians 1:10—likely the first reference to the rapture in the letter (though the fullest treatment is in chapter 4)—he says we are “to wait for His Son from heaven … Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” To new Christians, Paul mentions the rapture alongside:
  • The doctrine of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:5).
  • The doctrine of conversion (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
  • The doctrine of sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
  • The doctrine of glorification (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Is comfort important to the Christian? Of course. He concludes his treatment with, “Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). The rapture isn’t a lower-tier doctrine in Paul’s mindset; he places it right alongside other key concepts and taught it to new believers.

Now, I’m not saying someone must believe or fully understand the rapture to be justified before God. There’s only one condition necessary for justification: faith alone in Christ alone. But the way the rapture is taught and set up in the New Testament, you need to understand it correctly to grow as you should as a Christian. If you drift into false teaching on the rapture, you really cannot reach full stature in Christ in terms of progressive sanctification—any more than you could while denying any other doctrine of Scripture.

Truth #2: The rapture is distinct from the Second Advent.

People often take rapture passages and Second Advent passages, ignore the differences the Holy Spirit gave us, and ram, jam, and cram them together. They acknowledge Jesus is coming back (He is), but they don’t understand that He’s coming back in phases. He comes first in the rapture for His church; then the events of the seven-year Tribulation unfold; then He returns at the end of that period to establish His kingdom—the Second Advent. These are different eschatological events.

How can we say that? Because they’re described differently.

Even the Old Testament shows two comings of Messiah described differently:

• Isaiah 53—Messiah suffers and dies.
• Isaiah 9:6–7—Messiah rules and reigns.

Those are not the same event; they’re two different comings.

Likewise, New Testament passages concerning Christ’s return are described differently.

A few contrasts:

• Place of meeting:
  • Rapture—Christ comes in the air; “caught up … to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
  • Second Advent—His feet touch the earth; specifically the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4).
• With whom:
  • Rapture—He comes for His saints (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17).
  • Second Advent—He comes with His saints (Revelation 19:14).
• Tone:
  • Rapture—a comfort and a blessing (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
  • Second Advent—a time of violent judgment (Revelation 19:15; the birds gorge on corpses).
• Scope:
  • Rapture—affects believers (“the dead in Christ … then we who are alive,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).
  • Second Advent—affects both believers and unbelievers (Revelation 19:15).
• Visibility:
  • Rapture—in that sense invisible to the world, affecting only the church (the world will see the effects, but the meeting is in the air).
  • Second Advent—every eye will see Him (Revelation 1:7).
• Announcement/Company:
  • Rapture—announced “with the voice of the archangel” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
  • Second Advent—He returns with myriads of angels (Jude 14; Matthew 25:31).
• Resurrection timing:
  • Rapture—the church receives resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51–53).
  • Second Advent—no immediate resurrection is described with His arrival (other resurrections are scheduled in God’s program, but not at that precise moment).
• Rescue focus:
  • Rapture—a rescue of the church “from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
  • Second Advent—a rescue of Israel as He brings judgment on a Christ-rejecting world (Matthew 23:37–39; linked to Israel’s end-time repentance in the 70th Week of Daniel).

A lot of confusion stems from not understanding that God has separate programs for Israel and the church. If you mix Israel’s promises with the church, you’ll be confused—especially about the rapture. Keep your ups and downs straight:

• Second Advent—He comes down from heaven to the earth (Revelation 19:11; Zechariah 14:4).
• Rapture—we are caught up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

The first disclosure of the rapture is in the Upper Room discourse where Jesus is introducing the church age (the Paraclete, the Spirit indwelling, etc., John 13–17). He says:

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 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. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1–3)

That is new and unique revelation—Messiah taking His saints to the Father’s house, not gathering them to an earthly Jerusalem at that time.

Truth #3: The rapture will involve the catching away of all living believers.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 says, “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds.” The Greek term is harpazō—to seize or snatch away by force.

People say, “The word rapture isn’t in the Bible.” Well, the concept certainly is. We often use theological shorthand to avoid constant circumlocutions—just like we use the word Trinity (also not a Bible word, though the doctrine is biblical).

Where does “rapture” come from? From the translation stream:

• Greek harpazō (1 Thessalonians 4:17) → Latin Vulgate rapiemur/rapturo/raptus family (Jerome) → English rapture.
  So, show me your Latin Bible, and I’ll show you the word. The doctrine is clearly present in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

Truth #4: The rapture is a reunion.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17: “The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.”

The Thessalonians’ concern (v. 13) was about believers who had died. Paul had been forced out (see Acts 17–18), and some of the believers he’d led to Christ had died—perhaps by martyrdom. They wondered: will the deceased in Christ miss the rapture?

Paul explains: if you’re a Christian and you die, you are absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21–23). At the rapture, the dead in Christ receive their resurrection bodies first and descend; if the rapture occurs in our lifetime, we who are alive are caught up and changed instantaneously second. Group A (the deceased saints) is coming down; Group B (the living saints) is going up. We meet in the air—a reunion with loved ones in Christ—and “so we shall always be with the Lord.”

Therefore, verse 13 says we do not grieve as the rest who have no hope. It does not say we shouldn’t grieve. We do grieve, but not as those without hope—because we will see them again at the rapture. That’s why verse 18 says, “Therefore comfort one another with these words.” Paul’s aim here is profoundly pastoral: to comfort anxious believers with truth.

So, what is the rapture?

1. It’s an important doctrine.
2. It’s distinct from the Second Advent.
3. It involves the catching up of all living believers.
4. It is a glorious reunion.

We’ll then move into the remaining six points from 1 Corinthians 15—Paul’s resurrection chapter—next time, which wonderfully aligns with Resurrection Sunday. There, Paul will give us five to six more points from 1 Corinthians 15:50–58.

[Closing Prayer]

Father, we’re grateful for the rapture doctrine. Help us understand it correctly in the midst of a lot of confusion.  We’ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, and God’s people said,

“Amen.”