Arno Froese: The Timing of the Rapture

When will the rapture take place? In this clear, Scripture-rich message, discover the biblical timing of the rapture and why it is essential for believers to understand.

Topics Covered:

• What is the rapture?
• Why is the rapture necessary?
• When will the rapture happen? (“When ye think not”)
• Signs of the rapture in our generation

Key Scriptures:

• 2 Peter 3:3–4
• Genesis 19:17, 22
• Luke 17:28–30
• Matthew 24:44; Matthew 5:16
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3

Highlights:

• God will not destroy the righteous with the unrighteous.
• The rapture is necessary to remove light and salt before judgment.
• The exact timing: “When ye think not.”
• Last days scoffers and false security are signs pointing to the nearness of His return.

#Rapture #BibleProphecy #WhenYeThinkNot #SecondComing #EndTimes #BlessedHope

The Timing of the Rapture

So let me continue now on this subject, with this in mind, and talk about the timing of the rapture.

As I already mentioned, this afternoon I’m going to tell you—well, in very simple four words: “When ye think not.” That’s when the rapture is going to take place. That’s the precise, exact time: when ye think not. So don’t be alarmed by certain alarmists, by those who thrive on making sensational stories and sensational discoveries. Be very cautious: when ye think not.

I want to spend the next 25 minutes with you thinking on this subject and answering four questions:

1. What is the rapture?
2. Why is the rapture necessary?
3. When will the rapture take place? (which we’ve already answered in a way)
4. What are the signs of the rapture?

So let’s open our Bible to 2 Peter 3:3–4, where we read the following about people who do not believe in the coming of the Lord:

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Notice—they are not evolutionists. They are creationists. They are within our camp, and they realize that God created heaven and earth. So within our groups, within the evangelical group, we hear these types of voices over and over again, and they are increasing.

That’s why the rapture, the teaching of it, and the prophetic Word are being slowly declined—in volume and in interest. Many people, and we have experienced this at Midnight Call here in the United States, that subscriptions and interest have been decreasing in the last 10 years.

It is definitely decreasing here, while in other parts of the world it is almost explosively increasing. When we think about our brothers in Brazil—where we are flying tomorrow—it is fantastic, the reaction they have to prophecy conferences. The auditorium holds 800, and it is filled. They have to cut people off and send them home.

They already have tours to the Holy Land booked. For 2012, and even for 2013, they already had over 230 paid reservations, though they could only take 200. Compare that to us—we’re happy when we get 30, 40, or 50. Something has happened here in the States: the church of Jesus Christ is beginning to fall asleep.

People say, “Oh yes, those rapture crazies.” And yet these are believers! This is not the world, not unbelievers, not atheists or communists. These are Christians.

Question 1: What is the rapture?

Norbert already gave a wonderful illustration. The rapture is making way for judgment to come upon the earth.

Open your Bible to Genesis 19, the story of Lot and his family. The angels had to intervene supernaturally. What was the purpose? To take them out from the coming judgment.

• Verse 17: “Escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.”
• Verse 22: “Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither.”

God’s hands are tied. He cannot execute destructive judgment upon planet earth while the righteous are still there. God cannot break His Word. He will not destroy the righteous with the unrighteous. Hallelujah! What an example.

Sodom and Gomorrah were totally destroyed—fire came from heaven. That’s what is coming in the future as well.

Now read Luke 17:28–30, where Jesus Himself refers back to this Old Testament example:

“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

It’s so plain, so clear: the righteous must be taken out of the way. That is what the rapture is all about—the removal of the righteous from planet earth.

I hope each one of us is ready, not weighed down with earthly things—finances, properties, family, or friends. The rapture is individual. We won’t be raptured as a family holding on to our loved ones. Jesus already told us that family relationships will pass away. Recognition will be based on Him—and He must also recognize us. That’s the new person. Something remarkable will happen, beyond what our intellect can fully grasp.

Question 2: Why is the rapture necessary?

Because God cannot execute destructive judgment upon His light and His salt. He told us plainly: we are the light of the world, the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13–16).

This isn’t something we must “attain.” Either you are or you’re not. Either you’re saved or you’re not. A saved person is light—even if it’s just a flicker, a tiny spark.

Think of a basement in total darkness. Strike a match, and suddenly it’s bright. That same match outside during the day is hardly noticeable. Today, in an ever-darkening world, even a tiny spark of light shines brightly.

People don’t understand our thinking, why we act the way we do, why we don’t plan for an extended earthly future, why we prioritize love for one another. They can’t understand it.

That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

How simple! Yet how often we reverse it, trying to show off our good works: “I’ve written a dozen books, I publish Midnight Call, I’ve served the Lord for 43 years.” But that’s not what people need. They need to see the light.

When they see the light, then they recognize our works—and as a result, they glorify our Father in heaven.

Question 3: When will the rapture take place?

We already mentioned it earlier: the rapture will take place “when ye think not.”

That phrase comes directly from Matthew 24:44: “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

This means that the rapture will occur at a time when the world—and even much of the church—is not expecting it. So be very careful about alarmists, sensationalists, and false prophets who set dates or claim special revelations. The rapture will not happen according to their predictions. It will happen when ye think not.

Question 4: What are the signs of the rapture?

Turn with me to 2 Peter 3:3–4 again:

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

Scoffers in the last days are one of the clearest signs. These are not atheists or communists—these are religious people, even Christians, who deny or mock the promise of Christ’s return. That spirit of scoffing is increasing in our day.

Jesus also compared the days of His coming to the days of Noah and the days of Lot (Luke 17:26–30). People were eating, drinking, marrying, building—living as if life would continue on forever. But judgment fell suddenly.

That’s the pattern: ordinary life will be going on, and suddenly the Lord will come.

Paul adds in 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3:

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

So the signs include:

• Scoffers denying His coming.
• Business as usual in the world (days of Noah and Lot).
• False peace and security being proclaimed.
• A church that is increasingly asleep and uninterested in prophecy.

All these point us to the truth that the rapture is very near—and it will be sudden, unexpected, and unavoidable for the world.

Closing Thoughts

The rapture is:

1. The removal of the righteous before judgment.
2. Necessary because God will not pour out wrath while His light and salt remain.
3. Timed for a moment “when ye think not.”
4. Preceded by clear signs—scoffers, complacency, false peace, and a sleeping church.

Therefore, be ready. Don’t be weighed down with worldly distractions. Live as light in the darkness. Let your life reflect Christ so that others glorify the Father in heaven.

And remember Jesus’ own words from Matthew 24:44:

“Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”