"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Proverbs 25:11
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;" Titus 2:13
1 Corinthians 15:50-54
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, & the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
1 Peter 5:8Satan and his dominions are always ready to muddy the waters anywhere allowed. We see his work abounding in the religious and spiritual apostasy that is happening right now and also in the tumultuous times the world is suffering through.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1 Corinthians 2:13-14
These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Matthew 23:24
Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
1 Peter 5:5We don't just all get it all at once ... and there is no judgement against that either. Truth abides, grows and imparts. It is our duty in the faith to know what is born of the Spirit of God and what is not born of the Spirit of God. We are to discern the times we are living in and to step forward in our faith and in the word of God that the Holy Spirit causes us to walk in. Letting all religious condemnations and religious rhetoric pass away, allowing the truth of His Holy Spirit to constantly refresh us in His truth and make us whole in His truth. which provides the equivalent of life in our spirit. Resurrection life
Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for 'God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble'.
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Christ tells us in John 14:1-4
I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
I Corinthians 15:42-44 and 50-55All the schisms that try to besmirch the Rapture include arguments such as: improper word translations, lack of scriptural context, demonic teachings of Margaret MacDonald, John Darby, the deluge of pagan theologies that date back to Constantine and the Roman Catholic church, not to forget to mention ... the constant squabble of the timing of the tribulation and the second coming of Christ, and then the whole escapism theory! Simply put, we must stop listening to anything else other than the scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
Zechariah 14:4Here is another stabilizing fact in support of the Rapture is that we as Christ's born again believers sealed with His Holy Spirit are promised protection from God's wrath. Here are the conclusive verses to ties this all in together.
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, Which is before Jerusalem on the east, And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, And there shall be a very great valley; And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, And half of it toward the south.
Romans 5:9
1 Thessalonians 1:10
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
>> At the Rapture: all believers meet the Lord in the air ... 1 Thessalonians 4:17
>> At the Second Coming: all believers return with the Lord to the earth ... Revelation 19:14
>> The Rapture: occurs before the Tribulation ... 1Thessalonians 5:9 & Revelation 3:10
>> The Second Coming: occurs after the Great Tribulation ... Revelation chapters 6-19
>> The Rapture: is the removal of believers from the earth as an act of deliverance ... 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 & 5:9
>> The Second Coming: includes the removal of unbelievers as an act of judgment ... Matthew 24:40-41
>> The Rapture: is imminent and could take place at any moment ... Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 & 1 Corinthians 15:50-54
>> The Second Coming: will not occur until after certain other end-times events take place ... 2 Thessalonians 2:4 & Matthew 24:15-30 & Revelation chapters 6-18
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But 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. For tif we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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. 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.