The Rapture of the Church – I Thessalonians
The Rapture of the Church
Together Church | Pastor Jerry Wells | February 16, 2025
Together Church Sermon | Series: 1 Thessalonians
Introduction
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 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 by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
NKJV
These words of Paul begin with his genuine concern for the church. They were examples to all the other churches but there was some misinformation circulating among them that could undermine what God was doing through them and wanted to do through them.
Paul transitions from expressing his genuine concern to correcting this misinformation by giving them a revelation of their future and the future of those believers among them who had already died.
What Paul told them about their future and the future of those who had already died was amazing, astonishing, mind-blowing, and hallucinatory. The story he lays out for them about the future would cause some critics to say about Paul, he has lost his mind.
I would prefer to begin this sermon with what is mind-blowing but to be true to the text, lets lay the foundation first and build on it.
Body
Paul makes it very clear with regards to why he included these words in this letter to this church.
- He did not want them to be uninformed.
We are so blessed to have the 66 books of the bible. These 66 books contain the whole counsel of God. Everything we need to know about God, His commands, and His plans for the future are within the pages of our bibles. Our problem is not a lack of information. Our problem is misinterpretation of the information we have been given. To mature in our faith, we need to learn how to interpret the bible correctly.
This was not true for the early church. The gentile churches did not even have a copy of the Old Testament cannon of scripture. Their source of truth was the apostles directly, the messengers the apostles sent to them, and the letters they received from the apostles.
This lack of information caused some in this church to accept misinformation. This was detrimental to their spiritual wellbeing. So, Paul was filling a gap for them in their knowledge and it would be safe to assume that he had never given them this information before.
Paul’s intention was to solve that problem because he loved them. He did not want them to be uninformed.
- He did not want them to be uninformed about those who have fallen asleep.
Many in this church were uninformed about those from their church that had died. Fallen asleep means those who have died. This description was first introduced to the disciples of Jesus in the story of Lazarus.
John 11:11-14
11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”
13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.
NKJV
This became the word picture that the disciples of Jesus used for death. (Matthew 27:52; Acts 13:36; 2 Peter 3:4)
Paul chose to use the same word picture of death that Jesus used. Jesus used this word picture because everyone knows that being asleep is a temporary condition. The word dead describes a permanent condition.
We have seen how this church was a church that loved one another deeply. Because they loved one another deeply they had become an example to the other churches in their region. Whenever you find people that have this depth of love for one another, you will also find people that suffer from severe grief when those that they love die.
Severe grief comes from this depth of love. It can be so painful that it can disable a person. This severe grief can be so overwhelming that it can make it difficult for you to breathe. It can take away all of your physical strength. It can bring you to your knees. It can cause mental confusion. It can make you so unhappy that you no longer want to live. This kind of severe grief can become chronic. Paul called it sorrow upon sorrow in another letter. It can feel like you are in a dark whole that you will never escape. Some people who suffer from severe grief comfort themselves in the wrong ways.
When you have this kind of severe grief, you need hope.
So, Paul, out of his great love for this church, writes these words to correct some misinformation that was circulating among them about those who had fallen asleep. And this is where Paul becomes hallucinatory to some people.
1 Thess 4:13-18
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 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 by no means precede those who are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
NKJV
To give them hope, Paul shares with them a revelation of the future. Before Jesus returns to judge the world, there is going to be this incredible event that Paul describes with only a few words.
The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven. You may recall that an angel of God told the disciples of Jesus this was going to happen right after His ascension.
Acts 1:9-11
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
NKJV
If that scene does not blow your mind, the next one will. Paul says before Jesus descends to the earth to conquer His enemies and judge the world; He is going to resurrect the bodies of departed believers that have been asleep in the earth. This means the decaying elements of the departed bodies of believers will be regathered and transformed from corruptible to incorruptible. And then those believers will then rise to meet the Lord in the air.
Then, if that scene does not blow your mind, what Paul will happen next only adds to the drama. Paul says Jesus is going to transform and translate the corruptible bodies of believers to be incorruptible and they will ascend to meet the Lord in the air.
This staggering event has been traditionally called the rapture of the church. It has been called the rapture because of the Latin translation of the Greek words that say caught up in our English translations.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
The Latin word is rapio which when translated in English means….
RAPTURE!
I want to share with a few thoughts about the rapture of the church that are not in this text.
The rapture of the church will be the most significant event in world history since the day of Pentecost.
The church of Jesus Christ with all its moral flaws has had a greater moral influence on mankind than any other religion, philosophy, or political ideology. God has used the church to morally transform evil people, families, tribes, and nations all over the world. At the heart of what we call western civilization that values the life of every person is the teaching of Jesus through His church. It is through the church that the Holy Spirit of God convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Jesus said His church is the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
The church of Jesus Christ has spent more money and man hours doing good works for the world than any other religion or political ideology. It has fed more poor people, started more homeless shelters, built more hospitals, and produced more educational institutions than any other agency in the history of this world.
The church was born at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit and the world has not been the same since that day.
The rapture of the church will be the most significant event in world history since the day of Pentecost.
Why?
- The rapture of the church will remove the influence of the church from this world.
The church as the salt to preserve this world from evil and its light in the darkness will be gone. The divine influence of the work of the Holy Spirit in this world through the church will be gone. If you think the world is full of evil and darkness now, and it is, just imagine what the world will be like when the church is gone.
- The rapture of the church is the end of the age of the gentiles.
When the church is suddenly taken away, not another gentile will be saved. Paul said it this way to the church in Rome.
Romans 11:25
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
NKJV
Jews will be saved through a special revelation of Jesus Christ to them. That sign could very well be the rapture of the church and the arrival of two witnesses in Jerusalem. But the door to salvation will be shut to every gentile that is alive on the earth at that time.
If you are a gentile and you are not saved when the rapture occurs, you have missed your opportunity to be saved.
- The rapture of the church will be the greatest sign to the world that the return of Jesus to judge this world is about to happen.
There will be other signs that are found in the prophets, the gospels, and epistles, but this sign will be the most significant sign that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Conclusion
For those of us who are believers, the rapture of the church gives us hope for our future and the future of those who have preceded us in death. Jesus promised us victory over sin and death. He said His victory is our victory and that we would share in His glory.
This means that just as the body of Christ was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, the bodies of every member of His church will be raised from the dead and ascend into heaven.
When Jesus judges this world with fire, not one element of His both or our bodies will be subject to that judgement. He will make all things new.
For those of you who are not yet believers, the rapture of the church is meant to give you a since of urgency to become a believer while you still have the opportunity. God has revealed this to you because He loves you and He wants you to know the gospel and saved while you still have the opportunity to be saved. (Share the gospel and what people must do to be saved)
- God is not obligated to give you another opportunity to be saved.
God has every right to decide that this is your last opportunity. You do not deserve this one!
- You could die today and if you die without faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will have missed your opportunity.
- The rapture could happen today. When the rapture occurs, you will have missed your opportunity.
All of us have made bad decisions because we were misinformed. You are now fully informed. If you miss your opportunity, you will forever regret it. You will forever dwell in a place where the conditions are so poor that you will weep and gnash your teeth and you will know how foolish you were to reject the love of Jesus Christ.
Some are critical when a Pastor like me makes an appeal like this because they say it only appealing to people’s emotions and using fear to motivate people to become followers of Jesus.
My answer to those critics is that I stand in good company with Jesus and all the prophets of God who urged people to repent based on their warnings.
My other answer is that fear alone is not the main reason to become a follower of Jesus. Fear was never meant to be the main reason that someone follows Jesus. The bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In other words, God uses fear to awaken people to their need for salvation.
I hope that what I have shared today will awaken you to your need for God’s salvation and then you will fall in love with Jesus because of what He has done for you.
I want to urge you with everything that is in me, do not miss your opportunity to be saved today.
Invitation
If you are ready to be saved, I want to give you an opportunity to express your faith in Jesus through a prayer. (Lead in sinners’ prayer)
“Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
If you prayed to receive Jesus and you are willing to follow Him in baptism today, as we sing this song, I want to invite you to come forward and publicly profess your faith in Jesus by being baptized.
You come as we sing.