When disaster strikes, we all wait for the time when we can be raptured, but how will the Lord rapture us into the kingdom of heaven? This article will tell you how.
What Is the True Meaning of Rapture in the Bible? (Part 1)
By Zhang Li
Chen Li was walking home after a gathering when she thought of what Sister Wang had just said to her about the Lord Jesus already having returned, and asking Chen Li to go to her house that afternoon to listen to a sermon. Thinking over what she had said, Chen Li couldn’t help but ask herself: “The Lord Jesus gave us a promise: ‘I go to prepare a place for you. And 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 14:2–3). He went back up to heaven on a white cloud, so the place He’s preparing for us has to be in heaven, and when the Lord returns, He’ll take us straight into the kingdom of heaven. Plus, the pastors and elders often say that when He returns we’ll be raptured up and meet with the Lord—we’ll be together with Him. If the Lord Jesus had already returned we should have been raptured up by Him, so why we are all still here on earth?” At this thought, Chen Li furrowed her brows; her face was clouded with doubt.
Just then, someone behind Chen Li suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. She looked back and saw it was her good friend Han Meihua—they hadn’t seen each other for years. It occurred to Chen Li that Han Meihua was always traveling around preaching and that she had a fairly pure understanding of the Bible, and when reading the scriptures she often had new enlightenment and understanding. She realized that this opportunity was the Lord’s arrangement, so she hurried to share her dilemma and invited Han Meihua to her home.
Is Rapture Really Being Taken Up Into Heaven?
Chen Li poured Han Meihua a cup of water and sat next to her. Han Meihua looked at Chen Li and said solemnly: “Sister Chen, the question you just asked is key to whether or not we’ll be able to welcome the Lord. I was recently in a gathering with a few other coworkers and gained some new insight into this issue through our fellowship.” Chen Li’s eyes lit up—she couldn’t wait to hear her fellowship. Han Meihua went on: “We’ve always been waiting for the Lord to come and rapture us into the kingdom of heaven, where we will meet with the Lord. But have we ever thought about whether this kind of belief of ours is in line with the truth and the reality of God’s work? Is being raptured really lifting us up into heaven? The Lord Jesus said, ‘And no man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven’ (John 3:13). The Lord clearly told us that aside from Him, no man has gone up into heaven. Heaven is God’s abode and God alone can ascend to the highest heights, so how could we, corrupt human beings, ascend to the highest heights and see God? Besides, in the beginning God created people on earth, just as it’s recorded in Genesis 2:7–8: ‘And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.’ God used the dust of the ground to create our forebearers, Adam and Eve, and then put them in the Garden of Eden to live. From this, we can see that the scope of the life that God has ordained for us is on the earth, not in heaven. We can also verify this through the facts of God’s work. Just like when God destroyed the earth with the flood, He wanted to save Noah but He did not rapture Noah up into heaven to escape the flood. Instead, He commanded Noah to build the ark and had him and his seven other family members weather out the flood on it. After the flood passed, Noah and his family went on to live and thrive on the earth. There were also the Israelites, who were enslaved by the Pharaoh in Egypt. They called out to God to have Him lead them out of their lives of hardship, and God answered their call, but He did not rapture them into heaven. Instead, He used Moses to lead them away from Egypt, and after that issued the law and commandments through Moses to guide the Israelites in their lives on earth. By the latter period of the Age of Law, the Israelites were facing the dangers of condemnation and death from violations of the law. God wanted to save mankind from sin, but He did not bring people directly up into heaven or have them go up themselves to procure a sin offering. Instead, He personally became flesh as the Lord Jesus and came to earth, where He was crucified and became the sin offering for mankind. All this shows that over the millennia of God’s work, it has all been done on the earth, and we human beings have always lived on the earth, and we have believed in and worshiped God on the earth. This is where we experience God’s work and words—not a single person has ever been raptured into heaven.
“Not only that, but the Bible clearly prophesies that in the last days, God’s kingdom will be established on earth, just as in the Lord’s prayer that the Lord Jesus taught us: ‘Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:9–10). And then in Revelation 21:2–3, there’s the prophecy: ‘And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven…, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.’ There’s another one in Chapter 11:15: ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.’ Plus there are these things from the Lord Jesus’ words and prophecies: ‘Your kingdom come,’ ‘the tabernacle of God is with men’ and ‘new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.’ All of these show that when the Lord Jesus returns, He will establish His kingdom on earth, not in heaven. God is going to live among man on earth, and all of the nations on earth will become nations of Christ into eternity. Sister Chen, now you have more clarity on this, right? When the Lord Jesus returns to earth in the last days, He will carry out God’s will and establish His kingdom. But we, corrupt human beings, mere mortals, always want to be raptured up into heaven and meet with the Lord in the sky. Isn’t that totally unrealistic? Isn’t that contrary to the Lord’s will? This shows us that our idea of being raptured into heaven upon the Lord’s return and meeting with Him in the sky is not at all in line with the Lord’s words, nor with biblical prophecies. It’s nothing but our own notions and imagination! If we continue insisting on this and won’t be swayed, we will never be able to be raptured before the Lord!”
Hearing this, Chen Li was astonished and said: “Thanks be to the Lord! With this fellowship, now I understand. So all along God has been working and leading mankind on earth and we have always followed and worshiped Him on earth, not in heaven. The Lord Jesus has also told us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth, and there are a number of prophecies in the Book of Revelation that in the last days God will establish His kingdom on earth. But we haven’t been contemplating and seeking from within the Lord’s words, instead blindly waiting for the Lord to come and rapture us up into heaven. That is entirely contrary to God’s words! So this means that us waiting for the Lord to come and rapture us into heaven so we can meet with Him in the sky is not at all in line with the Lord’s will, but is just our own notion, our own imagination. Oh, Meihua, since the rapture isn’t taking us up into heaven and meeting with the Lord in the sky, what does it really refer to? I’d like to hear more fellowship.”
Source From: A Guidebook for Faith
