Copyright © 2023 Michael A. Brown
It is important that we form a solid
theological foundation for our belief in the pre-tribulation rapture, and these next three blogs address this need.
Christology and the rapture
‘Listen,
I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a
flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we will be changed.’ (1 Cor. 15:51-52)
When conducting a funeral service as a
minister for a deceased believer, there is never an occasion when I do not read
and emphasise the above words of the apostle Paul. The truth of the future resurrection of the dead
in Christ is at the very heart of the Christian hope. It is natural and right that on such
occasions the emphasis is placed on our future physical resurrection, because
the very context is the remembrance of the life of a deceased believer in
Christ.
However, of course, this is only half of
the story. Together with the parallel
verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, these verses speak about both the
resurrection of the dead in Christ and the transformation and catching away of
living believers in the rapture, which will happen when our heavenly Bridegroom
returns for his bride.
It is important to realise that this
future resurrection-rapture event is not simply an eschatological truth. It is rooted in Christology. Although many believers certainly recognise
that this is true of the resurrection, yet many do not make the simple
connection that it is therefore also true of the rapture. The rapture is a Christological truth, but
many believers, because they display a common but unfortunate tendency to
compartmentalise theology, often treat it merely as an eschatological truth.
The future resurrection of believers (and
therefore also the rapture) is grounded and bound up in the physical
resurrection of Christ. We are in
Christ, and therefore just as he rose from the dead, it is guaranteed that we
too will therefore rise. As in Adam all
die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Christ is the firstborn from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have
fallen asleep, and we too therefore will be resurrected (or raptured) when he
comes, because we are in Christ (1 Cor. 15:22-23, Col. 1:18).
In another passage, the apostle Paul calls
this Christological hope ‘the redemption of our bodies,’ and he emphasises that
it is into this very hope that we have been called (Rom. 8:23-24). So our future resurrection-rapture, the
redemption of our body, is the living Christological-eschatological hope that
we carry in our heart every day as we anticipate the return of the Bridegroom.
This Christological root of the rapture
guarantees us two things, as below:
Firstly, it guarantees to us the
fact that the rapture will certainly happen. We are in Christ, and we are called in him
into an eternal salvation which is comprehensive in its scope, and which
ultimately applies to every part of our being.
This includes the regeneration of our spirit when we are born again and
included in Christ; it includes the renewal of our mind as we walk in Christ
and learn his ways, and it ultimately also includes the redemption of our body,
i.e. the transformation of our physical body in the resurrection-rapture event
(Eph. 1:13, 2:5; Rom. 8:5-6, 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:16; 1 Cor. ch.15).
And secondly, following on from the above, this Christological root also guarantees to us the nature of the transformation that will happen to our physical body in the rapture: it will be transformed so that it will be like Christ’s glorious body (Phil. 3:21). This body that we presently live in, which is subject to weakness, frailty, sickness, degeneration, ageing, and whatever else that comes from the Fall, will soon be a thing of the past. In the rapture, our mortal body will be transformed so that we are clothed instead with our imperishable, glorious and immortal spiritual body. We will be permanently and eternally changed into the likeness of the man from heaven (1 Cor. 15:42-53, 1 John 3:2). This transformation will happen suddenly and will take place very quickly, or as Paul puts it, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, immediately after the dead in Christ are raised. And as this happens to us, we will be caught up to meet Christ in the air to be with him for ever (1 Cor. 15:5-52, 1 Thess. 4:16-17).
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