The Prediction of the Rapture

I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
–John 14:3

This week, we’re looking at future events that Jesus predicted. The first is the rapture of the church. In the past, I’ve said Jesus did not talk about the rapture. That’s true, but He alluded to it. In John 14:3, He said to His disciples, “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.”

At the rapture, Jesus will appear in the air and take believers to be with Him. Then at His second coming, He will return to earth to establish His kingdom. So Jesus’ prediction has its ultimate fulfillment at the second coming but also a partial fulfillment at the rapture.

If that were all the Bible said about the rapture, we would not have much to build a doctrine on. But Paul also described the rapture. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, he wrote, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” The Greek word translated as “caught up” is harpazo. The Latin translation of this word is rapturo, from which we get our word rapture.

Notice there are two groups of believers involved in this event: “the dead in Christ” and “we who are alive.” Every Christian who has died since Pentecost–whether they were buried, cremated, or something else–will be raised at the rapture. Christians who are alive at the time will be caught up with the resurrected believers to meet Jesus in the air.

A few years ago, I read about a planned rocket launch site in the Shetland Islands. While excavating the land, archaeologists discovered a four-thousand-year-old cemetery. Land that was once a place of burial would now host a launchpad. Isn’t that a great metaphor for what awaits us as believers? At the rapture, places of burial will become launchpads. Graves will be opened, our believing loved ones will be raised, and we will all join Jesus in the air to be with Him forever.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Jesus the Prophet,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2024.

Christopher Parker, “4,000-Year-Old Cemetery Discovered Beneath Future Rocket Launch Pad in U.K.,” Smithsonian, August 1, 2023, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bronze-age-cemetery-rocket-launch-uk-180982633/.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.