Thursday: The Everlasting Encounter
Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-55. What “mystery” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) is Paul explaining?
Some popular preachers suggest that this “mystery” () is the “secret rapture” of the church, which is to occur seven years prior to Christ’s glorious second coming. In this “secret rapture” faithful Christians are suddenly, quietly and secretly, whisked off to heaven while everyone else remains here wondering what happened to them. People might suddenly find themselves in a driverless car, because the driver was raptured to heaven, and all that “remains is their clothes.” The 16-volume bestselling Left Behind series, turned into four movies, promoted this false teaching, exposing millions to it.
Image © Steve Creitz at Goodsalt.com
Of course, no biblical passage endorses such an artificial distinction between the rapture and the Second Coming. The “mystery” Paul is referring to is simply the transformation of the living righteous to join the resurrected righteous at Christ’s second coming. This is the “rapture.” There is no “secret rapture” because the Second Coming will be visible to all living human beings (Revelation 1:7), and both the resurrection of the dead and the transformation of the living ones will occur at the sound of the trumpet at Christ’s return (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
Christ’s second coming will bring about the most amazing encounter ever. The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). At the voice of God, they are glorified; now they are made immortal and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels “gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31, NKJV).
“Little children are borne by holy angels to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are united, nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend together to the City of God.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 645.
| This is such an amazing promise, something so different from anything that we have experienced that it’s hard to grasp. But think about the vastness of the cosmos, as well as the incredible complexity of life here. Creation itself testifies to God’s amazing power. What does all this teach us about the power of God to translate the living and raise the dead at Jesus’ second coming? |
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I've read many, many stories of people who have gone missing, and never been seen again. While in college, about 20 years ago, for example, a friend of mine had a report that his younger brother had disappeared, and he was never found. While many by their mouths give credence to the false doctrine of the secret rapture, they don't really believe it.
One whose loved one just goes missing would never buy a suggestion that maybe he was so righteous, and so has been taken away, leaving us behind.
No one really believes in the secret rapture; it's just a bad lie people buy from the devil. When brought to the test, they would sooner rubbish it.
At the moment I am spending a lot of time sorting out the financial affairs of the dead. Jesus' invitation to "Let the dead bury the dead!" sounds great but if I don't sort it out, some of the living are going to suffer. I am in Queensland finalizing my father-in-law's financial affairs and testing my patience and persistence in the process. Hence my comments this week are a bit sparse.
My physics background has of course led me to ponder the sort of changes that would need to happen in order for us to be transported off earth to a heavenly destination. That sort of thinking is of course predicated by our view that heaven is somewhere "up there". We have a long history of associating heaven with a physical place somewhere on the other side of Orion. Such descriptions are best thought of as figurative. I am not saying that heaven and everlasting life is not real, but both defy description in terms of physics and astronomical location.
Paul is right. There are going to be a lot of changes at the second coming and it's going to be like we have suddenly had cataracts removed from our eyes. We will probably laugh at our current feeble attempts to describe what it will be like.
We need to reflect for a moment on why Paul had to write what he did to the Thessalonians. They had been spending too much time worrying about the physics of the resurrection and transformation to the extent they were compromising their Christian experience. Essentially it was a reality check for the Thessalonians. Do we need a reality check?
When I read 2 Timothy 2:16-18, it seems to me that Paul was working to stem the latest conspiracy theory making its rounds in the churches, that is, the dead had already been resurrected.
Just a thought.
Hi, Maurice.
I agree that there is much about heaven, and our journey there, that we don't know and cannot possibly understand. However, it seems to me that a real place necessarily has a physical location. So, I personally don't see any reason to question the literal meaning of the "open space in Orion" idea, that seems to have come from an inspired source.
Yes, Maurice, we always need a reality check, since Satan will try to deceive the very elect now more than ever. Matthew 24:24
In Thessalonians 2:1-2 Paul was actually making this reality check about resurrection, as the Thessalonians were taught by some false teachers that the Lord has already come and that judgement was upon them.
It is interesting to note that the church of Thessalonica was situated in a prominent city of Macedonia, where people worshipped the Twelve Olympians especially Zeus, Artemis, Dionysus (I‘m in Cyprus now on a cultural trip, learning a bit more about history), yet the gospel was spread throughout the region.
Nowadays many of our churches are planted in areas where people show hostility towards true Bible teachings. I think Paul‘s encouragement to the Thessalonians applies to us today, since we all long for the Lord‘s appearing and are pressing to spread the true gospel message that many would be saved.
When it seems I don't have reasons to say anything, what I can really say is "glory be to God!" He knows every single detail of what's going on in our lives! He knows the anguish, the pain, the sorrow and insecurity that death has brought to man's reality. But even though I may have all surroundings uncertain, the best I can do is to give THANKS to God and worship Him. Because He is the fountain of everything that is good! He died for you and me, and conquered death forever! He did this for us! His precious Son, the One Who the Universe proclaimed King will once again prevail over all decadence, and install His Kingdom as an everlasting sign of LOVE for all creatures, at His second coming!
The lesson writer asks: “What does all this teach us about the power of God to translate the living and raise the dead at Jesus’ second coming?” Technically, it teaches me that God’s power to create based on His Will and Word is still the means to manifest His amazing works. Spiritually, it teaches me that we are being translated into a being which can live in the presence of God and all the hosts in heaven.
Taking a closer look, our transformation really starts at the point of our acceptance of this power – I AM. Those who do not accept this also do not accept any manifestations of His power. "Translating the living and raising the dead" is the culmination of God’s powerful plan of Salvation for man.
Because the true life of man as a living soul is formed through the willingness to hear and follow the Father’s voice and will, raising His children through Faith, we become His faith-children - 1 John 3:2; Gal. 3:26; Rom. 8:14; 2 Cor. 6:18.
I find God designating the power vested in faith as the transforming agent to enter the fellowship of heaven to be as much a miracle and wonder as the physical transformation and translation of the body; the latter not being possible unless the former is accomplished first.
Hi Maurice, it's a blessing reading your posts. I am learning a lot from you and the other writers. The posts are uplifting and warm. Sometimes I chuckle at your sense of humor.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1
As I see it, our God is remarkably intelligent, wonderfully logical, consistent, orderly, not erratic, and certainly not contradictory. I declare this because of what I remembered studying in high school, and throughout my adult years, after my experience with my Savior, Jesus. It then made sense to me. Truly, our God is awesome! There were laws that we had to study in high school, like the laws of nature, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. These laws taught specific content like hydrogen reacting with oxygen to form water, how the universe operates, and the distributive, commutative, and associative laws of math. Then, I read about the laws of logic, biogenesis, and planetary motion. Undeniably, these laws had to be created by a supreme being, our God. Men have discovered these laws and are still mind-boggled by some of them. Sadly, after discovering them, many instead of praising and thanking Him as the Creator have tried to disprove His existence. Although our earth is contaminated by sin, yet these laws still continue to accomplish His will. These laws were established by God at the right time and in the right way which only He could do, or the universe would have been in total chaos. Since our God upholds and maintains the world through these laws and He never changes, I strongly believe that He is capable of translating the living and raising the dead at the second coming of Jesus. It is my prayer that we continue to believe and worship this beautiful, humble, and awesome God who is our Creator and Redeemer.
Below are some Bible texts that confirm God as the Creator.
I truly enjoyed your post, Cheryl. Thank you for taking the time to write it. God bless you.
I want to refer back to my week 4 comment on Friday’s lesson to teach us about the power of God. Psalm 8:3-4 gives me no concern of God’s awesome power to translate the living and raise the dead back to life. The vast space of the cosmos makes our solar system and planet earth a tiny speck of dust across the endless universe. Yet, this speck of dust is cherished by the Creator Himself in Jesus, who loves us dearly to death (literally) by becoming human to save us from our sins. The miracles of life we see everyday and “life” is a miracle in itself because of its incredible complexity, gives me no doubt that my loving Saviour has the power to miraculously resurrect me again or translate me into a glorious body with His complete Likeness. Christ performed many miracles on earth and can do the same for us with His resurrection and translating power by making the sick whole again (translated preview at the last day) and raising the dead back to life (resurrection preview at the last day). I remember watching a video showing the different sizes of planets, suns, and stars compared to earth. After watching the video it gave me chills and running goosebumps knowing I worship an Awesome God. Although the video was mind blowing to watch, it is still short, lacks, less, or doesn’t do justice to how powerful and amazing Christ really is. For He alone is the Life Giver, so therefore, choose life. In other words, choose Christ.