Part 2 - The One Qualification for Being Raptured to Heaven

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called Proving the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.

Our membership in “the body of Christ,” and our participation in the ‘Rapture to heaven’ is contingent upon our … having Personally ‘BELIEVED.’ Thereby we Receive the Benefit of The Lord Jesus’ Death of the Cross as ‘FULL Payment’ for Our Entire Sin-Debt.

Christ’s death of the Cross about 2,000 years ago has ALREADY PURCHASED FULL PARDONS FOR EVERY SOUL on Earth. However, … we each must PERSONALLY RECEIVE GOD’S GIFT of SALVATIONBy FAITH… in order to have OUR SALVATION RATIFIED.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)

Because of Christ’s Cross-work ALONE, Whosoever (cf. Jn. 3:16) asks for ‘Salvation,’ BELIEVING, will secure their unconditional, irrevocable, Pardon for ALL Their Sins – Past, Present, and Future (cf. Ephes. 1:13-14).

Our Full Pardon is an act of God’s pure ‘GRACE,’ based upon the merit of the Cross of Christ, for He alone could justify us rightly. Paul says simply;

BELIEVE on [Trust In] the Lord Jesus Christ, and Thou Shalt Be SAVED…” (Acts 16:31)

“… Being JUSTIFIED By FAITH, we Have Peace With God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also We Have ACCESS by FAITH INTO THIS GRACE wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:1-2)

The Rapture’s sequence of events concerning us as ‘grace believing’ members of “His body” are as follows.

  • ALL grace believers of this Gentile age of “the grace of God” will one day be “caught up [Raptured]” to heaven. (1Thes 4:17).
  • First, the dead who sleep in their graves shall be raised from the grave ALIVE in their new “incorruptible,” spirit-bodies (1Cor. 15:51-55, Phil. 3:20-21), and also the bodies of those believers who are Still ALIVE when Christ comes “in the air”“shall be CHANGED” into their new spirit-bodies… and “so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Thes. 4:17).
  • So, both the dead and the living shall be Caught Up [Latin: Rapturo; Grk. harpazo, ‘caught up,’ i.e., Raptured in new spirit-bodies], together to Meet the Lord In The Air [the sky, the atmosphere of the 1st heaven] (1Thes. 4:17).
  • Then going into our Heavenly abode with Christ, we will “[FOR]EVER Be With The LORD(1Thes. 4:17)
  • Our first stop after being Raptured will be at “the Judgment Seat of Christ” (2Cor. 5:10), where we are to be judged of the Lord in order to be rewarded (all will receive at least the “Crown of life”) … then to be assigned to our ‘place of service’ to forever Reign With Him In The Heavenly Places.” (cf. 2Tim. 2:12, Eph. 2:8).

Having this understanding of the Rapture, we by contrast should note the important distinctions between the ‘Rapture’ of “the body of Christ” TO HEAVEN and that of … Christ’s 2nd Coming TO EARTH to Save Israel’s believing remnant and Set up His Millennial Kingdom ON EARTH.

  • THE RAPTURE of “the church, which is HIS BODY,” (Eph. 1:22b-23a). will occur more than Seven Years EARLIER than Christ’s 2nd Coming. CHRIST HIMSELF will COME TO TAKE US TO FOREVER BE WITH HIMIN “THE HEAVENLY PLACES.”

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle [body] were dissolved, we have a building of God [a new spirit-body built of the Lord], an house [a spirit-body] not made with hands, ETERNAL IN THE HEAVENS.” (2 Cor. 5:1 (KJV)

  • BY CONTRAST, at CHRIST’S 2ND COMINGHE will be come TO EARTH to save Israel’s believers, then to set up His Millennial Kingdom ON EARTH.

Our Rapture from planet earth To Heaven will occur “in the twinkling of an eye,” when “the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thes. 4:16) with their new, incorruptible, spirit-bodies, and the living “shall [likewise] BE CHANGED [transformed].”

“Behold, I shew you a mystery [Grk. musterion, Secret]; We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed [be transformed], 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised [from their graves] incorruptible, and we [the living] shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 (KJV)

Note that concerning the Rapture of the Dead and the Living, as seen above, Paul says he was disclosing “a SECRET,” saying “I shew you as MYSTERY [Grk. musterion, meaning a SECRET]” (1Cor. 15:51).

What is this particular ‘SECRET’ that Christ revealed to Paul for us?

Well, we know from Scripture that the resurrection of the dead was NOT a ‘secret.’ It can be found promised throughout the Old Testament prophecy (cf. Daniel 12:1-2). The Secret is that Some of those of “the body of Christ” who are RapturedWill NOT Have DIED. The living believers will then be instantaneously Raptured and TRANSFORMED, taken alive into heaven with Christ. Just think, in a moment, one could be walking on earth in a frail human body and in the very next moment he will be Raptured to “the heavenly places” with Christ…  in his new eternally alive Spirit-body, such as Jesus had in His resurrection.

I offer you this one related caution concerning your study of the Rapture. It would be fruitless to use the “trumpet” references in verses in the Gospels and The Revelation to pin down the Rapture’s timing.

The four Gospels of Jesus of Nazareth make no reference to the Rapture of the grace-age Gentile “body of Christ.” Only Paul speaks of our Rapture to heaven. The “Trumpets” of Matt. 24:31, Rev. 8:13 and 9:14 that Jesus spoke of all apply only to Israel Only in its time of the Tribulation period and at Christ’s 2nd coming. There are many Trumpets mentioned in the Bible, but only Paul’s ‘Trump of God’ applies to the “body of Christ” being Raptured to heaven.

Paul’s words are to us and for us, as Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13). He tells us the ‘Trump [sound]’ of the Trumpet seen in 1Cor 15:52 and 1Thes. 4:16 will be the Last Trumpet’ That We Believers Will Hear Before We are either Raised Incorruptible’ from the grave or, in the case of the living believers, they “shall be Changed.”

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery [secret]; We shall not all sleep [be dead], but we shall ALL be changed, 52 … at the LAST TRUMP: the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be RAISED INCORRUPTIBLE, and we [the living believers] shall be CHANGED [transformed].” (1 Corinthians 15:52 (KJV)

16 with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first [from their graves]: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (KJV)

Since Paul’s 1Corinthian 15 and 1Thessalonians 4 ‘Rapture passages’ describe the same things, it is safe to assume that the 1 Corinthians 15:52 “last Trump” is the same one mentioned in 1Thes. 4:16 (above). They are not pointing us toward any event other than the Rapture.

These two references, together, tell us that there will be one last generation of grace believing members of “the body of Christ” who will NOT DIE, rather they will Suddenly be CHANGED From Their Earthly Physical Form into Their New, Eternal, Heavenly, Spirit-Form, made Fit for Dwelling in “the Heavenly Places.”