There is coming a time—although we don’t know when—when Jesus Christ will return, and when He does, those in Christ will be taken away. We have the assurance that both events (His return and our earthly departure) will happen based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
We understand from this passage that it is not only the living who will be caught up but those who “have fallen asleep.” Fallen asleep is a spiritual euphemism for those who have previously died. Their bodies (being transformed into glorified bodies) will be resurrected on that day and will join the living on this ascent into heaven.
This visible, unsuspecting “catching up”—commonly referred to as the rapture in evangelical circles—was initially foretold by Jesus in Matthew 24:40-41: “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.”
While the word rapture was never used by Jesus or anyone else in the Bible, the term in the Latin Vulgate (rapiõ, “to seize, snatch away”) is close enough in meaning to the Greek word harpazõ, used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (“caught up”).
[NOTE: This article will NOT delve into the timing of the rapture or the tribulation. There are plenty of other resources to consult regarding those topics. One such source is Alan Bandy’s excellent, succinct essay at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-rapture-question/].
It is believed by most evangelicals that those “taken” during the rapture (both the living and the dead) are members of the Church, indicated by “in Christ”—those who previously appropriated the free gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
This is the glorious hope believers have, of anticipating that day when Jesus will bodily return and take us, His Bride, back with Him. But what about those left behind? Why did Jesus leave them, and what will become of them?
