The Rapture in the Brit Chadashah – Part I :: By Mark A. Becker
As our title suggests, this five-part series focuses on The Rapture in the Brit Chadashah (New Testament).
Some of the passages we cite are crystal clear, others are nuanced, and still others are to be considered allusions. These allusions within this study series will be clearly identified and are generally for portions of Scripture that speak generically of the resurrection, as we know that the rapture is intrinsically linked to the resurrection of the church.
Many of these allusions are found in the gospels in some of Christ’s parables, as well as His teachings on the resurrection, while others are found throughout the epistles. Hence, this is why they are included within this study.
Some of the passages within this series have already been covered in past study articles. Therefore, links to those past study articles are provided in this series so that the reader may access them for a more enhanced understanding of those passages.
Underlined Scripture passages are my own emphasis.
Matthew
Matthew 22:1-14 – The Parable of the Wedding – Allusion
“Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
“So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
“And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
“Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” – Matthew 22:8-14 (Luke 14:16-24)
The Wedding in this parable represents the Wedding of the Bridegroom, Christ, to the bride, His church, which takes place after the resurrection/rapture in heaven.
The Marriage Supper of The Lamb will be the celebration for the bride of Christ that follows seven years after the resurrection/rapture of the church and will take place in heaven, in the presence of the Father, before the Second Coming.
No man or woman can come to The Marriage or The Marriage Supper of The Lamb without the proper “wedding garment,” which is supplied by Christ’s righteousness alone for those who believe. All other religions and individual pursuits that attempt to reach God on their own terms will be “taken away and cast into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
For more information on who these guests that attend The Marriage Supper of The Lamb may very well be, please see Resurrections and The Marriage Supper of The Lamb.
Matthew 26:29 – The Marriage Supper of The Lamb in the Father’s Kingdom – Allusion
“But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” – Matthew 26:29
Jesus will once again drink the “fruit of the vine” at The Marriage Supper of The Lamb in the presence of His Father in His “Father’s Kingdom” in heaven, seven years subsequent to the resurrection/rapture of the church.
For more on the differences between the “Father’s Kingdom” (the Salvation Kingdom/Eternal Kingdom) and the Kingdom of the Son (the Messianic Millennial Kingdom), please see our series on God’s Kingdoms:
Is it Just Me? The Messianic Millennial Kingdom
God’s Kingdoms – Part 1 – Mark and John
God’s Kingdoms – Part 2 – Matthew
God’s Kingdoms – Part 3 – Luke
God’s Kingdoms – Part 4 – Acts Through Revelation
God’s Kingdoms – Part 5 – Summary and Conclusion
Other articles that discuss The Marriage Supper of The Lamb and when it will take place include Resurrections and The Marriage Supper of The Lamb, Revelation 6: Our Marriage and The Gap, The Trinity: Examining the Triune God, Mark 13:32 – ‘Neither the Son, But the Father,’ and Matthew 25:1-13 – The Parable of the 10 Virgins.
Matthew 25:14-30 – The Parable of the Talents – Allusion
“… After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them…
“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord…
“His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” – Matthew 25:19, 21, 23
Our Lord will present His faithful servants in the church with their rewards and crowns ensuing the resurrection/rapture of His bride.
Following The Marriage Supper of The Lamb and Christ’s Second Coming, the bride of Christ will rule and reign with the Lord in His Messianic Millennial Kingdom.
Mark
Mark 4:26-29 – The Parable of the Growing Seed and The Harvest – Allusion
“And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
“But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” – Mark 4:26-29
The resurrection/rapture of the church will occur at the proper time when “the fruit is brought forth” and “the harvest is come.”
All members of the bride of Christ, whether already deceased and waiting in heaven or alive on Earth, when the time is “ripe” and the Father sends His Son, will partake of this blessed event, which will be our Lord’s ultimate harvest of His bride!
There will be other resurrections, as well, all in their proper order when their “harvest is come.”
Luke
We will discuss the gospel of Luke in The Rapture in the Brit Chadashah Part V.
John
John 2:1a – There Was a Marriage – Allusion
“And the third day there was a marriage…” – John 2:1a
We covered this verse in The Prophetic Third Day.
If the reader is unfamiliar with this earlier article, please attempt to see if you can figure out John 2:1a’s prophetic implications, and what was occurring during the preceding two days before “there was a marriage,” prior to reading The Prophetic Third Day.
The typology is very cool!
John 5:25, 28-29 – Resurrections and the Rapture – Allusion
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live…
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” – John 5:25, 28-29
Because the sinless Messiah was soon to offer up Himself for the sins of the world, die on the cross, spend three days in Sheol (where He would be with the saved dead), and then be resurrected, He could say, “The hour… now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.” And those in captivity in Sheol, who He would take with Him back to heaven after His resurrection, would “hear,” and they “shall live” with God in heaven, though their bodily resurrections would have to wait.
Next, Christ says of the bodily resurrections of the dead, that “the hour [Greek “hōra” – a divinely appointed timeframe] is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” Subsequently, a familiar contrast is emphasized.
First, “They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life,” shall begin with the resurrection/rapture of the church and will continue into and through the Second Coming of Christ when those who were beheaded by Antichrist will be resurrected (Revelation 20:4), which will conclude “the First Resurrection” (Revelation 20:5b).
Secondly, Revelation 20:5a – “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished” – alludes to the unsaved dead that will be resurrected for judgment, following the Millennial Kingdom and the passing away of the old Earth and old heavens, at the Great White Throne Judgment where they will be pronounced guilty and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
The contrasting Words of Jesus in John 5:28-29 – “And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” – is essentially the same as found in Daniel 12:
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” – Daniel 12:2
Lastly, a sample resurrection following Christ’s resurrection seemingly did occur at that time. For more on this, please see Resurrections and The Marriage Supper of The Lamb under the subheading Tying Up Loose End #1.
John 6:39-40, 44, 54 – Resurrections in the Last Day – Allusion
“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” – John 6:39-40
As in our passages in John 5, above, our Lord again speaks of raising up the dead, but now His emphasis is on the “last day,” which of course is the “day of the Lord” which entails over 1,007-plus years!
It is within this timeframe (the “plus” years being an indeterminate amount of time in addition to the 1,007 years of “the day of the Lord”) that all the resurrections of the saved and the unsaved will occur in their proper order, which begins with the resurrection/rapture of the church that will initiate the day of the Lord.
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day… Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” – John 6:44, 54
We included these two verses because Jesus again mentions the “last day” resurrections – which begins with the resurrection/rapture of the church – and is included within His difficult teachings on the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood. Here is what we said regarding this teaching in our article Witnessing to Catholics and Catholic Dogma:
Jesus, metaphorically, equated partaking of Him and His Word entirely as Lord and Savior of one’s life to the “eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood,” bringing to remembrance the following passage in the Tanakh (Old Testament):
“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” – Psalm 34:8
Regarding Jesus as our Passover Lamb, Messiah undoubtedly also had this in mind as well when the Israelites ate the Passover lamb:
“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening…
“And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” – Exodus 12:5-6, 8
And, of course, we have the imagery of the Last Supper:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
“And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” – Matthew 26:26-28
John 8:51 – Never See Death – Allusion
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” – John 8:51
The Second Death (Revelation 20:5) – eternal separation from God – is the primary application for Christ’s Words that a believer who keeps His sayings “shall never see death,” for all die physically.
However, the believing generation alive at the rapture of the church will exclusively “never see death” physically and will fulfill Christ’s Words in a very real secondary sense, though, obviously, this is not an all-inclusive statement and is reserved solely for that generation alive at the resurrection/rapture of the church.
Therefore, Messiah’s statement can be seen as a secondary applicative allusion to the rapture for that generation of the bride of Christ alive on Earth, while the Second Death is what He was primarily referring to.
John 11:25-26 – Jesus, The Resurrection
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” – John 11:25-26
Similarly to John 8:51, that of avoiding the Second Death (Revelation 20:5) is certainly in play when Christ declares that “whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die [the Second Death].” However, as we noted above, the believing generation that is alive “and liveth” at the time of the rapture “shall never die” physically when they immediately receive their glorified eternal bodies.
When Yeshua said that “whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” and is combined with Messiah’s statement that “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,” the resurrection/rapture of the church is clearly in view. Especially since Jesus was conversing with Martha, the sister of Lazarus and Mary from Bethany, regarding Lazarus’ death and Christ’s subsequent rising of Lazarus, as all three siblings were firm believers in Messiah Yeshua as Lord and Savior!
John 14:1-3, 19b – Jesus Will Come Again and Receive Us unto Himself
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” – John 14:1-3
One of Christ’s most famous promises concerning the resurrection/rapture of His bride.
Although Messiah’s disciples who He was speaking to would eventually die, as representatives of Yeshua’s bride on Earth, the promise that He would “come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also,” though made to them, is applicable literally to His disciples who will be alive on Earth at His return for His bride.
As far as the resurrection of the dead in Christ – which those disciples are certainly a part – their spirit/soul complexes in heaven will be taken by Christ to Earth to meet their resurrected bodies in the resurrection/rapture of the church, and Christ will receive them back to Himself, that where He is, there they may be also in their glorified eternal bodies.
John 14:19b – Because Christ Lives, We Shall Live Also – Allusion
“… because I live, ye shall live also.” – John 14:19b
Christ spoke these Words to His disciples, just before He was turned over to the authorities and crucified, in order to give them comfort as He was about to depart this world.
In context, after the promise of the coming Holy Spirit, Messiah is confirming to His disciples that in “a little while, and the world seeth me no more,” yet He shall live in His resurrected glorified eternal body. And because He lives, we “shall live also.” Just as Jesus was resurrected into a glorified eternal body, so too will we be resurrected where our entire being – spirit, soul, and body – will be whole again, yet within a perfected state of a glorified and eternal body just like His.
At death, the believer’s spirit/soul complex goes to be with the Lord to await the resurrection/rapture of the church, when our spirit/soul complex – which Christ will bring with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14) – will be united with our glorified eternal bodies which God, in Christ, will resurrect.
Therefore, because our Lord and Savior lives in His glorified eternal body after His resurrection, we who have died “shall live also” in our glorified eternal bodies, and those who are alive on Earth at that time will be Instantly Changed and Caught Up in their glorified eternal bodies at the resurrection/rapture of the church.
Though the resurrection of the dead is in view, an allusion to the rapture is of a necessity present, as the rapture is an integral part of the resurrection of the church, the bride of Christ!
Jesus goes even a little deeper on this same topic in our next passage, which we will cover in Part II.
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May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
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