This part of my article is going to focus on part #2 only.
Remember Part #1 of the three-part division is "the things which thou hast seen,' (which was about Christ).
Part #3 is 'the things which shall be heareafter,' this is everything that happens after the church is raptured, which includes all the chapters from Rev. 4-22.
Part #2 of the three-part key to the book of Revelation (which is what we're looking at in this article, using Rev. 2 & 3) is, "write the things which are," (those things concerning the churches at the time he was writing, and all the churches throughout the Church age up to the rapture.
Remember in the book of Revelation, the word "church", or "churches" isn't used after chapter 3 and then but once in chapter 22 and it is used only as closing remarks. Why is the word "church" or "churches" not used after chapter 3? It is Biblically simple and scripturally noted..... because it is raptured, gone, snatched away.
This is the only part of the entire book of Revelation that is now being fulfilled. Is that crazy or what? All of the two thousand-or-so year history of the church, and all of the many events and happenings of the church have taken place in only these 2 chapters. Geez talk about brevity.Ok, so let's move on. Since we are still here, it is safe to conclude that the rapture has yet to take place. While we are all to look forward to the coming of the Lord, there is still a perspective that we must maintain as earth dwellers. So I want to put the rapture into a perspective.
The greatest thing that ever happens in the church is what happens everyday throughout the world---it's when a sinner receives salvation. Nothing can ever top that. That's the purpose of the church and is also the highpoint of the church. Bringing forth new life, birthing new believers!
But the greatest unfulfilled event that will happen to the church is the 'rapture' of the body of Christ. Jesus coming forth in the heavenlies, and saints being lifted off the earth into heaven within the twinkling of a eye is an "off the charts" experience. It is also called being translated, snatched away, the parousia, the rapture of the church. The idea of God transporting people off the earth to heaven is not limited to the one New Testament event we call "the rapture"; no, things like this happened in the Old Testament as well.
The first and most astounding example of this involves a man named Enoch, in the book of Genesis. He was such a friend of God and a man who was righteous and holy in his lifestyle that he "walked with God 300 years and then...." he was not, for God took him"(Gen. 5:23-24). He did not die, he was not killed. God took him. He was translated from earth to heaven without dying. Being a good boy for 300 years is unimaginable for someone like me. I really think Enoch must have been a very special man. How did he stay out of trouble for 300 years and, here I can't do it for 365 days. Geez!
Later on in the book of 1 Kings, there was another man, Elijah. He was a great prophet who was also taken back to heaven by God without the instrument of death. When Elijah was taken, he and Elisha his servant had been walking together when a fiery chariot came down from heaven and snatched him from earth and away he went as Elisha stood there watching him vanish into the heavens. This event is unique in that it involves an eyewitness account, which is pretty neat.
In 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, the apostle Paul tells us; "What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever. But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die."(NLT)
Here the scripture tells us that the remnants or ashes of christians who have gone on before us will be translated into new, heavenly bodies and will be joined to their spirit which is in heaven with the Lord. At the same time, in the twinkling of an eye, all living Christians will also be translated immediately, with them, to meet Jesus in the 'clouds' and together they will go into heaven (1 Thes. 4:17). Is that kool or what?
Let's conclude this article with Hebrews 11:5, where the apostle Paul makes it clear that even in the Old Testament this translation (or ressurrection, rapture, snatching away, parousia) experience was dependent on one special factor - 'faith.' The verse says, 'By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death, "and was not found because God had translated him," for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God'.
Enoch & Elijah were just normal human beings, and in one second, God simply and suddenly
snatched them away to another place. It will not be any more difficult for Him to perform such an event for every living Believer - in the twinkling of an eye - as it was for them.
(the next Revelation (e) article will explain the difference between the second coming of Christ and the rapture).
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