Rochelle

There is more to come! I just did not want to overwhelm you all.. I will post up the rest and you can read it when you have time, then we can discuss our thoughts on it all!
Here is chapter 3

The Rapture Of The Church

The Rapture will take place when Jesus Christ snatches His church out of this world. It shall happen suddenly and without notice. It's important to realize that the rapture of the church and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ are completely different. At the rapture, Jesus is coming for His saints. At the Second Coming, the church will return with Jesus Christ. Jude 14 tells us, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints."

In 1Corinthians 15:51-52 Paul said, "Behold, I show you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will be changed (there will be a metamorphosis, a change of body) in a moment, in the twinkling of and eye." You won't even realize what's happened until it's all over. Suddenly, you're in the presence of the Lord in your glorified body with all the church!

We, the church, will be changed. Paul wrote to the Philippians, "For our citisenship is in heaven, fro whence we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ: Who will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious image" (Phil. 3:30-21). Describing the metamorphosis Paul wrote to Corinth, "For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1Cor. 15:53).

Speaking to the Thessalonians Paul said, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: the 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. Wherefore comfort on another with these words" (1Thess. 4:16-18).

Some people would ridicule the idea or concept of the rapture of the church. They declare that the word "rapture" isn't even found in the Bible. It all depends on which version of the Bible you're reading.

The phrase "caught up" in 1Thessalonians 4:17 is Greek word harpazo, which actually means " to be away with violent force." In the Latin Vulgate, one of the oldest Bibles in existence, the appropriate tense of rapio, and our English words "rapt" and "rapture" stem from this past participle. Although "rapture" isn't in the King James Bible, the basic word does appear in the Latin Vulgate.

As for the time of the rapture, Jesus said, "No man knows the day or hour." For us to presume to declare some date or hour for the rapture would be in unscriptural presumption. If we say we know the hour, we're bosting of knowledge superior to Christ's when He was upon the earth.

Although we don't know the exact time of the rapture, in 1Thessalonians 5 Paul said, "But of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. Fo you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord is comming as a thief in the night. For when they will say, Peace and safety; then comes sudden destruction... But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." The Bible is saying that the rapture of the church shouldn't come to you as a surprise.

God has given to us the signs that would precede the coming of Jesus Christ. One of the greatest signs to the world today is the reestablishment of the the nation of Israel. For years Bible scholars had looked forward to the regathering of the nation Israel based on many scriptures (including Matthew 24:32) and the application of expositional constancy (fig tree of figs in parables symbolize the nation Israel). Skeptics ridiculed the prophecy. Never in history had a nation been born out of the past but a miracle has taken place and a nation has been reborn. God has reestablished Israel among the family of nations on the earth. God has fulfilled His promise.

Psalm 102:16 declares, "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." Because the Lord is building up Zion, the orthodox Jews today are looking for their Messiah. We are too! We're looking forward to this fulfillment of God's promise--the coming again of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

After the church is raptured, God will once again deal with Israel, his elect. God will fulfill the many promises and prophecies of the Old Testament that relate to Israel, including the seventieth week of Daniel. Thus, one more seven-year period is to be fulfilled in Israel's history. Jeremiah calls it "the time of Jacob's trouble." Israel will experience God's preerving power during the Great Tribulation as 144,000 Jews will be sealed by God. Though on earth, they'll be shielded from part of the judgments
(Revelation 7:3, 9:4).

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