“But of that day and hour [the rapture] no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:36-39.

Once again it must be emphasized that no one should tell people that the rapture will occur on a certain day, because Jesus Christ Himself told us, “But of that day and hour [the rapture] no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

This message is for Christians too. If a man predicts to us that the rapture will occur at such and such a time, we are to turn away from him for he is a false messenger.

At the same time Jesus wants us to be aware of the times we live in. This is why Jesus added this, “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark…”.

While Jesus tells us that we cannot know the exact date of the rapture, we should be aware of the times we live in. if we refer back to the days of Noah, God’s opinion of those times gives us a good idea of what they were like.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” Genesis 6:11-12.

When the flood hit them, “they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark…”.

This sounds normal enough. But what was God’s opinion of mankind when He sent the worldwide flood upon them. “So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”

Mankind slowly drifted away from the things Adam and Eve told their children and as a frog in a pan of water does not realize until it is too late and the water begins to boil him to death, so the children of Adam and Eve drifted deeper into the filth of their own hearts until it seemed normal as they continued “marrying and giving in marriage”.

However, it was not that God left them without a witness. He sent Noah who built the ark and preached to this sinful generation of their coming doom for 120 years.

And as Noah preached to those sinners who perished in the universal flood so long ago, God’s word the Bible warns us of the horrors to come and tells us of the rapture of all those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior to rescue them from the tribulation that comes upon the entire earth which is “the wrath to come”.

“…how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10.

“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:28.

When we look forward to and anticipate Jesus’ return it helps us to abide in Him by living a pure life that we will not be ashamed of.

The fact that there is going to be a rapture is documented in Scripture.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me [Jesus]. 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John14:1-3.

Now it is true that this is not very clear, but we are not done yet. Most folks focus on the many mansions part of this verse, and miss the last sentence, “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also”.

Notice that we have a promise from the Lord Himself. The question arises, how and when is He going to come and get us?

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-57.

Paul starts with a mystery. This is not the mystery novel type of a mystery, nor is it the pagan mystery religion idea where the initiate is given certain secrets to keep. God’s mysteries are given freely to all in the church.

A Biblical mystery is something that had not yet been revealed. For instance, Old Testament saints had no knowledge of a rapture, or the church, or the bride of Christ, or any of several other new concepts given in the New Testament.

You can see this in Martha’s response to Jesus after the death of her brother Lazarus (see Martha and Mary, Luke 10:38-42 and all of John chap. 11).

“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:23-26.

Martha knew of a resurrection, but she believed it would occur “at the last day” which is only partially correct. She thought this because the mystery had not yet been revealed.

The sad part here is that most of the population of the entire earth is expecting some sort of general resurrection at the end of time and have no concept of the mystery.

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we [who are alive] shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.

At this point Scripture says “We shall not all sleep…” sleep here is a reference to death, the believer is usually referred to as asleep in the Lord, and the unbeliever is referred to as dead.

A good proof text for this is John 11:11-14. A portion of Jesus’ words to His disciples is shown below.

“Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.” John 11:11b-13.

But we will be changed, please read all of 1 Corinthians 15 for context and more information.

We will be changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”, the moment of this staggering transformation is instantaneous, one moment you are sickly, or deaf, blind, ill, in prison, or riding in a limousine, the next moment you are in an eternal glorified body.

“In the twinkling of an eye”; for a very long time I thought this was the glistening of light on the shiny wet part of the eye, just a glint of a sparkle; some have said that it is a blink of an eye.

But have you ever met a good friend you have not seen for a while in a place like a supermarket. Perhaps they have grown a beard, or shaved it off, or maybe they have colored their hair, or lost weight; when you look at them, the moment of recognition is “the twinkling of an eye”.

The transformation of our bodies takes an instant (“in a moment”) and a twinkling of an eye is the moment of recognition, “This is it!”

“For this corruptible [the dead] must put on incorruption, and this mortal [the living] must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:53.

As we will soon see, the order is always the same, the dead in Christ rise first, and then those who are alive at that time are changed (“put on immortality”).

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

While it is obvious that the dead are those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, it will not hurt to emphasize this in the verse. Notice the second sentence, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again”; this is the gospel of Jesus Christ:

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

It is clear here that this rapture is for Christians only; the resurrection of the ungodly out of hell occurs at the end of time.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death [eternal separation from God] has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6.

A second confirmation that those who have died in Christ will rise before those who are still living at that time is in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, “…we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede [go before] those who are asleep.”

And this startling event continues to unfold as follows.

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds…” 1 Thessalonians 4:17a.

There will be a time in the clouds when we will have a joyful reunion with deceased loved ones, then we will, “…meet the Lord in the air.”

“And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17b-18.

I owe this lovely explanation of these verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 to Tim LaHaye from his book “The Beginning of the End”.

If you are studying the book of Revelation, one of the best (and most readable) commentaries you will find is, “Revelation Unveiled”, also by Tim LaHaye.

There is also a study on the book of Revelation at this site beginning on 3-29-22.

The Apostle Paul also reaffirms that this is God’s word, not his own.

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord…” 1 Thessalonians 4:15a.

To put this more bluntly, “This is not something I am making up, Jesus Himself told me.”

With this brief layout of the how of the rapture, let us take up the watch in the next post of “The Rapture”.

The Rapture, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 10-13-15, reposted on 5-1-24, reposted on 10-19-25 ck.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.