Wednesday, May 10
51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 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 will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53
The Rapture of the Church
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 describes the raptureof the Church. While this is a contested idea, let's look together at this passage.The rapture of the Church was a "mystery" (mysterion, μυστήριον) in that it had not been known in the Old Testament but has been revealed to the Church. Paul speaks clearly on the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 as well.Paul states "we will not all fall asleep, but will all be changed." Essentially, Paul is stating there will be some Christians who will be alive when Jesus returns. As we have discussed, a new resurrected body is a requirement for the New Heavens and New Earth; therefore, those living Christians must be transformed.So when Christ returns to earth:
- The Dead in Christ will be raised (v.52)
- The Living in Christ will be instantaneously transformed. (v.52)
Twice in this passage, Paul refers to a trumpet. What's that about? In the Old Testament, the trumpet signaled the appearance of God (Exodus 19:16). Christ's return will be the "final blow of the trumpet," as God's presence among men shall never end. Therefore, when Christ returns, the bodies of the dead and the bodies of the living will be transformed into Resurrected bodies and will be taken with Jesus.The word rapture is the Greek word harpazo (ἁρπάζω), which means to take away or to pluck. You could think about it like "plucking a Harp." When Christ returns, he is going to "pluck" (HARPazo) the living and the dead in Christ and begin the final restoration process.Our God will clothe corruptibility with incorruptibility, whether dead or alive, because of our union with Jesus Christ.
