Many people are asking for Rapture Bible verses along with other great questions about the Rapture. Let’s see what the Bible has to teach us about this important topic.
In Jesus’ Upper Room discourse (John 13-17), a discourse He gave shortly before He died on the cross, Jesus told His disciples that He was leaving them and returning to His Father in heaven. But He had them in mind:
“I am going 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, you may be also” (John 14:2-3).
Jesus Will Rapture His Church
Jesus will return for His Church at the rapture. The Church consists of people who became believers between the Day of Pentecost and the rapture. When Jesus returns, He will descend from heaven. Unlike His return to earth after the tribulation, He won’t return to touch the earth. He will resurrect the Church Age believers, draw them to Him to meet them in the air, and escort them back to heaven. Let’s look into these Rapture Bible verses.
1 Thessalonians 4:13
The Apostle Paul didn’t want these believers ‘ignorant’ about the future, so he described this event in the following passage:
“But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
Jesus Will Rapture Sleeping Believers
The Thessalonian church knew that Jesus was returning for them. Paul had taught them that He could return and rapture them at any time. So, they expected Jesus to return before they died. But since Paul taught them this truth, some of their members had died. They wondered if those believers had missed out on the rapture. Paul wrote this passage (4:13-18) to comfort them and assure them that ‘sleeping’ believers wouldn’t miss out:
“For if we believe that Jesus died and arose again, so God will bring with Him those who sleep (those who have died) in Jesus. For … we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who are asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14-15). Keep reading these Rapture Bible verses.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-17
Paul taught that Jesus won’t rapture the living believers before those who had died. Instead, Jesus will resurrect them first and meet the Lord in the air before the living believers join them:
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call 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 so we shall be forever with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Rapture Teaching Comforts | 1 Thessalonians 4:18
Paul’s prophetic teaching wasn’t just so they had head knowledge. He expected them to reassure each other and ease their fear: that only the living would benefit from the rapture. He exhorted them accordingly:
“Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
Remember Paul’s Teaching | 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3
The Thessalonians knew a time of tribulation was coming for those who don’t believe in Jesus before the rapture. Because they expected Jesus to return during their lifetime, they were afraid they might have missed the rapture and, therefore, would have to endure the tribulation, the time of unprecedented worldwide trouble. Paul expected them to remember what he taught them (1 Thessalonians 5:1):
“For you know perfectly that the day of the Lord (the tribulation that comes after the rapture) will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them … and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).
Believers are Sons of Light, not Darkness | 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5
Paul expected them to remember they weren’t in danger (Jesus will take them home before the tribulation). Paul pictured the tribulation as a time of darkness. He portrayed believers in Jesus as sons of light who don’t belong in that time:
“But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5).
Jesus Suffered God’s Wrath for Us | 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10
When Jesus died on the cross, He suffered the wrath of God in the believer’s place. Because He did, those who believe in Jesus won’t have to endure God’s wrath:“But let us, (put on) the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep (alive or dead), we should live together with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:8-10; see also 1:10).
Again, Paul expected his teaching about the rapture to soothe their fears:
“So comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, just as you are doing”(1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Paul Corrects Them Again |2 Thessalonians 2:1
Yet Paul had to write a second letter to the Thessalonians. Some again taught that these believers had missed the rapture and were in the tribulation. Paul wrote to correct their error:
Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and concerning our gathering together unto Him (at the rapture)” (2 Thessalonians 2:1).
2 Thessalonians 2:2-3
Paul was disappointed that they were so easily deceived by false teaching and didn’t remember his teaching:
“(Do not) let your mind be quickly shaken or be troubled … by letter coming as though from us, as if the day of Christ (the rapture) is already here. Do not let anyone deceive you in any way” (2 Thessalonians 2:2-3).
How to Know, Two Reasons |2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
He tells them they can know they weren’t in the tribulation time. The rapture would come first, and second, if they were in the tribulation, they would know the Antichrist:“For that Day will not come unless a falling away comes first (the rapture), and the man of sin (a.k.a., the Antichrist) is revealed … who opposes and exalts himself above … God or is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself as God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). This is supported by these Rapture Bible verses.
Paul again chastises them for not remembering what he had taught them:
“Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things” (2 Thessalonians 2:5)?
One More Reason | 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8
Paul also told them that the Holy Spirit is still restraining the evil that will blossom in the tribulation. The Holy Spirit, who came to indwell the Church at Pentecost, will leave with the Church when it’s raptured. Since He’s still restraining that evil, they could know they’re not in the tribulation:
“Now you know what (the Holy Spirit) restrains him that he (Antichrist) might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already working. Only He who is now restraining him will do so until He is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one (Antichrist) will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume … and destroy” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).
Jesus Saved Us from Evil | 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14
Paul contrasted the approaching evil tribulation time with the salvation Jesus provided when they believed the truth. One of the benefits of Jesus’ salvation is that He raptures us before the time of God’s wrath. Paul thanks God that God has:
“From the beginning called you to salvation (from God’s wrath) through sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth. To this He called you by our gospel, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
Remember! Hold to the Truth of the Rapture | 2 Thessalonians 2:15
Paul urged them to hold on to the truth of the rapture:
“Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by our letter” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).
Main Points: Rapture Bible Verses
- Jesus will come “in the air” to rapture His Church, both the living and the ‘sleeping.’
- Rapture teaching comforts Jesus’ brothers and sisters.
- The Thessalonians struggled because they weren’t holding on to Paul’s teaching.
- The tribulation is a time of darkness (evil), so believers won’t be there because they’re sons of light.
- Jesus suffered God’s wrath, so believers will never face it again.
How to know they hadn’t missed the rapture:
- The ‘falling away’ hadn’t happened yet.
- The ‘man of sin’ hadn’t been revealed yet.
- The Holy Spirit was still restraining evil.
The Solution
Paul told them to remember what he had taught them. His appeal applies to us, too!
