To get the full impact of the New Covenant fulfillment of the Feasts, an understanding of the ‘rapture’ is a must. According to Christian researchers, it was not until the early or mid 1800's that there was any significant group of believers around the world that looked for a rapture of the Church. The rapture teaching was not taught by the early Church, it was not taught by the Church of the first centuries, and it was not taught by the Reformers. Except for a couple of Roman Catholic theologians, there was no such teaching until around 1830. (See "History of the Rapture Teaching" at the end of this teaching.)  With this in mind, we will focus on a few passages of scripture to find out what God is saying about this issue. What we conclude about the rapture will prepare us for God's truths in the Feasts. 

MATTHEW 24:37-40,51

"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage . . . and did not know until the flood came, and took them all away. Then two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And . . . there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 

The above passage, describing the time of the flood in Noah’s day, tells us that people were taken away. Who was taken away? Note that it was the ungodly who were taken away and not Noah and his family. Noah was not taken and judged by God, nor was he removed from the midst of judgment. Instead he went into the ark, protected by God – not escaping the flood, but enduring it. When it had run its course, Noah started anew on the earth, and the Church will do the same at the beginning of the final age (Feast of Tabernacles). Those who were taken, however, were those who God had taken and judged with the flood. Since scripture teaches that the coming of the Son of man will be similar to the days of Noah, we can see that the ones taken at the end of this age are the ungodly, and they will be judged accordingly. The judgment, though, will be one of fire instead of water (II Peter 3).

". . . One shall be taken and the other left . . . " Notice in the context of this passage that those taken away are the same ones who are ". . . cut to pieces and assign[ed]. . . a place with the hypocrites. . ." It is not by escaping this world that believers will conquer in the name of the Lord. The faithful will remain on this earth to rule and reign in the Holy Spirit, which is God's kingdom (Rom. 14:17). 

REVELATION 3:10

"Because you have kept the Word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."

To understand this verse, we need to evaluate four key words: word, keep (kept), temptation, and dwell.

• Word: Greek logos - a spoken word that carries the thought and intent of the speaker, a divine expression of the substance of God (Heb. 1:3; John 1:1,14), clarification or explanation of something. The sacred logos connects humanity with deity; it brings forth truth and reality. Logos can be equated with God.

• Keep: Greek teros - to watch over, attend to carefully, to protect, to keep in view, to guard,to apply oneself.

• Temptation: Greek peirasmos - to try, to test, to scrutinize, to discipline, to prove.

• Dwell: Greek katoikeo - to reside, to cohabit, to occupy a house permanently.  

Let us paraphrase Rev. 3:10 with these definitions in mind: Because the enduring logos - the very essence of Myself - became a reality to you, you applied yourself wholly to Me [your relationship with Me] and never faltered while it was being tested and proven with fire. In the same manner, I will watch over, protect, and apply myself wholly to you in the hour when all those dwelling on the earth are tested with the fires and shakings that I will send. 

The key to this verse is the Word - logos of God - not the letter that kills, but the very reality of His substance. This logos became flesh and lived among us (John 1), and Jesus was the " brightness of His [God's] glory, and the express image of His person [expression of His substance]" (Heb. 1:3). The substance of God is who He is. The key to not being hurt by the wrath of God (Rev. 19:15), the wrath of the devil (Rev. 12:12), or any other calamity of this world is not escaping the mess, but by awakening to the reality of the logos of God within: ". . . Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27); "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit [with Him]" (I Cor. 6:17). When we know who we are in Christ, then we can endure whatever challenges and difficulties come our way. Revelation 3:10 is telling us of a spiritual condition that believers will be walking in during those days rather than being in a particular location. While we continue to live on this earth, we are spiritually living in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 1:13; 3:1-3). Jesus prayed in John 17 that His own would not be taken out of the world, but that God would keep them from the evil. By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can walk as Jesus did on the earth (I Peter 2:23; I John 4:17). 

I THESSALONIANS 4:16-17

"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." 

The following is a literal ‘word for word’ translation from the Greek to English of this passage: "Because Himself the Lord in [with] a command, in [with] a voice of a Chief Messenger, and in [with] a trumpet of God will come down from heaven, and the dead ones in anointed will be raised first; afterwards we the living ones, those being left over, at the same time with them shall be seized in clouds into a meeting of the Lord into air; and so in this manner with the Lord shall we always be." 

Throughout the Bible there is much use of symbolic language. That means that those particular words cannot be translated literally to grasp the real meaning of a passage. We have many symbolic words in our English language. For example, when we say that it is "raining cats and dogs," we mean that it is raining heavily; it would be ludicrous to take that literally. Sadly, though, much of the symbolic language of the Bible has been lost to literal translations. This has resulted in peculiar doctrines filling believer’s heads with fanciful notions about the rapture, second coming, the end times, etc. Note the rich use of symbolic language in this passage: 

IN (WITH) – in a command, in a voice, and in a trumpet speak of the Lord Himself as being in or with that which is spoken. An emphasis is given to the message by repeating it three times. The number three also represents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the wholeness or completeness of God. Therefore, since the Lord is in these three words that convey a message, we can conclude that these are the logos that is spoken here, the expression of the very substance of God Himself. This is exactly what Jesus was declared to be: the Word – logos – became flesh, who was the very image or substance of God (John 1:1,14; Heb. 1:3). 

SHOUT – From the Greek word keleuma meaning a cry of incitement, and it comes from the word keleuo which means to urge on, hail, to incite by word, order. Therefore, a command to battle or a war cry is what the Lord is appearing in. When an army is incited to charge forward into battle, they do not conquer by leaving the fury of the enemy. They win by attacking and overcoming him with superior forces. The Holy Spirit of God tells us eight different times in the book of Revelation what the inheritance will be to those who overcome, not to those who run. There is a war to be won and the battle fields are in the regions of our own souls.

VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL (A CHIEF MESSENGER) – In Rev. 20:1 "an angel . . . having the key to the bottomless pit" refers to Jesus. We know this because Jesus told John in Rev. 1:18 ". . . I have the keys of Hades and of Death." There are many voices in the land today, but there is only one voice that is the logos of God, and it is the voice of the Chief Messenger of the living God. There is only one voice that will cause one to be lifted in his soul from the realms of dust and ascend into the spirit [heavens] of Christ – the voice of Jesus. All other voices are facades that masquerade as messengers of God (John 10:3-5).

TRUMPET – Trumpets in scripture speak of a particular message of God that is being conveyed to His people through chosen vessels. When the various notes of musical instruments were heard in the Old Testament, the people understood what they were to do. Such a message was clearer than when one was speaking audible words. The notes carried much farther (miles) than mere words alone. Today it is the same. We can speak words from the intellect which may not be bad (although still it is flesh speaking), but when the word is spoken by the Spirit, it is life.

In the Old Testament the trumpets were used when the people praised God for giving them a new king, for being victorious in battle, or they were blown just prior to going into battle. The latter was the Lord declaring that, if Israel would blow the trumpets before going to war, He would remember them and give them power to destroy all their enemies. And today, as we trumpet the victory praise of the voice of the archangel (Jesus the Chief Messenger), we will see victory even more glorious than in times past. This trumpet is a victory cry of praise to our God for the great war to be won once and for all. This praise will be the final logos of truth, knowledge, understanding, and praise that will put Satan under our feet once and for all. The message of this great triumph will cause the whole world to be shaken off its feeble foundations of iron mingled with clay. This is the purpose of the sons of God – that of setting the groaning of all creation into the glorious liberty of being born of God (Rom. 8:19-21).

Having been given the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18-19) in order to set creation free (Rom. 8:19-21), our cry should be the same as the prayer of our Lord Jesus: "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one." (Jn. 17:15). Therefore, if you are ‘sons’ (Heb. 12:7-8), let us not look for a way out of tribulation; but rather, let us look to Him who will give us victory over the evil, and thereby, bring an end to tribulation for all mankind.

CAUGHT UP (SEIZED) – The Greek word harpazo means to seize. Note how harpazo is used in the following scriptures:

"...and the violent take it by force [seizes it]" Mt. 11:12

"...then comes the wicked one, and catches away [seizes] that which was sown in his heart" Mt. 13:19

"...and the wolf catches [seizes] them, and scatters the sheep." Jn. 10:12

"...neither shall any man pluck [seize] them out of my hand...and no man is able to pluck [seize] them out of My Father's hand." Jn. 10:28, 29

"...with fear, pulling [seizing] them out of the fire" Jude 23

"I know such a man -- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – how he was caught up [seized] into Paradise..." II Cor. 12:3

"...and her child was caught up [seized] unto God..." Rev. 12:5

"... are alive and remain shall be caught up [seized] together with them..." I Thes. 4:17

The definition of harpazo and its New Testament use by the original writers indicate that it has nothing to do with direction, such as being caught into the air. What it does reveal is that the word is simply telling us of a particular state of being one might find himself – in the state of being seized. Therefore, we need to get our minds off where we thought we might be going and on to what we are becoming. What it boils down to is this: when we hear the logos of God, we will find ourselves so completely seized of our Lord with such resurrection power, that we will never fall to the pulling gravity of the flesh again. This is that grand and glorious Bride of Christ, totally consumed with her Beloved.

CLOUDS – By taking note of some other scriptural uses of ‘clouds,’ we can discover its spiritual meaning:

• "For Your mercy is great unto the heavens,

          and  Your truth                   to the clouds." Ps. 57:10

• ". . . and His                                                strength is in the clouds. . .

        The God of Israel is He that gives strength and power to His people." Ps. 68:34 & 35

• "Who makes the clouds His chariot." Ps. 104:3

        "Lord, who shall abide in Your tabernacle?

                  Who shall dwell in Your holy hill?"

Most every believer knows that tabernacle and holy hill are synonymous, symbolizing the presence of God. In the above verses we also find parallelisms where the clouds are paralleled with the heavens and God’s people. Since our citizenship is in the spirit [heavens] (Heb. 12:22-24), we need to understand that believers are symbolically represented by those clouds. God's truths are given to people rather than to natural clouds. His strength and power is also ascribed to people and not literal clouds. And most certainly, the saints of the Most High make up the chariot in which God rides and manifests His power and majesty to the world, rather than by the clouds of the blue skies above.

The clouds spoken of in I Thes. 4:17 are no less the same. Being ‘seized in clouds’ is not speaking of the natural water clouds from which our rain comes, but it is referring to God’s people who make up the heavenly host. Isaiah 55:10-13 attests to this by saying that we shall be as the rain that comes down out of heaven (rain is condensed clouds) to water the earth, which causes the whole world to come alive and to break forth into joyous singing. Hebrews 11:40 and 12:1 also speak of people being clouds, i.e. all the patriarchs who have died in faith are called a cloud of witnesses.

Symbolic language is profuse when we read of things in heaven – clouds, rain, lightning, hail, thunder, or even a city. They speak of those who are abiding in Christ rather than having their minds wrapped up in the things of this earth. Clouds allude to people in the same manner as when we read, "You have come to. . .the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. . ." (Heb. 12:22). This is a statement about people, not buildings. This city is mentioned again in Rev. 21:9-10, and before it is called the great city, it is named the Bride, the Lamb’s wife (again, people not buildings). This city was then seen descending out of heaven from God, like the rain of Isaiah 55:10, which is manifested on the lower realm to bless the earth. Until there is a descending from the heavens of Christ’s habitation, the inhabitants of the earth will never see the glory of God and be set into the liberty of being His offspring. It will be from the descending rains of God that every eye of all flesh shall see His glory and be drawn to this ‘holy city’ to worship the One they sought after and came to love. (Acts 17:27, Isa. 55:10-13, 40 3-5. 66:23, Rev. 15:4, etc.). We will remain right here on the earth, yet residing in the spirit [heavens], as did Jesus (Jn. 3:13), and become rain to a parched and thirsty world of humanity.

Regardless of whether the Church is called clouds or the city, they are symbols to describe the Body of Christ (the Church). With either, we first win our heavenly wars and are established in the spirit [heavens] in Christ, then we are made known to those of the dust (earth) and will minister life so they might also overcome and live. However, if we should really be lifted into the literal clouds, as it has been supposed, how could we ever be of any good to the creation who awaits our appearing so they can be liberated and set free from the bondage of corruption (Rom. 8:19-21)? For those who are seized as was Paul in II Cor. 12:2, they will ultimately bring total deliverance to the groaning creation.

INTO MEETING/INTO AIR – "We the living ones...shall be seized in clouds into a meeting of the Lord into air." Prepositions show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word in the sentence. In this case, ones is the noun, and the preposition in tells the reader what position the living ones are in with reference to the clouds. Namely, they are right in the very midst of or compassed about with clouds. There is no movement or direction involved at all, they are simply inside clouds. On the other hand, into does have something to do with movement, direction. The word into lets us know what the living ones’ relationship to a meeting and air is.

The word meeting (apantesin, Grk.) appears four times in the New testament (Mt. 25:1,6; Acts 28:15; I Thes. 4:17), and it carries the thought of a conference, an assembly, or a convocation. It means much more than just merely coming in contact with our Lord and standing in His presence. In essence, we are called to a holy convocation holy assembly, if we will notice, has a certain "air" about it, and that air is certainly not that of the sky, but is speaking of a spiritual spectrum of life. All through the Bible, it is very common to find natural elements of the earth that refer to spiritual realities in people's lives, especially with God's people. This is what we have here – a symbol.

Air, from the Greek aer, means to breathe unconsciously, respire, by analogy to blow, air. The same word is used in Ephesians 2:1-2 which speaks of Satan: "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins; in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience."

In this parallelism, the course (spirit) of this world (soul) is synonymous with the prince (spirit) of the air (soul). Therefore, the more we know about the world (the soul of man) and its course (ruling spirit), the more we will know about this infamous prince and will be able to deal appropriately with him.

The air, according to the above verse, is the realm from which Satan has dominion. Does this then mean that the only place he has any power or authority is where there is breathable air? If this is the case, all one would have to do in order to escape the tempting influence of this lying ruler of darkness is to find someplace where there is no air, like the moon. It is good that Paul wrote Eph. 2:2 as a parallelism (meaning that one verse or line corresponds to another, or is a companion to another. Its purpose is to emphasize truth and to explain the meaning of something symbolic):

according to the course of this world 

according to the prince of the air

It makes it much easier to determine what the air is referring to, namely, the soulish lusts of the world. The unregenerated soul moves and has its being in the world, and it is from this ‘air of the soul’ that Satan was able to gain the title, "the prince of this world" (Jn. 12:31, 14:30 & 16:11). The fact is, whoever sits upon the throne of the soul makes the earth his footstool and becomes its prince, whether it is Jesus or Satan. Although Satan was destroyed by Jesus (Heb. 2:12), he is still sitting as a great dragon in some form or another on the throne of most people's minds, and they believe that this monster they have magnified is much too awesome to ever be conquered. Therefore, in order to escape such an unconquerable foe, another magnified illusion has been created called the ‘rapture.’ However, those who have truly been ‘raptured’ (seized) out of earthy lusts and temptations are able to overcome all the imaginations of the mind and cast them down to establish God’s kingdom in and upon the earth. This victory over the enemy is seen when the Lord of lords descends from the third heaven of the holy of holies (our spirit) and into the second heaven of the holy place of the air (our souls: mind, will, emotions). In this descent He makes Himself known with a war cry which causes the sons of God to be seized into His Lordship. It is at this time that the influence of Satan will be removed from the throne of our souls. The Lord will then possess (not just in spirit, but also in soul and body) those who make up the clouds of heaven (the Church), and will rule on this earth from within His Bride. We see an example of this in Revelation 12:5-11, where the ‘male child’ is caught up (seized) unto God and His throne, and as a result, the war in heaven ensues and ends in glory for those who love not their lives unto the death.

SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE LORD – The word ‘ever’ comes from the Greek pantote meaning always. It is telling us where we will be forever, which will be with the Lord. A literal interpretation, however, would indicate that we will be forever in the clouds of the sky. However, to be ‘always with the Lord’ is a condition, not a location. It is referring back to the statements already made in this passage. If we are to remain in the sky always, never to return, then there is no way for us to ever reign on the earth (Rev. 5:10); the nations which are upon the earth will NEVER be righteously ruled by the sons of God (Rev. 12:5); nor will the Bride of Christ ever descend and manifest God's glory to the world (Rev. 21:10). But since II Thes. 4:16,17 is not speaking of natural things, we will not be eternally locked in the cloudy skies. We will, however, be forever in His company with His Body – His cloud of witnesses – those who are as He is. We will be eternally in the conscious presence of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus in the pure and complete form of the living God is descending from the highest realm of our heavens and into the conscious realm of our soul to give us something that will cause us to rise beyond our wildest imaginations! What a command, what a voice, what a trumpet! It is the logos of Himself that our mighty Lord and Chief Messenger is and will be descending with and into those who are His – first into the firstfruits, and then Christ into the world through the firstfruits. Not only does He come into His elect with the voice of a trumpeting commander, but when they are caught up to this place of the high calling of God, they will become that resounding trumpet of the Lord – the logos revealing the Father of us all! In a shout! In a command!

Note: We shall rule and reign on this earth as the ‘Corporate Christ’ in all of the power and glory of the Lord Himself from within us.

• "The Kingdom of God is righteous, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Rom. 14:17

• "And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth." Rev. 5:10

• ". . . we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." I John 3:2

"Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye ... for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

There are other Greek words that do mean ‘moment’, an infinitesimal period of time. For instance, in II Cor. 4:17 we find the statement, "For our light afflictions which are but for a moment..." This word ‘moment’ comes from the Greek word parautika which means instant or momentary. So why did the Spirit use the word atomos instead of the word parautika when He said, "We shall all be changed, in a moment..." if He meant ‘moment’? The word atomos indicates that we shall be changed in the very structure of our outer house – in the atomical structure of our bodies. Certainly this is much more in harmony with the subject of the entire passage: "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (I Cor. 15:44,49).

Following these words the apostle adds this enigmatical phrase, "in the twinkling of an eye." ‘Twinkling’ is from the Greek word rhipe meaning ‘a jerk’ of the eyes. Rhipe is from the root rhipto, a word which indicates sudden motion, to hurl with a rapid movement. The twinkling of an eye relates not so much to time as it does to the action and motion involved. It is not a question of how quickly the eyelids flutter, but the fact of a movement, a jerk, a change in direction, a sudden refocusing or looking away. If I were reading a book and heard the door open, I would swiftly dart my eyes in the direction of the door to see who is entering. I would look away from the book and quickly refocus my sight on the person coming through the door. This abrupt motion, this sudden refocusing of the vision, this rapid change of eye contact is what is indicated by the Greek word rhipe.

When our attention is unexpectedly attracted by a sudden burst of spiritual understanding, there is an instantaneous turning away from our former beliefs and ways to embrace the truth of God disclosed by the Holy Spirit. This sudden change in perspective satisfies precisely the meaning of the Greek phrase "in the twinkling of an eye." It denotes vision, illumination, revelation, understanding, perception, and perspective. Furthermore, it has absolutely nothing to do with a so-called ‘rapture of the saints,’ or the ‘second coming of Jesus.’ Unquestionably this passage concerns our change, our transformation into the image of Christ. It says nothing about us being ‘raptured’ in the twinkling of an eye; what is does say is that WE SHALL BE CHANGED in our atomical structure, in re-focused vision.

I Cor. 15:51-53 is actually giving the same message as I Thes. 4:16-17. We will be transformed when the Lord reveals Himself to us in all His power and glory for ". . . we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).*

We will not be whisked off the earth and changed. There will be no graves bursting open some day beyond the ages that will produce the change. Neither will our change come as a result of simply believing the teachings of the rapture, or any other doctrine, for that matter. And when God gets ready, He will not be snapping His fingers and saying, "Be mature, transfigured sons of glory." He has, however, made the possibility of transformation so simple: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (II Cor. 3:18). As we behold Him, as our attention is refocused on the Lord Himself – not on doctrines, formulas, or patterns – we will receive revelations of who He is, and, thus, be transformed into His glorious image progressively. "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1). 

*In the New Covenant, we have already been transformed in our spirit (see "Resurrection Life," Lesson 16). We await, however, the complete transformation in our souls and bodies, and that is what the above scriptures reveal. This final work is the Feast of Tabernacles; See also "Savior of the World Series".