Timing of the Rapture
“ Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, 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. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
“Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. ”
“See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
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According to Scripture, only the Father in Heaven knows the specific day and the specific hour when His Son, Jesus Christ, will descend from Heaven to earth’s atmosphere and snatch up true believers off this planet to meet Him in the clouds of the sky, thus kicking off the beginning of the final end-times events. The moment true believers are caught up, off the earth, is commonly referred to as the Rapture. The word rapture comes from the Latin word rapturo, which is the word harpazo in Greek. The New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek, which was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) until the evolution of Byzantine Greek (600 AD). The second translation of the New Testament happened in 382 AD, which was in Latin. The Latin translation of the Bible was written by St. Jerome when he was asked by Pope Damasus if he would translate the Bible into Latin. Okay, so then, way later, the Bible was written in English. The first English translation of the Bible was done in 1526 by a guy named William Tyndale. He referenced from Jerome’s Latin translation and from the Greek translation of the New Testament. Then, the Geneva Bible came out in 1560 and it was the first Bible to break up the Word of God into verses. It’s important to note the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and can be studied in its original language with original word translations using the Septuagint, which is the earliest Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. You can look this up online and use it as a study tool. What I’m saying is, words truly matter, especially when it comes to the Divinely inspired Word of God. Second, context, context, context. Understanding context and the original meaning of words that the prophets of the Old Testament used when they were directly told things by Yahweh, God Himself is the key and it’s so revealing. This concept applies to the New Testament as well.
Anyway, now that you know this stuff, you can understand how to approach finding out the truth in the Bible. For the focus of this post, I wanted to share the brief history of how the Holy Scriptures were originally written so you can find out for yourself that the Rapture is definitely, clearly taught in the Bible, it’s a real thing and it is going to happen. So, the meaning of the English word rapture/Latin word rapturo/Greek word harpazo is: “caught up, catching away, snatching away, to forcibly seize upon, snatch away, take to oneself by use of force on someone”. Scriptures that best describe the Rapture are 1 Corinthians ch.15, 1 Thessalonians ch.1, ch.4 & ch.5, if you’d like to read about it. Try the KJV, NKJV or HNV Bible while using blueletterbible.org as a study tool. As always, if you’re going to study a verse, read the entire chapter surrounding that verse at a minimum. However, any earnest student should read the entire letter or book.
Continuing. The 7-year Tribulation will not begin immediately after the Rapture. There will likely be a gap period that could span days, weeks, months, one year or even a few years. Based on what I have studied, I personally have made a best guess at it possibly being around 1+- year between the rapture and day 1 of the 7-year tribulation, but there is literally no way to know for sure. If anyone says they know the date of the Rapture, they are not biblically sound. BUT, we can, biblically, know when the Rapture/Tribulation/Return of Christ is at the doors, according to Jesus Christ Himself. So with that, ‘tis the season. All of the events predicted in the Bible for the final, 7-year Tribulation are forming now and we know the Rapture will occur before the Antichrist (One World leader/NWO leader) is even revealed to the world’s stage and he must be revealed prior to the final 7-year Tribulation commencing. It still looks like the 7-year Tribulation will probably begin in Fall/Winter 2025, as I wrote in a blog post from August 2021 titled: Things To Come, Starting Now. If late 2025 is accurate, then the Harpazo will take place between right now or some other unknown day and hour prior to late 2025.. “But when you see these things begin to take place, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near.” The Messiah, Jesus Christ, The Book of Luke, chapter 21, verse 28. So, we know it is very near, although we absolutely cannot know the day or the hour.
Onward. Regarding an understanding of the placement/season of the Rapture: We also know that, if you consider the entire Word of God (rather than cherry picking certain Scripture passages), and rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy) by taking into account all prophecies from the Old Testament and New Testament and if you look at the dispensations mentioned throughout the books of the Bible (Ephesians ch.1, Ephesians ch.3, Colossians ch.1, for example), then you will know we are currently in what’s called The Church Age or Age of Grace (Matthew ch.16, verse 18, specifically and Colossians ch.1, Ephesians ch.1 & ch.3 verses 3-5, specifically). The Age of the Church will end at the Rapture, then God will begin dealing directly & primarily with Israel again, as He promised and as was prophesied in the book of Daniel (look up the 70 weeks of Daniel Prophecy and read it directly from the Bible in the book of Daniel ch.9). We also know this: the gentiles being grafted into the family of God is the mystery of the Old Testament (Romans ch.11), thus confirming & fulfilling the prophecy of the “gap” between Daniel’s 69th week and 70th week.
Many Christians do not understand the above mentioned concepts regarding what the Bible says, in its full context, about the end times or God’s clearly laid out plans & promises for both gentiles and the Jews. God is dealing with the Church (“Church” is what the Bible refers to as true believers) during the Age of Grace (Church Age) separately (1 Peter ch.1) from the Jews who do not currently accept Jesus Christ as Messiah (Luke ch.21, verse 24, specifically, Revelation ch.3, Romans ch.11). The promise to the Jews (that began in the Old Testament and that will be fulfilled during the final 7-year Tribulation and at Christ’s Second Coming) is separate from the mystery of the gentiles. The mystery of gentiles being allowed salvation was spoken about in the Old Testament but not fully revealed to the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah 60:3, Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 49:6, Acts 13:47, Ephesians 3:5, for example).
God will begin completing His promise to Israel and save a remnant of Jews after the Rapture. He will do this by showing the Jews that Yeshua/Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God and their Messiah. He will do this while simultaneously pouring out His wrath & judgement on the wicked people left on earth- specifically those who serve the ancient Babylonian (pagan/new age/satanic) gods and those who ultimately reject Jesus Christ, thus taking the Mark of the Beast that will be implemented during the midpoint of the 7-year Tribulation. God will also show the remnant of Jews that the Messiah already came to earth & was born a man as the one and only true God incarnate in Yeshua/Jesus Christ, absolving them of sins and in so doing, did away with the Law of Moses, thus allowing for salvation through grace, by faith, in Him. God will also show them that Yeshua/Jesus Christ will be returning as King of the earth at the end of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (the 7-year Tribulation; referred to as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble in Jeremiah 30:7- Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, Genesis 32:22-32) to rule for 1,000 years. Many people who are unbelieving, non-jewish people (meaning, gentiles) will also become true believers in Christ after the Rapture, but it won’t be easy for these people and it’s not ideal at all to be left behind. Nonetheless, it will happen (Revelation ch.6, verses 9-11, specifically). In the same way that during this current age, the focus is Christ’s Church/The Body of Christ/Bride of Christ, yet the Jews can absolutely obtain salvation through Jesus Christ the same way the gentiles can, and they do- these Jews are commonly referred to as Messianic Jews. Again, after the Rapture, gentiles can and will be saved if they want by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior, the same way a person is saved today (Romans 10:9), yet the focus of the time will be with God finishing His covenant with His chosen people- the Jews.
Equipping yourself with the above knowledge is vitally important to properly place the Rapture on God’s timeline of end times events. Correct, there’s no way to know the “day or the hour”, however, Jesus was not contradicting Himself when He said we will know the season of the beginning of the end in the same way a person can know summer is near when the fig trees bud their leaves. Paul confirms we (true believers in Christ) know the seasons as well (1 Thessalonians ch.5, verse 1).
When studying Bible prophecy, a person absolutely must compare Scripture to Scripture. In 2 Peter, we learn that no prophecy in Scripture has a private or secret interpretation. Prophecy can be understood by those who truly want to understand it by comparing Scripture with Scripture (2 Peter ch.1, verse 20). For example, study Matthew ch.24-25 along with Daniel ch. 2, ch. 9 and ch.12 to better understand what Jesus is referring to when He references the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. This is just an example, but shows the details and context a person gains from truly and properly studying the Word of God. It’s so confusing when there are many people with many different outlooks or opinions on the end times but few who do the real homework of Hebrew word studies, Greek word studies and contextually gathering the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures, while taking into account the cultural and historical context as well. Otherwise, it is easy to make an argument for nearly any point a person wants to make by just taking one Bible verse here and another verse there and mushing them together to fit a narrative- that is not how you study anything ever- not in university or otherwise- so why take the “well this is just my opinion because I read this one verse or this is my perspective based on nothing at all or something someone said or something I read somewhere or something my pastor said or just coz it’s what I think because the Bible is weird and old and complex and I don’t like religion so I’m just going to deny the precise accuracy of biblical prophecy that has taken place so far” approach? We should realize by now that if you want to have any semblance of awareness or knowledge, you must do your own homework or at least vet those who you are learning these things from before simply taking their word for it and this concept most definitely applies to the everlasting Word of God as well..
So, what are the facts? Let’s do a recap of what we know for sure. Here are just a few primary facts about the end times:
1. The final 7-year Tribulation has not yet begun
2. The Rapture happens before the final 7-year Tribulation begins
3. The Antichrist is NOT revealed to the people of earth until after the Rapture takes place
4. Day ONE of the final 7-year Tribulation begins when the Antichrist confirms a covenant with Israel +”many” and it will be on 7-year terms. Day ONE will not necessarily begin the moment after the Rapture- there will very likely be a gap of time. This could be days, months or even a year +-. Think logistically- consider what happens on earth when each seal is opened. There likely will be a bit of a gap of shock, destruction, fear..then, Antichrist will make his move to “fix” things. Just something to consider- we cannot know for certain.
5. From day one of the final 7-year Tribulation, a person can literally count 1290 days to the midpoint of the Tribulation and another 1290 days to the return of Christ for the battle of Armageddon
For references on these points please read Daniel ch.2, ch.9 & ch.12, Zechariah ch.12, Revelation ch.3, ch.14 & chapters19-22, 2 Thessalonians ch.1, ch.2 & ch.3
Prophecy proves that the Bible is the Divinely inspired Word of God and that it is 100% true. You can find a list of the prophecies that have come to pass thus far by checking out a book called Ancient Prophecies Revealed. It lists, in order, 500 prophecies that have been precisely fulfilled just like the Bible said they would, up to 2008 when the book was published. The book is by Ken Johnson and you can find it on Amazon or you can also watch a documentary called The Daniel Project, which I put a link to on the Resources page of this website. To date, only about 8% of Bible prophecies remain and most of them will be completely fulfilled just before & during the final 7-year Tribulation.
The Bible talks about end times events that we should view as signs of the Messiah’s soon return beginning like birth pangs. This means whatever is going on today, literally right now in the world, these events will continue to get worse by increasing in frequency & intensity and all of it happening simultaneously. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, along with our Father God via the prophets of the Old Testament told us these things would happen ahead of time to warn us that He is coming soon for us and to not worry, but to put our hope in Jesus Christ. He told us these things would happen because He loves us and wants us to choose to be with Him. So, what exactly will continue to increase with intensity and frequency? Here are just a few signs (in no particular order): the sharp decline of the USA as a superpower + extreme weather events (earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, extreme snow, extreme heat, etc.) + nation against nation (meaning, more riots & protests in various countries) + Russia/Turkey/Iran will make a strong alliance with each other + wars + rumors/fear of impending wars + harder push for tyrannical government control worldwide + a lot of focus on the country of Israel (impending wars, lots of global news involving Israel, tensions involving Israel. This will be going on with Israel and at the same time Israel will be making “peace” with many surrounding nations) + collapse of many countries’ financial systems to make way for digital currency + a combo religious center opening to make way for the one-world religion + less freedoms + major inflation worldwide + food/goods shortages + evil/lawlessness increases globally (robberies, murders, hate crimes, people being hateful to one another in general, etc) + more focus on the “self” (self-empowerment, self-awareness, higher consciousness, spirit guides, manifesting, etc.- all literal satanic deception/wolf in sheep’s clothing) + many people still turning a blind eye to these events or simply being caught up in the delusion ( refer to 2 Thessalonians ch.2, verse 11, specifically) and partying/celebrating/behaving as though things are “normal”- yes, this is prophesied in the Bible as well for how people in the last days will behave, right before the Rapture, then, after it happens, they are stuck here to endure the worst of times in human history (Matthew ch.24, verse 21) until Jesus Christ comes back at the end of the final 7 years. Just a heads up.
Below are several resources to begin learning more about the Rapture of true believers that will soon take place. It will likely occur between now and the next few years because we are currently in the season of the end being at the doors:
Dr. Chuck Missler - The Rapture Chuck Missler was a Bible scholar & teacher, renowned engineer and businessman. He was the Branch Chief of the Department of Guided Missiles at Lowry Air Force Base, then joined the private sector when he became a systems engineer with TRW Inc, a large aerospace firm. He became a senior analyst for Space Technology Laboratories where he conducted projects for the intelligence community and the Department of Defense. During that time, Chuck earned a master’s degree in engineering at UCLA, supplementing previous graduate work in applied mathematics, advanced statistics and information sciences. He’s incredibly smart and in addition to the previously mentioned, he spent 50 years devoted to studying, deeply researching, teaching, publishing works and resources to help people better understand the Word of God- specifically, Bible prophecy.
Ken Johnson, Thd - The Rapture Ken Johnson has a Doctorate in Theology and is dedicated to studying the Dead Sea Scrolls & how they relate to Bible prophecy. He is the founder of biblefacts.org . His Q&A sessions on his YouTube channel are helpful to learn more about Bible prophecy, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Essenes and what the ancient church fathers & people like Enoch, Noah, and others had to say about the end times.
Current Events & Rapture - Tom Hughes and James Kaddis skip to minute marker 58:00 to hear about the Rapture
Current Events & The Coming Antichrist - Tom Hughes and James Kaddis skip to minute marker 13:34 to hear the biblical timeline of end times events, including the Rapture.
Rapture & Pre-tribulation Prophecies - Bill Salus and Tom Hughes
Rapture & Gap Time Period Before The Tribulation - Bill Salus
What Happens Soon After The Rapture?
THE RAPTURE CONTINUED: Again, New Testament scriptures that describe the Rapture of believers are 1 Corinthians ch.15, 1 Thessalonians ch.1, ch.4 & ch.5. Jesus references His coming for us to bring us to Himself in the Gospel of John ch. 14, verse 3, specifically. Old Testament scriptures that prophetically reference the Rapture are Isaiah 26:19-21, Psalm 27:5 and Zephaniah 2:3, for example.
Enoch was raptured (read about it in Genesis ch.5, verse 24, then go to your blueletterbible.org study tool and look up Genesis 5:24, then click on the word “took” and you can read about the harpazo Enoch experienced). Elijah was raptured (read about it in 2 Kings ch.2, verse 11) then go to your study tool and do the same steps to verify and you will see the harpazo there as well. In Acts ch. 8 you can read about the Holy Spirit taking Phillip away from one location (between Jerusalem & Gaza) and reappearing him to a totally different area, to a place called Azotus. This is a type of harpazo. Paul was raptured to Heaven to receive from God the mystery of the gentiles, future rapture of believers and other amazing supernatural things that he didn’t share in his writings. You can read about it in 2 Corinthians ch.12, verses 2-4 and 1 Corinthians ch.15, verse 8, specifically. The book of Revelation says that during the first 3.5 years of the final 7-year Tribulation, there will be 2 witnesses, based out of Jerusalem, who will be prophesying about the Truth of God. The Antichrist kills them at the midpoint of the 7-year Tribulation but God Himself brings them back to life and snatches them up to Heaven- THIS will be a Rapture seen by unbelievers that they cannot deny because the 2 witnesses will have been dead, with their bodies on display for a few days, then after 3.5 days, in the middle of broad daylight, while people are around watching, the 2 witnesses will come back to life by the power of God Himself and people will literally watch them shoot up to Heaven in a cloud. I bet at that point a lot more people left behind will connect the dots that the mass disappearance from a few years prior was the same type of event, not an alien abduction. Read about the harpazo of the two witnesses in Revelation ch. 11.
“Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger.”