The Church of God International’s book Should You Expect A Secret Rapture, page 3 says:

“The word rapture does not appear in the Bible. Nevertheless, words that meant the same things as “rapture” are found in the scriptural text.  To be “raptured” is to be “caught up” to meet Christ in the air.  The apostle Paul says that when Christ comes for His church, the saints will be “caught up…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (I Thessalonians 4:17). 

The Greek term translated “caught up” is harpazo and means to “snatch out,” “seize,” or “catch away.”  This is precisely the meaning Christian authors and lecturers have in mind when they speak of the rapture.  There can be no question as to whether the rapture will take place.  The controversy is over when it will occur and what will happen immediately afterward”. 

The 3 divisions of people on this subject are pre-tribulationists (before), mid-tribulationists (during) and post-Tribulations (after). The Holy Spirit will show us from Scripture tonight that the Bible supports a post-Tribulation catching away of the redeemed.  If the word rapture is not mentioned in the Bible, what are people referring to when they use it?  They could only be referring to the First Resurrection.

Rev. 20:5 ⁵But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Contrary to popular belief, people are not being resurrected and going to Heaven or Hell all the time.  There is an order to resurrection.  

I Cor. 14:40 ⁴⁰Let all things be done decently and in order.  I Cor. 15:20, 23 ²⁰But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept ²³But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

  Nobody is in Heaven right now, that lived as a human being except Yahshua, just like nobody is in Hell or the Lake of Fire that lived as a human being.  People do not immediately die and go to Heaven or Hell.

John 3:12-13 ¹²If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? ¹³And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. Eccl. 9:5-6 ⁵For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.Acts 2:29, 34 ²⁹Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. ³⁴For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Heb. 12:1 ¹Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

People cannot be dying and immediately going to Heaven or Hell and have Yahshua raise them from the dead at his second coming.  Beginning with I Thessalonians (what is referred to as the “rapture chapter”), we read the following:

  I Thess. 4:13-17 ¹³But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  

The rapture is mainly based on this scripture.  It speaks about 2 types of people: 1) those who are asleep in Yahshua (dead), and 2) those who are alive in Yahshua (still living).  Both of these types will be changed into immortal beings at Yahshua’s second coming.

  I Cor. 15:51-52 ⁵¹Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  

The righteous dead will be raised and the righteous alive will be changed.  The question is where will these newly-made immortal beings go?  Will they turn around and go back to heaven with Yahshua?  Thessalonians said “so shall we ever be with Yahshua”.  At this point they are all in the clouds.  If resurrections are scheduled, but people are dying and going immediately to Heaven or Hell, there will be no dead to resurrect at Yahshua’s coming. 

The Rapture Theory says Yahshua’s second coming will be in secret.  A public event  with every eye seeing it is not a secret.

Rev. 1:7-8 ⁷Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. ⁸I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.  Matt. 24:27-31 ²⁷For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ²⁸For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. ²⁹Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: ³⁰And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.  Rev. 6:12-17 ¹²And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; ¹³And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.  ¹⁴And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. ¹⁵And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ¹⁷For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?  

To further examine the inconsistencies of the Rapture Theory, it is necessary to begin at the end of Yahshua’s first coming. 

Acts 1:9-12

⁹And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. ¹⁰And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up,  behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; ¹¹Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

¹²Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.  

At the first coming, it was announced that Yahshua would:  1) come again, 2) where he would arrive, 3) what he would do before and after his coming.  The purpose of Yahshua’s first coming was to redeem man by living a sinless life.  In that sinless state, he was to be the Lamb sacrifice, die, be resurrected, and return to heaven until the time of his second coming.  Since the first coming, Yahshua has sat on the right hand of the Father acting as high priest making intercession for the redeemed. 

  Heb. 7:22-25 ²²By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. ²³And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

²⁴But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.  ²⁵Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

At the second coming, from the clouds Yahshua, the army from heaven and the new immortals will first touch down on the Mount of Olives where he left from at the end of his first coming.  This confirms the announcement at the end of the first coming.

  Zech. 14:3-5 ³Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. ⁴And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. ⁵And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.  

Prior to this time, YHWH has been gathering the nations of the world for a final battle.  He instructs them to beat their plowshares and pruning hooks into spears to prepare for the Battle of Armageddon or World War III.

  Rev. 16:15-16 ¹⁵Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. ¹⁶And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.   Joel 3:1-2 ¹For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.   Rev. 11:18 ¹⁸And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.                    The Rapture promises the redeemed that they will live with the Father in Heaven, where his throne currently is.  The promise to the redeemed is that Yahshua would grant them to sit with him on his throne.   Rev. 3:21-22 ²¹To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. ²²He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.  

The Father has granted the redeemed to sit with Yahshua on Yahshua’s throne, not rapture them away to His throne.  The Rapture fails to distinguish between the thrones. They are 2 separate thrones in 2 separate places.  Where is the Father’s throne?

  Isa. 14:13-14 ¹³For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  

Where is Yahshua’s throne? The Bible calls it the throne of his father David. The throne of David was at first sat upon by YHWH. The first king of Israel took YHWH’s place. 

  I Sam. 8:4-7 ⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, ⁵And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. ⁶But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.  ⁷And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.   Luke 1:30-33 ³⁰And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. ³¹And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. ³²He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: ³³And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.   Acts 2:30 ³⁰Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;  

After Yahshua’s first coming and resurrection, he was given the throne of David to rule upon by the Father.

  Daniel 7:12-14 ¹²As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.  ¹³I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. ¹⁴And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.  

The prophet Isaiah also spoke about David and Yahshua’s throne.  When King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw that he was merely a figurehead.  Yahshua was the real king upon the throne of David.  Once YHWH allowed his people to have a man as king, he planned not to take the throne back until Yahshua’s second coming.  Isaiah reveals that YHWH is still waiting behind the scenes until that time comes.

  Isaiah 6:1-5

¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.  ²Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. ³And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.   ⁴And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 

⁵Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.  

Yahshua’s final throne will be in New Jerusalem.

  John 14:1-3 ¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ²In 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. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.   Rev. 21:1-5,10-12,22-24 ¹And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. ²And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. ¹⁰And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, ¹¹Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; ¹²And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: ²²And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. ²³And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. ²⁴And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.  

This begins the 1000-Year Period on earth.  At the end is the new heaven and new earth when Yahshua will deliver the earth back to the Father.

  I Cor. 15:24-28 ²⁴Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. ²⁷For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. ²⁸And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.  

The purpose of Yahshua’s second coming is to put down of all rule, reign, authority and power on the earth.  Not only will Yahshua descend, an army from heaven will descend with him.

  Rev. 19:11,14-15,19-21 ¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. ¹⁴And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ¹⁹And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. ²⁰And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. ²¹And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.  

Yahshua will set up his Kingdom on the earth, but first he has the Battle of Armageddon to attend to.  From touching down on the mount of Olives, he, his army from heaven, and the new immortals head to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

  Joel 3:14-16 ¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.  ¹⁵The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. ¹⁶The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.  

At Yahshua’s second coming, the beast and the false prophet will be put into the Lake of Fire and Satan will be bound.

  Rev. 19:19-21 ¹⁹And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. ²⁰And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. ²¹And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.  

Rev. 20:1-3

¹And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ²And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, ³And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.  

With Satan bound, the earth will enjoy 1000 years of peace and harmony on the earth.  Yahshua and the new immortals will set up the beginning of Yahshua’s Kingdom or throne on the earth.

  Dan. 2:44 ⁴⁴And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.   Dan. 7:14 ¹⁴And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.   Rev. 5:6-7,9-10 ⁶And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. ⁷And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. ⁹And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; ¹⁰And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.  

The new immortal beings will be given thrones to reign upon during the 1000-Year Period (Millenium).

  Rev. 20:4-5 ⁴And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image,  neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.  

Isa. 11:6-10

⁶The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. ⁷And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.  ⁹They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.  

Isa. 12:5-6

⁵Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. ⁶Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.   

Zech. 14:20-21

²⁰In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar.  ²¹Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.  

Rapture could be the right word to use so long as you know what it does and does not entail, and of course, where your final destination is.