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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30; 1 Cor. 1:30; Luke 21:28; Phil. 3:21; 17, Rom. 8:30; 2 Thes. 1:10; 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10; Matt. 24:3; Dan. 9:24-27; Rev. 12:5-6, 12-17; 11:2-3; 14:1, 4, 9-12; 3:7-8, 10; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 3:12; Luke 21:34-36; Matt. 24:21, 36-42; 1 Thes. 4:15-17; Matt. 25:1-12; Rev. 20:4, 6; 15:2; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; Matt. 13:39; 2 Thes. 2:1, 3b-4; Matt. 13:30; Rev. 14:14-16; 16:12-16; 19:7-9, 11-15, 19-21; 11:11-12
After fellowshipping concerning the ministry of Christ in His ascension in chapters 6 and 7, we now come to the rapture of the saints. The study of the rapture of the saints has a history. The Brethren, who were raised up in England in the early part of the nineteenth century, and G. H. Pember, Robert Govett, and D. M. Panton all rendered us much help concerning the Lord’s second coming and the rapture of the saints. In this matter we are standing on their shoulders to have some further studies, and the Lord has continuously shown us something more. This is what I am going to present to you tonight. But I must make one thing clear to all of us — all the teachers who paid much attention to the second coming and the rapture of the saints did not stress the matter of life. Actually, the rapture of the saints is wrapped up with life, but even the excellent books written on the second coming and the rapture do not pay much attention to life.
M. E. Barber, who lived in China at the time of Brother Nee and rendered him much help, paid much attention to the Lord’s second coming and the rapture. But she paid more attention to life than others. She was waiting for the Lord’s coming. Brother Nee told us that she and he went for a walk one time, and as they rounded the corner of a building, she said to him, “Maybe as we turn the corner, He will be there, and we will meet Him.” She was waiting for the Lord’s coming and expecting her rapture to such an extent.
The apostles’ teaching is concerning God’s New Testament economy from the incarnation of God to the consummation of the New Jerusalem. One of the major items of this teaching is the rapture of the saints. The rapture of the saints is the consummating step of God’s full salvation in life. God’s salvation is in two aspects — in redemption and in life. Romans 5:10 says that through Christ’s death we were reconciled to God; we were justified. This is the objective aspect of God’s salvation in redemption. Then Romans 5:10 says that since we have been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, much more we will be saved in the life of Christ. This is the subjective aspect of God’s salvation in His divine life. The first step in this salvation in life is that God regenerated us. Following this, He is now transforming us. The consummating step of His salvation in life is the transfiguration of our body. Our bodies are not yet redeemed, but they are on the way to being redeemed. The redemption of our body will be a change in its nature and condition. Our physical nature is one that is always weak, sick, and dying. To redeem our body changes its nature to one that is strong, healthy, and living.
The redemption of our body is through the saturation of the divine element by the sealing of the Spirit of God (8:23; Eph. 4:30; 1 Cor. 1:30; Luke 21:28). We believers are being saturated with the divine element. Outwardly, we may look the same as the unbelievers. But inwardly, something hidden is going on within us. Inwardly, we are being saturated with the divine element of God’s life. This saturating is by the sealing of the Spirit of God. When a piece of paper is sealed with a seal, the ink on the image of the seal saturates the paper. Within us the sealing of the Spirit of God is going on.
Ephesians 1:13-14 and 4:30 speak of this sealing. The Holy Spirit is the sealing ink, and God has sealed us with the Spirit as the sealing ink. This sealing is going on unto the redemption of our body. The word unto is the Greek word eis, which means “resulting in,” or “issuing in.” The sealing of the Holy Spirit within us is issuing in the redemption of our body. We are like a cotton ball that is being saturated with ink. The Holy Spirit is the sealing ink. As long as the sealing is going on in us, the divine ink is saturating us. Then the sealing will saturate our entire body, until our entire being is permeated and saturated with the divine element as the sealing ink. Someone who has been recently saved has a small amount of the divine ink within him. As he grows in the divine life, the divine ink permeates and saturates him. Eventually, this saturation will reach his body. That will be the time of his rapture, which is the redemption of his body. We need to be permeated and saturated with the Spirit until the redemption of our body.
The redemption of our body is the transfiguration of our body of humiliation (Phil. 3:21). Our body has been humiliated by the fall. By the fall, sin invaded our body. Therefore, today in the members of our body, according to Romans 7, there is an evil thing called sin. Sin dwells in us (v. 20) and has become a law of sin dwelling in the members of our body (v. 23). This sin brings in death, and death implies weakness and sickness. Our body has been humiliated by sin, by weakness, by sickness, and eventually by death. Our body is not something glorious. It is something humiliated with mainly these four things — sin, weakness, sickness, and death.
Actually, we human beings are not living. Everyone is dying. Eventually, all of us will die. We are dying persons. This is a kind of humiliation. But the redemption of our body will change the nature and the condition of our body. That change will be a transfiguration. Philippians 3:21 says that Christ “will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.”
The redemption of our body to transfigure the nature and the condition of our body of humiliation is also the full sonship of God. We are sons of God today because we have the very reality of the sonship of God in our spirit. But today we do not have the sonship of God in our body. Our body has not yet entered into divinity. But one day our body will enter into divinity. Divinity is now saturating our being. One day this saturation will reach a consummation, and our entire body will be consummated in divinity. By that time we will enjoy the full sonship. None of the unbelievers can discern that we are the sons of God today. To them we are the same as they are. But according to Romans 8, one day the sons of God will be manifested. Everyone will be able to see that we are the sons of God. The redemption of our body is the full sonship of God.
The redemption of our body, which is the transfiguration of our body of humiliation, will be the glorification of our entire being (vv. 30, 17; 2 Thes. 1:10; 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10). This means that our entire being will be saturated with the glory of the divine life. In other words, our humiliated body will be filled with the splendor of the divine life.
Second Thessalonians 1:10 says that Christ will come to glorify Himself in us. This is a hard word to understand. How will Christ come to glorify Himself in us? On the one hand, Christ’s coming is from the heavens. On the other hand, Christ’s coming is from within us. Today Christ is first in the heavens and then in us. When He comes, He will come from these two directions. He will come from the heavens above to the earth. He also will come from within us. He is coming out from our spirit to appear in our body. The appearance of Christ from within us is His coming. This kind of coming is His glorification. Christ in us is a mystery. He is in us as the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). One day this hope will be manifested, and that will be our glory. When the inner hope is manifested, He will become the outer glorification. In that day Christ will glorify Himself in us. That is our glorification, and in our glorification Christ will be glorified.
Now we have to see when the rapture of the saints will take place. This redemption, this transfiguration, and this glorification will take place with the coming (parousia — presence) of Christ (Matt. 24:3). In Greek the word for coming is parousia, meaning “presence.” In ancient times among the Greeks, a dignified person’s coming was his parousia, his presence. The New Testament uses such a word to denote Christ’s second coming. His second coming is the presence of Himself as the most dignified person, and this presence will begin from the throne of God in the third heaven before the great tribulation. Then this presence, this parousia, will travel from the third heaven to the air and will linger in the air for a short while. Eventually, this parousia will reach the earth. When it reaches the earth, 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says that there will be the manifestation of His presence (coming). Thus, the rapture of the saints will take place with the coming, the parousia, of Christ.
The rapture of the saints into Christ’s presence (coming) will take place before the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21) for the overcomers and at the end of the great tribulation for the majority of the saints. The great tribulation will last three and a half years, beginning from the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-17) and ending at the seventh bowl (16:17-21). These three and a half years will be the second half of the last week, the last seven years, of the present age. This week will be the last week of the seventy weeks revealed in Daniel 9:24-27. We are still awaiting and expecting the coming of this seventieth week, the last week, which will be one of the strong signs of the Lord’s coming back.
The New Testament gives us some signs of the coming of the last week. One strong sign is the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Many centuries ago the Jews lost their nation, they became captives, and they were scattered on the earth among the Gentiles. But the Bible promised that one day the Lord would bring them back to their fathers’ land and restore the nation of Israel. After I was saved in 1925, I wondered how the scattered Jews could be gathered together to their fathers’ land again. But eventually, in 1948 Israel was restored again as a nation. This was a sign of the Lord’s coming. The Bible also prophesied that the city of Jerusalem would eventually be returned to the people of Israel. Jerusalem was taken over by the king of Babylon about 600 B.C., approximately twenty-six centuries ago. But in 1967, nineteen years after the nation of Israel had been restored, the city of Jerusalem was reclaimed by the Jews. This was another sign of the Lord’s coming. These signs are the fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 24:32 concerning the branch of the fig tree (the nation of Israel) becoming tender and putting forth its leaves.
The things that are happening today are also the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Daniel’s interpretation of the image in Daniel 2 is actually a prophecy concerning the nations of the earth. The head symbolizes the Babylonian Empire, the breast and arms of silver symbolize Medo-Persia, the abdomen and thighs of bronze symbolize the empire of Macedonia and Greece, and the two legs of iron symbolize the Roman Empire. Finally, the feet of the image are part iron and part clay, signifying the nations in the period after the fall of Rome and before the second coming of Christ. Iron signifies the power of dictatorship, or autocracy, and clay signifies the people. In Russia and Eastern Europe the practice of communism has actually been the practice of autocracy, dictatorship. Now the people, the clay, are rising up to weaken the iron. As the clay rises up, the strength of the iron is weakened. This shows that we are in the iron-clay stage of the image depicted in Daniel 2 as another sign of the approaching of the Lord’s coming back.
According to Daniel 9:27, at the time close to the end of the present age, that is, at the last week of the seventy weeks, Antichrist will make a firm covenant (an agreement of peace) with the nation of Israel for seven years. In the midst of the seven years, he will break the covenant and begin to persecute the children of Israel and the Christians. From that time the great tribulation begins and will last for three and a half years, that is, forty-two months, or one thousand two hundred sixty days (12:7; Rev. 11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). The making of the seven-year covenant by Antichrist with the nation of Israel will be another sign of the Lord’s coming back for the rapture of the saints. This is why we are awaiting and expecting the last week of the seventy weeks, revealed in Daniel 9, to come.
According to the New Testament, the rapture has different sections. In the Old Testament the harvest of the crop in the field typifies the rapture of the saints. Before the general harvest, the firstfruits are reaped, brought into the sanctuary, the house of God, and presented to God for His fresh enjoyment (Lev. 23:9-14; Exo. 23:19). After a period of time, the entire harvest is reaped. Therefore, in the type of the harvest, there are the firstfruits and the harvest.
The rapture of the saints is according to this typology. The firstfruits are depicted in Revelation 14:1-5. Then verses 14 through 16 speak of the harvest of the majority of the believers. These are the two sections of the rapture: the firstfruits and the harvest.
The section of the overcomers is the first section of the rapture. These overcomers are of five classifications: the man-child, the firstfruits, the overcomers in Philadelphia, the watchful and beseeching saints, and the watchful one of the two saints.
The first category is the man-child revealed in Revelation 12:5. Revelation 12 depicts a universal and heavenly woman who is clothed with the sun, having the moon underneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. That woman signifies the totality of God’s people. The man-child delivered by her is the stronger part of God’s people, the overcomers. They will be raptured before the great tribulation of the three and a half years of the last week of this age (vv. 6, 12-17). They will be raptured to God and to His throne in the third heaven, where Christ is today. Revelation 12:11 says that the overcomers who are a part of the man-child are faithful unto death. All of them have been martyred. Hence, the man-child, which includes all the dead overcomers, is different from the firstfruits, who are the living overcomers.
The second category, the firstfruits, is depicted in Revelation 14:1 and 4. They will be raptured before the manifestation of Antichrist and his persecution of the saints (vv. 9-12). This means that their rapture will be before the three and a half years of the great tribulation. They will be raptured to Mount Zion in the third heaven, where Christ with the Father is today. In the Bible there are two Zions. One is the earthly Zion, which is one of the mountains on which Jerusalem was built. The other is the heavenly Zion in the third heaven, where Christ with the Father is today.
Revelation 14 does not say that the firstfruits will be raptured. This is because these overcomers followed the Lamb all the time. Because they were always with the Lamb, having followed the Lamb wherever He went, they are seen in Revelation 14 standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Because they are already in the Lord’s presence, the rapture will not come as a surprise to them. They are living in the heavens today, and they will be standing with the Lamb in the heavens on Mount Zion in the future.
The third category, those in Philadelphia, is shown in Revelation 3:7-8. Philadelphia is the top church among the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. This church had two top points. First, they kept the word of God even though they had only a little power. Second, they did not deny the name of Christ. This is why we do not like to have any denominational names, such as Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, or Methodist. All these names are an insult to Christ. If a wife were to take another name besides the name of her husband, this would be an insult to her husband. We are Christians. We are not Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, or Methodists. We are Christ’s, so we must keep His name. We must be like those in Philadelphia who kept His word and did not deny His name. These overcomers in Philadelphia will be raptured before the hour of trial on the whole inhabited earth, that is, the time of the great tribulation of the last three and a half years of this age (v. 10; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 12:13-14). They will be raptured to the temple of God in the third heaven where Christ with God is today (3:12). These overcomers will be pillars in the temple of God.
The fourth category, the watchful and beseeching saints, is shown in Luke 21:36. They will be raptured before the coming of the great tribulation (vv. 34-35; Matt. 24:21) to the third heaven, where Christ is today.
The fifth category, the watchful one of the two saints, is spoken of in Matthew 24:40-42, which says, “At that time two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord comes.” These men are brothers in Christ, and the women are sisters in the Lord. The phrases watch therefore and your Lord prove that the two men and two women are saved believers. The Lord would not charge unsaved people to watch, nor is He the Lord of the unsaved. The time will come when the watchful ones will be suddenly taken by the Lord. This will be before the coming of the “flood” of the great tribulation (vv. 36-39) for them to be with Christ in His parousia (presence) in the third heaven. The great tribulation will be like the flood at Noah’s time to judge the entire world.
The Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 24 and 25 covers all the people of God, signified by the number twelve, which is used several times for the New Jerusalem as the totality of God’s redeemed and glorified people. The two men or two women in Matthew 24 represent the living believers at the Lord’s second coming, as signified by the number two, which is a minor part of the number twelve; and the ten virgins in Matthew 25 represent the dead saints at the Lord’s second coming, as signified by the number ten, which is the major part of the number twelve. Among the living ones, some will be raptured, taken away, earlier, and the others will be left. Among the dead ones, the man-child will be resurrected and raptured three and a half years earlier, whereas the rest of the dead saints have to wait for three and a half years for their resurrection and rapture.
The second section of the rapture is the section of the majority of the saints, including the resurrected ones and the remaining ones. All the dead saints through the centuries, through the generations, will be resurrected and will join the remaining ones, the living ones, to be raptured together at the Lord’s coming back (1 Thes. 4:15-17; Matt. 25:1-12; Rev. 20:4, 6; 15:2; 1 Cor. 15:51-52). This will take place at the consummation of this age in the Lord’s parousia (presence) and at the close of the great tribulation, after the manifestation of Antichrist (Matt. 13:39; 1 Thes. 4:15-16; 2 Thes. 2:1, 3b-4; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 14:9-12).
The majority of the saints will be raptured to the Lord’s “barn” in the air within the clouds, where Christ’s parousia (presence) will be then (Matt. 13:30; 1 Thes. 4:17; Rev. 14:14-16). The Lord will come to the air, and in the air He will have a place to receive His harvest. This is His barn in the air within the clouds. By that time Christ’s parousia will no longer be in the third heaven, but it will have traveled to the air and will linger there for a short time. As we have seen, the firstfruits are brought from the field into the temple of God, the house of God, for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction. The firstfruits of the believers, the overcomers, will be brought directly to God’s house in the heavens. When the field is completely ripe, that is the time of the harvest. At that time the majority of the believers will be harvested and taken to the Lord’s barn in the air.
The final section of the rapture is the section of the two witnesses (11:11-12). These do not belong to the firstfruits or the harvest. These two witnesses will be Moses and Elijah (see v. 3, footnote 2, Recovery Version). Their rapture will be at the end of the one thousand two hundred and sixty days — forty-two months, the second three and a half years of the last week. Revelation 11:2 and 3 tell us that these two witnesses will prophesy for a thousand two hundred and sixty days. Then they will be killed, resurrected, and raptured to the air where Christ’s parousia (presence) will be.
Their rapture will take place on the same day that Antichrist is put into the lake of fire. Christ and His heavenly army will defeat Antichrist with his earthly army, and Antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown alive into the lake of fire (19:19-20). When the Lord returns on that day, the whole house of Israel will repent. Therefore, on the day that the two witnesses are raptured, Antichrist will be thrown into the lake of fire, and the children of Israel will repent. That is the last day of the three and a half years of tribulation, and that will be the last day of this age. Then the next age will begin.
Now I would like to present a summary of what we have fellowshipped concerning the rapture of the saints. Today we are in the church age. The two strong signs of the Lord’s coming and the coming last week of the seventy weeks in Daniel are the restoration of the nation of Israel and the return of Jerusalem to the people of Israel. At the beginning of the last week, the last seven years of this age, Antichrist will make an agreement with the nation of Israel to allow them to worship God freely. This is clearly spoken of in Daniel 9. Then in the middle of this seven-year period, Antichrist will annul his agreement. This will be the time when Antichrist begins to persecute the Jews and the Christians. Revelation refers to them as the ones who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus (12:17; 14:12). The ones who keep the law are the Jews, and the ones who have the testimony of Jesus are the Christians.
Before this period of tribulation begins, the overcomers — represented by the man-child, the firstfruits, the overcomers in Philadelphia, the watchful and beseeching saints, and the watchful one of the two saints — will be raptured to the third heaven to God’s temple. The majority of the living Christians will be left on this earth. They will have to pass through the time of three and a half years of the great tribulation to be disciplined for their maturity. At the end of the great tribulation, the majority of the saints, including the resurrected saints and the living saints, will be raptured to the air. After the rapture of the majority of the dead and resurrected saints and of the living ones, Christ will judge all the saints at His judgment seat. At His judgment seat He will decide who among His saints should be rewarded as overcomers and who should be disciplined as defeated ones. After His judgment seat Christ will have a wedding and marry His overcomers.
The two witnesses will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days during the great tribulation. Antichrist will kill them, and their corpses will lie on the street of the city of Jerusalem for three and a half days (11:8-9). These two witnesses will then be resurrected and raptured (vv. 11-12) and will probably also pass through the judgment at Christ’s judgment seat and participate in His marriage (19:7-8). Then Christ will come down with His overcomers to defeat Antichrist and his armies at Armageddon.
Revelation 14 shows that after the harvest of the majority of the believers, there will be the treading of the great winepress (v. 19), that is, the battle at Armageddon (16:14, 16). The war at Armageddon is also mentioned in Revelation 19:11-21. Christ as the One from the heavens with His heavenly army, the overcomers, will come down to defeat Antichrist and to throw him into the lake of fire. Revelation 17:14 also refers to this war, saying that the overcomers, the ones who are called and chosen and faithful, will defeat Antichrist and his armies. They are the bride who will come down from the heavens with her Husband to fight against Antichrist.
On the same day these four things will take place: the majority of the saints will be raptured to the air, the two witnesses will be resurrected and also raptured to the air, Christ will come down to defeat Antichrist and throw him into the lake of fire, and all Israel will repent and be saved. All these things will take place on the last day of the great tribulation. That will be the close of this age. Then a new age will begin. This will be the age of the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ.
In the light of the truth concerning the rapture of the saints, we need to prepare ourselves, to make ourselves ready, for the Lord’s coming by watching and praying. We need to watch and pray so that we can grow and mature in the spiritual life. Then we will mature earlier and be raptured before the hour of trial, the great tribulation. The tribulation may be likened to the scorching sun. The suffering of the great tribulation will be like the scorching sun, drying the earthly waters from the believers then remaining so that they may ripen. This means that we all have to grow so that we may become ripe for the Lord’s coming back. There are surely details of the Lord’s coming that are not revealed in the Bible, but the principles that the Bible gives us are sufficient to teach us the spiritual lessons.
