A Personal Rapture
Experience Described by John
The following is Jesus' last communication to the
Church through John in Revelation 3:21, John has a personal rapture
experience. This is the revealing to us, through John, of God's plan for the
rapture of the Church as an event yet to come.
Revelation 3:21: "To him who overcomes, I will give the
right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my
father on his throne."
To better understand the personal rapture experience John
describes in Revelation 4:1-4, we must first carefully read two Scriptures
that describe the rapture in detail:
- 1 Corinthians 15:51-52: "Listen, I will tell you
a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash,
in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet."
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18: "For the Lord himself
will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trumpet of God; the dead in Christ shall rise first; then
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 we shall ever be with the
Lord."
Notice the similarity of detail between the previous
verses and John's personal rapture experience as follows:
"After this I looked, and there before me was a door
standing open in heaven, and the voice I had first heard speaking to me like
a trumpet said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place
after this.' At once I was in the Spirit and there before me was a throne in
heaven with someone sitting on it" (Revelation 4:1-2).
Similarities Describing the Rapture
The phrase "after this" tells us that what is about to
happen to John occurs just after Jesus' last communication to the Church
through John (Revelation 3:21).
"Before me was a door standing open in heaven" tells us
the door to Heaven is, at that time, standing wide open as an
invitation for the raptured Church to enter.
"The voice" speaking "like a trumpet" is a similar
description to "the voice" in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, described as "the
voice of the archangel" and "with the trumpet of God."
"Come up here" is a direct quote from Jesus to John, and
is similar to the phrase, "the Lord himself ... with a shout," in 1
Thessalonians 4:16-18.
"What must take place after this" tells us that all the
future events in Revelation occur after this particular event that John is
experiencing. This indicates that the rapture is a pre-tribulation event.
"At once" in the Revelation passage is similar to "in a
flash" and "in the twinkling of an eye" as described in 1 Corinthians
15:51-52.
"I was in the Spirit" correlates to the phrase, "we will
all be changed," of 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.
"There before me was a throne in heaven with someone
sitting on it" indicates that John is now in Heaven in the presence of
God; the only way to get to Heaven without your body dying a mortal death is
with a glorified body through rapture.
Conclusion
The personal rapture experience that John relates in
Revelation 4:1-2 reveals how the Church will be raptured to Heaven after the
Church Age and before the Great Tribulation, because Scripture tells us:
"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
Come Lord Jesus!
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