Scriptural verses about the rapture

Natalie , in Revelations 11:18 - 18 "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

Revelations 20:12 - 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds

Same judgement, just described twice.

Be blessed!

for context:

You asked for 'yes/no" answers. The problem with that is the way your questions are posed requires either a qualification or proviso, or does not permit a yes/no reply without making what could be construed as a false claim..

If you want explanatory statements, I can amend my responses.

What are you looking into? Maybe you can explain, so we get a better feel for exactly what you are looking for?

1. Does your idea of what "rapture" means, depend on the translation of the greek word "harpazo", being defined as "caught up"? Yes
2. Is the word "rapture" a replacement word for the act of being resurrected to our new flesh/garment/etc.? No
3. Do you believe we are resurrected before the dead in Christ? No
4. Are we raptured to somewhere other than heaven, then "resurrected" after the dead? No
5 Does your "rapture happen before or after the 144,000 are purchased and taken? N/A
6. Do you hold to the idea of the "rapture" being a multiple time event? Meaning there are people raptured at different times. No


Since the dividing point for much of this topic is based on the view of tribulation vs. "The Great Tribulation", I have a few questions on this topic as well, same "guidelines" as above.



1. Do you believe we are meant to go through the Great Tribulation? N/A
2. What precise event IS or begins this? God's Wrath, begins with the AC declaring himself god.
3. Can you provide a verse that specifically identifies the event or it's precise time, in relation to the other events in the book of Revelation? 2 Thess. 2:4 "He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God."


Now, a couple questions on wrath.



1. Do you believe we are not going to be in our flesh form for any of God's wrath? N/A
2. What precise point in Revelations, do you believe God's wrath to begin? It is not in us as human to know that precision, but we do know it is after the AC is revealed. Opinion? yes.
3. Can we still be in the flesh, during God's wrath, but not have it poured out on us? Yes " ...For all things are possible with God.”" Mark 10:27
4. What marks the completion of God's wrath? When the seven final plagues are completed. "Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed." Rev. 15:1

servantofthelord , is this what you are looking for? I kept my opinion out of my answers except for one. There are some things we just cannot know until it happens. If you want explanations for my answers, please feel free to ask.

Okay!
Now I know you didn't ask for this part, but I would like to expound on my answers as I agree with yardstick , that some of your questions are not worded in a way to answer without qualification.


1. Does your idea of what "rapture" means, depend on the translation of the greek word "harpazo", being defined as "caught up"? Yes Harpazo in Greek means "caught up" in English. My "idea" of this event is that we are changed from flesh to spirit and will then be able to see the Kingdom of God.
2. Is the word "rapture" a replacement word for the act of being resurrected to our new flesh/garment/etc.? No If we are alive at Jesus' return, we are not resurrected, we are changed.
3. Do you believe we are resurrected before the dead in Christ? No same as above. those who are alive are not resurrected, but changed
4. Are we raptured to somewhere other than heaven, then "resurrected" after the dead? No once again same as above. Plus, as Jesus told Nicodemus, the Kingdom of Heaven is a state of being, invisible, like the wind. We cannot see it until we are born of the Spirit.
5 Does your "rapture happen before or after the 144,000 are purchased and taken? N/A There is no marker or sign of when the harpazo takes place, so there is no way to know this.
6. Do you hold to the idea of the "rapture" being a multiple time event? Meaning there are people raptured at different times. No

Since the dividing point for much of this topic is based on the view of tribulation vs. "The Great Tribulation", I have a few questions on this topic as well, same "guidelines" as above.

1. Do you believe we are meant to go through the Great Tribulation? N/A Since we don't know when the harpazo happens, we cannot know this.
2. What precise event IS or begins this? God's Wrath, begins with the AC declaring himself god.
3. Can you provide a verse that specifically identifies the event or it's precise time, in relation to the other events in the book of Revelation? 2 Thess. 2:4 "He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God."

Now, a couple questions on wrath.

1. Do you believe we are not going to be in our flesh form for any of God's wrath? N/A We do not know when the harpazo will take place and since that is when we are changed, we can't know this.
2. What precise point in Revelations, do you believe God's wrath to begin? It is not in us as human to know that precision, but we do know it is after the AC is revealed. Opinion? yes.
3. Can we still be in the flesh, during God's wrath, but not have it poured out on us? Yes " ...For all things are possible with God.”" Mark 10:27
4. What marks the completion of God's wrath? When the seven final plagues are completed. "Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed." Rev. 15:1

I have found what appears to be the rapture. I will explain why and give the verse and context and the like. It is not an emphatic statement, but an observation based solely on the text. So please don't bombard me with reasons it has to be wrong, based on your personal beliefs. You can agree or disagree as you wish, I'm not THE expert on this book, just a student of it.

These verses makes it clear that the first angel is "harvesting the earth"in 14:14-16 This is a reference to the reaping of the church, in the same description Jesus uses in Mathew Chapter 13 to a "T"

Mathew 13:36-43 - 36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. -

Also in Mathew 13:30 - 30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."' "

Also notice the differences in reference and in the angels. Different descriptions and different purposes. The first angel is "sitting on a white cloud" and is "like a son of man" and has "a golden crown" and is harvesting the "ripe earth." Just as describe in the verses above.

14:14-16 - 14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Now the next verses make a different description of the angels, one has a sharp sickle and the other has power over fire, just as in the Mathew reference. This time they are not reaping the ripe earth, but are reaping the "vine" of the earth, which is not the vine of god, but of man/the world. A specific distinction, just as the power of fire the angel has.


14:17-18 - 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe."

Now the last verses confirm that the second "harvest" was of the bad fruit, since it is cast into the wine press of God's wrath, which is outside the city. This is also confirmation that the earlier verse which I ascribed to talk about New Jerusalem, does in fact do so. The reference to the people trodding outside the city here confirms that the trodding in that verse was this city. God's city.


14:19-20 - 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.

Further confirmation is had by looking at the verses that are directly before the reaping 14:12-13 - 12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!' " "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them."

We are blessed, we get to rest. our deeds will follow us. The very next verse we are reaped! Also, I'll add that the image of being reaped into heaven is also a fitting description of being "harpazo-ed" jerked up to meet,(in the clouds) since the first "angel" is wrapped in clouds) . I'm sorry if this doesn't fit your personal belief of when you are raptured, but this seems pretty clear, and it is not any interpretation, but a direct following of the description Jesus gave Mathew and the apostles.

PS- My Revelation study is nearly completed. With the help of @ boraddict, I/we have been able to find and use markers and "waypoints" in Revelation to put the pieces together into a cohesive chronology, with only a couple exceptions. It was done without altering the text or making things fit where there is no obvious correlations or repeated text and phraseology. The ins and outs are mostly described in the thread "a new look at an old book - Revelation" When I have the completed, restructured book, I'll post for everyone to look at and examine. Big thanks to boraddict for all the aid in this!