The Rapture and 1 Thessalonians 4

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Some Christians believe in a two-fold coming of Christ. They say the first coming is a rapture where Jesus will quietly and secretly take his people and they will simply disappear from the face of the earth. The Scripture used to back up this theory is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. For example, verse 17 says, …then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air… (NASB). Much more could be said on this, but I like William Hendriksen’s brief critique:

“Dispensationalists like to stress the statement, ‘and the dead in Christ will rise first.’ They interpret as if the entire passage were somewhat on this order: ‘And the dead in Christ shall rise first; then, a thousand years later, the dead not in Christ shall rise.’

“However, nowhere in the entire paragraph does Paul say, ‘then the dead not in Christ shall rise.’ Paul is thinking only of believers, of no one else. He is drawing a contrast between the dead in Christ and the still living in Christ.” ...

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