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Essay on Plot and Structure
The rapture is an event that will take place sometime in the near future. Jesus will come in the air, catch up the Church from the earth, and then return to heaven with the Church. In 1 Thes. 4:13-18 we are given a clear description of the rapture: "the dead in Christ will rise, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord." The timing of the rapture is not known. From the word of God and from sound reasoning, something Jesus used quite frequently, I hope to prove the reality of the Pretribulation rapture.
The word rapture comes from Paul's "caught up" remark in verse seventeen. The two words caught up are translated from the Greek word harpazo, which means "to "carry off," "snatch up," or "grasp hastily." The translation to rapture was a two-step phase, harpazo became the Latin word raptus, and raptus became the English word rapture.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
In Luke 12:36 the Word states that when Christ returns He will be returning from a wedding. In Rev. 19:7-8 we read about the marriage itself. Before the marriage takes place, there is the marriage supper. According to Jewish custom, the marriage contract is drawn up first, often including a dowry. This parallels the act-of-faith we use when we trust Jesus to be our savior. The dowry is His life, which was used to purchase us. When the time comes for the wedding to take place, the groom goes to the bride's house unannounced.
She comes out to meet him, and then the groom takes the bride to his father's house (John, 2004). This is an exact correlation of the events according to the pre-trib scenario. Jesus, the groom, comes down from heaven, calls up the Church, and after meeting in the air, both He and the bride return to the His Father's house---heaven......
