ship of the members of the body to the Head is true of every believer in Christ. The Church had her commence ment at Pentecost and she will con tinue on earth until Christ comes to take her unto Himself. This event we call the Rapture and will be the next event in God’s g r e a t prophetic drama of the end times. While the word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible, it comes from a Latin word meaning “to catch up,” “to seize,” “to snatch away.” There is associated with this word the ad ditional idea of ecstasy and delight. This is the Christian’s blessed hope referred to in Scripture as a sure and steadfast hope. The idea of the Rapture is not an isolated fact in the Bible. There are striking, typical illustrations of it found elsewhere in Scripture. We read in Genesis 5:24, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” In Hebrews 11:5 we have a commentary on this, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” He was a man of like passions with us who was raptured to heaven without experiencing death. Genesis 5 is an interesting and informative chapter. Before arriving at the verse which tells of Enoch’s translation, we read the names of six men who went before him. About each one it is written, “and he died.” Enoch, the seventh in order, did not die. In stead he was caught up alive to heaven before God’s judgment upon the earth through the flood. What God did for Enoch He is going to do for a whole generation of Christians one of these days. He was transferred alive from earth to heaven. The other day I was trans ferred bodily from Miami to Detroit. I stepped into a jet plane and three hours later I arrived at my destina tion. It didn’t take the Lord that long to transfer Enoch! Enoch was
translated by faith (Heb. 11:5). To the unbeliever this whole idea of the rapture sounds preposterous and un believable. Yet we Christians know it will come to pass because God said it would. By faith we look for our Lord to come in the air and take us to be with Himself. Another typical illustration of the Rapture is to be found in the trans lation of Elijah. In II Kings 2:11 we read, “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” What an honored departure this Old Testament saint experienced. The record stands as a grand prophecy of what will happen to those saints who are living on the earth when the Saviour comes for His Church. We can look forward to a translation far more wonderful than that of either Enoch or Elijah. With a mighty throng, we shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. How much bet ter it is to leave the departure from this earth with God. The other Scriptural illustration of the Rapture to which we call your attention is that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When He was taken up to heaven on the day of His ascension we read in Acts 1:9, “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” Christ is the first fruits while the Church will follow as the harvest. May we be found, “Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appear ing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” M EN T A L BALANCE A well known medical specialist de clared at a doctor’s convention, “As one whose whole life has been concerned with the sufferings of the mind, it is my view that all the hygienic measures to counteract disturbed sleep, depression of spirits, and the various miserable sequels of a distressed mind, I would under score in first place the importance of the simple habit of prayer." 12
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