■ by Dr. Lehman Strauss as the essential and basic fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The man who lacks assurance about the death and resurrection of Christ will have no assurance about his own resurrection and rapture. The reasoning here is logical. The Christian’s hope is not the outgrowth of some philosophical area of reason ing; it is the result of the actual death and literal bodily resurrection of the Saviour. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abun dant mercy hath begotten us again unto, a lively hope by the resurrec tion of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3). There will not be a single believer who has died who will be left in the grave when Jesus comes. Christ’s own resurrection is the pledge of ours. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, him that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). “And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power” (I Corinthians 6:14). “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first- fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Corin thians 15:20-22). In verse 15 we rejoice to contem plate, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord.” The phrase does not mean that what Paul has written about the Rapture consti tutes a hitherto unknown quotation, but rather Christ’s own testimony. There are some verses in Matthew 24 resembling the Rapture, however, they are actually p o s t-R a p tu re 16
THE TRIBULATION T here are a number of descrip tive passages in the Bible giving us an excellent picture of the Rap ture. One of the best is I Thessalo- nians 4:13-18. While the entire epis tle contains repeated references to these future events, these six spe cific verses contain the doctrine of the Rapture stressed with emphasis. In verse 13 we find the statement, “But I would not have you to be ig norant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not.” When the apostle was in Thes- salonica he had doubtless preached concerning Christ’s return. In the meantime, however, some of the be lievers had died. This no doubt left certain ones with questions about their friends. Apparently no teach ing had been left them as to the re lation of the Rapture to the resur rection of the dead. Would those who had died miss some of the bene fits of the Rapture? Would the liv ing saints at the Rapture ever see their loved ones again? Whenever ignorance prevailed the apostle Paul invariably used the for mula, “I would not have you to be ignorant.” The subject concerned those who were asleep. Wherever the word “sleep” is used in the Bible, it is the death of a believer only. It does not refer to an unbeliever. Sleep also refers to the body. As slumber is known to be temporary, so the death of the body will not be permanent. Sleep has its waking while death will have its resurrec tion. In verse 14 we find, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” (The word “if” re a lly means “since.”) The condition being true, the result is also true. The hope of Christ’s coming for His own, wheth er they be dead or alive, is as sure
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