A lot of people find the idea of a rapture, a snatching away of people to heaven without dying, very difficult to accept. It seems too strange and too bizarre to be true. “After all,” they say, “nothing like that’s ever happened before!” But that’s actually not true.
It may surprise you to know that there has been a rapture before. In fact, there are several in Scripture. Six of these raptures have already occurred, historically foreshadowing and helping to shed some light on the final rapture still to come.
So, what are these six previous raptures, and what do they tell us about the final rapture that’s to come?
The rapture prior to the New Testament had not been clearly revealed. The Rapture in First Corinthians 15 is called “the mystery.” Now, “mystery” in the New Testament is not something spooky or hard to understand. It means a truth that’s never been revealed before. However, there are still three Old Testament rapture events that help serve as types, illustrations, foreshadows, previews, or patterns of the future rapture to come.
The Rapture of Enoch
The first is the rapture of Enoch. The first of these raptures involved a man named Enoch, who lived before the global flood. We find his story in Genesis chapter five.
Enoch walked with God for 300 years during the Dark Ages of the spiritual corruption before the flood, and then God took him directly to heaven without dying. To make certain there was no misunderstanding about what happened to Enoch, Hebrews 11:5 confirms Enoch’s rapture to heaven, saying, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”
The Rapture of Elijah
The second Rapture in Scripture is the Rapture of Elijah in the book of Second Kings. 2 Kings 2:1, 11 says, “And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal…. 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.”
Elijah and Elisha are there together, walking along, and suddenly Elijah is caught up to heaven without dying. All Elisha could do was look on in amazement.
1 comment:
Best guess - Enoch & Elijah the two end time witnesses. They haven't died yet.
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