There is really no way to truly fathom what that moment of Rapture will be like. Our finite minds, no matter how close our Holy Spirit-centered hearts are to God, just don’t have the capability of fully understanding things of that eternal leap into Glory.
Paul comes close to explaining what that instant transposition from earth to Heaven will be like. His explanation isn’t as thorough as we would wish, perhaps, but he does give it an excellent try under Holy Spirit inspiration:
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
That is both a thrilling promise and a frustrating one, if taken as it stands alone. Believers in God’s Word trust that a time is coming when things will be so wonderful we can’t even comprehend the marvels.
The frustration is taken out of the promise, to some extent, by Paul’s next pronouncement:
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1Corinthians 2:10)
Indeed, this deeply etched certainty that a moment of change from the earthly into the heavenly is coming particularly comforts Christians who believe in the pre-Tribulation Rapture. They are so certain this instantaneous change is imminent (can happen at any tick of the clock) that they have trouble thinking about future earthly schedules.
Believe me, some of these believers are my very close brothers and sisters in Christ. No matter how those around them believe regarding the Rapture—that it might be years in the future, et cetera—they plan as if they will hear that shout, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1) before the week or even the day has passed.
While it is prudent—and, I believe, expected—for believers to move ahead with life in an orderly and scheduled manner, planning for tomorrow to some extent, I have to think our Lord smiles any time those Rapture-ready Christians of the fanatical sort, as some believe them to be, display their beliefs without ceasing.
This anticipation of the soon-to-happen event can be likened to a bride and groom awaiting the moment they are forever together in holy matrimony. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly how God’s Word defines the relationship of the believer in Christ to His Son Jesus Christ. The Rapture of the Church that began building as given in Matthew 16:18 is likened to a marriage of most majestic order. It will be a marriage that cannot be broken, and it will forever grow in glory throughout all of eternity.
Dr. John Walvoord explained this heavenly marriage as follows:
Taking this figure as a spiritual picture of the relationship of Christ to His church, it is evident that for individual Christians, the marriage as far as its legal character is concerned is consummated at the moment an individual puts his trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. In the case of the Christian, the dowry has already been paid in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and the bride has been purchased and claimed in a legal way by the Bridegroom. The church is, therefore, already married to Christ as far as the technical relationship is concerned. The day will come, however, when the Bridegroom will come for His bride and this is fulfilled in the rapture of the church. At that time the Bridegroom will claim His bride and take her to His Father’s house. This is the background of the statements in John 14:2, 3 where Christ said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” This passage contemplates that Christ in the present age is preparing a place for His bride. When this is complete and the bride is ready, He will come to take the bride to her heavenly home which will be accomplished by the rapture and translation of the church. (John W. Walvoord, The Nations, Israel, and The Church in Prophecy, Zondervan, 1967).
Jesus indicated when construction of this home will be complete. He gave a series of “birth pangs”—things that will be happening in frequency and intensity as the time of His coming for the Church will be near. He then told believers the following:
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)
We look around today and see the building storm of the end times. I constantly hear from fellow believers that they are ready to leave—to hear that shout: “Come up here!”
When it is made—in less time than it takes for light to enter the eye and strike the retina, in an atomos of time—we will find ourselves looking into the eyes of our Lord.
These are the eyes of the one who ransomed us from sin on that cross at Calvary, who loved us so much that He agreed with God the Father to become the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).
The shoutings of heavenly ecstasy made by we who have just been instantaneously transformed from mortals to immortals will fill the clouds of Glory. We will then, with minds like the mind of Jesus Himself—our Savior, our Bridegroom—understand the mysteries of all the ages and why our Heavenly Father and His Son have moved Heaven and Hell to bring us to this moment of everlasting life.
Paul’s prophetic words will at this moment of Rapture be fulfilled!
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:50–55)
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