Will all the saints be raptured? We answer this question with a decided YES. In doing so, we are quite aware that some earnest believers would reply, NO, and that this contrary assertion is made with Scripture quotations alleged to support it, and urged with a large degree of argumentative skill.
Controversy, however, is not the object of this article, but a simple declaration of some reasons for the faith that is in us in relation to this matter.
Increasingly the children of God are ranging themselves on the side of those who believe that Christ is coming, and coming soon, so that the expectation of a near fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is generally held. This special passage brings before us this tremendous event, and the three distinct actions of which it is composed are clearly discernible.
1. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.”
2. “The dead in Christ shall rise first.”
3. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”
The delightful result and conclusion of this threefold action is given us in the words, “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
The three actions are perfectly clear. They are: descension, resurrection, and translation.
The three parties to this great threefold operation are equally clear and explicitly stated. We have:
• The descension of the Lord Himself.
• The resurrection of the dead in Christ.
• The translation of we which are alive and remain together with the dead in Christ.
There is no reservation, no qualifying condition, no thought of some inner selection in any of the three.
It will be “the Lord Himself” who comes—not an emanation from Himself; not a putting forth of His power as apart from His presence; not a deputation of angelic beings, nor even the archangel himself.
It will be “the dead in Christ” who are raised—not some of the dead in Christ; not the dead in Christ who are of the Church as distinct from saints who lived before Christ came; not the dead of outstanding faithfulness, the “Elijahs” of history as distinguished from the “seven thousand” whose faithfulness consisted in the negative virtue of not bowing the knee to Baal.
And it will be “we which are alive and remain”— not some of us, presumably a very few; not those of us who are overcomers according to Revelation 2 and 3; not those who are “watching,” and “looking for Christ.” The “we” is the Christian—“we” qualified and limited by the one and only condition, not that we watch and serve, but that we are alive and remain. Let no one overlook the importance of watching and serving and overcoming. We speak here simply of what this scripture says, and what it does not say.
Bearing these simple and obvious facts in mind, we venture to characterize the importation of any such qualifications into the passage as a questionable proceeding— a contention only to be allowed if it could be proved that a later revelation from the Lord exists which shows clearly that the passage is to be read in such a limited manner. Other scriptures allude to the “rapture,” i.e., the catching away of the saints, but this is the one passage that fully unfolds it, and we observe that it contains no hint of a partial or selective rapture.
What do other scriptures say? In 1 Corinthians 15, the theme is resurrection, not rapture, but since the resurrection of the saints is preliminary to rapture, verses 23-24 bear on our theme. Who will be raised? “…They that are Christ’s at His coming.” Paul continues: “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” (1 Cor. 15:50-52). Who shall be changed in a moment? “We shall all be changed”—not merely a select few.
Notice Romans 8:23, “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body.”
This is a point of primary importance, worthy of careful examination. “We,” i.e., the children of God, are “waiting for the…redemption of our body.” The allusion to the coming of our Lord in this passage is unmistakable. The earlier part of the epistle has laid the foundation for it. The Christian is discovered to be a man justified from his guilt, freed from the dominion of sin and from condemnation by the cross of Christ, which dissociated him from Adam that he might be in Christ; and the Spirit of Christ is seen to be in him.
As regards his soul and his spirit, a full redemption has reached him; what remains then but that at the coming of the Lord his body too shall be redeemed. Thus set free—spirit, soul, and body—he may then step into “the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.” This redemption will be effected by the changing of our bodies of humiliation and their fashioning like Christ’s body of glory (see Phil. 3:20-21). In reading these two verses, note that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplishes this great work when He comes from heaven, not as Judge, nor Arbitrator, but as Saviour.
Now, let us emphasize that word “redemption.” It gives us in one word the character which everywhere in Scripture is stamped on the coming of the Lord for His people. Subsequent to that coming there is the judgment seat of Christ and His glorious appearing. Responsibility and judgment are as clearly stamped on these. However, we assert without fear of contradiction that redemption is everywhere in Scripture connected with mercy and not with merit. It has to do with the grace of God and not with the faithfulness of man.
It is therefore a fact of decisive importance that what will be effected in the saints at the coming of the Lord for them, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, is the redemption of their bodies. It renders it perfectly certain that the raising of dead saints, the changing of living saints, and the rapture of both classes is an act of grace, not of judgment. No wonder that, when contemplating the rising apostasy of the last time, Jude should speak of the Lord’s coming, the true avenue of escape for the saints, as mercy. “Looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (v. 21).
It remains now to apply the foregoing facts to the question before us. When the Lord Jesus comes as Saviour to redeem the bodies of His saints, will this crowning mercy extend to all, or only to a few of greater watchfulness or higher attainments than the rest? Is it possible that God extends to us redemption, as to our souls on the ground of His grace, and then as to our bodies on the ground of our deserts?
We reply unhesitatingly, it is not possible. To teach a partial or selective rapture on the ground of our faithfulness is to teach that God begins redemption on the “grace” principle and finishes it on the “works” principle. Such teaching is the error of the Galatians. We may well ask the question of such teachers that Paul asked of them: “Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3).
The intentions of many of those who teach a selective rapture we believe to be of the best. Feeling keenly the low practical condition of many of God’s children, they desire some startling truth to shake them out of their apathy, and almost terrify them into lives of devotion and zeal and watchfulness; in that which they advance they believe they have found the needed goad.
But have they? No. The truth concerning the judgment seat of Christ and the coming kingdom, if kept in its proper connection, is indeed a mighty incentive to devotedness, but it is not and cannot be its main motive. Much less can such a mistaken view of the rapture be anything of the kind. The only possible foundation upon which Christian devotedness can rest is grace. Not law, nor fear of incurring penalties, but grace teaches us how to live. As Titus 2:11-13 puts it, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
By the grace then that has saved you, Christian, we call on you to awake from lethargy, and, like Caleb, wholly follow your Lord. As an added incentive we remind you that you have but one life to live! Be in earnest. But let grace be the meat and drink of your heart that you may, like Elijah, have strength for your pilgrimage way to the appointed meeting place.