">>>I know a lot of fine Christians and theologians who think that the rapture could happen soon, perhaps even this year<<<
"Whether you're among those who think so or not, any thoughts on how this event might affect life on earth?"
==============================================================
sox...
Based on Scripture, the rapture could occur today, or tomorrow, or next week, next month or next year, or 5, 10, 25, or 100 years from now -- maybe longer. Jesus said that no man knows the day or the hour He will return to gather His Church to Himself in the Rapture, but we know for certain that it will happen. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, one of the key texts on the Rapture, He will "snatch up" (the english translation of the Greek verb harpazo in vs. 17) all living Christians from the earth immediately after raising all dead Christians, and then escort them all back to heaven to be with Him forever. We get the English word "rapture" from the Latin word "rapiemur" used in the Latin Vulgate to translate the Greek "harpazo" -- both the Greek and the Latin words have the English meaning "to snatch up, or away".
So we know two things about the rapture for certain -- (1) Jesus will rapture all Christians, living and dead, at some point in the future, but (2) no one can know the exact date or the hour that it will occur. That means exactly what it says -- NO ONE knows, so whenever you hear someone giving an exact time or date for it to occur, pay no attention to them. The only thing certain about their prediction is that it will fail to be correct.
But Jesus devoted His longest discourse in Scripture (the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25) to future events, where He gave the most comprehensive outline of future events in Scripture, describing the events leading up to and through the end times, including the entire 7 year Tribulation period and the Judgement of all those still alive at the end of the Tribulation (the Sheep and Goat Judgement of the Gentiles), which ushers in His Millennial Kingdom.
In that Discourse, and after saying that no man can know the day or the hour of the Rapture, He adds that we are be ever alert and vigilant, and to "know the seasons" surrounding and leading up to His coming by watching for the signs to be found in current events. Personally, I believe that we are entering the end times, based on my observations of the "signs of the times" mentioned in Scripture and am convinced that the Rapture could very well happen in the near future -- I hope and believe that I could possibly even live to see it despite my very poor health, but nonetheless, I fully expect my daughter to experience it in her lifetime. I could very well be wrong, but that is what I personally believe.
What will it be like on earth immediately after the Rapture? -- I have no idea. Scripture does not tell us if the corpses of the living and dead remain on earth or not, but it is clear that Christians will be going about their daily lives when it happens, so many of them will probably be driving cars, buses, flying airplanes, cooking, performing surgery, etc. when it happens and millions of folks will appear either to have instantly and simultaneously died or just simply disappeared. I suspect chaos will ensue, to say the least.
One word of warning -- Scripture teaches that the Rapture is the end of the Christian Era, and the Church of Jesus as such will no longer exist on Earth. There will be many believers who come to a saving faith in the Lord during the Tribulation Era, but they will not be a part of the Church, a unique institution that began on the day of Pentecost and will end on the day of Rapture. The Rapture also signals the onset of the Tribulation -- events will unfold very quickly, with the Tribulation era beginning almost immediately after the Rapture and human history as we know it ending exactly seven years after that. Scripture also teaches, in my opinion, that those of us who are alive and who have heard the Gospel fully explained in this era but who have rejected its message and the God who authored it, will not get a second chance once the Tribulation Era begins -- like Pharaoh, God will harden their hearts in Judgement against them.
mlsoft
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
