The Rapture: From the Ground Up

Blessed Hope
The ‘blessed hope’ found in the New Testament has often (and frequently) been equated to the hope that the Church has since it is supposed to be removed (Raptured) before the Tribulation. Such an event would present hope for the Church and it would be such a blessed event. But let’s see what the Bible really teaches regarding this ‘blessed hope.’
The aforementioned phrase is found in only one verse:
Titus 2:13 “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”
From this verse alone, there is the ‘blessed hope’ and His Coming coupled together. We need to evaluate the context of this verse to make sure that the ‘blessed hope’ is referring to the Church being Raptured prior to the Tribulation.
Titus 2:11-14 “11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Basic grammar tells us that the word ‘that’ preceding the phrase ‘blessed hope’ modifies the word ‘grace’ in verse 11. It’s not any grace: it’s the grace of God that brings salvation. True believers have already received salvation:
1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Titus 2:13 has the believers looking for this ‘blessed hope’ or the grace of God that brings salvation and eternal life. If believers are already assured eternal life, then this yearning for salvation refers to when the believer sheds his sinful body and receives a glorified (sinless) body. Believers will receive a glorified body at the Rapture. This verse therefore implies an aspect (receiving a glorified body) of the Rapture but has nothing to do with the Rapture being an ‘escape’ from the Tribulation. (See Chapter 2 on “The Rapture.”)
Let’s look at two other places in Titus where Paul talks about hope:
Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
Titus 3:7 “That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
We find that Paul is consistent within the Epistle of Titus with his reference to ‘hope.’ He clearly is using it all three times to refer to the hope of eternal life each believer receives. There is no indication that Paul ever refers to the ‘blessed hope’ as an ‘escape’ from the Tribulation by means of the Rapture.
The Thessalonian’s Hope
Many contend that the hope the Thessalonians held out was the hope of an imminent Rapture prior to the Tribulation. They turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 where the Rapture is indeed mentioned.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
In verse 13, Paul specifically identifies the concern of the Thessalonians. Their concern regarded deceased brethren (those that were asleep). This concern was compared to others (unbelievers) that had no hope. Unbelievers have no hope in the resurrection of the righteous and the Rapture does not apply to them. Asserting that unbelievers have ‘no hope’ in the Rapture makes no sense. It is obvious that Paul is referring to the resurrection of deceased believers which offers no hope to the unbeliever and immense hope to the believer.

Doubting the reality of the resurrection was not a new problem that Paul addressed to believers in his epistles. The Corinthian church had similar problems:
1 Corinthians 15:12 “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
Paul does talk about the Rapture because there is a resurrection of believers associated with this event. The comfort Paul affords is that deceased believers will be reunited with the rest of the believers. There is no indication that Paul is giving the Thessalonians the ‘comfort’ of living believers having the privilege of missing the trials of the Tribulation. To assert such a thought is to misrepresent everything that Paul has presented in 1 Thessalonians 4.

Conclusion
The believer has much to be grateful for and has much to hope for through Jesus Christ our Lord. But to equate the ‘Blessed Hope’ (which is Jesus’ promise to us for eternal life), with a promise to be Raptured prior to the Tribulation is misleading and has not one thread of biblical truth behind it. Unfortunately, many use this as an emotional building block or even a cornerstone in their attempts at placing the Rapture of the Church in God’s timetable of end-time events.