The word ‘rapture’ comes from the Latin word rapio, which means ‘being taken up’ or ‘snatched away’. This doctrine refers to the Bible’s prophecy of the taking up of living believers from the earth and into glory. Some teach that believers will be secretly taken away from the earth by Jesus, before a time of great hardship and suffering comes, and that after that time of suffering is over, Jesus will return in glory. However, the consistent teaching of the Bible is that Christ will return only once, in all His glory, to draw His servants to Himself. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 teaches that when Christ comes, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then in the very next moment those who trust in Him who are still alive will be lifted from the earth, caught up together with them all in the clouds, and glorified with Him.
