"The Rapture (Catching Away) of the Saints" There is a marvelous promise that Jesus made to His church and many Christians are ignorant of it: the rapture, or catching away, of His bride, the Church, from the earth. There are Christians who have faithfully sat in churches all their lives and are totally oblivious to the truth of this great and imminent event.  Jesus is coming back twice to the earth; This article is about the first coming. The first time He will appear in the clouds and in “the twinkling of an eye” catch up the bodies of all  the dead saints and also all of the believers who are alive. The resurrected bodies of the dead “in Christ” will  join with their spirits that have been with Him since their deaths and He will transform their bodies into glorified bodies that are like His own.  “…So also is the resurrection of the dead.  The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.  It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.  It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.  It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body”  (1 Corinthians 15: 42-44).  This resurrection of the dead will occur an instant before the catching away of the believers who are “alive and remain”.  These will not taste death but be instantly transformed and glorified to meet Jesus in the air.  Paul explained this truth to those who were grieving over the deaths of their deceased loved ones:  “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep (died), lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will be no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall ever be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words”  (1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18).  This great event has been coined “the Rapture,” or the snatching away of the saints.  This joyous and powerful moment will shake the earth.  At any instant, Christians both dead and alive, will be removed from the face of the earth to join Jesus in the clouds for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, and it will be an everlasting family reunion where we never have to say “goodbye” to our loved ones again.  Those who are left behind on the earth will be reeling from the shock of the instant disappearance of millions of people.  Those who are left behind will face the wrath of antichrist and the wrath of God in the judgments that will be poured out upon the earth.  Can we know the time of Jesus’ return for His bride?  Jesus said of that day and hour “no man knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13: 32).  However, we can know the season of His return (verses 28-29) and are admonished in the Scriptures to be always ready, for His return is imminent (Luke 12:35).  “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.  For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.  For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them…and they shall not escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5: 1-4).  Not only should Christians be “perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord” in anticipation of His coming,  but there is a reward laid up for those who “love His appearing”:  “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord…will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4: 8).  The Bible says that when we see Him, we will be like Him, and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2). One of the signs of the return of Christ will be the mockers and scoffers who do not believe in the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.  Sadly, many of these scoffers are those who consider themselves Christians.  “Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?  For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation…”  (2 Peter 3: 3). The Rapture will be like the ark of Noah whereby the righteous are sealed up in safety while judgment and destruction rains down upon the ungodly men  left behind on the earth.  Repent from your sins, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be taken up into the bosom of Jesus when He comes for His bride.  Next week, the teaching will be about the second return of Jesus to the earth with His army of saints to defeat Satan and antichrist, and His renovation of the earth by fire, creating a new heaven and a new earth.   “For as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of man be.  For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together”  (Matthew 24: 27-28).