WHAT IS THE MYSTERY?

WHAT IS THE MYSTERY? Paul said: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,” 1 Corinthians 15:51 KJV That’s the mystery. Not every Christian is going to die. There will be one generation of believers that gets changed in a moment, caught up to meet the Lord, and taken out before the wrath of God is poured out on this world. Paul said it plainly: “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 Corinthians 15:52 KJV The dead in Christ get raised. The living in Christ get changed. Same event. Same hope. Same promise. That’s why Paul said: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:53 KJV Your body can’t inherit heaven the way it is right now. Flesh gets tired. Flesh gets sick. Flesh dies. So before the Church enters glory, God changes the body. That’s the mystery Paul revealed. Then he gives the order in Thessalonians. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God...” 1 Thessalonians 4:16 KJV The Lord Himself descends. This isn’t an angel collecting the Church. This isn’t death. This is Jesus Christ coming for His people. Then Paul says: “...and the dead in Christ shall rise first:” 1 Thessalonians 4:16 KJV The believers who already died aren’t forgotten. They aren’t missing the promise. Their bodies rise first. Then comes the part a lot of people argue about but Paul didn’t make complicated: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air...” 1 Thessalonians 4:17 KJV Caught up. The word means to be seized, snatched, taken by force. That’s where we get the word “rapture.” The English word “rapture” isn’t in the KJV, but the event absolutely is. The dead in Christ rise. The living are changed. Together we meet the Lord in the air. Then Paul says: “...and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17 KJV That’s the blessed hope. Not surviving the Antichrist, or enduring the mark of the beast. Not watching the seals, trumpets, and vials fall on our heads. The hope of the Church is Jesus Christ coming for His bride. Paul even tells us what to do with this teaching: “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:18 KJV Comfort. That word is important. The rapture is supposed to comfort believers. It isn’t supposed to terrify the Church. It isn’t supposed to make the bride think she has to enter Daniel’s 70th week and face the wrath of God. Paul already told the Thessalonians: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thessalonians 5:9 KJV The Tribulation is wrath. The Day of the Lord is wrath. The seals are wrath. The trumpets are wrath. The vials are wrath. Revelation 6 says the world knows exactly what has come: “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:17 KJV So if God hasn’t appointed the Church to wrath, and the Tribulation is the wrath of God, then the Church doesn’t belong in the Tribulation. That’s why this is pre-trib. Paul didn’t teach the Thessalonians to look for Antichrist. He taught them to look for Christ. He didn’t say, “Comfort one another because the beast is coming.” He said: “...wait for his Son from heaven...” 1 Thessalonians 1:10 KJV Then look at the rest of the verse: “...even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians 1:10 KJV Delivered from the wrath to come. Not preserved through it. Not beaten down by it. Not appointed to it. Delivered from it. That’s why 2 Thessalonians is so important. The Thessalonians were shaken because somebody had troubled them and made them think the Day of Christ was already at hand. Paul writes: “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” 2 Thessalonians 2:2 KJV They thought they were in it. They were suffering persecution, and somebody had them thinking the Day of the Lord had started. In other words, they thought they missed the catching away and were now facing the Tribulation. Paul corrects them. He says: “Let no man deceive you by any means...” 2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV Then he explains that the man of sin will be revealed in his time. “...that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” 2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV The Antichrist has a revealing. The Day of the Lord has a program. Daniel’s 70th week has a structure. Paul already taught them these things. “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” 2 Thessalonians 2:5 KJV That means this wasn’t some side doctrine. Paul taught prophecy to a young church. He taught them the rapture, and He taught them the Day of the Lord. He taught them about the man of sin. He taught them there is a restrainer holding back the full revealing of Antichrist. “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.” 2 Thessalonians 2:6 KJV Then he says: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” 2 Thessalonians 2:7 KJV Something is restraining evil. Someone is holding back the revealing of the man of sin. Once He is taken out of the way, then the wicked one is revealed. “And then shall that Wicked be revealed...” 2 Thessalonians 2:8 KJV Order matters. Restrainer removed. Wicked one revealed. The Church is indwelt by the Holy Ghost. The Church is the body of Christ on earth. When the Church is caught up, the restraint changes, and the man of sin steps onto the world stage. That lines up perfectly with Revelation. The Church is all over Revelation 2 and 3. Then John hears: “Come up hither...” Revelation 4:1 KJV After that, the Church is no longer mentioned on earth during the seals, trumpets, and vials. You see Israel. You see the nations. You see the beast. You see the false prophet. You see the 144,000. You see tribulation saints. You see judgment falling. The Church is already in heaven. Jesus also promised the faithful church: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation...” Revelation 3:10 KJV Read the wording carefully. He didn’t say kept through the hour. He said kept from the hour. Not just from the trouble. From the hour itself. That’s time language. The Church is kept from the hour of trial that comes upon the whole world. Jesus said the same thing in Luke: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things...” Luke 21:36 KJV Escape all these things. Not endure all these things. Not prepare to take the mark, or build a bunker and hope for the best. Escape. The rapture is the mystery Paul revealed. The resurrection was already known in the Old Testament. Job believed in resurrection. Daniel wrote about resurrection. Martha believed in resurrection. But Paul revealed something more specific. A generation of believers won’t die. They’ll be changed instantly. They’ll be caught up. They’ll meet the Lord in the air. They’ll be delivered from the wrath to come. That’s why Titus calls it: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 KJV The blessed hope isn’t Antichrist. The blessed hope isn’t the seals opening. The blessed hope isn’t the world collapsing. The blessed hope is Jesus Christ. People can mock the rapture all they want. They mocked Noah too. They mocked Lot too. They mocked preaching before judgment came. Jesus said: “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” Luke 17:26 KJV He also said: “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot...” Luke 17:28 KJV Noah was lifted above the judgment. Lot was removed before the fire fell. The pattern is there. God knows how to deliver His own before judgment comes. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment...” 2 Peter 2:9 KJV That’s the comfort. That’s the mystery. That’s the blessed hope. One day the trumpet will sound. The dead in Christ will rise. The living believers will be changed. The Church will meet the Lord in the air. Then this world will enter the time of Jacob’s trouble, exactly like Scripture said. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world...” Matthew 24:21 KJV That time is for Israel and the unbelieving world. Jeremiah called it: “...the time of Jacob’s trouble...” Jeremiah 30:7 KJV Jacob means Israel. The Church is not Jacob. The Church is the bride. Jesus isn’t going to beat His bride before the wedding. He is coming for her. “Let not your heart be troubled...” John 14:1 KJV Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions...” John 14:2 KJV Then He gave the promise: “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:3 KJV That’s the rapture. The Groom comes for the bride. The trumpet sounds. The dead rise. The living are changed. The Church goes home. Maranatha. #MoreJoyMinistries