What Does the Bible Say About the Rapture (Part 1 - The 2nd Coming)

If you’ve been anywhere near TikTok the past few days, you’ve probably seen it: hordes of self-appointed prophets, TikTok “conservatives,” and armchair evangelists all declaring, with breathless urgency, that September 23 (or 24, just to hedge bets) was going to be The Big Day the Rapture, they claimed, finally descending upon us. (Yes, again.)

This latest viral prophecy is being traced to South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela, who says he received a vision in which Jesus himself announced the date.  

Cue the flood of TikTok tutorials on “how to leave your passwords unlocked for whoever's left behind,” and frantic debates over whether your dog will be raptured too. As one satirical commentator put it, the world’s most energized Instagram live is about to be the Rapture countdown.

Now, let’s be blunt: predictions like this are hardly new. The history of Christian eschatology is littered with failed dates: Harold Camping’s multiple doomsday recalibrations (2011, anyone?), William Miller’s “Great Disappointment” of 1844, David Meade’s 2017 “Planet X” prophecy. And yet here we are again, collectively rolling out eyes on what amounts to a social media prophecy show. It’s almost too predictable to be surprising.

But, and this is where the pastor in me gets grumpy, the fact that modern prophecy charlatans keep failing doesn’t grant us permission to dismiss all talk of the Rapture. There is a strong biblical and theological basis for the hope of Christ’s return and the “catching up” of believers that we call the Rapture. We must be wary of discarding the baby with the bathwater, especially when many are tempted to do exactly that in the wake of public prophecy flops.

So yes: mock the TikTok hype, roll your eyes at the date-setting, but don’t let that become an excuse to abandon careful exegesis. Even in the midst of sensationalism, we dare not treat prophetic hope as a toy. While the September 23 “Rapture-watch party” has come and gone with no trumpet blast, the fallout is real: every failed prediction leaves ordinary Christians a little more jaded, a little more tempted to dismiss or even reject the very idea of Christ’s return. Which is tragic, because though date-setters may be frauds, the doctrine itself is not. That’s why I want to be clear about why I’m writing this blog.

There are three reasons:

• First, to encourage my fellow Nigerian pastors. Some of you reading this reside in parts of Nigeria where your churches have been attacked by extremists or bandits and your members have fled or your church has been burned down. You may be wondering where God is in all of this and where you will find the strength to continue this work of ministry. My prayer is that this teaching on the end times will strengthen your will and resolve to keep pressing on in light of Jesus’ imminent return.

• Second, to address the shakiness of faith that failed predictions often create. Many sincere believers, when they see social media prophets proven false or recall past “rapture dates” that never came to pass, begin to wonder whether the Scriptures themselves can be trusted. I want you to know that bad prophecy doesn’t discredit God’s Word; it only reveals the folly of men. My hope is that this blog post restores your confidence that the biblical promise of Christ’s return is sure, even if our timelines are not.

• Third, to provide you with a biblical framework for understanding the end times. My desire is that as you study these passages, you will not be swayed by failed predictions or shaken by popular speculation, but instead anchored in the truth of Scripture.

With that said, let’s launch into a discussion about a supernatural event that almost every Christian is anticipating and looking forward to but may not quite understand.

NAMELY, THE RAPTURE.

In the Bible (Matthew 24), Jesus was asked by His disciples, “…what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” In response, Jesus listed several signs that quite honestly, sounds as if He was reading a newspaper headline from yesterday.

• He said there would be wars and rumors of wars (nations rising against nations).

• He spoke of an increase in famines, and earthquakes

• the rapid spreading of the Gospel, and also an increase in apostacy (the abandonment of faith in Christ)

• …all of which eventually leads to the most troubling and traumatic period in history right before Jesus Christ returns.

Each of those events Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24 have happened in history and are happening with increasing regularity and intensity in our day.

CONCERNING WARS AND RUMARS OF WAR THAT JESUS SPOKE OF, the website, crisis group.com lists out at least 10 different world conflict presently raging (or that may begin raging), including:

• Palestine/Gaza: An uncertain future after the 2023–24 war — famine now confirmed in Gaza (August 2025), with West Bank unrest and Israel–Iran tensions threatening wider escalation.

• Ukraine: A grinding war of attrition with Russia, now in its fourth year, with no decisive breakthrough in sight.

• Yemen and the Red Sea: Fragile peace continues to unravel, with Red Sea shipping attacks disrupting global trade and threatening stability.

• Sudan: Civil war between the army and RSF has devastated Khartoum and Darfur, with famine declared in several regions in 2024 and still worsening in 2025.

• The Sahel: Coups, jihadist insurgencies, and climate stress have plunged Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger into deeper crisis, destabilizing the wider region.

• Democratic Republic of Congo: Fresh violence as M23 rebels, backed by regional powers, captured Goma earlier this year; a shaky peace deal with Rwanda was only just signed in mid-2025.

• Myanmar: Civil war intensifies as pro-democracy resistance and ethnic armed groups continue to challenge the military junta.

• Haiti: Gangs dominate Port-au-Prince, with vigilante groups and regional peacekeepers struggling to contain chaos.

• Mexico: Cartel violence and political assassinations surge in the wake of 2024’s elections, fueling instability.

• United States: Political polarization deepens heading into the 2026 midterms, with social unrest, mass shootings, and cultural divisions intensifying.

CONCERNING FAMINES AND EARTHQUAKES, on the world food program website, it reports that an estimated 45 million people (that’s the same amount of people in Canada), are at risk of starving to death because of famine. Unfortunately, the areas at the most immediate risk are in the conflict-affected areas of Yemen, South Sudan, northeastern Nigeria and Tigray in Ethiopia. There has certainly been an increased coverage of earthquakes, mudslides, forest fires, and floods on my news feed.

While Americans may spend their weekends debating the cancellation of the latest reality show or celebrity drama, Christians in northern Nigeria or parts of the Middle East hardly need an end-times chart to convince them: according to Open Doors, Nigeria is now ranked the 9th most dangerous country in the world to follow Jesus, with Boko Haram, Fulani militants, ISWAP, and armed bandits unleashing brutal violence against churches and pastors. For them, the “birth pains” of Matthew 24 don’t feel like a warning of what’s coming, they feel like the Great Tribulation itself has already arrived.

These are the signs, “the beginnings of birth pains” that Jesus said would precede His return that we are seeing happening in our day today!

Incidentally, in Matthew 24:14, Jesus also spoke of the rapid spreading of the Gospel, and also an increase in apostacy (the abandonment of faith in Christ). Though there are still many unreached people groups that the church needs to rally around and send missionaries to, with the advent of social media and the internet, the Gospel has spread far and wide and covered many parts of formerly unreached places.

I give you all that background on current events in our day and its correlation to the prophetic words of Jesus to bring us to this question:

“What is next for the church on the prophetic calendar of events?”

 And the answer to that is what we are discussing in this blog post, an event known as, “The Rapture.” The word, “rapture” is a reference to a supernatural event that will suddenly and physically remove every Christian on earth in one single moment to be reunited with Jesus Christ in the sky.

Now, to be clear, you will not find the word, “rapture” in your English Bible. It is taken from a word in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, where the apostle Paul explains that we will be “caught up” to meet with the LORD in the sky.

The word, “caught up is from the Greek word, “harpazo” which is translates as (“to seize” or “to snatch out/away”). In the Latin translation of 1 Thessalonians. 4:17 (in the Vulgate), it is the word, “Rapere”, which is where we get the English word, “Rapture” from.

So that is the source of the word if anyone ever asks!

The event of the rapture itself is described in at least three separate places in the scriptures (Matthew 24:40-42, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, and, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Each of those passages gives us different details about the unfolding of that future day.

• In the Matthew 24:40-42 passage, Jesus says on the day of the rapture, “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.

• In 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, the apostle Paul explains a little bit more… He says, “But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.”

• And then finally there’s 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 which we I spend the rest of this post on.

Now, before I read the passage to you, I need to set up the context for you so you know what was happening in the church in the city of Thessalonica that Paul is writing to because they were a fairly young church with a lot of new Christians. This church was facing GREAT persecution from their pagan and Jewish neighbors, and in fact, many of their members had died for a variety of reasons. 

So, the church members were starting to panic in fear because they thought they had MISSED the rapture and were living in the end times already because of all the persecution and suffering they were facing.  Not only that, but they were also afraid that their family members and friends in church who had died had also missed the rapture and would not receive their resurrection body.

So, it’s in response to this that Paul now writes 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 to explain how the rapture will happen, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep [have died as Christians], or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 therefore encourage each other with these words.” 

• So, here is the first thing we know. According to verse 1, Paul’s understanding of the rapture is a revelation that came directly from the LORD Himself. In other words, it has divine authority and authorship and is to be taken seriously as a very real event that will be fulfilled soon in our future.

• The second thing we should know is that God is a God of order, and even in the rapture, there is an orderly sequence in which believers will be raptured.

The rapture will begin the shout of the archangel that every living and dead Christian will hear.This shout is both a command and a trumpet call that basically announces, “IT IS TIME!!” …ascend and join your Savior in the sky.

The first people who will respond are followers of Jesus Christ who have already died and were buried. Their decayed bones or burned ashes will in one moment, and in response to the trumpet call of God, suddenly be restored to a fleshly glorified body that ascends to meet Jesus in the sky.

By the way, this has happened before in Biblical history, not only with people like Lazarus whom Jesus raised to life after three days of his body being in the tomb, but also in places like Matthew 27:52-53. That was the moment Jesus died on the cross and it says tombs were opened throughout the city, and many godly men and women who had died rose from the dead and appeared to people throughout the city. That was a small glimpse of what will happen first at the rapture when the dead in Christ are resurrected.

So, listen, if you have anyone in your family, church, village, who was a Christian who you miss dearly because they died, either through persecution, accident, or naturally – YOU WILL SEE THEM AGAIN IN THEIR FULL GLORY ON THAT FUTURE DAY OF THE RAPTURE!

That day and that moment will be the fulfilment of 1 Corinthians 15:54 where it says, “54 … when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Keep in mind that scripture says all of this will happen suddenly and in as much time as it takes for you to blink your eye once.

Now, after the dead in Christ have been raised first, scripture says those of us who are still alive will also experience the same bodily transformation and ascend to reunite with Jesus Christ and our loved ones in the sky.

That day will be the mother of all celebrations as Jesus takes us all with Him to heaven to be with Him forever. That is why Paul concludes that section in verse 18 by saying, “…therefore encourage each other with these words.”

Now, remember I said at the beginning that this was going to be a two part blog post? I said that because we have a lot to cover that I don’t want to rush it all into one post. In the next blog post, we will continue in our discussion about the rapture and how believers who are still living (that’s YOU) will experience that miraculous event.

Then in the coming weeks, we will talk about the antichrist, his arrival and influence on the world; we will talk about heaven and rewards, what to expect, who goes, and life will be life; and then will talk about hell and the really bad news of those who end up there.

So that is where we are headed; for today, however, just as the apostle Paul ended in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 where he says, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”, I want to encourage you pastors who are shepherding persecuted communities.

The LORD sees the agony and trials you and your congregation are going through. He is not blind to your pain. And even if He doesn’t rescue you in the midst of your suffering, understand that there have been throughout history other brothers and sisters in Christ in big cities and small villages who have suffered what you are facing – SO, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Two, understand that on the day Christ returns in the rapture or on the day you take your last breath in this life and go to Him in heaven, you will receive a welcome celebration and reward unlike any you have ever known. The men and women and children that you wept for because they were killed in your presence will embrace you in their beautiful glorified bodies and you will all realize that Jesus Christ was worth laying down your life for because of His great love for you!

So, do not be discouraged. Continue to faithful shepherd the flock that has been entrusted to you so that “when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” “[For] no eye has seen, [and] no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him…”

May God bless you as you serve His Church.

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