What is the True Meaning of 'Rapture' and Being 'Caught Up in The Clouds to Meet the Lord in the Air'?
📰The Bible is one of the best-selling and most widely distributed books in history, yet it is also considered to be among the least understood. The Bible, which is referred to as the New Covenant and Promise of God, in which 'the way to heaven and salvation' is presented, differs in theologians' interpretations that make it difficult to understand. These differing interpretations have been the cause of the rise of denominations with each one establishing their own doctrine. With the increase in online church services and gatherings resulting from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there has been growing interest in the comparison of various church doctrine. This paper, therefore, attempts to provide readers with the opportunity to compare differing Biblical teachings without interpretation. Among a host of online sermons and Bible-based teachings, the contrasting doctrine between the established Church and Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which has drawn public interest throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, is hereby compared and summarised. Best efforts have been made to provide a summary of Shincheonji Church of Jesus' understanding of the Bible. Judgment as to what is right or wrong is left to the reader’s discernment.
"Heaven is a place where God is and will come down to this earth. Going there (the tabernacle of God) is *'rapture'"
Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony
*term commonly used within Korean Christianity
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In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, the expression 'being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air' is reminiscent of a rapture. The air refers to the sky. Just as the words of a famous hymn say that the place where my Lord Jesus is enshrined is the kingdom of heaven, the heavens that the Bible speaks of is the place where God is. In Psalm 84:11, God is likened to the sun, and as the sun is in the sky, the place where the Most High God resides is heaven.
In the Bible, Heaven is God's dwelling and is not only the unseen spiritual heaven as we understand it, but also a church on the earth where God and His chosen pastor is. This place is described as the tabernacle of 'heaven' in Revelation 13:6.
In the Bible, there is the expression 'soaring on wings like eagles'. What is an eagle? About 3500 years ago, when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God carried them out on eagles wings under Moses. If these were literal eagles, how could the exodus of 600,000 Israelite people have travelled on wings? In Revelation 4, God tells us that one of the four living creatures in front of the throne in the spiritual realm is like a flying eagle. Thus, this eagle is the fourth living creature, which is a spirit or angel, in Revelation 4. The content of Exodus 19:4 means that after the Israelites were captured by Pharaoh king of Egypt and suffered great trials, they were then led by an angel to the place of God.
As in the case of Moses, the chosen people of Jerusalem who betrayed at the first coming were captured by the Egypt-like scribes and Pharisees. At that time, Jesus, whom God and the spiritual kingdom of heaven were with, testified the revealed word of the Old Testament. Hearing this and going to Jesus under the guidance of the angels of heaven was the true 'rapture' of the first coming, and the meaning of being lifted up on eagles wings.
What is the true meaning of the rapture at the time of Second Coming of the Lord? In Matthew 24:7 - the chapter which records the events that will take place at the Second Coming of the Lord - it is written that there will be a spiritual war between nations and kingdoms. It was also recorded that the 'abomination that causes desolation' would stand in the holy place, which means that Jerusalem would be defeated and captured by the enemy because of their act of betrayal.
Regarding this situation and in verse 29 of this chapter, Jesus said that after the sun, moon and stars become dark and fall to become spiritual night, He would come with heaven's angels to call His chosen ones.
In the words of Genesis 37:9-11, the chosen people are referred to as the sun, moon and stars, so the heavenly bodies being shaken in verse 29 refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, the chosen people. This means that God, through an angel at the Second Coming, will guide His chosen people who have been captured by the spiritual night of the darkening and falling of the sun, moon and stars, in the same way that the chosen people captured in the days of Moses were guided on eagles' wings.
As we see in Revelation 13 and 11, the tabernacle that betrayed is called 'heaven', and the tabernacle in Revelation 14 and 15 is also called 'heaven'. Thus, there are two kinds of heaven. It is the first heaven that darkens and passes away to make way for the re-creation of a new heaven. So, according to the words in 1 Thessalonians 4, the sky that chosen believers must go to in the end times is neither the actual sky nor the first heaven (church/tabernacle) that became corrupt and betrayed, but new heaven where God dwells, which is the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony .
When will we be caught up to meet the Lord in the air in 1 Thessalonians 4? It is after the first heaven - the sun, moon and stars - of the chosen tabernacle betrayed and were subsequently destroyed. At this time, Jesus, together with the angels, gathers people from the east, west, north and south to guide them to the new heaven where the one who overcomes is. This is the 'air' where eagles fly in to welcome the Lord. Just as the term 'going up' was used in an ancient Korean proverb to mean 'going to the capital where the king resided', going to the new heaven and new earth where God is at the time of the Second Coming where the one who overcomes is, is going to heaven. Following this call is true rapture at the Second Coming.
"As one generation lasts approximately 50 years, it will end in 2000. The church needs to be ready to go up to heaven"
Pastor A, Full Gospel Denomination
January 22, 1984
"It is said that the dead will rise first, and those of us who are still alive will be transformed and lifted up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The Second Coming of Christ will come before our eyes."
April 29, 1984
"It is written that all of this will be achieved before this generation ends. One generation is around 50 years. The generation of Israel's Independence will end in 1998, so by the year 2000 all generations will pass."
January 14, 1990
"It is being constantly foretold that this world will soon be destroyed by God's judgment. Moreover, we're in 1990. There are only 10 years left until the year 2000. Now we know that the world is coming to its final end. We don't know when the moment will come but it will happen in an instant and all of us who are alive will change and go up into the clouds."
September 19, 1993
"The Lord is now telling us that the countdown to the last days first began with Israel's independence as the starting point."
May 17, 1998
"The world we live in is in the end times. The end of history is quickly happening before our eyes. The church must prepare to be taken up to heaven. God's plan is recorded in eschatology. God will soon judge history through Jesus Christ and bring this world to an end."
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