An expression dating back to 1512 is: “Throwing out the baby with bath water.” The idea is that if you think part of something is bad, don’t throw it all away.
Is that not what many pastors do today? Because they fear the negative results of mentioning the dreaded word “Rapture” from the pulpit, they refuse to talk about what happens when Jesus appears: our bodily transformation. The essence of our “blessed hope” goes out the window along with any mention of Jesus’ appearing. Most churches effectively silence our biblical hope in Jesus’ appearing.
I have heard several Gospel presentations where the pastor never once said the words “eternal life,” or, if he did, he quickly glossed over it as something secondary to the gospel. Citing John 3:16 in a closing prayer does little to correct this problem, as by then, most people are focused on lunch.
In the New Testament, we find a far different emphasis than what we hear in most churches today, even those that profess to be Bible-believing.
Martha’s Belief in the Resurrection
Even before any New Testament book was written, Jesus' followers believed in a future resurrection. We see this in Martha’s assertion of faith after her brother Lazarus' death. When Jesus told her that her brother would “rise again” (John 11:23), she responded: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (11:24). Even in the midst of her grief, she clung to the hope of her brother’s bodily resurrection.
In the Gospel of John, the phrase “eternal life” appears seventeen times. Martha understood what Jesus’ oft-repeated promise meant for her brother. He would raise him from the dead to everlasting life with a new body.
Jesus emphasized our hope beyond the grave in John 5:24: “Truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” Is it any wonder that Paul so vigorously defends the resurrection of believers throughout 1 Corinthians 15? In the chapter's concluding verses, the apostle gives us further revelation about our future resurrection life. He will give us immortal and imperishable bodies (1 Corinthians 15:47-55). Please also note that Paul includes believers alive at the time of the Rapture.
In Philippians 3:20-21, Paul explains that our glorious transformation happens when Jesus appears, aka the Rapture. That’s the essence of Jesus’ promise: He gives eternal life to all who believe. And we will fully experience it at His return. This is the substance of our hope, the future tense of the gospel.
Immortal and incorruptible Bodies
Earlier in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul leaves no doubt as to the utmost importance of this promise of eternal life: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (v. 19). If this is true, and it is, where’s the justification for not even mentioning eternal life when presenting the gospel? Both the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul emphasized that our hope lies beyond this vale of tears.
Take away what happens to us when Jesus appears and “we are of all people most to be pitied.” The Greek word for “pitied” carries with it the connotation of being “miserable.” I fear that describes many Christians whose focus all their future aspirations on what lies ahead for them in this life rather than on their hope beyond it. Such an anticipation invariably leads to great disappointment.
The glorious truth for us as New Testament saints begins in the next verse with Paul’s declaration that “Christ has been raised from the dead” (v. 20). His line of reasoning in the next several verses leads directly to 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, where he sums up our forever hope with the exciting details of our bodily resurrection as New Testament saints.:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
In language that others cannot possibly misconstrue or misunderstand to signify anything other than our future transformation or resurrection, the apostle says time is coming when Jesus will raise the dead with imperishable bodies and gloriously transform believers still alive at His appearing.
Those who say that 1 Corinthians 15:47-57 refers to what happened to us when we became believers are false teachers. And yes, besides reading this errant interpretation, I heard one pastor say these verses refer to our past, to what happens at the time of our redemption. Such teaching lies far outside the Christian faith.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, our over-the-top blissful hope is that someday we will possess a glorious body like that of our Savior. In Philippians 3:20-21, Paul writes about an “excited anticipation” of Jesus’ appearing. The word he used for “await” signifies a yearning of the soul for the time that Jesus raises the dead in Christ and wholly transforms us with immortality.
The Essence of Our Blessed Hope
Living forever in resurrected bodies like our Savior's is our blessed hope, the one Paul wrote about in Titus 2:11-14. The Rapture is a biblical doctrine. According to several New Testament texts, it's when our faith in the unseen becomes our experience.
We will spend eternity in gloriously transformed bodies that will never experience pain, sickness, aging, or death. They will be like our Savior's. The “redemption of our bodies,” which happens at the time of the Rapture, was the hope that the apostles proclaimed to the world (Romans 8:23-25). It was not an afterthought, but something fully explained along with the saving message of the cross.
The problem I have with preaching today is that it effectively silences the truths revealed in 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 and Philippians 3:20-21. Of course, pastors in Bible-believing churches do not deny our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:11-14). However, they effectively silence it by changing it into a nebulous Second Coming whereby all bible prophecy awaiting fulfillment starts with Revelation 20:11,
Maranatha!
Note: In Hereafter, It’s Far Better Than You Can Imagine, Terry James and I describe the future glory that awaits us as believers, beginning with Jesus’ appearing. Throughout, we emphasize the jubilant joy that awaits us in Heaven. The last chapter includes 27 frequently asked questions and answers about Heaven and what it's like to be there.
Note: Please consider signing up for my newsletter on my website’s home page at https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/. Thanks!