Bodies and the Rapture

InsuranceGuy

Well-Known Member
I am certain someone has asked this before... Is the Bible clear that our bodies go in the Rapture? Could they be left behind and our spirits are just taken/transformed? This question has been asked to me and I am not certain there is anything stating our bodies must disappear. This was brought up to due to the worldwide pandemic and the question posed was "Is it possible the world is on lockdown and the Rapture occurs, so the governments just say everyone died?"

How do you answer that?
 

InsuranceGuy

Well-Known Member

This is a question that plagues me; Why would the old body transform? Wouldnt it be the spirit transforming into a new body? The dead rising first also offers some questions.

I've always believed the body disappears, but the bodies being left behind could become a very great lie. My daughter asked if the body putting on immortality could mean the spirit putting it on while the old body stays behind. You obviously don't need the old vessel anymore.
 

mattfivefour

Well-Known Member
Our bodies do not "disappear", brother; and they are not "left behind." They are changed, they are transformed! Here are two passages that speak to this:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

13 Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death,c so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.​
15 By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17 After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.​


1 Corinthians 15:35-53

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. 38 But God gives it a body as He has designed, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.​
39 Not all flesh is the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one degree, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is of another. 41 The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.​
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.​
46 The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.​
50 Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.​
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep (that is to say, die), but we will all be changed— 52 in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.


These passages give us a few clues. First they tell us that the spirits of the dead will return with Christ to receive their immortal bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then it tells us that we will be "changed". The Greek word is ἀλλάσσω (allaso) which literally means "make something other than it is." It comes from the noun allos which essentially means "different but of the same kind" in contradistinction to heteros which means "different and of another kind." So the verb that Paul uses here tells us that we will be changed but still be humans ... although entirely different. In other words, we will not suddenly become gods or some other type of creature, we will remain people but at that point, based on the other parts of this 1 Corinthians 15 passage, we will be immortal and incorruptible.

Does this help at all?
 

InsuranceGuy

Well-Known Member
Our bodies do not "disappear", brother; and they are not "left behind." They are changed, they are transformed! Here are two passages that speak to this:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

13 Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death,c so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.​
15 By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17 After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.​


1 Corinthians 15:35-53

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. 38 But God gives it a body as He has designed, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.​
39 Not all flesh is the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one degree, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is of another. 41 The sun has one degree of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.​
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.​
46 The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.​
50 Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.​
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep (that is to say, die), but we will all be changed— 52 in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.


These passages give us a few clues. First they tell us that the spirits of the dead will return with Christ to receive their immortal bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then it tells us that we will be "changed". The Greek word is ἀλλάσσω (allaso) which literally means "make something other than it is." It comes from the noun allos which essentially means "different but of the same kind" in contradistinction to heteros which means "different and of another kind." So the verb that Paul uses here tells us that we will be changed but still be humans ... although entirely different. In other words, we will not suddenly become gods or some other type of creature, we will remain people but at that point, based on the other parts of this 1 Corinthians 15 passage, we will be immortal and incorruptible.

Does this help at all?


It does help. I think it helps me more than others though. I'll have to screenshot your reply to share it. lol

One thing I love about this site is being able to ask questions. Some questions I can answer on my own, but some cause to pause and think for a while. Usually, the longer I think, the more confused I get myself.
 

Steve53

Well-Known Member
Our bodies do not "disappear", brother; and they are not "left behind." They are changed, they are transformed!

From the point of view of those left behind, we're outta here. Poof.

From our perspective, as Adrian says, there's an instantaneous transformation into bodies capable of doing things we can only imagine.

I pray my transformed body loses 40 pounds... :hehee
 

Psalm37v4

Hated and laughed at by the world but loved by God
From the point of view of those left behind, we're outta here. Poof.

From our perspective, as Adrian says, there's an instantaneous transformation into bodies capable of doing things we can only imagine.

I pray my transformed body loses 40 pounds... :hehee
I would love to have a thin "new body"...this current one is 100 lbs. too big...
It'll also be great to see our elderly friends & loved ones in new youthful bodies!
 

TheRedeemed

Well-Known Member
So maybe while the world is quarantined, the Rapture could happen. To explain the missing bodies, the govt. could say we all had the virus and the bodies had to be kept away from everyone. I'm obviously up to late.... :)

I was thinking about this last night and getting excited, then I remembered about the giving and receiving in marriage part.

I got sad again when I recalled that as in the UK and probably many other countries, weddings are banned until further notice. I presume they mean gatherings of people? Perhaps you can still get married at a registry office or in private as long as everyone keeps their distance, I am not sure. Either way, no one is apparently giving nor receiving in marriage right now, at least not in the UK and probably not in most of Europe.

Then I got happy again, as I believe the giving and receiving in marriage is in reference to the 2nd coming?

It's awful when you get excited, then confused, then excited again. I think I may be going stir crazy in the lockdown :p
 

LisaJoe1986

Active Member
I was thinking about this last night and getting excited, then I remembered about the giving and receiving in marriage part.

I got sad again when I recalled that as in the UK and probably many other countries, weddings are banned until further notice. I presume they mean gatherings of people? Perhaps you can still get married at a registry office or in private as long as everyone keeps their distance, I am not sure. Either way, no one is apparently giving nor receiving in marriage right now, at least not in the UK and probably not in most of Europe.

Then I got happy again, as I believe the giving and receiving in marriage is in reference to the 2nd coming?

It's awful when you get excited, then confused, then excited again. I think I may be going stir crazy in the lockdown :p
My son got married last Friday evening. He and his wife were not able to get a license from the state, but they were married before God and 12 witnesses, so in all of our minds, they are married. It was very sweet and simple...probably the way weddings really ought to be.
 

AnewcreationinJesus

Soon and very soon ....
Well like all on here would be absolutely completely totally utterly more than happy for the great gathering to happen now during this isolation period .....

Lord please get us outta here!!!!!!!!!!

:bouncies:meet:mousedance:rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture :rapture
 
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