Nuggets from An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith—The Hope of the Rapture

Paul declared that when Christ returned, as He had promised, He would resurrect the dead and catch away all living Christians together with them to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians:4:13-18 [13] But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [15] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. [16] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: [17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. [18] Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
See All...). No adventure could be more rapturous, so the word “rapture”—which in English means a sudden and ecstatic catching away—was adopted to describe this unprecedented event. Moreover, the word “rapture,” while not found in English translations of the Bible, is the Latin word for “caught up” (1 Thessalonians:4:17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
See All...) used in the Latin Vulgate translation, and is therefore quite biblical. With respect to Christ’s return, we are repeatedly urged to be in an attitude of watching and waiting:

Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord…Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. (Luke:12:35-40 [35] Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; [36] And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. [37] Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. [38] And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. [39] And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. [40] Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
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We do well to consider why this continual expectancy of His imminent return, which is unquestionably commanded by Christ, should have such a special purifying effect. Oddly enough, it seems quite apparent that its value for us, and the importance the Bible obviously attaches to it, do not depend upon whether the Lord’s return actually occurs in our lifetime or not. It is the eager expectancy that counts and which is not only major purifying factor, as John says, but must also be a barometer of our spiritual life.

Although there are many indications that the Lord’s return may very well be imminent for us, we now know in retrospect that it was not imminent for all those generations of Christians who came before us. If the sole value of their “expectancy” lay in its being satisfied by the Lord’s actual return during their lifetime, then the fact that Christ has not yet returned would mean that they waited and watched in vain. Yet the Lord urged this “expectant” attitude upon His first disciples, knowing full well that they and millions of Christians would be taken to heaven in death before He returned. Therefore, there must be something important, something integral to a good Christian life, about the mere attitude of expecting at any moment Christ’s return and our transformation into His likeness. Why?

There can be no doubt that a conviction that we could be caught up into heaven at any moment would impart an added seriousness to our lives. The transient nature of our earthly tenure should cause us to make every moment count for eternity. In this regard, the expectancy of Christ’s imminent return should weaken our tendency to identify ourselves too closely with a world which does not hold our ultimate destiny. It should also help to remind us of our true citizenship in a world to come which is based upon eternal rather than earthly values. This attitude certainly ought to characterize a Christian life, and a lively sense of the possibility of Christ’s imminent return is more than justified if it has this wholesome effect.