Wednesday, September 24, 2014

God's upward call - the Rapture of the Church

Philippians 3: 11...If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection (out) of the dead.

Being taken out of this world is the picture. The word "out" is added in the Greek text.

Philippians 3: 13-14...Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The necessary preparation for the "out resurrection" is a clean heart...holy in the eyes of God. Members of the body of Christ are made holy by God's Grace with a yearning from within to be with Christ. The Rapture of the Church is the prize of God's high calling. All members of Christ's body alive or in the grave will make the Rapture. Christ will "take out His Church" from among the dead. This upward call is the Christian's escape from the Great Tribulation.