The Rapture

So what will happen to Christians during the Apocalypse? God has a history of providing an escape for His true followers when sending judgement on the world, from Noah's Ark to the escape of Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The first three Gospels each has a chapter that is primarily about the Apocalypse, as explained by Jesus (Matthew 24, Mark 13 and, Luke 21). It is not necessary to go into detail here because this is explained in the posting "The End Of The World As We Know It". But these chapters describe how, at the End of the World, "two people will be working, one will be taken and the other left". 

Chapter 4 of the First Book of Thessalonians, verses 13-17, describes Jesus returning and meeting His believers in the clouds, without coming all the way to the ground. The "dead in Christ", the believers that have already died, will rise first and then the believers that are still alive. They will leave with Jesus.

The second chapter of the Second Book of Thessalonians is about the emergence of the Antichrist. Before he can attain full power the Holy Spirit must first be removed. Since the Holy Spirit dwells within Christians, that must mean that the Christians must be removed prior to the emergence of the Antichrist.

The Antichrist will be allowed to reign for seven years. The Antichrist will be amazing, having all of the answers to everything, and the first half of the seven years will be the best time that the world has ever seen. But it will all fall apart and the second half of the seven years will be the worst time that the world has ever seen, or ever will see. In those Gospel chapters Jesus makes it clear that, had He not returned to set up His Kingdom and end the Tribulation Period, no one would be left alive on earth.

The Book of Revelation is all about the Apocalypse. What is interesting is that, other than the first three chapters, the church or the Christians are not mentioned while the judgements of the Tribulation Period are going on. But, near the end of the book, Jesus returns with an army of His saints to end the Tribulation and set up His Kingdom.

But who are these great number of saints returning with Jesus? They are the Christians that Jesus removed from the world before the Tribulation Period began. They will have spent the seven years of the Tribulation Period in Heaven.

This taking away of the true Christians, so that they will miss the horrors of the Tribulation Period, is known as the Rapture, although that is a general term that is not in the Bible.

By far the best thing is to be in the Rapture. You will spend the seven years in Heaven and then return with Jesus to set up His Kingdom on earth. The world will then be the godly paradise that it was always intended to be. If you miss the Rapture you can certainly still be saved but will probably be killed in the Apocalypse. The vast number of people who will realize what is happening and turn to Jesus during the Tribulation are referred to as the Tribulation Saints.