— Biblical
Foreshadows of the Rapture
The
Rapture is real and is foreshadowed throughout Scripture.
This is the Second Article in the Beginning
and End Rapture Series
This article will look at
several Biblical foreshadows of the Rapture in Bible prophecy that show
that God always removes His people from harm when He is preparing to
supernaturally punish the unbelieving heathen world. In Part 1
of the Rapture Series, we examined the Day of The Lord, the Biblical prophecy
event that starts the end times (if you have not read it, we strongly recommend
it here).
The Day of The Lord (also known as the
Great Tribulation) is the outpouring out God’s wrath on the unbelieving
world in a series of supernatural judgments in the final seven years before
Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Rapture, the supernatural
removal of faithful believers in Jesus Christ from the Earth, occurs just as
the Day of The Lord is about to begin. The Church – all true, born again
believers in Jesus Christ, will be “caught up” in the air and rescued just
before the wrath of God comes. By looking at Old Testament types and
shadows, God’s method of saving His people before judgment becomes apparent and
foreshadows timing of the Rapture of the church in the prophetic timeline.
1. Noah’s Ark and the Flood – A
Preview of the Rapture
While the world suffered judgment,
faithful Noah was safe in the Ark.
But as the days of Noah were, so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before
the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until
the day that [Noah] entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came,
and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew
24: 37-39)
For if God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved
Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing
in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; The
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve
the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. (2 Peter 2:4-9)
The account of Noah and the flood is
a foreshadow of the Rapture of the church. Jesus Christ said the world will be
living just like the “days of Noah” when discussing the end times and the final
years before His Second Coming. During the days before the flood, the world was
carrying on with normal activities and falling into rampant sin, accelerated by
the presence of the Nephilim, angelic-human hybrids who had overrun the Earth
(see our article “Nephilim – Giants in The Bible” for more information). God was so dismayed at the state of
humanity and its impending loss of a chance to have a fully human Savior, that
the flood judgment was set to come upon the world. The world was completely
unaware of this coming judgment, but Noah
and his family were aware of it (thanks to God). This is the same state of
the world before the Day of The Lord /Great Tribulation. The world will be
carrying on as usual, deep in sinful rebellion against God, and sudden judgment will come at the opening of
the 6th Seal of Revelation.
The 6th seal plus the subsequent trumpet and vial judgments paint a
frightening picture of the end times. There will be devastating global
earthquakes. Waters will be poisoned. Millions upon millions will die in
plagues and disasters. Evil fallen angels will return to Earth and be permitted
to interact with humanity and the reign of the Antichrist will begin. Life will
go from being very normal to anything but! This will all be a part of God’s
judgment on unbelievers or those who claim to be Christian but were not truly
born again. But the true Christians will escape these judgments via the
Rapture. The account of Noah’s ark is a foreshadow of God’s pattern for
protecting His faithful believers.
Noah Escapes God’s Wrath
As the verse above from 2 Peter
states: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
temptations.” “Temptations”
here means “afflictions” or “intense suffering.” Noah “found grace” with
God because he was one of the last true believers in God on the Earth (in
addition to being 100% human and not corrupted by Nephilim). God warned Noah
about the coming flood and instructed him to build the ark, so that they could
be protected in the time of His wrath on the world. And just as Noah’s family
were saved from the judgment of the flood poured out on the sinful world
so will the faithful believers in Jesus Christ at the Rapture be removed from
the Earth just before the judgments of the Day of The Lord begins.
Noah’s Entry into the Ark
Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto
Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation… 4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain
upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I
have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. 5 And Noah did
according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
Noah’s entry into the Ark was 7 days before the flood
started. Verse 5 makes it clear that Noah
obeyed the Lord’s instruction. In Bible prophecy, a “day” often is symbolic
of a year and this verse foreshadows the raptured church being transported
to Heaven, to reside in God’s dwelling for 7 years while the wrath of
God is poured out on the Earth.
God’s Invitation
Notice that in verse 1 of chapter 7
it reads: “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into
the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.”
God literally invited Noah into the ark to be with Him. The language of
“come…into” indicates that the God’s presence was inside the ark. This is
similar to when the Apostle John was raptured to heaven at the invitation of
God in the Book of Revelation: “1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was
opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of
a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither”
The Ark, a type and shadow of
Heaven, is similar to the Ark of the Covenant, where God’s presence also
resided: “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee
from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the
ark of the testimony,” (Exodus 25:22). The consistent theme is the
believer being invited to be in the safety of the presence of God.
The Door
An interesting aspect of the Flood
account is that when Noah and his family enter the ark, it is God who shuts
the door: “16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all
flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” A heavenly
door is also a symbol used in reference to the Rapture. In the verse above from
Revelation, the Apostle John saw a door open in Heaven before he was
raptured. Jesus, when addressing the faithful church of Philadelphia in the
Book of Revelation stated:
And to the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he
that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth,
and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for
thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my
name…Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from
the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that
dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:7-10).
Jesus describes Himself as the one who opens and shuts the
door. And as a reward for their
faithfulness, the church of Philadelphia is promised to be protected from the
”hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that
dwell upon the earth.” Notice the word “temptation”
is used once again in reference to the wrath of the Great Tribulation. As
Noah was protected from the flood that afflicted the whole world, so will
believers be safe in Heaven with Jesus during the judgments of the Day of The
Lord/Great Tribulation. And just as God the Father shut Noah in the Ark, Jesus
will shut in his faithful believers behind a door in Heaven during the wrath of
God in the Great Tribulation.
2. Lot Escapes Sodom
Likewise also as it was in the days
of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they
builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it
rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even
thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. – Luke
17:28-30
And turning the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample
unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with
the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among
them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with
their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of
judgment to be punished” – 2 Peter 2:6-9
Lot was a believer in God, living in
a wicked, sinful city. When angels came to visit Lot, all of the men and boys
in the city of Sodom demanded the male angels to be given to them for sexual
relations (a similar to the illicit angelic-human unions in Noah’s time). Lot
was “vexed” (or upset) with the extreme sin of the city because he was a
believer in God and His righteousness. The Lord was angered with Sodom and
Gomorrah so much so that He was going to destroy it with fire and brimstone.
But before the supernatural punishment took place, God once again warned his
faithful follower of the coming judgment by sending the two angels, who
appeared as men to let Lot know that he and his family would be spared:
12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast
thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and
whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13 For we will
destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of
the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and
spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you
out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one
that mocked unto his sons in law. 15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise,
take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in
the iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his
hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters;
the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him
without the city.
24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Lot was removed from Sodom by supernatural means (angels personally
escorted he and his family out of the city) just prior to the fire and
brimstone raining down. The same pattern for the Rapture as seen with Noah
emerges: 1) God prepares to pour out His judgment on the wicked. 2) He sends a
warning to His faithful followers and 3) the judgment does not come until after
the faithful have been safely removed.
3. The Passover
The Passover account in the book of
Exodus took place as God brought His final and worst judgment
against Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who were slave masters over the tribes
of Israel in the book of Exodus. The Lord was going to send an angel to kill
every firstborn son in the Egyptian Empire as a final punishment against the
sinful, pagan Pharaoh who oppressed and enslaved God’s chosen nation. And The
Lord, in commanding Moses, made sure to provide specific instructions for a
sacrifice of a lamb so that the Israelites would be protected when the
punishment was poured out:
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop,
and dip it in the blood that is in the [basin], and strike the lintel and the
two side posts with the blood that is in the [basin]; and none of you shall go
out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through
to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the
two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the
destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. (Exodus 12:22-23)
The pattern and typology of the Rapture is present. The believers are warned by God that a judgment is coming
and they are specifically spared the judgment. God commanded the Israelites to
put the blood on their doorposts and stay behind their doors and not to come
out. Just as it was with Noah and with the Apostle John a door was symbolic of
being kept safe during a time of judgment. And as it will be with the Rapture,
the believers are saved, suffering no harm, while the unbelievers suffer God’s
wrath.
4. Moses Speaking to God on Mt.
Sinai
God descended from Heaven just as
Jesus will at the Rapture.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I
come unto thee in a thick cloud, that
the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And
Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto
Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them
wash their clothes, 11And be ready against the third day: for the third
day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount
Sinai. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were
thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the
trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they
stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the
LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of
a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice
of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God
answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on
the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the
mount; and Moses went up. (Exodus 19:9-17)
In this amazing account from the
book of Exodus, The Lord literally
descends to Earth to speak to Moses and the 12 tribes of Israel. Notice the
parallels to the Rapture description from Bible prophecy. God Himself descended
from Heaven in a cloud, just as the 1
Thessalonians states that Jesus Himself will descend from Heaven in a cloud.
The people are told in advance that they will gather together to meet The
Lord, just as the raptured church will be gathered to meet Jesus in the clouds
(also note that Moses is “called up”
to meet God in the cloud). They also must prepare for the Lord’s arrival
by cleaning their clothes. Jesus, in the Book of Revelation praises the
church of Sardis for the few believers left in it who: “have
not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are
worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment“
(Revelation 3:4-5). Clean garments are symbolic of having the righteousness
of Christ that all true born again Christian receive.
Another interesting parallel is that
God’s voice is
described as a trumpet. 1 Thessalonians 4 describes the Rapture: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God..” Contrary to popular
interpretations, it is this author’s belief that the “trump of God” is not a
physical or heavenly instrument. It is God’s voice. This
passage above from Exodus 19 links God speaking and the sound of the trumpet.
In the Septuagint salpiggo is the Geek word for ‘trumpet’. A
similar connection is made when the Apostle John is raptured to Heaven in
Revelation 4: “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened
in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it
were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I
will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” In this verse
John is hearing the voice of Jesus, resurrected and sitting on His throne in
heaven. And Jesus’
voice is described as a trumpet with the same Greek word (salpiggo) used
for God’s voice in Exodus. So the descent of God Himself, the sound
of the “trump of God” and the gathering of the believers provide another
foreshadow of the future Rapture.
5. The Consecration of The Temple Priesthood
Leviticus Chapter 8 details the consecration of Aaron and his sons, who were selected by God to be High Priests of the nation of Israel. There were sacrifices done and a ritual cleansing to prepare them for their ministry all done by instruction of God. The nation gathered at the tabernacle (God’s dwelling on Earth) and Aaron and his sons were told: “And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you… 35Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die not: for so I am commanded.” There are foreshadows in this passage as well. The Israelites gathering at the tabernacle for the 7 days the priests are inside. The Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5 calls the Rapture “our gathering” to Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapters 7 and 8 describe Jesus as the High Priest of Christian believers and that the tabernacle was patterned on what takes place in Heaven. At the Rapture, the Church will be in Heaven, God’s House, before our High Priest, Jesus Christ. The passage also details instructions to stay behind a shut door for “seven days.”
6. Rahab
The Book of Joshua tells provides
the account of Rahab,
a gentile woman running a house of prostitution in Jericho, a pagan city that
was going to be attacked by the Israelites. God was going to provide a
supernatural victory against the city of Jericho and destroy it. Rahab, in fear
of God and belief in His power, helped hide two Israelites spies who were
scouting the city before the battle. Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, (who
we showed in an earlier article
is a foreshadow of Jesus Christ and that the Book of Joshua parallels with the book of
Revelation), recognized Rahab’s faith and the service she did, risking her own
life to protect the Israelite spies all out of belief in the true God of the
Bible. Before the attack Joshua gave a stern command once the spies returned:
But Joshua had said unto the two men
that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out
thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. And the young
men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her
mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her
kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with
fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels
of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. (Joshua 6:22-24).
Rahab, a faithful believer in God living in a wicked, pagan
city was saved and brought out of the city just before God unleashed His wrath and it was burned to the ground, destroyed and cursed.
Again we see the same prophetic patterns for the Rapture: the faithful are warned of the
coming wrath of God, they are then removed without suffering any harm and then
the wrath of God comes down on the unbelievers.
7. God’s Own Prophecy
Isaiah 26 contains a not-often used prophecy about
the Rapture:
Like as a woman with child, that
draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs;
so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. We have been with child, we have been in
pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any
deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Thy
dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and
sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and
shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until
the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall
disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. (Isaiah 26:17-21)
Notice the first two verse reference “birth pangs” and the birthing process. This is the same language used in Matthew 24 to describe the start of the end times
(and in Part 1 of this series we explain the symbolic meaning of “birth pangs”
in detail). Verses 19 above prophesies that the “dead men shall live” and
“arise”, indicating that there will be a resurrection. This matches the description of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4, which states that the
“dead in Christ rise first.”
Isaiah 26:19 even says “together with my
dead body” referencing the dead
body of God rising from the dead (which was fulfilled at the resurrection of Jesus
Christ — who is the “firstfruits” of all raptured saints). The dead believers
in Christ will indeed be translated (given new, Heavenly bodies) and Raptured
to Heaven to be with Jesus.
Come, my people, enter thou into thy
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little
moment, until the indignation be overpast.
In verse 20 we see instructions to
those who are living and told to “enter thou into thy chambers” and “shut thy
doors.” Again the symbolism of the Rapture is present in the bridal chamber,
the door being shut and remaining safely inside until God’s “indignation” is
finished. Revelation 14:10, in discussing God’s end time wrath on those who
worship the Antichrist as: “the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his indignation.” The “indignation” from the Isaiah 26 verse is clearly a
reference to the Day of The Lord/Great Tribulation. And the
implication is that while God is punishing sinners and those who have rejected
Him, faithful believers in Jesus Christ will be shut away safely in Heaven
until the indignation is done.
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of
his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth
also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Verse 21 lines up with our
description of the Day of The Lord as God punishes the unbelieving, sinful
world that has rejected Him and the Gospel of Jesus Christ time and time again,
in favor of following sin and the deceptions of the Antichrist. This will be
the Day of the Lord or Great Tribulation and once again, believers are forewarned, removed and hidden safely before
the wrath of God comes on the unbelieving.
Conclusion
The Rapture will be God’s safe removal of His faithful believers before His unleashes His wrath on the sinful, God-rejecting world. Through types and shadows, the Bible demonstrates God’s pattern for rescuing His faithful. In each instance, God warns faithful believers of the coming judgment, they prepare and watch for its arrival and are completely spared and removed from all harm before the judgment of God comes. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonian church about the end times Day of The Lord judgments said: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” The true born again believers in Jesus Christ will not be caught off guard by the Day of The Lord, but will escape safely at the Rapture, meeting Jesus in the clouds and staying in The Father’s house for 7 years until Gods wrath is poured out on the sinful world.
“And take heed to yourselves, lest
at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and
cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare
shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye
therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted
worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before
the Son of man.” — Jesus
Christ, Luke 21:35-36.
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Previously Posted = Here is the link if you missed it:
What the Early Church Fathers Thought About the Rapture
What the Early Church Fathers Thought About the Rapture
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