1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 - Babies and Children at the Rapture

Today, Sunday December 26 Babies and Children at the Rapture 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Two questions that I often get asked about the rapture are: When will the Old Testament saints be resurrected? And do children before the age of accountability get raptured? I will attempt to answer both of these in this chat, but I really want to encourage you to listen to the video today as I’m able to go into more detail than in this written version. I personally believe, that because I approach the Bible literally, that there will be a literal event that we call the rapture which is primary for those “in Christ”, who are the genuine believers that make up the church. And that this event will close the church age and signal the beginning of a literal seven year tribulation on earth which will end with the second coming of Jesus Christ. When it comes to the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, there are various opinions as to when this will take place. I think most agree, that the moment an OT saint died, they were transported in soul and spirit to paradise, also referred to by Jesus, as “Abraham’s Bosom”. (Luke 16:22) But what about the resurrection of their bodies. Some scholars, that we consider to be the best in this area of study, believe their resurrection will take place at the same time the church is raptured. Other very good teachers believe it will happen at the end of the tribulation when God deals in a specific way with Israel. When I studied Eschatology in Bible College, we used a very thick text book, written by Dwight W. Pentecost, that was called, “Things to Come”. I tend to side with him, and he seems to give some very good reasons to believe that bodies of the Old Testament saints will be resurrected at the end of the tribulation. When it comes to the rapture of children before the age of accountability, I can only speculate and give my opinion. To the best of my knowledge, the Bible is completely silent on this question. But I will give my unsolicited opinion. I only have one verse, that I actually take out of context, to form my thoughts on this. Are you ready? I believe it is possible that only children before the age of accountability, will be raptured if at least one of their parents is a true believer. The unbelieving spouse will be “left behind” without their baby and small children that are before the age of accountability, as they are taken up with the believing parent in the rapture. I base my speculation on 1 Corinthians 7:14, where it says that if one parent is saved, “the children are not unclean but are holy.” Please listen to the video or audio version of the chat today for more detail. And again I only try to answer these questions because I’m asked about them so often. And remember, I’m only giving my opinion. Whatever happens, and how it happens, is going to happen exactly how God has planned for it to happen. So please don’t lose faith or hope over the details but trust our great God Who always does what is right and best! God bless!