Revelation 1 - Who Will Be Caught Up?

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 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.”  The question we are looking at today is, exactly who will be raptured up when the Lord Jesus comes back. The answer is very clear in the Scriptures. Only those who are “in Christ” will be the ones that will be raptured! Did you notice here in this passage in 1 Thessalonians that the “dead in Christ will rise first”?  So both the “dead in Christ” and those who are still alive “in Christ” will be caught up. What does it mean to be “in Christ”? I believe we find the answer to this question in Romans 6:3, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” Paul was speaking here of being “baptized into Christ”. At the moment anyone repents of their sin and turns by faith to the cross of Jesus Christ and puts their trust in Him totally to forgive them, a great transformation and miracle takes place. Jesus said that we must be born again. At the moment of our salvation, we are born again and become a “new creation in Christ Jesus”. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17) At the moment of our salvation, the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Jesus Christ. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” (1 Corinthians 12:13a). The word baptize simply means “to be placed into”. We are place into Christ. From that moment on, as far as God is concerned, we are in Christ and He sees us robed in Christ righteousness and we have a perfect standing before Him! Another word for this in scripture is justified. “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God” (Romans 5:1). This is also called the miracle of regeneration which takes place by God’s Holy Spirit. This passage says it so well: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7) Once you are “in Christ” you have eternal life and it can never be lost. You can’t get unborn! You can’t get un-regenerated! You didn’t do anything to get saved and you can do anything to get unsaved! I really believe that we are going to be surprised when we see certain people in heaven and just as surprised at who is not there. I even think there are some people who think they are lost who are going to be surprised when they get to heaven. You don’t get to heaven because of your works, your good deeds or anything that you have done. You are either in Christ or you not in Christ. So the answer as to who will be raptured is simply those who are in Christ! Please today make sure that you are in Christ! If you don’t have the assurance of your salvation, please seek to find the reason why you don’t. There is nothing more important in this world than this! And if I can help you with this, please let me know! God bless!