Rapture
In his letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul writes, "The Lord himself will descend from heaven... and the dead in Christ will rise first.” But he adds that “we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." The rising of those who are still alive to join the resurrected dead is known as the Rapture. This passage implies that Paul believed that the return of Jesus, the Resurrection, and the Rapture would happen simultaneously.
Rapture is used in at least two senses, in the sense of pre-tribulation views in which a group of people will be "left behind" and as a synonym for the Resurrection generally.
Read more about this topic: Christian Eschatology
Famous quotes containing the word rapture:
“Now night perfumes lie upon the air,
As rests the blossom on the loaded bough;
And each deep-drawn breath is redolent
Of all the folded flowers’ mingled scent
That rises in confused rapture now.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“What moments divine, what rapture serene.”
—Cole Porter (1893–1964)