

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51). Paul speaks about this generation of believers who will not taste death when he says, "Behold! I tell you a mystery. Instead, they will be caught up to be with all those who have previously gone on to be with the Lord and be transferred to heaven. Those believers in Christ who are alive at that time will then be instantly transformed from their earthly state to their eternal state, and will not experience death. Those who are the "dead in Christ" will experience their resurrection first and be gifted with glorified bodies when He comes. Paul teaches that Christ will come at some future point in time for those who belong to Him. In Latin the word is rapio, which means to seize and carry away it is from this Latin word that the term "rapture" comes. The Greek term meaning "caught up" is harpazo, which means to seize suddenly or snatch.

Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, emphasis added). Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. "Rapture" is a term used by Christians to explain an event described by the Apostle Paul who wrote: "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. What is the rapture and when will it occur?
