THE RAPTURE, A PHYSICAL RETURN?

There is a view that Christ will return physically, that is in the flesh, at the rapture to call His Church home. This is not true, common sense as well as the Bible shows this to be untrue. At the rapture Christ returns to CALL His SPIRITUAL church home. He does this from the clouds, He does not return physically to the surface of the earth. No one needs to see Him, we are called to be with Him, and meet Him in the air. Why must we always put Christ in a body?

The PHYSICAL death and PHYSICAL resurrection of Jesus is nothing to do with the church. And before anyone goes off shouting and screaming that I am putting Christ down, I am not, I am referring to deeper truths, advanced teaching if you will. The overcoming of spiritual death is the key factor to the Church. Our hope is eternal life with God, not a rebuilding of a Jewish kingdom on earth with a Physical King. Christ will return physically for the Jews, they are still expecting their Messiah to come. He will come physically to prove to them that He was the Messiah who they killed and also He was resurrected in order to fulfil the promise to Israel and show He is God.

A verse that is often used to prove a physical return is Acts 1:9-11. These particular verses and surrounding ones relate to the Second Coming not the Rapture.

His disciples were asking about the Jewish Kingdom of Israel, verse 6;

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

They were on Mt Olivet a place which Jesus frequented a lot and a place to which He will return at the Second Coming. Zechariah 14:4

4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

The manner of His departure was not sudden it did not happen in a twinkling of an eye as in other instances like Luke 24:31

31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

This departure was deliberate and slow, all who were there watched as He rose into the sky and disappeared into a cloud. This description is the same as the Second Coming but in reverse. Mark 14:62, Mark 13:26, Matthew 26:64, Matthew 24:30

62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

We can also see from the following verses that when Jesus was talking to the Jews He said they would see Him again but only at a specific time which will be the Second Coming, not before. Christ will 'return to earth' only for the Jews. He calls the Church out of the earth without returning to it. We have no need of Jesus the 'man', He is not our expectant earthly King. Christ is our King and God, the risen Saviour. We the Church are heavenly, looking for a heavenly kingdom, the Jew earthly, looking for an earthly Kingdom. Matthew 23:39, Luke 13: 34,35.

39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

As for the body which Christ had after the resurrection, this is in no way any indicator as to our changed or resurrected body. Christ returned in his OWN body to the Jews but had of course his supernatural God given powers. As such He could go or be anything He wanted, BUT to the Jew He had to have been resurrected, which means using His old Body. If He didn't they would have just said He was a ghost. They looked naturally at Christ and so needed a natural resolution to the problem of resurrection. We the Church do not need a natural solution, we understand that the winning was not in returning to His old body but in escaping the judgement of death and hell, that eternal separation from God because of sin. It is the Soul that was at risk not the body.

Don't forget that Jesus did not 'legally' have his heavenly body yet. He hadn't at that point returned to heaven. His work on earth had not finished until he rose on the Mt of Olives.

When we go to be with the Lord we will be given a NEW body but not until. We do not get one when we are saved, but get one when we NEED one. To live on earth we use our natural bodies when we are called to be with Christ in that moment, in a twinkling of an eye we receive our new body so we can enter heaven.

A point to note regarding 1 John 3:2;

2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

It clearly states we do not know what our likeness will be UNTIL we are called. Also if you look at the original Greek and the words we get another interpretation regarding this verse.

2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and not yet was it manifested what we shall be; we know that if (he) it is manifested like Him we shall be, (for, that, because, since) we shall see him as he is.

The word 'for' which we see in various versions can also be translated as 'that'. The emphasis is now on us seeing Him because we are changed into our new bodies. We see Him because we are like Him. This view goes more with the momentary change and disappearance of people from all over the globe, and the meeting in the air of the Church forever to be with the Lord.

Jesus is dead, Christ is alive and as such can be or appear in any form He wants. We must be looking for the old body of Jesus as the Jews will at his return. Do not limit Christ with human attributes and limitations, He is above and beyond anything we can hope to be. He now has a heavenly body which we will also have when we see him. With that body He will appear to the Jews at the Second Coming as a living God, not Jesus.