1. The snatching away is an expectation only for the Body of Christ.
It is so important to understand the difference between the body of Christ and the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16), as this is part of correctly cutting the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Paul distinguishes between these two groups of believers in Gal 2:7-8: “But, on the contrary, perceiving that I have been entrusted with the evangel of the Uncircumcision, according as Peter of the Circumcision (for He Who operates in Peter for the apostleship of the Circumcision operates in me also for the nations),”. In short, Paul was entrusted with the evangel of the Uncircumcision by the resurrected and glorified Christ Jesus which is separate from the evangel of the Circumcision (evangel of the kingdom of God) that Jesus preached while on earth and entrusted to Peter and rest of the twelve apostles. The believers of these two evangels have different expectations, the Uncircumcision, heavenly (celestial) and the Circumcision, earthly. I won’t go into more detail on the differences here, as this subject deserves to be addressed on its own. If you would like more information on this subject, ask me in the comments and I will do my best to send you helpful information.
Before Paul revealed the truth of the snatching away of the body of Christ, it was a secret. This resurrection of the dead members of the body of Christ and the subsequent snatching away of both the living and resurrected members of the body of Christ was not previously mentioned in the scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53: “Lo! a secret to you am I telling! We all, indeed, shall not be put to repose, yet we all shall be changed, in an instant, in the twinkle of an eye, at the last trump. For He will be trumpeting, and the dead will be roused incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality.”
Israel had been told about future resurrections by the prophet Daniel in Daniel 12:2: “From those sleeping in the soil of the ground many shall awake, these to eonian life and these to reproach for eonian repulsion.” Jesus also told of a future resurrection of life for those who do good (John 5:29) which He also called the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14). This is the same resurrection that Daniel prophesied about and will be a part of. This resurrection occurs 1,335 days (Daniel 12:11-12) after the continuous ritual (sacrifice) is taken away in the middle of the last heptad (last of the seventy sevens, Daniel 9:24, 27). Christ returns for Israel 1,260 days after the continuous ritual is taken away (Rev. 12:14, 13:5). From this important ground work, we can make these two observations:
A. The secret resurrection and change revealed by Paul cannot be the resurrection revealed to Daniel or spoken of by Jesus because this resurrection was NOT a secret, it was already known.
B. The resurrection of the just (or life) for Israel occurs AFTER Christ returns to earth (75 days later).
Let’s look at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 for more details on the snatching away: “Now we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are reposing, lest you may sorrow according as the rest, also, who have no expectation. For, if we are believing that Jesus died and rose, thus also, those who are put to repose, will God, through Jesus, lead forth together with Him. For this we are saying to you by the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who are surviving to the presence of the Lord, should by no means outstrip those who are put to repose, for the Lord Himself will be descending from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the Chief Messenger, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall be rising first. Thereupon we, the living who are surviving, shall at the same time be snatched away together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus shall we always be together with the Lord. So that, console one another with these words.”
In contrast to the resurrection of faithful Israelites, who are raised 75 days after Christs return to earth, the dead members of the body of Christ are resurrected immediately upon Christs descent from heaven. The living and resurrected members of the body of Christ are then snatched (seized with a sudden grasp and carried away, like a wolf with its prey, CLNT Concordance definition) away into the air to meet the Lord. The Lord Himself comes when He snatches the body of Christ away, in contrast to when He later returns to earth for faithful Israel and to put an end to the career of the man of lawlessness (2 Thess 1:6-10, Matthew 24:30-31). He comes “with His powerful messengers, in flaming fire, dealing out vengeance…”; Christ does not come with powerful messengers dealing out vengeance at the snatching away. He comes Himself and His own voice (voice of the Chief Messenger) raises the dead in Christ to always be together with Him. When Christ returns for Israel, we will already be at “ease” (2 Thess 1:7).
When Christ Jesus comes for the body of Christ, their bodies will be changed from soulish to celestial, vivified into incorruption and immortality. This must be done to suit the body of Christ for their celestial expectation. 1 Corinthians 15:49-50: “And according as we wear the image of the soilish, we should be wearing the image also of the Celestial. Now this I am averring, brethren, that flesh and blood is not able to enjoy an allotment in the kingdom of God, neither is corruption enjoying the allotment of incorruption.” See also: Phil 3:20-21: "For our realm is inherent in the heavens, out of which we are awaiting a Saviour also, the Lord, Jesus Christ, Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory, in accord with the operation which enables Him even to subject all to Himself."
2. The snatching away will occur before the coming indignation
I believe scripture is clear in teaching the snatching away of the body of Christ occurs before the coming “day of the Lord”. Paul tells us this in 2 Thess 2:1-8: “Now we are asking you, brethren, for the sake of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to Him, that you be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be alarmed, either through spirit, or through word, or through an epistle as through us, as that the day of the Lord is present. No one should be deluding you by any method, for, should not the apostasy be coming first and the man of lawlessness be unveiled, the son of destruction, who is opposing and lifting himself up over everyone termed a god or an object of veneration, so that he is seated in the temple of God, demonstrating that he himself is God? Do you not remember that, still being with you, I told you these things? And now you are aware what is detaining, for him to be unveiled in his own era. For the secret of lawlessness is already operating. Only when the present detainer may be coming to be out of the midst, then will be unveiled the lawless one (whom the Lord Jesus will despatch with the spirit of His mouth and will discard by the advent of His presence).”
The Thessalonians were concerned that the day of the Lord had already arrived. We know from Paul that the Thessalonians were undergoing persecutions, afflictions and suffering
(2 Thess 1:4-6). It is possible that the Thessalonians thought they were undergoing the persecutions, afflictions and suffering that are prophesied to come upon faithful Israel during the coming day of the Lord. Paul wanted the Thessalonians to know, in no uncertain terms, that they would not be present for the day of the Lord, and he had told them this before.
In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul assured these believers that they would not be overtaken by the day of the Lord: 1 Thess 5:1-5: “Now concerning the times and the eras, brethren, you have no need to be written to, for you yourselves are accurately aware that the day of the Lord is as a thief in the night -- thus is it coming! Now whenever they may be saying "Peace and security," then extermination is standing by them unawares, even as a pang over the pregnant, and they may by no means escape. Now you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day may be overtaking you as a thief, for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness.” Paul tells the believers here that they do not need to be written to about the times and the eras, because they are sons of the light and sons of the day (compare to 2 Cor. 6:14, Eph. 5:7-8).
1Thess 5:6-11: “Consequently, then, we may not be drowsing, even as the rest, but we may be watching and be sober. For those who are drowsing are drowsing at night, and those who are drunk are drunk at night. Yet we, being of the day, may be sober, putting on the cuirass of faith and love, and the helmet, the expectation of salvation, for God did not appoint us to indignation, but to the procuring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for our sakes, that, whether we may be watching or drowsing, we should be living at the same time together with Him. Wherefore, console one another and edify one the other, according as you are doing also.” Some have taken this section of scripture to mean that believers in the body of Christ will not be overtaken as a thief by the day of the Lord because they will be “watching” and will know when it arrives. I don’t hold to this view. Believers will not be overtaken as a thief by the day of the Lord because they are sons of the light and sons of the day, and are not appointed to indignation. The body of Christ is simply going to be removed before that day arrives. This is all of the grace of God, as both those watching and those drowsing will be rescued out of the coming indignation (1 Thess 5:10). Jesus is our Rescuer out of the coming indignation: 1Ths 1:10: “and to be waiting for His Son out of the heavens, Whom He rouses from among the dead, Jesus, our Rescuer out of the coming indignation.” On a side note, some faithful Israelites will be saved through the great affliction (Rev 12:14) not rescued out of it, and many will lose their lives (Rev 13:7).
I believe Ephesians 5:6-8 fits in well with above passages: “Let no one be seducing you with empty words, for because of these things the indignation of God is coming on the sons of stubbornness. Do not, then, become joint partakers with them, for you were once darkness, yet now you are light in the Lord.” Notice the contrast between light and darkness here, like in 1 Thess 5: 4-10. We are in light, not darkness, and should not be joint partakers and act like those in darkness. Likewise, we will not partake in the indignation coming on those in darkness, because of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. Again, this is why we will be at “ease” when The Lord Jesus is unveiled at the end of the great affliction (2 Thess 1:6-7, Mat 24:21).
3. There are no signs for us preceding the snatching away
Paul does not give us any specific signs to look for to indicate when the snatching away will occur. In 2 Thess 2:3-8 Paul mentions the apostasy that will come first (before the day of the Lord) and then the man of lawlessness will be unveiled (I believe at the beginning of the last heptad, as the white horse rider). Some believe the “apostasy” is a falling away from the truth and this did happen after Paul wrote this, while he was still alive and it is continuing to this day (2 Tim 1:15). Others believe that this “apostasy” is referring to the snatching away itself based on word studies and the immediate context. Either one of these meanings of apostasy are congruent with the fact that the apostasy must happen before the day of the Lord arrives. I take Paul’s words in 2 Thess 2 like this: “The apostasy has not yet happened and the man of lawlessness has not been revealed, therefore the day of the Lord cannot be present.”
He also mentions that there is a detainer, detaining the man of lawlessness from being unveiled in his own era. I believe this detainer is the Body of Christ, which fits in perfectly with all of the scriptures I have discussed here. The members of the body of Christ are ambassadors of peace: 2 Cor 5:18-21: “Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation. For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. We are beseeching for Christ's sake, "Be conciliated to God!" For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may be becoming God's righteousness in Him.” Like the fact that we are not appointed to indignation, we, as ambassadors of peace in this current administration of grace (which will end when the Body of Christ is removed), God will withdraw his ambassadors of peace before He changes His tactics with mankind. At the start of the day of the Lord, God is going to bring indignation against those who are unbelievers. This indignation has a purpose, is swift, and is a perfect part of His eonian plan for the eventual reconciliation of all creation. Through it, the world will come to realize there is a God in complete control of His universe. The political and religious systems of the earth will be overturned to make way for the unveiling of Jesus Christ and the 1000 year reign. This will serve as the birth pangs in relation to Israel being born again as a nation, to be a kingdom and priests for God on the earth.
Paul has not given us, the body of Christ any signs to look for, but he has given us a solid expectation:
1 Thess 1:10: “and to be waiting for His Son out of the heavens, Whom He rouses from among the dead, Jesus, our Rescuer out of the coming indignation.”
1 Thess 5:8-10: “Yet we, being of the day, may be sober, putting on the cuirass of faith and love, and the helmet, the expectation of salvation, for God did not appoint us to indignation, but to the procuring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for our sakes, that, whether we may be watching or drowsing, we should be living at the same time together with Him.”
Rom 5:9-10: “Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood, we shall be saved from indignation, through Him. For if, being enemies, we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life.”
Phil 3:20-21: “For our realm is inherent in the heavens, out of which we are awaiting a Saviour also, the Lord, Jesus Christ, Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory, in accord with the operation which enables Him even to subject all to Himself.”
Col 3:4: “Whenever Christ, our Life, should be manifested, then you also shall be manifested together with Him in glory.”
Those in the body of Christ that are “watching” (1 Thess 5:6) I believe are those that are awaiting the Lord Jesus Christ out of the heavens and doing what is described in verse 8 after this: “may be sober, putting on the cuirass of faith and love, and the helmet, the expectation of salvation”. The snatching away could happen at any moment, before the day of the Lord arrives. I would categorize those who are drowsing as those who don’t care when Christ comes for His body and aren’t looking for Him to arrive any time soon. We must remember the grace shown to body of Christ, whether they be watching or drowsing, they “will be living at the same time together with Him” 1Thess 5:10.
Twice in 1 Thess 5:6-8, Paul mentions being sober, figurative of having clear judgement and not being impaired. With what we have learned from the scriptures talked about here today, I believe we can dismiss any prediction by someone who claims to know when the snatching away will occur (the myriad of failed prophesies about the date of the “rapture” on YouTube and like sites are witness to this). I believe we can dismiss any claim that that the body of Christ will go through the day of the Lord. There are some, who think that 1 and 2 Thessalonians (among other letters written by the apostle Paul) are actually written to proselytes of Israel, and subsequently, the snatching away is for Israel. I hope my arguments for the first point in this article are enough for you to see how this is impossible.
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*All scripture references are from the Concordant Literal Translation unless otherwise noted.
Here are some resources that go into much more depth on the subjects discussed.
The following articles are all written by Aaron Welch:
A Study on the Timing of the Snatching Away, Part 2 (The Day of the Lord and the Coming Indignation)
For an even deeper dive into these subjects, I highly recommend the following two books, “Concordant Studies in the Book of Daniel” and “The Unveiling of Jesus Christ”, both written by A.E. Knoch. They can both be read online for free here:
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