There are three main “Rapture passages” that the Apostle Paul was inspired to write. We will quote them with brief comments and then we will consider another key passage spoken by the Lord Jesus that refers to the Rapture, though it was the Apostle Paul that “filled in the details of the Rapture.”

1^st Thessalonians 4:13-17: “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 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 the 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” (NKJV). In my American Heritage Dictionary, the word “rapture” is defined as either: 1) the state of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy; or 2) the transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven.” Obviously the second definition fits in our passage above, for Paul spoke of believers in Christ being “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Perhaps today we will hear the Lord’s shout and we will be instantly “transported from EARTH to HEAVEN.”

1^st Corinthians 15:51-54: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” This is clearly speaking of the same event (the Rapture), for here too Paul speaks a trumpet sounding resulting in an amazing transformation for those who have believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Here he adds the truth that believers who are raised from the dead will “put on incorruption” and living believers who are caught up will “put on immortality.” In both cases believers are receiving their new glorified bodies that are fit for heavenly places (which you can read about in verses 35-50). I do believe, as you intimated in your question, that it was indeed the Apostle Paul that was given this special revelation about the Rapture. The word “mystery” here speaks of “a truth that had not been revealed before but is now made known.” Paul was the chosen vessel to receive this truth and then to dispense this truth to us in the Holy Scriptures.

2^nd Thessalonians 2:1: “Now we beg you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and OUR GATHERING TOGETHER TO HIM, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as [if it were] by us, as that the Day of the Lord is present” (DARBY version). Here the apostle is writing to assure believers that the Day of the Lord (a time when God will judge the world and Christ will establish His kingdom on earth) had not come, for “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him” will happen first. If you compare those words with what we saw in the last two passages, he is referring to the Rapture where Christ will “gather all believers to Himself in glory.”

Now we are ready to see what the Lord Jesus had said long before Paul was given the special revelation of the Rapture. In John 14:1-3 Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN AND RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF; that where I am, there you may be also.” I have capitalized the key words which line up perfectly with what Paul wrote in 1^st Thessalonians 4:17 and 2^nd Thessalonians 2:1. All three passages teach us that the Rapture is the grand event that results in “the Lord coming to gather us to Himself” in heaven, and this is the promise that the Lord gave to His disciples (and us!) to calm their troubled hearts.

I would also encourage you to also read Titus 2:13 where we see that we are to be “looking for the blessed hope” of our Lord’s coming, which no doubt speaks of the Rapture. Then I would have you to read Revelation 3:10-11 where the Lord Jesus promises believers today that He will deliver us from the coming Tribulation Period BY HIS COMING, which is the Rapture. And finally, in Revelation 4:1-2 we have the Rapture of believers symbolized by the Apostle John being “caught up to heaven” before the terrible judgments of the Tribulation Period are announced in chapters 6-18.  (DO)  (588.3)