Here is what we KNOW about the rapture from Scripture:

1) It will NOT BE SILENT. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a SHOUT, with the VOICE of the archangel, and with the TRUMPET of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16a).

2) It will ONLY BE HEARD BY BELIEVERS. “And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are live 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” (1 Thessalonians 4:16b-17). Only those who “died believing in Christ” and who are “alive and believing in Christ” will hear the shout, the voice, and the trumpet. We see this illustrated in the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11:43-44, “Now when He had said these things, He cried with a LOUD VOICE, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And HE WHO HAD DIED CAME OUT.” If Jesus had simply said “Come forth,” all who were in their graves would have come out, but He singled out Lazarus. So it will be at the Rapture; He will only call believers from their graves (and then believers who are still alive on earth).

3) It will BE INSTANTANEOUS. “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 all be changed.”

4) It will BE TRANSFORMING. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will TRANSFORM OUR LOWLY BODY THAT IT MAY BE CONFORMED TO HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).

5) It will BE THE BELIEVER’S HOMECALL. “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” (John 14:1-3). Though we are taken “Home to heaven,” the most important thing is that Christ is “receiving us to Himself…that where He is, there we may be also.” It is “being with Christ” that will make our eternal Home in heaven eternal bliss, for we read in Psalm 16:10, “In Your presence is FULLNESS OF JOY; at Your right hand are PLEASURES FOREVERMORE.”

We are not told about the details on earth when the Rapture occurs. Will cars, airplanes, and other vehicles crash? Most likely, but we cannot say for sure. Will people be scared? We can only assume that people will be scared out of their minds and filled with grief when their saved loved ones and friends disappear. Will people know that the Rapture occurred, or will they blame it on a mass alien abduction? The Bible is silent on this so we must remain silent. Yet the Bible tells us that AFTER the Rapture the Antichrist will appear and he will deceive the masses with the GREAT LIE that “he is God” (read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). He will no doubt have some incredible explanation for the disappearance of millions of people, but it will not have anything to do with the Rapture of true believers to heaven. His deception will be to persuade people that there is no God, for he alone is God (verse 4).

Regarding “pets,” they will no doubt remain on earth. I wrote a letter many years ago titled “TO WHOEVER FINDS THIS” explaining to them that the Rapture has occurred (with most of the verses quoted above). I asked them to “please take care of our pet dog Ranger.” Ranger has since died so I rewrote the letter and omitted that request. The letter is right next to one of my Bibles where it can be easily seen. I also explain to them that the world will now experience the judgments of God for a seven-year period outlined in Revelation chapters 6-18, culminating in the return of Christ to earth to establish His Millennium Kingdom (Matthew 24:29-30 and Revelation 19:11-20:6). I end the letter pleading with those who have never rejected Jesus Christ to take their place as a lost sinner before God (Romans 3:10-19, 23) and then believe the good news that Jesus Christ took their place in death and judgment on the cross to pay for their sins (Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:27; 1Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21 and John 3:16).  (DO)  (612.3)