An Explanation
“The word Rapture is not even in the Bible!”
“Oh really? Are you sure about that?”
You do know that the original New Testament was written in Greek, right? Good…
The original word ‘Harpazo‘ in the early Greek Bible appears 13 times in the New Testament and is defined as:
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to seize, carry off by force
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to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly
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to snatch out or catch away
FACT: The word ‘Harpazo’ when translated into Latin is ‘Rapio’, which is where we get the English word ‘Rapture’ from.
So next time someone tells you that the word ‘Rapture’ is not in the Bible, you can explain it to them. Whether or not you mention that the word ‘Bible’ isn’t found in the Bible is up to you.
The 13 verses in the Bible which include the translated Greek word ‘Harpazo’ are:
Matthew 11:12
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 13:19
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
John 6:15
Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
John 10:12
“But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
John 10:28
“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:29
“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
Acts 8:39
Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
Acts 23:10
Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.
2 Corinthians 12:2
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
2 Corinthians 12:4
how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
1 Thesssalonians 4:17
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.
Jude 1:23
but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Revelation 12:5
She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
The 4 Most Common Viewpoints on the timing of the Rapture are: