Harpázō
G726 ἁρπάζω
04/16/2024
When I was with Chrysler Financial, we put on a dealer show every year for the dealership principals and staff. When you are looking to host an event like that for that many people, the only solution is to put it on in Las Vegas. This is the only place with that kind of room, banquet, and entertainment facilities.
When I went to those meetings, I became enamored with many of the illusionists. I would watch them and try to figure out their acts, whether their sleight of hand or their disappearing acts. It was all amazing.
The disappearing acts caught my attention. Someone or something was just disappearing before my eyes, and I was always looking for an answer. It or a person was there, and now they were gone. How? Where? It was mind-blowing. Everyone else was just like I was; they were all looking for the answer to the disappearing act.
Now, back to where we began. The word in the title is Harpázō. It is actually a violent word. It means to seize or carry off by force. This is the word used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, where Paul speaks of the comfort of Christ's coming.
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up (726 harpázō) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
The Latin Vulgate translates the Greek Harpázō as raptura, meaning "we will be caught up" or "we will be taken away," from the Latin verb rapio, meaning "to catch up" or "take away." That is where we get our word for rapture.
I was thinking about the illusionist and their acts. I was thinking about how, today, we always see people with their phones in their hands, taking a picture or a video. Have you ever thought about the number of people that are going to be taking a picture or a video at that moment when we shall hear the shout of the archangel and the trumpet of God and we (those who are saved) are caught up in the air (the rapture)? There will be a lot of people missing from those pictures and videos. [Somebody] may catch a believer being seen even in mid-air. What explanation is there going to be for this great disappearance?
Just as with the illusionists of Las Vegas and their acts, people are constantly trying to explain their acts away. The same thing will happen when we are called up to meet the Lord in the air. There will be numerous theories concerning the disappearance by those who do not know the Lord. So, we must be diligent in sharing the good news of the Gospel of Christ so that others can see the truth, so they will not be one speculating.
16 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. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
In Him,
Marty Wiliams