Jesus And The Rapture. Follow Up

Q

Re: John 11:25-26. Inferring the rapture from “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” seems like a big stretch. Does the “whosoever” in John 3:16 exclude everyone but the Church? No. Sometimes you add personal thinking not drawn from a strict reading of the text. Sorry if I’ve missed something. “Will never die” implies eternal life; not the rapture.

A

Here’s John 11:25-26. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

According to John 11:24 this part of Martha’s discussion with Jesus concerned the resurrection of believers “at the last day” and the Lord referenced two different groups in His response. The first is believers who will live even though they die. The second group is believers who live and will never die.

View the Lord’s statement in that context and you have one group who will be brought back from death to eternal life and another group who will transition straight to eternal life without passing through death. This is exactly the way Paul described the rapture of the Church in 1 Thes. 4:16-17.

I’ve said repeatedly that people who don’t already know about the rapture will probably not see it in John 11:25-26. But if you’re going to fault me for knowing the rest of the Bible and putting 2 and 2 together, then I plead guilty as charged.