Do Our Bodies Go In The Rapture?

Q

When we are raptured, do you believe our present bodies remain behind here on earth? I’ve wondered if there will be dead bodies everywhere with those left alive here on earth to try and determine the cause of their death. Thanks for your answer.

A

In 1 Cor. 15:51 Paul said, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” In Paul’s terminology to sleep meant to die. So, if we won’t sleep that means our bodies won’t die. When he said we will all be changed he meant our present bodies will transformed from mortal to immortal in a flash (1 Cor. 15:51-52). Therefore, we won’t be leaving our present bodies behind.

Some like to speculate that when we disappear our clothes and any man made body parts like dental work, pacemakers, artificial joints, etc. will be left behind, but the Bible doesn’t say anything about that.

What we do know is when we come into the presence of the Lord, we will be so completely changed that nothing of our earthly self will remain, and that includes our sin nature. In every respect we will be made fit to dwell with God forever.

All this means when we all disappear, the people left behind will have an even bigger mystery to solve than if we had left a bunch of dead bodies lying around.

Some will remember us telling them about the rapture and will realize that’s what happened to us. Many of them will become believers at that time due to the witness of our sudden departure. They will have missed out on being part of the church, but at least they will have changed their eternal destiny from death to life.

It’s a good idea to tell everybody you can about the rapture. Even if they don’t believe you now, they will remember what you said when they see it happen right before their eyes, and maybe they’ll believe it then.