The Rapture And The Bride

Q

If I’m not wrong there is no evidence in the gospels of Jesus mentioning about the rapture. Since this is an important subject why hasn’t Jesus spoken a single word about it? I tried to figure out an answer by myself: maybe because the people He was addressing to would not be involved with the rapture. But, even so, He spoke a lot about the wedding of the Lamb and the bride, the wedding banquet, and they were not involved in these topics as well. Could you please give me some light on that?

A

Jesus never taught openly about the rapture although we who already know about it can see a subtle hint now and then. John 11:25-26 is an example. John 14:2-3 is another. The reason for this is that Jesus came to offer the kingdom to Israel and had they accepted His offer there would have been no Church and thus no rapture.

Although as early as Matt. 8:10-12 Jesus warned the Jews that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to others, I believe His offer to them remained open until 40 days after the resurrection when He returned to Heaven as prophesied in Hosea 5:15.

Jesus spoke of Himself as the bridegroom (Matt. 9:15), but He never spoke of a bride, even in such obvious opportunities as the Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matt. 22:1-14) and the Parable of the 10 Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13).

The rapture was first introduced on earth by Paul about 20 years after the Ascension. He claimed at the time that he was revealing a secret (1 Cor. 15:51-53). And while Paul spoke of the Church being betrothed to the Lord (2 Cor. 11:2) and hinted at the relationship between the two in Ephesians 5:25-27, the first and only mention of a bride as the wife of the Lamb is in Rev. 21:9. The term “bride of Christ” does not appear in the Bible, but is assumed from Paul’s statement in 2 Cor. 11:2.