Now let us consider the rapture of the majority of the believers.
1. “He who sat on the cloud thrust His sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped” (Rev. 14:16).
The rapture of the majority of the believers involves God’s reaping of His harvest on earth. The believers are God’s crop on the earth that has grown out of the seed that the Lord sowed while He was on the earth (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43). Since that time, His harvest has been growing, and it will continue to grow until it is reaped when the majority of the believers are raptured. A small part of this harvest will be reaped first; that is, some will be raptured to the heavens before the beginning of the great tribulation as firstfruits to God and to Christ. They will be the first to be reaped and raptured because they will ripen first. The remaining part of the harvest, that is, the majority of the believers, will remain on the earth until the end of the great tribulation when the remaining harvest will be reaped and raptured. At this time, the Lord will leave His throne in the heavens and descend to the clouds in the air (cf. 26:64; Rev. 1:7; Acts 1:9-11). From this cloud, the Lord will thrust His sickle upon the earth; that is, He will send His angels to the earth (Matt. 13:30, 39). Then He will reap the remaining majority of His crop.
1. “The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are living, who are left remaining, will be caught up together with them” (1 Thes. 4:16-17; see also 1 Cor. 15:51-52).
The rapture of the majority of the believers will include all the believers from all the ages who are resurrected from the dead and all the believers who are alive and remain at the time of His second coming. With the exception of a small number of overcoming believers, the rest of the believers, both dead and living, will participate in this rapture.
1. “At the last trumpet” (1 Cor. 15:52).
Most of the believers will be raptured at the last trumpet, which is the trumpet of God spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. This trumpet is also the last of the seven trumpets spoken of in Revelation 8:2. At the last trumpet refers to the sounding of the seventh trumpet. At this time the great tribulation will be near its end (10:7; 11:14-18). Thus, most of the believers will be raptured at the sounding of the last trumpet, which occurs at the end of the great tribulation.
2. “With regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him...It will not come unless...the man of lawlessness is revealed” (2 Thes. 2:1, 3).
Before the rapture of the majority of the believers, Antichrist must be revealed. This corresponds with Revelation 14:9-13, which shows that Antichrist will oppose the Lord on earth before the majority of the crop is reaped (vv. 14-16). The verses in 2 Thessalonians also show that Antichrist will be revealed and will oppose the Lord before the majority of the believers are raptured. These portions clearly prove that the majority of the believers will not be raptured until the end of the great tribulation.
According to the Bible, the majority of the believers will be raptured after the great tribulation, not before it. Teaching that all the believers will be raptured before the great tribulation is not accurate, because the Bible clearly says Antichrist will be revealed and will oppose the Lord before the majority of the believers are raptured. Antichrist will oppose the Lord during the last three and a half years before Christ’s return, which is the great tribulation. Therefore, most of the believers will be left on earth to pass through the great tribulation before being raptured at its end.
1. “We...will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thes. 4:17).
The majority of the believers will be raptured to the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. At this time the Lord will descend from the heavens and sit upon a cloud. According to Revelation 14:14-16 the Lord will rapture them to meet Him in the air. This is completely different from the rapture of the overcoming believers to the heavens.
1. “The harvest of the earth is ripe” (Rev. 14:15).
The one requirement related to the rapture of the majority of the believers is maturity in life. The believers are God’s crop on the earth, and the rapture of the majority of the believers is the reaping of God’s crop. In order to reap a crop, it must be ripe. The harvest being ripe implies the fullness of life and the loss of earthly water. The less there is of earthly water, the riper a harvest will be. A unripened harvest is lacking in the fullness of life and is full of earthly water. When the overcoming believers are raptured as the firstfruits, the majority of the believers will not be ripe. They will not be full of God’s life. Instead, they will be full of earthly water; that is, they will still be dependent on an earthly supply. Since they are not weaned from earthly milk, God will leave them on the earth to pass through the trial of the great tribulation in order to cause them to ripen. The sufferings of the great tribulation will be like the shining of the hot sun that forces a crop to ripen. Even though they will be full of earthly water, and their connections to the earth will be deep, the hot sun of the great tribulation will shine on them and dry up the earthly water in them. It will shine on them until they no longer rely on the things of the earth. They will be forcibly weaned from the earthly milk. Today when we exhort such ones to love the Lord, they hesitate. When we exhort them to consecrate themselves, they weigh the costs. When we exhort them to deal with certain matters, they delay. When we exhort them to give up the world, they love it even more. But in that day they will not hesitate or weigh the costs. They will love the Lord absolutely and consecrate themselves without reservation. They will be forced to deal with the things that must be dealt with and give up what must be given up. On the one hand, they will know that some have been raptured, and on the other hand, the sufferings on the earth will force them to break their ties with the things on the earth. Therefore, their growth in life will be rapid, and they will spontaneously mature in life. By passing through the trials of the great tribulation, they will thoroughly ripen and meet the requirement for being raptured.
We must see that we are God’s crop, and as His crop, we must thoroughly ripen before we can be reaped. No farmer reaps an unripened crop. We must be mature in life before we can be raptured. We must be ripe, or we cannot be reaped. If we do not ripen before the great tribulation, we will ripen later. If we do not love the Lord today and give ourselves to Him, we will love the Lord and give ourselves to Him later. If we do not deal with certain matters and give up the world today, we will deal with them and give up the world later. We must do these things, whether we do them earlier or later. We must ripen, whether we ripen earlier or later. If we do not ripen, the Lord cannot bring us into the enjoyment of His presence. The path to seeing the Lord’s face requires ripening. If we do not take this path, we will not be raptured to enjoy the Lord’s presence. We should never think that the Lord will rapture us to His enjoyable presence even if we do not pursue Him or grow and ripen. This will never happen. The Lord will wait for us to ripen before He brings us into His heavenly storehouse, and the Lord will cause us to ripen so that He can reap us into His heavenly storehouse. If we do not allow Him to ripen us today, we will need to ripen in the future. If His grace in us today cannot accomplish this purpose, He will use trials in the future to accomplish it. His trials will cause us to ripen. They will force us to love and pursue Him and to give our all and leave the world. They will force us to reject the earthly water and be weaned from the world so that we can take Him as our everything. In this way our life will be completely filled with Him. We must be ripened in this way before He can reap us.
Most believers consider the Lord’s second coming and our rapture simply as matters to be prophetically fulfilled in time, but the Bible shows that the Lord’s second coming and our rapture are also matters of life. They are related not only to time but also to our maturity of life. More than the passage of time is needed in order for the Lord to return and for our rapture to occur. Growth and maturity in life are needed to hasten the day of the Lord’s coming and our rapture. Can the Lord come back to believers who are in a general condition of immaturity? Can such believers be raptured? The Lord will return to reap a ripened crop. However, if the harvest is still green and if we are not ripe, how can He reap us as His harvest? If He comes when we are immature and unripe, what could He reap? He must wait for a loud voice from heaven to shout, “The harvest of the earth is ripe.” Only then will He thrust His sickle down to the earth, that is, send His angels to the earth to reap, or rapture, us. Being completely mature is a requirement for rapture. We must ripen, and we must ripen completely before we can be raptured.
We have spoken of two kinds of believers being raptured, but this does not mean that there are only two times of rapture. The Bible shows that there are several times of rapture. In addition to two kinds of rapture, the rapture of the overcomers and the rapture of the majority of the believers, the Bible also speaks of at least three different times of rapture: Revelation 7:9; 11:12; and 15:2. Three of the portions we quoted in this chapter concerning the rapture of the overcoming believers—Matthew 24:40-41; Revelation 12:5; and Revelation 14:1-5—also reveal differences in relation to one another. These portions were included to show, at the very least, that there are two different kinds of rapture, namely, the rapture of the overcomers and the rapture of the majority of the believers.