The Finish Line

I guess it was inevitable. I have mentioned before how Taiwan handled the coronavirus in an exemplary fashion, and as a result we have been lucky enough to avoid the harsh measures many other countries around the world have taken. Well...

That was then. This is now.

In mid-May, Taiwan finally got a taste of what most other countries have been experiencing to various degrees over the past 14 or so months. We saw our number of COVID-19 cases suddenly shoot up from almost nil to several hundred in the space of a couple of days, and virtually overnight we were neck deep in a pandemic that most people here had come to casually associate with the world outside of Taiwan.

On Saturday the 15th, during an actual class, my students and I were informed by one of the secretaries that all in-person classes would be closing down for the next two weeks (a measure that has since been extended for another two weeks...you get the picture). Although the rate of increase of new cases seems to be easing slightly, raising hopes we might get through this with only a few weeks of less stringent measures, many fear this is just a down payment on what could blossom into lengthier, harsher measures to stem the outbreak.

Don't you hate it when that happens?

Anyway...so how was your day? I can tell you one thing for certain, however. There is nothing like having your normal life suddenly snatched away to make you yearn for the day when we all suddenly get snatched away.

Speaking of which, I recently spent some time with a marvelous little passage of Scripture that is well-known to most believers, but one I that would venture to say few associate directly with the Rapture. On closer inspection, however, this quizzical little passage not only speaks to the Rapture, but as an added bonus it speaks to a pre-trib Rapture.

You know how it is—you've read a passage 900 times, and then one day you scratch below the surface and dig into it a bit, and KA-POW!

Don't you love it when that happens?

But no matter how close the Rapture may be, there is also nothing like having your normal life suddenly snatched away, especially in the midst of a scary global pandemic, to make you reflect on somewhat more sobering topics—like the possibility of being among the ones who "shall rise first" at the Rapture, if you know what I mean. In other words, it's enough to make thoughts pop into your head about the possibility of not making it to the finish line, in a manner of speaking. Of course, a glorified body that is impervious to any disease would be awfully nice right now, too.

Put those things together, and you have the general thrust of this article: the Rapture, the state of those who have the distinction of going to be with the Lord before it occurs, and the glorified bodies we all look forward to. Paul speaks to these in his second letter to the Corinthians, and so we're off to the port city of Corinth.

Found naked

The specific passage in question is 2 Corinthians 5:1–5, but I want to sort of sneak up on it by briefly noting a couple of things that Paul mentions in the preceding four chapters.

In the opening chapters of 2 Corinthians, Paul is pouring his heart out to this group of believers, urging them to focus on things to come—on things eternal, and casts the troubles and sufferings of this life in the context of not only an opportunity to reveal the glorious light of the gospel and God's grace, mercy, and power, but also an opportunity to receive even greater eternal glory and reward in heaven:

Momentary light affliction: Every single one of us should take a Sharpie and write these words on the back of our hands, and I'm first in that line. Listen, if the apostle Paul can call what he suffered for the sake of the gospel "momentary light affliction," then the rest of us need to just sit down and shut up. Seriously. And while we're at it, glorify God like there's no tomorrow—after all, there may not be.

The Corinthians had come to adopt the view that the physical was of no value, and that everything on the physical plane was inferior to the spiritual plane. Paul comes at this idea from a different perspective, however, teaching that it's not that the physical is necessarily carnal and useless, because it is what God uses to give rise to the eternal. Back in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses the example of a seed, which must be planted in the ground and die in order to produce grain:

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul also emphasizes that God saw fit to reveal His power and the life and glory of His Son through vessels of clay:

Then in chapter 5, Paul begins the passage in question by talking about our earthly and heavenly bodies:

Skenos is an apt word for Paul to use, since in real life he was skilled in the craft of tentmaking, even engaging in it to support himself during his ministry (Acts 18:1–3).

Obviously, a tent is a simple structure that can be slapped up in few minutes. It is just a temporary dwelling designed for people who are traveling—for those who are just passing through to another destination. Clearly this is what our physical bodies amount to—"temporary dwellings" that allow us to "pass through" our lives here on earth.

On the other hand, a building is a complex structure that takes considerable time, effort, and materials to construct. It is a permanent dwelling for those who call it home, and in this case it is a reference to the glorified bodies that will be our "permanent dwellings" in heaven.

So, during our earthly lives we are clothed with our earthly bodies, and in heaven we will be clothed with our glorified bodies. Now, before we continue, let's establish one crucial point:

When exactly do we receive our glorified bodies?

Piece of cake. Paul already answered this question in his first letter to the Corinthians in what became one of the most foundational Rapture passages in the entire New Testament:

Every member of the Church—both the dead in Christ and those who are alive at the time—receives their glorified body at the Rapture. This isn't exactly a news flash for anyone who has ever read 1 Corinthians 15—which I'm sure the great majority of you have. This is a widely accepted point among those who understand the Bible's teaching on the Rapture, and this has long been a fundamental aspect of it.

But back to 2 Corinthians 5. So verse 1 tells us that if our earthly tent is dissolved (i.e. if we physically die), we have a glorified body to look forward to in heaven...or in the heavens. Whatever.

"Heaven" or "the heavens"? Note that when Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:1 that we have "a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens" (and I quoted the World English Bible above, but it's rendered "in the heavens" in the KJV as well), the word used in Greek is a form of ouranos, which is routinely used throughout the New Testament to refer to both "the heavens" as in the visible sky as well as "heaven" in the spiritual sense. Many English translations don't knock themselves out trying to make the distinction between the two possible meanings, and presumably allow the context to point the reader in the right direction. There's no reason to make a big deal out of this, but I just think it's interesting to note that the KJV translators chose to render ouranos as "the heavens" in this verse, which often suggests the actual sky. Or maybe I should say clouds:

Moving on to verse 2:

Of course, believers "groan" for the day when we will ditch this body of flesh and be clothed in a glorified model—and Paul doesn't state it openly here, but we know from his first letter that this happens at the Rapture.

The Greek word translated "clothed" in verse 2 is an interesting word—it only appears twice in the entire New Testament, with both occurrences coming in this particular passage (verses 2 and 4). The word is ependuomai, which means to put something on over something else, as in to put one garment on over another. So, the picture being painted is one of believers being clothed with their mortal bodies one moment, and the next moment suddenly being "clothed over" with their glorified bodies.

Well, if you're clothed with your mortal body one moment and clothed with your glorified body the next, then you are never, you know...

Don't miss this: Yes, Paul groans to be clothed with his glorified body, but he specifically desires to be ependuomai'ed with it—he wants to put it on right over his mortal body, in a sense. He doesn't want to be "found naked" when he receives his glorified body. So what is this passage telling us?

Paul is telling the believers in Corinth and us that he is groaning and longing to not only be clothed in his glorified body, but to be clothed in it in such a way that he won't have to experience a period of time in which he is unclothed, or naked.

Well, if you are alive and clothed in your mortal body, you are not naked. Similarly, if you are clothed in your glorified body, you are not naked. That means that believers who are naked are those who have died and are no longer clothed in their mortal bodies, but have not yet been clothed in their glorified bodies (because the Rapture hasn't occurred yet).

So...what is Paul actually groaning and longing for?

Paul is not just groaning and longing for
the Rapture—he is groaning and longing
for the Rapture to occur during his lifetime.

Paul groans and longs for the Rapture to happen while he is still alive (in other words, TODAY), rather than occurring at some point in the future after he has died, thus leading to his being found naked when he finally does receive his glorified body.

The point is that 2 Corinthians 5:1–5 is a passage that most definitely speaks of the Rapture, and that shouldn't surprise anyone too much. After all, Paul had already taught them the doctrine of the resurrection of believers in his first letter (1 Cor. 15:51–53), and although that passage in his first letter stands alone as a definitive Rapture teaching, here in his second letter he is effectively reaffirming the intimate connection between the resurrection of believers and the Rapture. Paul is addressing the same group of believers about the same topic—the resurrection/Rapture of the dead in Christ and those who are alive and remain.

And it's that "alive and remain" bunch that Paul longs to be part of.

And that's not all

So Paul is certainly talking about the Rapture in 2 Corinthians 5:1–5, but that's not all. They're certainly not smoking guns, but notice two minor details in what Paul wrote (or didn't write, as the case may be) that could easily be taken to suggest he's talking about a pre-trib Rapture.

1. The bema. First of all, after focusing on the Rapture in verses 1–5, notice where Paul heads in the next couple of verses:

After talking about the Rapture, he wastes no time in mentioning the judgment seat of Christ and the rewards each member of the Church will receive. These are the rewards we will have when we return with Christ at the Second Coming, so Paul is touching on another fundamental component of the pre-trib sequence of events.

The pre-trib Rapture scenario has the Church translated to heaven before the Tribulation begins; and during the seven-plus years until the Second Coming, we appear at the judgment seat of Christ to be rewarded for the works in our earthly lives that warrant them, and we have a marriage ceremony in which we are officially "wedded" with Christ (Rev. 19:1–7). Only then are we prepared to return with Him at the Second Coming all robed in white to take part in the marriage supper of the Lamb on earth (Rev. 19:9). This is the basis of the Parable of the 10 Virgins (Matt. 25:1–13), and just one of the many reasons why those 10 virgins, half of whom are granted and the other half denied entrance as guests to that wedding supper (which follows the wedding ceremony in heaven) absolutely cannot be the Church. Then we are all set to rule and reign with Christ in the Millennial Kingdom for a thousand years.

The problem with other theories of the timing of the Rapture is that they have to get creative to varying degrees with the timing of these events. For example, I've heard certain post-tribbers claim we are Raptured, rewarded at the bema, and attend the marriage of the Lamb all on the same day, and then make a beeline straight back to earth in the Second Coming.

Whew...hold on to your crowns!

2. ASAP. OK, so here's our apostle Paul, groaning and longing for the Rapture to occur during his lifetime. Now, if you are groaning and longing for an event to occur, it goes without saying that you want it to happen ASAP—as soon as possible. If other events had to happen prior to the Rapture, Paul might have mentioned one or more of them, if for no other reason than to gird the minds of his readers and remind them of the fact that no matter how much they groaned and longed for the Rapture, certain things had to occur first—so be patient and keep your eyes peeled for those events, you know?

But do we see anything even remotely like that in 2 Corinthians 5:1–5?

Well, let's see:

There is no mention of the Tribulation or the treaty of Daniel 9:27 that launches it. No mention of the Antichrist who rises to power during its early stages. No mention of the abomination of desolation that occurs at its midpoint. No mention of the mark of the beast or the unleashing of horrifying judgments on the earth. No mention of the physical return of Christ to the earth to establish His kingdom.

Paul doesn't say one word about any of these or other related earthly events—he just tells us that he groans and longs for the Rapture to occur during his lifetime. The sooner the better. Now, if all (or even one) of those events had to happen before the Rapture, Paul's groaning and longing might come across as...well, an exercise in pie-in-the-sky futility.

If other events had to occur before the Rapture, then Paul is basically just jerkin' their chains.

But is that what Paul is doing? Absolutely not! Well, what is Paul doing? Paul is modeling for the Corinthian believers and for the entire Church throughout the entire Church Age the attitude God wants us to have towards the Rapture—an attitude characterized by an eager, active expectancy that is only possible if the Rapture can occur not just during our lifetimes, but literally at any moment (and if you happen to be one of those who still has a case of heartburn about the doctrine of imminence, take the time to avail yourself of this). In other words, in this passage in 2 Corinthians 5:

Paul is modeling for the Church the
godly attitude toward the Rapture God
intends for believers to have, and that is
unquestionably the pre-tribulation view.

Nothing more, nothing less. There's no honest way around it.

Flesh and bones

I want to flesh out (sorry) this idea of being "naked" that Paul alludes to in 2 Corinthians 5:3, this state in which believers exist after they die and before they receive their glorified bodies at the Rapture.

Much of this presumably applies equally well to unbelievers, who—although they will certainly never be clothed in glorified bodies—may well exist in a similar state after their death and prior to being resurrected at the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20:11–15 to ultimately be cast into the lake of fire. However, in this section I'm only going to focus my attention on the state of the righteous, which would include Church Age saints, Old Testament saints, and Tribulation saints.

Wait your turn: I won't get into it in this article, but I am inclined to believe, based on a careful reading of Revelation 20:4–6 and a few other related Old Testament passages that the Old Testament saints will be resurrected shortly after the Second Coming, and the Tribulation saints will be resurrected shortly after the Old Testament saints.

But what, if anything, can we deduce from Scripture about this period of "nakedness" Paul refers to? What's it like? What form will we be in? Will we be like ghosts floating around the outskirts of heaven or what?

One obvious thing to bear in mind is that our spirit is eternal. God's Spirit is eternal and we are created in His image, so ours is as well. That means that our essence—our inner nature that expresses itself every day of our lives—will continue to exist for eternity. That means our cognitive abilities, our emotions, our memories, etc. will still be intact.

In other words, we will still be us.

Not only that, but we will be with the Lord. And that means we will be in heaven, because that's where the Lord is. Paul alludes to this in the passage we just looked at above:

It's a binary thing: We are either at home in the body and absent from the Lord, or absent from the body and at home with the Lord. But as we have seen, in either case our spirits are either clothed or unclothed. If they are clothed, our spirit dwells in a vehicle through which it can express itself in a tangible manner. While we are clothed in our mortal bodies, we can only interact with the physical world. When we are clothed with our glorified bodies, however, we will be able to interact with both the physical and the spiritual world. Scripture clearly tells us as much.

In Luke 24:13–43, we read that on the afternoon of Resurrection Sunday, Jesus appeared to two disciples (not two of the original 12) who were walking along the road to Emmaus, a village roughly seven miles from Jerusalem. Jesus joined them as they walked, but He prevented them from recognizing Him and played dumb about the recent tumultuous events of Passion Week. As they walked, He proceeded to open up the Scriptures, revealing to them from the Old Testament prophets how the Messiah would have to suffer such things to enter into His glory.

When they got to Emmaus, Jesus initially acted as though He would go further, but the two disciples imposed upon Him to stay with them as it was getting late in the day. As they sat down to eat, Jesus blessed the bread and broke it, and suddenly their eyes were opened as to His true identity. And then POOF...He vanished into thin air.

The astonished disciples immediately hightailed it back to Jerusalem, and that evening found the rest of the disciples along with some others in a locked room in Jerusalem, since they feared for their lives because of the Jews. The two breathlessly related their startling experience, and suddenly Jesus appeared out of thin air among them, just as He had vanished earlier that afternoon in Emmaus. Naturally, Jesus scared the pants off everybody present—they thought He was a ghost, and Jesus asked for something to eat to prove to them that He wasn't.

My point is this: Note that Jesus, in His glorified body, was (a) completely tangible, (b) able to interact with things and people here on earth in the physical world, and (c) able to spontaneously move in and out of different dimensions His mortal disciples didn't have access to.

When we become clothed in our glorified bodies at the Rapture, we will be able to do the same:

The disciples were scared out of their wits because they didn't have the ability to "see Him as He is." And why not? Because they were not "like Him." Well, how was He? He was in His glorified body and was, for lack of a better word, a transdimensional being: He could move in and out of dimensions the disciples couldn't see. And they couldn't see this because they were not "like Him"—they were limited in their perception due to the fact that they were clothed in their mortal bodies.

When He returns for us at the Rapture, unlike the disciples, we will be able to "see Him as He is," because we will be "like Him." When we see Him at the Rapture, we too will be clothed in glorified bodies. Thus we will be able to perceive Him as the glorious, transdimensional being that He truly is because we will share some of those glorified characteristics.

But while Jesus was hobnobbing with His disciples that evening, He said something that is highly significant to the current discussion:

A spirit doesn't have flesh and bones. This would apply to the group under discussion: believers who have died and so are no longer clothed in their mortal bodies, but have not yet been clothed in their glorified bodies at the Rapture. That is, believers who are naked.

So, we will exist in spiritual form with our spirits fully intact, but just not able to physically interact with people and things on earth. It is not totally clear, however, if or in what manner we might be limited in how we experience things in heaven prior to the Rapture. Personally, I am inclined to think we won't be limited at all in heaven in our spiritual form, since I believe the primary reason God needs to give us glorified bodies in the first place is so we can rule and reign with Christ on earth during the Millennial Kingdom—not just so we can do the hula hoop in heaven.

When we get clothed with our glorified bodies at the Rapture, however, it's going to be a different story. During the Millennial Kingdom, we will have the ability to pop in and out of the earthly plane at will, just as Jesus did in Luke 24 (also in John 20). I believe we will rise and shine in the New Jerusalem and pop down to earth in the morning, carry out our assigned duties, and pop back up to the New Jerusalem to hang our hats that evening.

Now that's a commute I'm looking forward to.

As an aside, I might mention an unusual incident in the Old Testament that has some bearing on this discussion. In 2 Samuel 28, King Saul is distressed as to what to do in the face of an attack by the Philistines. He has sought the LORD, but has received no answer because the LORD has abandoned him due to his disobedience in dealing with the Amalekites. Although Saul has banned all such spiritist activity, he disguises himself and goes to seek answers from a medium at Endor.

Saul asks the medium to summon the prophet Samuel from his abode in Paradise so the prophet can counsel him, and she does so with the help of a familiar spirit—a demonic "servant" who is invited into the lives of people who foolishly open themselves to the demonic realm, but in reality still serves its master Satan.

So up comes the spirit of Samuel, and the prophet gives Saul an earful:

Note that the prophet Samuel still knows what is going on in this situation—he doesn't have to brought up to date. He knows God has ordained for Israel to be defeated by the Philistines, that the kingdom has been taken from Saul and will be given to David, and that Saul and his sons will die the following day and join him in Paradise. Obviously they can communicate, although unlike mortal Saul, it is likely Samuel's method of communication is of a telepathic nature, rather than through physically spoken words. Also, note that in the entire passage, there is no physical contact between Samuel and Saul. Samuel doesn't shake his hand or slap him on the back or anything. Saul "sees" him, "hears" him, and that's it.

So, there is really nothing here that contradicts the idea that the righteous dead are fully spiritually intact (either in heaven after the Resurrection or in Paradise prior to), but unable to physically interact with those on earth.

What about the Rich Man and Lazarus?

Jesus taught a lot of parables, but one that has generated a great deal of controversy is found in the Gospel of Luke—the Rich Man and Lazarus:

Some people think this story/parable gives us some insights into how people exist in the spiritual dimension; however, controversy swirls around whether or not this is just a parable intended to merely illustrate a spiritual truth, or a literal story about real people.

I don't have any statistics available, but I suspect the majority of people tend to view this as a parable. On the other hand, I know there are many students of the Bible who view it as a literal story.

I confess that I did for years, and if asked I would give the same reason that many give for viewing it that way: the name. The argument goes like this:

In all of the Lord's parables that appear in Scripture, not a single character is named. In parable after parable, it's always "There was a certain man," or "A certain man had a blah-blah-blah," or "A certain man was on the way to such-and-such." No names. But here, all of a sudden we have a named character—very unparable-like. That indicates that Jesus is talking about an actual beggar named Lazarus, and this tells us it's a literal story, not just a parable.

After doing some reading for this article (as well as studying the Word a little more carefully), however, I am now persuaded that it is indeed a parable, just like all the others that Jesus taught. I believe there are true elements in the parable, such as a literal place of comfort and a literal place of torment that are separated by a literal chasm that literally cannot be traversed, etc., but I have become convinced that the usage of the name "Lazarus" is far too flimsy a reason in and of itself to brand this as a literal story. Here are a few of the reasons why I say that:

For one thing, notice that the tale begins like every other parable: "There was a certain rich man." This is boilerplate for how to open a parable. If it were a real story, then Jesus would have certainly named the rich man as well—failing to do so makes very little sense. But then Jesus proceeds to give the lowly beggar a name, thus elevating him above the anonymous rich man in importance. And not just any name. The name "Lazarus" (which is related to the name "Eleazar") means "God is my helper." So the meaning of the name Jesus chose is highly significant in the story.

Now, consider: Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, arguably the most self-righteous group of people who have ever graced this planet. They loved money. They loved power. They loved prestige. And they loved the law, and used it as a means to obtain and cling to that money, power, and prestige and to elevate themselves far above the common people. As usual, Jesus' intention was to shake them out of their comfort zone and force them to face the reality of their hardened, hypocritical spiritual condition.

But here's the kicker: By giving the beggar a name and leaving the rich man nameless, thus elevating the righteous beggar to a status above that of the spiritually hardened rich man (and trust me, this would have stuck in the Pharisees' craw big time), Jesus is driving home the point that the rich man's wealth and status mean absolutely nothing in the absence of the love and compassion one cultivates from establishing and maintaining a right relationship with a loving, compassionate God—a God whose Word they had reduced to a morass of petty legalism.

That's the point, and naming only the beggar gives the tale the pitch-perfect punch it needs to get through to the Pharisees. This served to make the parable a hot, burning coal on the heads of these legalistic, self-righteous religious leaders—which was true of most of what Jesus taught.

One other thing. Note Abraham's closing statement to the rich man: "If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead."

Q. Who do you think Jesus is talking about?

A. Hint: Who rose from the dead and still failed to persuade the Pharisees?

In reality, Jesus is telling the Pharisees that if they harden their hearts to the prophets (which they had), they will harden their hearts to the Resurrection (which they did). We see this exact same principle at work in Matthew 12:38–42 when some Pharisees come to Jesus and ask Him to perform a miracle that would blow their hair back, and the Lord's response is even harder than their hearts of stone:

Jesus is telling them essentially the same thing, only this time straight to their faces, not in the form of a parable: He is telling the Pharisees that because of the hardness of their hypocritical hearts, they will only be given the sign of the Resurrection. And it's clear from the context and tone of the passage that Jesus knows full well they will reject that, too—they will not "be persuaded if one rises from the dead," and indeed they were not.

The bottom line is that I am satisfied that the mere fact that Jesus gave the beggar a name in no way forces this to be anything but a parable.

(Wait for it...) S-o  w-h-a-t?!

I said all that to say this:

If the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
is a literal story, that means there is a rich
man in Hades with a literal tongue, and there
was a beggar in Paradise with a literal finger.

And I say "was" because he would have gotten upgraded to heaven two thousand years ago at the time of the Resurrection.

Here's the thing: In the parable, the rich man doesn't ask Abraham to tell Lazarus to dip his spirit finger into spirit water and cool his spirit tongue. If you are dead and your spirit is (a) in heaven, (b) was in Paradise and is currently in heaven, or (c) has been on Hades for the duration, and you have a literal tongue, then you have literal flesh. And if you have a literal finger, then you have both literal flesh and literal bones.

And that means what Jesus says in Luke 24:39 about spirits having neither flesh nor bones is literally wrong.

Oops.

The finish line

I think everyone would agree that we are indeed living in tumultuous times, and I don't even feel the need to run down a depressing laundry list of reasons why I say that. But for born-again believers, these are exciting times—they are times that should find us hunkering down and pushing forward with all our might to finish the course God has set before us:

Now, you all know at what point in a race the runners go all out and give it all they've got:

They give it all they've got at the end of the race, striving to be the first one to cross the finish line.

Our finish line is the Rapture—and if you're like me, you know it's so close you can taste it. We should be focusing on going all out in these last few yards of the race, groaning and longing to cross that finish line to a champion's welcome in the clouds.

Oh, and forget what I said in the beginning of this article about not making it to the finish line—all believers are crossing the finish line I'm talking about: We'll either cross it in heaven or while we're still alive here on earth. Either way, it's going to be glorious far beyond our comprehension.

Of course, we will receive different types and numbers of "prizes." But one prize every single one of us is going to receive is an immortal, glorified body that we will dwell in for eternity, both in the New Jerusalem and here on earth during the Millennial Kingdom. And why will we get that prize?

Because in Christ, each one of us is a spiritual champion.

And our names are already in the record book.

Greg Lauer — MAY '21

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