INTRODUCTION
The Greek word harpazo used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 speaks of a sudden snatching up or catching away. As an iron magnet attracts iron, so Christ will catch away those who are His own. Soon he will come and take His people home. If we are his and if we are to have apart in that glorious event, we must be like Him in nature-filled with His Spirit and bearing His wonderful name.

THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH
Jesus is coming soon. This is the moment for which Christians worldwide long. Christ has been assigned a minor role by many in this world, but soon He will command the center stage. He will indeed be the featured star of this great event and of eternity!

The Blessed Hope
Believers need to be waiting and watching for the return of Christ. We should be "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).
What blessedness, what rich benefits, will be ours at the Rapture! We may be suffering now. We may be misunderstood and even ridiculed on occasion, but when Christ comes all pain and suffering will have been worthwhile. Mankind failed to recognize Christ as the Creator during His earthly life (John 1:10), and today people fail to appreciate the people of God. But one day all this will change. One day there will be a revealing, a grand disclosure. Believers will then be fully recognized as the people of God. (See Romans 8:18-19.)

The Purifying Hope
Orthodox Jewish girls go through a purifying ceremony of being completely immersed in water before their actual marriage. This cleansing of girls about to be married occurs before they meet their bridegrooms for the marriage feast. (Often these intended brides had been given beautiful presents by the men to whom they were betrothed, thus binding the agreement.) Legally, though not actually married, the orthodox brides-to-be take on the name of their bridegrooms at their cleansing ceremony.
Interestingly, we also are preparing to meet our Bridegroom--Jesus Christ. The marriage ceremony and the wedding feast have not yet taken place. But we have been washed, sanctified, and justified "in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1Corinthians 6:11). Paul the apostle also wrote, " I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2).
For now we live in anticipation of seeing our heavenly lover. We have taken on the name of Jesus Christ through water baptism (that is complete immersion of water) in the name of Jesus Christ and have received the Holy Ghost, the precious token of His love.
Utmost concern was shown on the wedding day that a bride's beautiful garments be without spot, blemish, or even a noticeable particle of dust. Christ loved the church and "and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Why do true Christians take such care to separate themselves from worldliness and sin? We strive to be holy because we have discovered the wonders of our glorious Lord. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Joyously we have received the Holy Ghost, the token of our Savior's betrothal. We are reminded continually of Christ's promise to return. Soon the righteous will hear, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away" (Song of Solomon 2:10).

The Comforting Hope
An Orthodox Bride received a written agreement regarding the arrangements of the wedding from her lover. The time, place, and terms of the future marriage were firmly established by this "ketubah" or written contract. While the groom was gone to prepare a home for her, the bride held in her possession the precious ketubah. As months went by the young woman gained comfort and joy from reading time and again the vows of her future husband.
The bride knew that the wedding party could arrive in her town at an unexpected hour and that its arrival would be announced by a shout, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh." The joyous moment, so longed for, would then have come. She had made many careful preparations for this very hour. Her wedding dress would be ready. Now she could go out to meet her betrothed.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). This probably does not mean that Christ will do the shouting, but that those attending Him will cry aloud with excitement. Heaven itself will be aroused. There will be the voice of a chief angel. Moreover, the trumpet of God will sound.
No wonder Paul told believers to "comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:18). We have read the marriage contract and have known that Christ's Word is always true. We have received the Holy Ghost, His precious gift. He has promised us a home in heaven and now we eagerly wait for His return.

THE RETURN OF CHRIST

The Imminent Return of Christ
The return of Christ is imminent. Everywhere there are signs that a great, worldwide judgment is pending. But before the terrible Tribulation described by Jesus in Matthew 24 actually takes place, believers will be taken home. The church will not be a battered bride. Christ has built the church. He "also loves the church, and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25). Our hope is not in enduring the seven-year time of tribulation--which would hardly be "glorious"--but in being caught away to meet the Lord in the air.
Jesus gave forceful warnings that we should prepare for His return. We should be watchful as a man who guards his home against a thief. "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 24:44). We need to be ready!

Christ Will Come Suddenly
Jesus told His followers of difficult times to come ("the beginning of sorrows," Matthew 24:4-14) and then of even more desperate times (the Tribulation, Matthew 24:15-26). How strange Christ's words must have sounded to the disciples! He spoke of His coming and of the tremendous signs that would precede that event. Some of these signs probably would be seen just before His appearance to all the world (Matthew 24:30), but there were other statements that reflect on a sudden catching away of His people. ( See Matthew 24:40-41.)
When Christ comes for His church it will be sudden. There will be no earthshaking signs on that particular day. The Lord said it would happen as in the days of Noah. "For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark" (Matthew 24:38). Life went on as usual. People worked and played, bought and sold, loved and hated. Eight people were missing, it was true, but that to them seemed hardly cause to expect the judgment of an angry God. How wrong they were if those were their thoughts!

Christ will return himself
God's dealings with Israel were typical of the methods He would use with the church. (See 1 Corinthians 10:11.) Their experiences should instruct us in our walk of faith today. Among many beautiful lessons in the Old Testament, there is the theme of a specially chosen bride prepared to meet her lover.
Surely Christians have heard of the greatness of their Bridegroom--The Lord Jesus Christ. We have been assured of His wealth and His kindness through the gifts of His Spirit. But we must determine to prepare ourselves to go to Him.
Isaac "lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold, the camels were coming" (Genesis 24:63). Rebekah also "lifted up her eyes, and ... saw Isaac" (Genesis 24:64). Today there is a loving anticipation on the part of the Bridegroom, as well as the bride, for that great meeting in the air. He will come personally to take us home.

THE RESURRECTED AND TRANSLATED SAINTS

The Resurrection Of Christ
For a Christian the resurrection of Jesus Christ simply means the difference between a sad mourning and a glad morning. It is the difference between hopelessness and hopefulness, between defeat and victory, between eternal death and eternal life.
Christ's empty tomb brought a mighty victory over death for every believer. Though the greatest forces of earth and hell had contrived to keep the Lord's body sealed in the tomb, the angels declared, "He is not here, but is risen" (Luke 24:6).
1 Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.What a humiliating step God took when He took upon Himself human flesh! From the portals of glory He came to make His habitation with mankind.
Jesus Christ was both man and God--human and deity. Not God, nor even a part of God, died at Cavalry. It was flesh that died at Calvary, not the Spirit. In His flesh He felt the searing, awful pain of the nails as they were driven into His body, His precious blood stained the Roman cross on which He Hung. At Calvary His blood paid the price for all our sins.
But the story was not over. A mighty earthquake shook the garden tomb as an angel of God "came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it" (Matthew 28:2). The man in the tomb was gone, raised by the power of the Almighty. He rose triumphant, with all heaven at His command. "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).
Moreover, we shall see Jesus Christ in His flesh and in all His glory. Certainly the wounds in His hands and side will still be there (Zechariah 13:6), but on that day we shall perceive His magnificent splendor.
2 Because of His resurrection, the saints shall be resurrected. In a very real way God dwells in all born-again believers who live victoriously by the Holy Spirit of Christ. And they also shall be raised. They shall be raised to meet Christ in the air. No natural power could do this, and so some would argue that it could never happen. "But if The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:11).

The Transformation Of The Saints
Transformation? Is it possible? Yes, and we have every reason to believe in the transformation which will take place at Christ's coming, for we have already been transformed through repentence, water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, and by receiving the Holy Ghost.
1 We shall be changed. For the present time we humans dwell in temples made of clay. Our bodies suffer from fatigue, pain, and disease. Fleshly desires often tempt us to sin. And so we long to put on our immortal bodies. "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phillipians 3:20-21).
2 We shall be like Him. We do not make idols of the rich and the glamorous. Instead, we long to put on the very nature of Christ. Our greatest desire is to be like Him. Christ is everything that is pure and good, everthing that brings joy and satisfaction to our hearts. His Spirit constantly speaks to us of His virtues. His word continually tells us of His magnificence.
Although there are many things we do not know as yet, there are significant things that we do know. We know that as believers we are now the sons of God and that we will be spectacularly changed when we see Christ. We will be transformed by His glory. (See 1 John 3:2).

The Translation Of The Saints
Suddenly, with amazing speed, God will raise those who have died in the Lord. It will be in a moment, an indivisible point of time, in the twinkling of an eye. Then those believers who are alive on the earth will also be translated. Corruptible bodies will become translated. Corruptible bodies will become incorruptible. We who have been mortal will become immortal. The obscure will become distinct; the unknown will become known. We all know the Savior as we have never known Him before. "Then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12, The Amplified Bible).
Someone has stated that we have been saved by Christ, will be made like Christ, and will forever be with Christ. No greater reward is possible. We shall be "caught up" to "ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). What a hope we have in Christ!

SUMMARY
Soon our heavenly Bridegroom will come. A bridegroom in Christ's day usually went to his father's home to prepare a place for his bride. Our Lord said, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were so then I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2-3).
What shall we do? Our generation as a whole is dying without knowledge of God. Yes, Jesus is coming. The faithful and wise steward works diligently in anticipation of that day, "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing" (Luke 12:43).