In all the fiction books, shows and movies, the rapture is presented as all of the believers being invisible when they are snatched up to be with the Lord. Most of us simply accept that without question, but I tend to question everything and wanted to know what the bible actually says about this. I think you might be surprised at what I discovered.
The only thing the bible says directly about the rapture is that we will be changed and that it will happen in "the twinkling of an eye". After that, in 1 Cor 15:51-52, we're simply told the dead will be raised with their new bodies and then our bodies will be changed. Nothing at all about it being invisible to other people. In one way it will be invisible, simply because it will happen so fast that anyone watching a believer at the time wouldn't actually "see" anything change. One second they'd be like they always had been and the next, they'd have imperishable bodies like our Lord had. So if the Bible doesn't actually say, how else can we find out without looking beyond it? We need to look at other examples of when something similar happened.
We know that Enoch was the first one to be taken to heaven without dying, but that's all the bible says about him so it's no help. The next one was Elijah and that tells us quite a bit. His story is in 2 Kings 2:11–18. First a Chariot and horses or fire appeared and forced Elisha away from Elijah as they were walking together. Then a whirlwind appeared and Elijah was taken up to heaven in it, in the full view of Elisha! He saw it all.
There's also an example in Revelation when the 2 prophets are brought back to life and taken up to heaven in Rev 11:12-13. First they heard the loud voice saying "come up here" and they then went up to heaven in a cloud. The verse states quite matter of factly that this happened while all the people were watching them. Immediately after this happened there was a bad earthquake. I mention this because we're going to see that there are often earthquakes or some other "natural" phenomenon surrounding events like this. Just as in Elijah's case when we saw the whirlwind.
Finally, we can look at some things that happened when Jesus was here before. First we have His transformation. This was seen by the 3 apostles. They saw Jesus, Moses and Elijah together. That story is in Matthew 17:1-5. So again, He was seen by them, although He told them not to tell anyone until after He'd risen from the dead. the disciples also heard the voice of the Father at that time, telling them that Jesus was His Son and He was very pleased with Him, and that they should listen to Him. This was something they'd remember the rest of their lives and Peter even talked about it in 2 Peter 1:16-17 as I'm quite sure the others did as well.
We also have all the stories of Jesus raising people from the dead. One moment their bodies were quite dead, and the next, they were quite alive. Even Lazarus whose body had already begun to decompose, was seen quite alive once the Lord called him back to life.
Finally, we have the reports of when our Lord died, when He was resurrected and when He ascended to Heaven. It's not spoken about much, but in Matthew 27:51-53 we're told that after the curtain in the temple was torn, there was an earthquake. Tombs broke open and were told many people who were considered to be holy people that had died, were resurrected at the time of our Lord's death. We're not told where they went or what they did for the next couple of days, but when our Lord was resurrected they were seen in Jerusalem by many people. That's always amazed me! It must have really blown people's minds back then and it's really surprising to me that there's not more about it in the Bible. But then again, I'm quite sure that it was something that was so well known and spoken about constantly that they probably figured there was no reason to write more about it.
Next, when our Lord was raised from the dead there was another earthquake. An angel or two appeared and scared the guards half to death. This was when the women had gone to the tomb to anoint His body, and the angels told her that He was alive and they'd see Him soon. (Matthew 28:2-7) We know the Lord was seen by many people during the next 40 days as we're told any number of times that "God caused Him to be seen", such as in Acts 10:40.
Finally, when the Lord ascended to Heaven, He didn't do this in secret. He'd been talking to a large crowd in fact. He gave them his last command and began to lift up into the air right in front of their eyes! We're told about this in Acts 1:9–11, Mark 16:19,and Luke 24:51.
Everything I've spoken about here wasn't done in secret, no one was invisible. Other people, believers and unbelievers alike saw these things. There are many other incidents in the OT where the Lord revealed Himself to people. Sometimes to one or two, and sometimes to large crowds. There was always something like an earthquake or clouds, strong wind, or fire happening whenever this would happen. But He certainly wasn't invisible and neither were they. He always had a reason whenever something supernatural like this would take place. Sometimes it was to reward someone, or teach them so they could teach others, or sometimes it was to warn them. Other times, such as when Jesus was here, it was to confirm that Jesus was in fact His Son and had the authority to do what He said He would. And sometimes it was a mixture of those reasons.
We're told in Acts 17:31 that the resurrection is proof that Jesus is who He said He is and that there will come a day when He will judge the world. This is one reason why the resurrection and ascension were visible. God was letting everyone for all time know that He was serious and that Jesus would be the one judging every man, woman and child one day. While we aren't privy to seeing a lot of supernatural miracles of that kind in our time, the time is coming when once again the supernatural will happen even more frequently then it ever has before. That time is during the Tribulation. I'm not talking just about the judgments, but about the angels that will interact with humans during that time and other supernatural events like that, which will be almost common place then. There will not be a human being alive at that time who won't know for sure that God exists and is watching and able to do all that He says. That's why taking the Mark is unforgivable. When they take that mark, they will knowingly be choosing to worship the antichrist instead of God, and that's what makes it unforgivable. It sounds dire to us, but really it's not much different then happens every day. Each time a person refuses to accept the offer of salvation after hearing about it, they harden their hearts, until eventually their hearts are so hard that they couldn't change their minds if they wanted to. It's the same thing that will happen then. The only difference is that there will be a visible mark to prove it.
The day of judgment is something the Lord has warned about since the beginning and is obviously very important. Those who are saved have nothing to worry about because our sins have already been judged at the cross. Jesus paid the price for us. But it's something God wants everyone to be aware of, that one day, they will be judged. What better way to get that across to the generation that will go through the tribulation then the rapture? I believe that the rapture will be quite visible to everyone. I don't think they'll be able to see Jesus because He will be high in the air waiting for us. With the eyesight we'll have with our new bodies, we will be able to see Him as we rise up to meet Him there. I think it's quite possible that everyone on earth will hear Him call us to come up to Him, just as they'll hear Him again when He calls the prophets up to Him. He warned about this in the old testament and when He was here the first time. There's no reason for Him to keep this a secret from the rest of the world.
We also have a little know scripture in Luke that refers to the rapture. It's Luke 21:17–22.“All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life. “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.” (Luke 21:17–22) Here Jesus was warning them of what would happen shortly when Jerusalem would fall to the Roman's. After He rose to Heaven, we know He sent prophets and they also warned the Christians before Rome fell reminding them of what the Lord had said, and told them to flee to Pella. Because of that, all but a few Christians who were willing to stay and give up their lives in order to try and reach a few last souls for the Kingdom, were saved. They all had fled to Pella as the Lord had told them too, so only the unbelievers were left in the city when it fell. Why is this important to us? Because this passage is also showing what will happen at the rapture, when the believers will be spared God's wrath. Like most prophecies, this one too has more then one fulfillment. It was fulfilled back then and will be again at the rapture of the Church. “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(1 Thessalonians 5:9) The Christians back then did not become invisible. They simply left the region. We too will simply leave. The difference will be our route since we will be going straight up into Heaven. Seem impossible? Ask Elijah, as he did this too as did Enoch and as will the two prophets. Like them, I believe we will rise up into the air in full view of all the people on earth.
If it's totally visible as I think it will be, how would that affect the lies that most others will believe? It won't affect it at all, in fact, it would make the lies more believable! Think about it. Seeing this happen would make people believe the new age lies, or the UFO theories etc even more believable to the unsaved! It would be right up their alley! BUT, it would also give those people that we've witnessed to and told about the rapture, and even better chance of believing the Truth and being saved, then having it be invisible would. Speaking of that, I do not for one second believe that people with jewelry, or false teeth or other things like that are going to leave those things behind on this earth the way the books and movies show it. I've always thought that was pretty sick and gory. For instance I had a pump implanted in my abdomen and a according to the movies, my friends would find a nasty bloody pump along with my dentures and my wedding ring, wherever I'd last been before the rapture. That's movies my friends, that's not the Bible! God doesn't need to remove things in order to change our bodies. As I said, the change will happen so quickly that no one will actually see that happen. But I'm positive nothing that's not original to our bodies will be left behind us. Those things will simply cease to be. They will have been changed right along with our natural bodies.
Let me share one last argument with you. We're told: “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” (Romans 8:19) This doesn't say that creation is waiting for us to be changed and hidden away until the 2nd coming. It says it can't wait until we're revealed! When something is revealed, it's seen, it's not invisible or something to be guessed at or wondered about. Peter says in 1 Peter 5:1, that we will share in the glory to be revealed, so again we're told it's something that will be revealed, not hidden. This will also be true at the second coming, but there's no reason it's not true at the rapture as well. I'll leave you all now with the scripture we all know so well and look forward to, which I hope that we can all see with excitement and new eyes: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)
