Rapture

The rapture of the believers is one of the great mysteries that was unknown in the OT and is only described in the NT (1 Cor 15:51). It describes the event in which the Lord will take all believers living on earth at that time and those who have fallen asleep in Jesus Christ bodily to heaven forever. Those who have fallen asleep will be resurrected in this vision and, together with the living believers, will meet the Lord in the clouds. It is the return of the Lord for the believers before he will later appear with the believers on earth. (1 Thess. 4:15 ff.; 1 Cor. 15:15 ff., John 14:3; Phil. 3:20 ff.)