The word rapture is not a New Testament word. The English word comes from the Latin verb rapio (“seize” or “carry away”), which was used in the Vulgate (the Latin translation of the Bible) to translate the Greek word ἁρπαγησόμεθα “we will be caught up [to meet the Lord in the air]” (1 Thessalonians 4:17.)

The popular (but not biblical, I would argue) sense of “rapture”

I. Christians are physically moved off the earth into heaven by the Lord.
II. This physical “taking away” is also usually thought to be necessary to rescue believers from harm (the Final Tribulation)

• The more important aspect of rapture in the New Testament is bodily transformation. Theologically, rapture is best seen as a parallel to resurrection. When the Lord returns, dead Christians are raised from the dead, living Christians are raptured . . . and both are brought into Christ’s presence (in the air) as he continues his journey to earth to reign.

• “A study of the vocabulary employed in describing the return of Christ paints a uniform picture: believers are exhorted to look for and to live in the light of this glorious event. And, while some texts obviously place this coming after the final tribulation, there are none that equally obviously place it before the final tribulation.” (Moo)

• The New Testament proclaims that the prophecies about the “last days” have already begun to be fulfilled. Christ’s death, his glorious resurrection, and the pouring out of the Spirit on “all flesh” mark the inauguration of the “last days” (Acts 2:14–21;1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 1:1–2; 1 John 2:18). Because, then, the age between the advents belongs to the “last things” (eschata), the entire period is “eschatological.” The decisive, foundational eschatological events have already taken place—but, to the surprise of many in Jesus’ day, without the culminating judgment of the wicked and definitive rescue of the righteous.

• The “Already here/not yet come” nature of the Kingdom