Question: Are Old Testament saints part of the Rapture?

*Our Q&A section is primarily pulled from the Dave Hunt archives. Although some references may be dated, we believe there is timeless value within the messages.

Question: We have a rare difference of opinion concerning your assertion that Old Testament saints are a part of the Church resurrected at the time of the Rapture. Certainly, they are saved by faith alone in the shed blood of Christ…. However, they are, as John the Baptist described himself, “friends of the Bridegroom” (John:3:29He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
See All...). The Church, Christ’s bride, was born on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). At the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, He will have many “friends” in attendance.

Response: I appreciate your position, but there are serious problems with it. Old Testament saints could only be resurrected at the Rapture:

1) We know that their souls and spirits were in “Abraham’s bosom” (Lk 16:22), or “paradise” (Lk 23:43), until Christ took them to heaven (Ps:68:18Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
See All...; Eph:4:8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
See All...; Heb:6:20Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
See All...). They will still be there when Christ resurrects the dead saints at the Rapture. I find no basis for thinking that Christ will leave their souls and spirits unclothed in heaven (2 Cor:5:1-9 [1] For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [2] For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: [3] If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. [4] For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. [5] Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. [6] Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: [7] (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) [8] We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. [9] Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
See All...) and not bring them with Him to rejoin their resurrected bodies. The Bible makes no such distinction between Old and New Testament saints. At the Rapture, “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” (1 Thes:4:14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
See All...). I can’t imagine that Abraham, who, Christ said, “rejoiced to see my day...and was glad” (Jn:8:56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
See All...), or John the Baptist, who declared Him to be “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Jn:1:29The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
See All...), did not die with faith in Christ, looking forward to redemption through Him.

2) Thus they must be among “them which sleep in Jesus,” whose bodies Christ will resurrect at the Rapture. If not, they would never be resurrected, because the only other persons who are resurrected are those who died as martyrs at the hands of Antichrist (Rv 20:5-6).

3) The only time the bodies of those whose souls and spirits are now in heaven could be resurrected is at the Rapture of the church, caught up to heaven with them. Then why wouldn’t they be part of the church?

I don’t think that John’s describing himself as the friend of the bridegroom was intended to distinguish between himself and the church, but between him and Christ. As for “he that is least in the kingdom of heaven/God” being greater than John the Baptist (Mt 11:11; Lk 7:27-28), surely that can’t mean that John (and the other prophets) are not in the kingdom of heaven/God. Rather, it refers to the difference between Old Testament prophets and saints (while they lived upon earth) upon whom the Holy Spirit came but could also leave—and the simplest believer since the Cross, who is permanently indwelt with and empowered by the Holy Spirit and Christ.