The Rapture
The word rapture comes from the Greek word harpazo meaning caught up or taken away. It also comes from the Latin word rapere or rapturo which means to snatch away, to be caught up. We have the promise from God that He will save us from the tribulation. How do we know this? Scripture tells us a lot of His plan, God gives us the sneak peak into future events for a reason, He’s preparing us for the moment when we will all be caught up to meet Jesus in the air. Jesus is our blessed hope, the rapture is our blessed hope, those who do not believe in a rapture are taking away that blessed hope.
God has caught up two individuals before, I like to think of those events as a trial run to the big event, In Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. 2 Kings 2:11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Jesus and Paul both taught about the rapture. Jesus first mentions the rapture and the resurrection of the church when he is talking to Martha after the death of Lazarus. John 11:25-26 says: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Jesus is talking about two different groups of people here, the first group is the believers who have died and went to heaven, the second group are the believers who are still living and will never see death. Why will they never see death? Because they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air while still living here on earth.
Paul wrote about the rapture in his letters to the Thessalonians and the Corinthians. He mentions that not all Christians will die, many will be alive in the final generation that sees Christ return, we read about it in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 We who are still living will be caught up, 1 Corinthians 15:51 We will not all sleep. Before that happens the believers who are already in heaven will be resurrected with their earthly bodies that are asleep in the ground. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Corinthians 15:52 For the dead will be raised imperishable.
Jesus is telling us He is coming back for us. He is the way to your eternal home. Jesus is who we are to follow if we want eternal life in heaven, every day should mean a life worthy of Him, live like Jesus every minute of every day until that moment He returns for us.
Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.
Matthew 24:42 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
If no one knows the day or the hour of Christ's return then doesn't that prove there is a rapture? People who are living and going through the seven year tribulation will know the exact math to Jesus's second coming. Once the antichrist signs the peace treaty the seven years starts. Three and a half years he will break that treaty. Hell will break loose for the next three and a half years, so anyone here on earth will be able to count the years and days to His coming starting from when that treaty is signed.
We will just be going about our day and suddenly we’re seeing Jesus face to face. That excites me. I’m excited for the rapture, I pray I get to experience it during my lifetime and with the way the world is going I do believe it could be any moment. Jesus promises us He will save us from the hour of trial. We will be spared from going through the tribulation and the evil that will ensue.
What doesn’t excite me is the idea of millions upon millions of people being left behind because they didn’t have time to live a life for Jesus, too busy to have a relationship with Him, they thought they had plenty of time to come to that later in life. We must take the time now, we have to believe in Him and believe in His word. We can trust the Bible is true and we can trust He will keep His word. Jesus told us the signs of the times and when the end will come, we’re seeing the signs unfold before our very eyes everyday, the end of the end is here. Do the works now, spread His word to whoever you can now, there are people who need to know, if not to be saved for the rapture then to have the seeds planted for after so they can recall the information during the tribulation and be saved then.
There will be a great revival during the tribulation and millions will be saved so let’s start planting seeds now and leaving Bibles and hard copy information behind for people to find during the seven years. God will take every seed and help it grow during His respected time.
Colossians 3:2 Think about the things of heaven not the things of earth.
Our minds should be heavenly bound not grounded in earthly ways. What we have on earth is minuscule compared to our home in Heaven. Working towards having the latest and greatest here on earth is not going to be the works that get you into Heaven. Even thinking you’re a humanitarian who does a massive amount of great works will not get you into Heaven. But, Jesus will. He paid the price for all of us, we all deserve death because of our sin, but because of Him we are covered by His blood. Jesus paid for our sins on that day by dying on the cross. He was our sacrificial lamb led to the slaughter by people who hated Him. He went through unimaginable pain for us. He had our redemption on His heart that day. Long before we were even born He knew us and thought about us. So how do we get the free gift of salvation?
Believe in Jesus. Believe that God sent His son to earth to live here among us and be one of us. He had a purpose and He fulfilled it by teaching us all the way to be and to live and to bring others to Him. He taught us how to pray and He gave us the roadmap to Him. Then He gave His life for us and His blood washed us clean. We just have to pray for forgiveness from our sins, know we are wiped clean, and then go out and live a life free from the burden of sin. Being saved doesn’t mean we won’t sin but we will certainly sin less. Being saved doesn’t mean that you’ll live a boring and unfulfilled life it will be quite the opposite.
So until the coming of the Lord we should encourage each other with His words. Prophecy is meant to encourage, not cause fear or confusion, we should be excited and looking forward to the great and glorious day of His coming. Having that mindset will help us to live our lives for Him.
Live BOLDLY for Christ, live your life like He will return today, let Him catch you doing His works. And always remember you have a direct line to Him each and everyday, pray fervently and boldly and know that Jesus is always there for you.
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