Original post: The Rapture (2/6/13)
Read: Joshua 24:1-33, Luke 21:1-28, Psalm 89:38-52, Proverbs 13:20-23
“Teacher,” they asked, “when will all this happen? What sign will you show us that these things are about to take place?” He replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and saying, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them.” (Luke 21:7-8)
Relate: It was the beginning of the school year, I think my sophomore year, when some guy had made this prophesy about God coming back. Everyone was talking about it and the Christians on campus were using the opportunity to witness. Our basic message was that the guy was wrong in picking a day but God is going to come back eventually, are you ready? The guy had even predicted a specific time for the rapture and a few minutes before that time someone pulled a fire alarm. Of course it was a big joke once we got outside but then I got together with a couple Christian friends and we hung out in the bathroom for a few minutes before heading back to our classes. You could almost hear the entire classroom sigh in relief when I finally came back in.
Harold Camping got it wrong. So did countless others through time. To a degree, so did the disciples. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus predicts the fall of Jerusalem. The disciples ask three things. When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your return and of the end of the world? Jesus answered all three and a lot of what we look at as end times prophesy here was fulfilled leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. A lot more are things that have been happening consistently through time. Today the Solomon Islands have been rocked by earthquakes. A major earthquake hit Japan on Saturday, The Wednesday before that one hit Chile and that Monday one hit Kazakhstan. Google search it and you’ll find that the number and intensity hasn’t changed. What has is the interconnectedness of our world and the population so now we hear more about it and it seems more damage is being done when they hit.
React: The disciples were absolutely convinced God was going to come back in their lifetime. They were wrong but that certainty motivated them to greater efforts. The generation following the was convinced of the same and worked with the same fervency. Throughout history a belief in His soon return has also been marked with a fervency to be about God’s work. Harold Camping was wrong. Twice. No, three times. The Mayans didn’t predict the end. Apocalyptic prophesies have come and gone and will continue to do so. Until, suddenly, He does come. I’m convinced it will be soon. His soon and my soon might not be the same but He will come back. The greatest danger s that, like those in the days of Noah, people will be so caught in the ordinary drudgery of life that we don’t realize what has come upon us until it is too late. Will I be ready? Will you?
Respond:
God, I know You’re coming. Let it be soon. Help me not just to be ready but to consistently live in the urgency of that immanent return. Let me pray harder, walk straighter, and speak bolder because this might be my last day to do those things. Don’t let that final hour catch me living ordinary.
THE RIVER WALK 
great post, urgent and pertinent question about being ready… very funny rapture song but full of powerful truths of eternal significance… Lord I want to be in that number, help me be ready everyday.
Will any of us ever be truly ready?
Yes, soon!
Pingback: The Rapture Again (4/22/13) | Gods group
I think there is a little confusion as to what verses apply to the rapture and what verses apply to the second coming. The main verses for the rapture are John 14:1-4, I Thess. 4:16-18, and 1 Cor. 15:51-52. Most everything in the gospels, except John 14:1-4, I believe refers to the second coming. The rapture, when Jesus will snatch us up to heaven, will happen suddenly and without warning. It could happen at any time. Immediately after the rapture there will be seven years of tribulation on this earth–a time that God will use mainly to bring His people Israel to salvation. At the end of that period of tribulation, Christ will come from heaven (along with many angels and His saints–the church). This is when all the Jews who are still alive will be saved, as they see Him and mourn (read Romans 11:26).
As we wait for Him to come many are being discouraged and give up–and will say He is never coming. Many false prophets like Harold Camping will set dates for His coming, and many will give us false teaching and false hope. But I think the most damaging thing that is happening is that pastors are refusing to speak on the subject, and so we are treating it as something too difficult to study and sort of a taboo to even talk about. Many these days are really scoffing at the whole subject and at good prophecy teachers.
To me, prophecy doesn’t really seem that hard to understand–if you read it in a literal sense as it should be read. Don’t read it as figurative, or as science fiction, read it as you would read your news paper. And read it as something that is going to happen.
Above all you must understand that no prophesy of scripture comes about by man’s interpretation. For prophesy never has its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Very true! “No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpreptation” ( 2 Peter 1:20). When I spoke of prophesy I was refering to the prophetical books in the Bible. And when we speak about those things, in our explainations, we have to be careful to look at the context and to use correct hermanutical principles of interpretation. When we speak on prophecy it must always be according to what we read in the Bible. Whenever I speak on prophecy I always am very careful to thoroughly examine many bible verses–to study the subject exaustively. Preachers should study such books as Daniel and Revelation and all the other prophetical books just as much as they study the other books. All scripture is profitable (2 Tim 3:16) and shouldn’t be neglected–as so many these days tend to do. Thanks for this post on the rapture.
By the way, I am in the process of writing a book on the rapture. The title will be, The Snatching Away of the Church: It will happen Soon and Suddenly, “In the Twinkling of an Eye.” Right now I am studying the Seventy weeks of Daniel, from Daniel 9:24-27, which I consider to be a good backround passage for my teaching that the rapture must be before the seven year tribulation, which is encapsulated in Dan. 9:27.
Sorry about such a long reply back. This is a subject I am passionate about and care about.
Add my hearty, “AMEN” to that prayer!
We are clearly told that no one knows the day or the hour. The important thing is that we are ready when he does return!
AMEN! I am with you dear brother! Thank you for this great reminder!
Good post BJ, and such an important topic to share on. Thank you for speaking on it.
Awesome. I loved it.
Good old Larry Norman is always ripe for the picking when speaking of eschatology.