ARE WE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS? Session Seven: Vanished without a Trace The Rapture

ARE WE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS? Session Seven: Vanished without a Trace The Rapture There s a scene in the movie Apocalypse Now in which a man walks into the chaos, and he asks: Who s in charge here? And no one answers his question. Today, there are a lot of people looking at the chaos of this world, and they re asking the same question: Who s in charge here? The answer is: God is in charge. And in this session we re going to talk about something amazing that He s planned for all of us who have placed our trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. It s called the Rapture. What do you know about the Rapture? Does what you know or not know cause you to wring your hands in fear, roll your eyes in skepticism, yawn with disinterest or make your heart beat faster with excitement? There is coming a moment in time when Jesus will come back to gather to Himself all those dead and alive who have put their trust in Him. Buddha will not be making another appearance. Mohammed has not promised to return for his followers. The various cults that come and go normally last only for a season, sometimes only as long as their original founder exists on the earth. But the followers of Jesus are assured of a great deliverance to come. Paul sets the stage for the teaching about the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14: And now brothers and sisters (Paul is talking to his brothers and sisters in the faith), I want you to know what happens to Christians who have died, so you will not be full of sorrow, like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died. So where are the Christians who have already died, according to verse 14? II Corinthians 5:8 is clear: To be absent from the body (to die) is to be present with the Lord. If we re Christians and we die, we re immediately with the Lord. We don t just pass away into nothingness. We don t go to some holding tank until the end of time. We are with the Lord. If you ve ever stood at a cemetery around a newly-dug grave, these are God s words for you. If your child made it to heaven before making it to kindergarten, these are God s words for you. If you ve lost a loved one to disease or to violence, these are God s words for you. If you ve had a miscarriage or a stillbirth or an abortion, these are God s words for you. You will see your loved one again. It s natural to feel pain and sorrow because they re missing from your life, but you don t need to sorrow for them because they re with the Lord. 38

Let s read on: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, I tell you this directly from the Lord. Paul isn t making this up. He got it directly from Jesus: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) Here s the sequence of events: If we re still alive on earth, we ll hear a commanding shout from Jesus then the call of the Archangel then the trumpet call of God. Maybe they ll all happen at the same time. We can t even imagine what all of that will sound like. Then all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves, and the Christians who are still alive on earth will rise to meet Jesus in the air. Think of it: The next sound you and I hear could be the trumpet call of God. And then, before we can take another breath or blink our eyes, we ll be racing up to meet Jesus, and the Christians all over the world will be gone. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 puts it this way: We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. The Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. What kind of bodies will we have? One of the most amazing things about the Rapture is that each believer will undergo a mysterious metamorphosis. We will be changed in a way that will outfit us for eternal life. The bodies we have now will not be good for that. Most of them are barely good enough for this earthly life! Joni Eareckson Tada was just a teenager when she had a diving accident. She misjudged the shallowness of the water in Chesapeake Bay and immediately her life changed. For four decades now, she has been paralyzed from the shoulders down. She writes this about her earthly body being changed: One day I m going to leave this wheelchair behind. I cannot wait. I may have suffered with Christ on earth, but one day in heaven I m going to reign with Him. I may have tasted the pains of living on this planet, but one day I m going to eat from the Tree of Life in the pleasure of heaven, and it s all going to happen in the twinkling of an eye. The joy-filled shock of being glorified may seem odd at first, but after we rub our arms and face, after we jump up and down a few times and kick up our heels, we ll feel right at home in our new bodies. We ll spread our arms wide and feel utterly drenched with delight. Then we ll stand amazed, looking around laughing and feeling as though we were born for such a place because we were! I will look up. And walking toward me will be my husband, Ken. I know he loves me on earth, but I am just a hint, a foreshadowing of the Joni that I ll be in heaven. And when he sees me, he ll say, So this is what I loved about you all those years on earth. It will be beyond compare! Notice that 1 Corinthians 5: 51 doesn t say we will be changed in the blink of an eye, but rather in the twinkling of an eye. A blink is fast, so fast that most of the time we don t even 39

notice it when we blink. But the time it takes for an eye to twinkle is even faster. There may be some people who think they ll have time to make a decision for Jesus when the Rapture happens. But no one can decide that fast. Anyone who has waited until the last minute will miss out. They ll be left behind and have to go through the Tribulation. We re going to talk about the Tribulation in Session 10. If the Rapture were to happen tomorrow, what would you wish you had done differently? Here are six things to note about the Rapture: 1. The Rapture is not the same as the Second Coming. They are two different events. The Rapture will occur before the Tribulation, while the Second Coming will occur after the Tribulation. The Rapture will be an instantaneous disappearance of believers. The Second Coming will be witnessed by everyone. In Matthew 24:27, 30, Jesus talks about the Second Coming: "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Revelation 1:7 puts it this way: Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Jesus return will not be a happy realization for many. They will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is exactly who He said He was, and they will wail. The Rapture is a move from earth to heaven. The Second Coming is a move from heaven to earth when Jesus, accompanied by all the angels and believers, will set up His thousand-year Kingdom on earth. 2. The Rapture is the next event on the prophetic calendar. Many people wonder when the Rapture will happen. But the Bible doesn t give us a direct answer to that. Anyone who dates the Rapture is going far beyond the information the Bible gives. But here s what s so intriguing: What we re seeing in the world today is the setting of the stage for the events that will follow the Rapture. John Walvoord describes it this way: We had an account in the Dallas papers about a man who did his Christmas shopping early. He was walking down the streets in November with his arms full of Christmas presents, and he met a man who said, My, Thanksgiving must be close. It made perfect sense, didn t it? Thanksgiving is a month before Christmas. If the world is getting ready for Christmas, and Thanksgiving hasn t occurred, then it means that Thanksgiving is impending. That s exactly our situation today. In a recent blog post on her website, Anne Graham Lotz wrote: I believe Jesus is soon to return to take all of His followers to Heaven with Him in what is referred to as the Rapture. While this will be deliverance for His people, can you imagine the impact on our nation, let alone the world, when suddenly every single authentic Christian disappears? 40

Our disappearance signals the Beginning of the End. God s final judgment on the world has now begun. The world will be plunged into chaos. You will witness very quickly political, financial, national, and institutional collapse. Planes will fall out of the sky when pilots disappear; cars will crash on highways when drivers disappear; battles will be lost when soldiers disappear; crime will skyrocket as police officers disappear; patients will die when surgeons and nurses disappear you get the picture. Chaos. Anne wrote: Can you imagine the impact on our nation, let alone the world, when suddenly every single authentic Christian disappears? What do you think is an authentic Christian? If you believe the Rapture can happen at any moment, does that make a difference in how you live your life today? 3. The Rapture is the point at which the Antichrist will appear on the world stage. 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 says: And now you know what is holding him (the Antichrist) back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes. For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. These verses tell us that right now the restraining force in the world is the Holy Spirit, working through Christians. It s Christians who stand up for what s right and speak up about what s wrong. It s Spirit-filled Christians who are restraining the evil in our world. But once Christians are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, that restraint will be removed, and the Antichrist will emerge on the world scene. This doesn t mean that the Holy Spirit will be gone because the Bible says many will come to faith in the Tribulation period, but the Holy Spirit will not restrain the evil of the Antichrist. 4. In the Rapture, Jesus saves His own from the Tribulation to come. In Revelation 3:10, Jesus says: Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Wait just a minute, Jesus said: In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33) Yes, He said that but there s a big difference between personal troubles and trials, and what the Bible describes as the Tribulation period. Obviously, we all have to endure hardships, disappointments, and tragedies in our lives. But they can t really be compared to that seven-year period of human history when God s white-hot wrath will be poured out on a world that has rejected His Son. There s not a single instance in the Bible where God pours out His judgment on believers and unbelievers alike. The apostle Peter points out in his second letter that God spared Noah and his family, getting them safely into the ark before the judgment came. As the rain came down, the ark went up. 41

Peter also gives the example of Lot, who was delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah before the judgment came upon those evil cities. And then Peter concludes in 2 Peter 2:9, The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the Day of Judgment. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 also makes that point, For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. But the clincher knockout punch comes in 1 Thessalonians 4:18. Paul has just finished talking about the Rapture, and then he says in verse 18, So comfort and encourage each other with these words. How in the world would you be able to comfort and encourage one another with words about the Rapture if you first had to pass through any part of the Tribulation? The words would be meaningless! And think about this: The early church had a special greeting for one another Maranatha. (1 Corinthians 16:22) Maranatha consists of three Aramaic words: Mar (Lord), ana (our) and tha (come). Maranatha means Our Lord, come and it only makes sense if an any moment or imminent Rapture is understood. 5. The Rapture means no death. The Bible says there is a generation that will not see death. Are we that generation? We may well be. 6. The Rapture means a reunion. Just imagine we ll not only meet Jesus in the air we ll be reunited with our friends and loved ones who have died and gone on to be with the Lord. One day we could be thinking about a loved one when, all of a sudden, we ll be looking at that person. The Rapture will happen that quickly. Charles Stanley writes: Perhaps you never met your father or grandmother because each died before you were born. Many children born during times of war lost their fathers without knowing them. Just think about what kind of reunion that day will entail! And yet it holds no comparison at all to what it will be like when we see Jesus. The very thought makes my heart long for the day. If the Rapture happens tomorrow, what will you be glad you did today? What will you wish you could say to those who are left behind? What will you wish you had said to them before the trumpet call? Jack Kelley wrote the following: Imagine how different this country would be today if all Christians held a Christian world view, were convinced that the Lord was coming back for us very soon, and were living their lives accordingly. Can you even begin to see the difference we d be making? It would be amazing. To prevent the tremendous effect we would have for good, Satan has implemented a divide-and-conquer strategy. He knows that as long as he can keep the Body of Christ 42

fractured, he can keep us weak. Over the years, he s mounted a number of campaigns to implement this strategy. Gifts vs. no gifts, the inerrancy issue, and the proper method of interpretation come to mind. But one of his most successful efforts has been to take advantage of the fact that for His own reasons, God has chosen to keep the Rapture s timing a secret. The clues He s given us point to our departure happening prior to the beginning of Daniel s 70 th Week. But right from the beginning Satan influenced Church leaders to conclude that denying this would keep us focused on the things of this world instead of always looking up, waiting for the Lord. So even though Paul very clearly taught a pretribulation rapture of the Church, and John revealed a 1000 year Kingdom to follow it, alternate views have sprung up almost continuously since then. The combined effect of all this is that most believers have been lulled to sleep with no clue as to how close we are to the End of the Age. False teaching about the End Times has left them ignorant of the closeness of the Lord s return and complacent about their faith. It has stolen their joy, quenched their spirit, and made them no better off spiritually than the unbelievers who surround us. They sometimes get fired up on Sunday, but by mid-week, you d never know it happened. I lay most of the blame for this at the feet of so-called theologians who ve let themselves be influenced by Satan while charged with the responsibility of teaching the Word of God. Remember Paul s words to the Corinthians: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) Knowingly or not, these people have bought into Satan s lies and have taught those entrusted to them that God s Word isn t true. What the secular media calls America s greatest generation, those who fought and won World War II, is also the generation that sat in the pews of the great denominational churches of the 40 s and 50 s. There they were taught that God didn t create the heavens and the earth in six days and Moses didn t write the Torah. Daniel didn t write Daniel, Isaiah didn t write Isaiah, Jesus didn t feed 5000 or walk on water, and on and on. To make God small enough to fit in their minds, the denominational theologians made Him too small to meet our needs. Amillennialism became their eschatology of choice because with a God that small it was easy to believe that nothing was ever going to happen. He isn t really going to return, they say, and even if he does, it certainly won t be now. Because of their teaching, millions of Christians are asleep at the switch during the most important and exciting time in the history of man. It s popular to just smile and say of the church, On the essentials of salvation we all agree, but in the non-essentials there s room for lots of different opinions. Baloney. The Bible is not a document written to provide a debating society with lots of different opinions. It s the Word of God and it s not subject to man s opinion. Though we may not like it all, we don t have the right to reinterpret it to suit our desires. God said: I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please what I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do. (Isaiah 46:10-11) God has not stopped performing on this promise. It s just that most of the Church has stopped believing it and no longer expects it. 43

What do you think of Jack Kelley s words? Agree? Disagree? So, the big question is: Are you ready for the Rapture? If you have any doubt as to your own salvation, now is the time to make sure. God loves you so much and He wants to be in a relationship with you. So, He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for all your sins. You can avoid God s judgment that is coming on the world by confessing your sins, asking for forgiveness for them, claiming Jesus death on the cross as payment for your sins, and inviting Jesus to come into your heart as Savior and Lord. And then in the time before the trumpet sounds live your life for Him and Him alone. My prayer for you is found in Ephesians 1:16-18: I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future He has promised to those He called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance He has given to His people. Amen. May God pour out His Spirit upon you for the living of these critical days! Thoughts or Questions? Close in Prayer 44