Subject: The Rapture
DON’T BE LEFT BEHIND
Walking home from school one afternoon
many, many years ago, the day was quite hazy and, somewhat ‘eerie’ in nature. As
I walked up the alley to my house, there seemed to be an unsettling silence: no
dogs barking or birds chirping; no kids yelling or neighbors talking. Suddenly I
began to panic. What if the Rapture had taken place! What if I hadn’t been
taken? Running into the house, I yelled for both my mother and grandmother. Both
of them were born-again Christians, so I knew that if they were there I hadn’t
been left behind! Obviously, to this day I still vividly remember that
experience and the extreme fright I felt! (At that stage of my life, I wasn’t
secure in my salvation, and although I had heard of the Rapture and bits of what
would follow, I was ignorant of the facts.)
So what ARE the biblical facts dealing
with the Rapture and the scriptural truths concerning what follows? And why
should we be fearful of the Rapture and petrified of what awaits if we are
NOT born-again believers in Jesus Christ, if we are left behind?
In I Thessalonians, Chapter 4, we are
told that “…the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with
the Lord” (v.16-17). With both a shout and sound of the trump, we,
born-again Christians, will “in the twinkling of an eye” (I Corinthians 15:52)
exit this vile world, and begin eternity in the presence of Almighty God!
Briefly, then, the Rapture is the ‘catching up’ in the clouds of every
individual who has ever trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
But what happens to those who WILL NOT
hear the beckoning shout and welcoming trump? They (the unbelievers) will be
left behind to face raging devastation! As the believers are lifted from this
world, car wrecks will abound, planes will plummet from the sky, trains will
derail, children will vanish, shoppers will disappear, and families will be
forever separated! Unlike my confused adolescent notion, silence will not
accompany the Rapture. Cries of confusion and screams of panic will
reverberate around the globe as God confounds peoples’ thinking! (II
Thessalonians 2:11)
This chaos is called the Tribulation
Period – seven years of vast destruction! (Matthew 24:21-22: Daniel 12:1), and
God’s divine wrath will be leveled on all humanity! Death will claim one-fourth
of earth’s population; hail and fire will wipe out one-third of earth’s
vegetation; a great star will fall to earth, poisoning fresh water; light
provided by the sun, moon and stars will be lessened by one-third; fresh water
will become blood. (The Bible’s Book of Revelation -chapters 6, 8, 9, 11,15, 16
- describes these and other devastations.)
Furthermore, mankind will suffer the
dictatorial reign of the Antichrist (II Thessalonians 2:3-4; I John 2:18;
Revelation 13:16-17) who will rule over every aspect of the planet with a
chilling cruelty fueled by a mighty hatred of God! No wonder as a youth, naive
to scriptural truths, I was scared.
But no one needs to be frightened or
alarmed! No one has to fear being left behind! The biblical truth is each of us
can be among those caught-up to meet the Lord by simply calling upon His name!
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans
10:13) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins…” (I John 1:9)
Once we have cried out to the Lord with
genuine faith and belief, we never again need to fear the Rapture OR death! Even
if death visits us before the Rapture occurs, if we have accepted Jesus the
grave will be defeated for “ the dead in Christ (saved) shall rise first”. (I
Corinthians 15:51:55; I Thessalonians 4:16)) “…I (Jesus) give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand.” (John 10:28) (Those who deny Christ will face
everlasting torment as they are ultimately cast into the Lake of Fire –
Revelation 20:12-15.)
