A RAPTURE VIEWPOINT - MORE PERSPECTIVE
THE LORD WILL NOT CALL HIS CHURCH TO HEAVEN
Not really. He will not call from heaven and the saints go home. He opens the door in heaven according to Revelation 4:1 and there is a cry, “Come up here!” It is one of the joys of scripture when we compare verses. Not to do so gives only part of the picture, or even worse, the wrong picture.
Look at it this way. You have been invited to a very special event by the President; well “a President, any President” (so you don’t go thinking of Joe Biden). You are told a vehicle will pick you up at 7 P.M. You wait expectantly and the vehicle arrives but with one twist. The driver is actually the President who is collecting you HIMSELF.
That now is how the Rapture will be. We look at the opening words of {{1Thessalonians 4:16 “for the Lord Himself will descend . . . .” }} That is, “for the Lord HIMSELF will descend.”
There will be nothing impersonal about the Rapture for it is the Lord HIMSELF who is coming. For what purpose is He coming?
Is it to call His Church to glory? Yes, mostly it is, but let us put it better. It is to TAKE home His Church to glory. He, HIMSELF, will TAKE to HIMSELF!
I think as we examine the Rapture passages we often focus on the events and how they will happen; more the focussing on the mechanics of the event from 1Corinthians 15 and 1Thessalonians 4. It is possible to miss the personal element. The Rapture will be such a momentous happening; maybe the greatest in the history of the world, and the awe and power of it do occupy our minds.
{{1Corinthians 15:50-54 “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. This perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality, but when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”}}
PERSONAL AND IMPERSONAL
Do you like being swept along in the crowd? Well it is very impersonal, isn’t it? And we can get lost as well. Sometimes we may think the Rapture is like that with billions of souls all being caught up together in one mass migration of bodies from earth to heaven.
But you know what? I really do not think the Rapture will be like that at all. When the Lord saved you there was a transaction just between God and you when your life was changed forever and you became a child of God on this earth, a VERY personal transaction. It was so personal; so one-to-one.
In the Rapture I do believe there will be an interaction, one to one, between the Lord and you. Yes, you are caught up with the multitude but you are caught up “individually” by the Lord. That is the marvellous thing about God. His divine attributes allow Him to deal with the multitude but with the individual at the same time.
When Peter was sinking in the sea, the Lord miraculously lifted him out of the sea and he was taken by the Lord to the boat. The sea in scripture, especially in prophecy, means the nations of the world (more the gentile nations). Peter was, IN TYPE, taken out of the world and placed with the Lord’s people in the boat.
The Rapture will be like that. We all will be taken out of the world by the Lord HIMSELF and then we’ll be found with God’s people in the presence of the Lord. What I am saying is that while the Lord Jesus comes for the universal Church He is coming for each of us individually, PERSONALLY, and that will be our experience. He comes for me. He comes for you.
Heaven will not be an impersonal place. We will never be alone. Shy people tend to hold back and become obscured in the crowd. It will not be like that. The Lord Jesus Christ will be the centre and focus of heaven and I think it will be the Lord and me. That is not selfish. It will be the Lord and you. He will relate to ALL His children.
SO. . . when the Rapture happens, the Lord HIMSELF comes for YOU. He does not leave it to another. He comes Himself. Are you thrilled about that prospect? We ought to be. I think there is a great sadness some Christians have and they don’t know they have it! They don’t accept the Rapture; or they hold to the Apostles’ Creed that says Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead, with no reference to the Rapture whatever. The Rapture is the blessed hope. It gives us hope in a decaying world. Churches for centuries have failed the people by dismissing the Rapture. They have cut a whole section out of people’s lives. They have not focussed on that wonderful hope.
I have people write to me sometimes to tell me that they can’t get their pastors to speak on the Rapture or anything dealing with prophecy. That is so sad and so neglecting of the word. It is bad stewardship. Very bad stewardship!
Here is a poem I wrote this morning at 5 A.M. when I was doing this message. (could not sleep)
HE COMES FOR ME – THE BLESSED HOPE – HE COMES FOR ME
By Jesus Christ my soul is owned.
Lift up your eyes to God enthroned.
I come to Him as his dear child,
Now spotless white, but once defiled.
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To his presence the door is mine;
Communion sweet that’s so divine.
To You my eyes are lifted up,
Away from earth that is corrupt.
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We wait for Him to shout the call;
To call the dead to stand up tall;
To change us all before His face;
The ones who have been saved by grace.
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He comes for me, to take me where
All is lovely and all is fair.
The Lord Himself will come for me.
Then His glorious face I’ll see.
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Your precious Bride for your Name’s sake.
The blesse´d hope The Rapture is,
The blood-bought reward that is His.
R E Ferguson 12 February 2023 8-8-8-8
Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
2 Timothy 4:8 (AV) “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.”
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
