Ready Or Not, Here I Come"

• The LAST PROMISE is made in Rev. 22:20 by the Lord Himself. He said, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.”

• The LAST PRAYER is made in Rev. 22:20 by John the apostle. He prayed, “Even so. Come, Lord Jesus.”

The LAST PROMISE and the LAST PRAYER has to do with the RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH

Some folks think the rapture and the second coming are the same. NOT SO!

• The second coming occurs after the great tribulation period. (Revelation chapters 6–19).

• The rapture occurs before the tribulation period (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10).

The important differences between the rapture and second coming are as follows:

1) At the rapture, believers meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

The second coming, believers return with the Lord to the earth (Revelation 19:14).

2) The rapture is the removal of believers from the earth as an act of deliverance (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17,5:9).

The second coming includes the removal of unbelievers as an act of judgment (Matthew 24:40-41).

3) The rapture will be secret and instant (1 Corinthians 15:50-54).

The second coming will be visible to all (Revelation 1:7; Matthew 24:29-30).

4) The second coming of Christ will not occur until after certain other end-time events take place (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Matthew 24:15-30; Revelation chapters 6–18).

The rapture is imminent; it could take place at any moment (Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54).

If the rapture and the second coming were the same event, believers would have to go through the tribulation, and nowhere in the tribulation period is the church mentioned until the church comes back to earth with the Lord in Rev. 19 at the second coming.

Concerning the RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH there are basically three beliefs when the rapture take place, such as:

• Pre-Tribulation – The Rapture will occur prior to the Great Tribulation and can happen at any time.

• Mid-Tribulation – The Rapture will happen halfway through the Great Tribulation.

• Post-Tribulation – The Rapture will happen at the very end of the Tribulation. Here the church is delivered through, and not from, the Tribulation.

No man knows the date of the rapture, but we do know the season.

Again, we are pretty sure it will be a PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE. That is, it will take place before the tribulation period. Because nowhere during the tribulation is the church mentioned until Rev. 19 when the church returns with Christ.

We do not have time to go into this further, but there are at least 13 reasons in the scripture that teaches a pre-trib rapture.

Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

No man knows but we had better be ready when it comes.

Illus: A gentleman visiting a certain school announced he would give a prize to the pupil whose desk he found in the best order when he returned.

• “But when will you return?” some of them asked.

• “That I cannot tell,” was the answer.

• A little girl, who had been noted for her disorderly desk, announced that she meant to win the prize.

• “You!” her schoolmates jeered; “why, your desk is always out of order.”

• “Oh! But I mean to clean it the first of every week.”

• “But suppose he should come at the end of the week?” someone asked.

• “Then I will clean it every morning.”

• “But he may come at the end of the day.” For a moment the little girl was silent. “I know what I’ll do,” she said decidedly, “I’ll just keep it clean.”

This is what we Christians should do, keep their lives clean from sin all the time.

The Bible does not use the word “rapture”. The Bible speaks of these events as being “caught up”.

The “rapture” of the church is probably one of the most compelling prophetic events in the Bible. And yet, some people claim that it is not taught in the Bible because you never actually find the word “rapture” in scripture.

This is a very poor argument, however. There are actually several words not found in the Bible that describe Christian doctrines which no one would argue are not taught in the Bible.

1) For example, the word “Trinity” is never actually found in the Word of God, but very few people will tell you that the concept of the trinity is not taught in the Bible.

2) The word homosexual is not found in the Bible, but the Bible clearly teaches that a man is forbidden to lie with another man as he lies with a woman.

3) The words "omniscience," which means "all knowing," "omnipotence," which means "all powerful," and "omnipresence," are words not found in the Bible, but we use them to describe the attributes of God.