The Last Boarding Call

The Last Boarding Call!

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

A few years ago, my wife and I were scheduled to catch a plane for a flight to Phoenix, Arizona. As the time drew near for our departure, we began to have mixed feelings about the trip. We were excited to get the chance to go, yet we were somewhat sad to leave behind those who we love so much. There was also a little bit of apprehension about the flight itself, since we had been on a few very rough flights already.

Even though we wanted to go, even though we trusted in the pilot, the airplane and in their ability to get us to our final destination safely, we were still uneasy about the journey. As we sat at the airport waiting for our seat numbers to be called, we watched as others entered the ramp and disappeared down the walkway, they too had started their journey. We watched as some families cried and some laughed, while some just calmly said their goodbyes and one by one the one who was leaving was called to board the flight.

Since we had reserved seats, we weren’t really in any big hurry to get on board until finally the call came for the last time. This is the last boarding call. Either board the plane now or you will be left behind because the plane is leaving the gate.

There is coming a day, very soon, when we will all take one last flight. There will be one last boarding call and, sadly, there won’t be many who make the flight!

Jesus is Coming back to take His Bride away!

If you are going to make that flight, there must be some preparation.

The first thing you must do is BELIEVE THAT THE RAPTURE IS COMING!

We have other witnesses in the Bible that tell us of similar events that have already happened on a smaller scale.

Genesis 5:24, "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."

Enoch was among the very first men, after the fall in the Garden, that loved God and walked with God. Enoch’s great faith was rewarded on a grand scale. His life was so dedicated and his heart was so close to God that one day God said, Son you are closer to Heaven in your heart than you are to the earth, so just come on home right now. Enoch never died physically, but he was taken to heaven to be with the Lord that he loved so much.

2 Kings 2:11, "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

Another instance where we can catch a glimpse of the fact of the Rapture is in the story of the prophet Elijah. Here was a great man of God, a man who had called fire down out of heaven, who had defeated 400 prophets of Baal and had served God so faithfully with absolute trust and belief in God’s awesome power.

Once day, as Elijah and Elisha walked along together, there suddenly appeared a cloud like a chariot of fire out of the sky. The fire separated them and took Elijah away to glory. Elijah was transported in the glories of heaven.

Another similar instance can be found in the letter of Paul to the Corinthian church.

Paul was caught up into heaven in a vision. He doesn’t know whether he was there in body or in his spirit but he was there and he saw the glories of heaven and heard things that he could not repeat.

2 Corinthians 12:2-4, "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established.

The Rapture of the church, like everything else in God’s Word, must be accepted by faith. We must know that it is coming just as surely as Pat and I knew that the flight to Phoenix was coming.