The Rapture Series

THE RAPTURE

1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18

INTRODUCTION:

IT COULD HAPPEN DURING THE DAYTIME. A HUSBAND GETS READY FOR WORK AND KISSES HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN GOOD-BYE. HE GETS CALLED OUT OF A MEETING TO BE TOLD BY A NEIGHBOR THAT HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN HAVE DISAPPEARED FROM THEIR FRONT YARD. THE ONLY THINGS LEFT ARE THE CLOTHES THEY WERE WEARING AND HIS WIFE’S JEWELLERY.

PERHAPS IT WILL HAPPEN AT NIGHT. YOU ARE HAVING A VISIT WITH YOUR PARENTS. YOU SAY YOUR GOODNIGHTS AND TUCK THE CHILDREN INTO BED. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT YOU ARE AWAKENED BY YOUR MOTHER. SHE ASKS YOU TO HELP HER FIND HER HUSBAND AS SHE FEARS SOMETHING STRANGE HAS HAPPENED TO HIM. SHE TELLS YOU SHE JUST ROLLED OVER TO FIND ONLY HIS PAJAMAS AND JEWELLERY IN THE BED. STRANGLY ENOUGH WHEN YOU TRY TO WAKE YOUR WIFE, YOU DISCOVER ONLY HER NIGHTGOWN AND JEWELLERY AS WELL. YOU CHECK FOR THE CHILDREN AND THEY ARE ALL GONE.

PERHAPS IT WILL HAPPEN WHILE ON A TRIP OF SOME KIND. YOU’RE ON BOARD AN AIRPLANE FLYING AT 30,000 FEET. THE CABIN IS FILLED TO CAPACITY. THERE’S NOT A SEAT LEFT ANYWHERE. ALL OF A SUDDEN THE PLANE TAKES A NOSEDIVE AND BEGINS TO CRASH.

YOU LOOK AROUND TO FIND THAT THERE ARE NOW MANY EMPTY SEATS IN THE CABIN. THE ONLY THING LEFT WHERE PEOPLE HAD BEEN ARE THEIR CLOTHES AND JEWELLERY. TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE YOU OVERHEAR THAT THE PILOT AND CO-PILOT ARE NOW MISSING. HOW DO YOU LOSE SO MANY PEOPLE AT 30,000 FEET?

ALL THESE SCENARIOS AND MANY MORE ARE POSSIBLE WHEN IT COMES TO THE NEXT EVENT ON THE PROPHETIC CALENDAR. THIS EVENT WHICH WE CALL “THE RAPTURE” OR “THE BLESSED HOPE” OF THE CHURCH, IS NOT THE FINAL COMPONANT OF OUR STUDY ON THE LAST DAYS, BUT IT DOES GIVE US A MUCH FIRMER BASIS OF UNDERSTANDING AS FAR AS TIME IS CONCERNED. THE FINAL COMPONANTS WILL DEAL WITH THE TIME PERIOD THAT WE CALL THE “TRIBULATION” PERIOD AND THEN JESUS’ “GLORIOUS APPEARING” TO USHER IN HIS MILLENNIAL REIGN.

INTERESTINGLY BAPTISTS FOR A LONG TIME HAVE HAD A GREAT DEAL OF DIFFICULTY WITH THIS ELEMENT OF ESCHATOLOGY. YOU WILL NOT FIND THE WORD “RAPTURE” MENTIONED ANYWHERE IN SCRIPTURE, AND BEING “PEOPLE OF THE BOOK” THIS POSED A PROBLEM FOR SOME.

I REMEMBER BEING IN A CHURCH IN THE MONCTON AREA DURING MY ABC DAYS AND ATTENDING A CONCERT BY THE GOSPELAIRES. NOW THE GOSPELAIRES WERE PRIMARILY A WESLEYAN GROUP, AND I CAN CLEARLY RECALL BILL LAPOINTE INTRODUCING A SONG ENTITLED “I’LL SEE YOU IN THE RAPTURE”. IN HIS INTRODUCTION HE MADE THE STATEMENT “I REALIZE WE DON’T AGREE ON THIS PARTICULAR THEOLOGY, BUT IT IS WHAT WE AS A GROUP BELIEVE AND SO WE INCLUDE IT IN OUR CONCERTS”.

I DO FEEL THAT THE “RAPTURE” WILL BE THE NEXT EVENT ON THE PROPHETIC CALENDAR. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT NEED OCCUR TO PREPARE THE WAY FOR IT. IT COULD HAPPEN AT ANY TIME, EVEN PERHAPS DURING THIS CHURCH SERIVCE. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT, JUST SITTING IN WORSHIP AND THEN BEING TRANSFORMED AS THE SCRIPTURES STATE “IN THE BLINKING OF AN EYE” INTO THE ETERNAL PRESENCE OF GOD.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN THIS WILL TRULY BE A “RAPTUROUS” TIME. IT MEANS AN EXPRESSION OR MANIFESTATION OF ECSTACY OR PASSION.” AND “BEING CARRIED AWAY BY OVERWEALMING EMOTION.” WE WILL BE AS WE WERE MEANT TO BE ALL ALONG. WE WILL BE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD ENJOYING THE JOYS OF HEAVEN. FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE ALIVE AT THIS TIME, WE SHALL NOT KNOW DEATH, AND FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE FELT THE STING OF THE DEATH OF A LOVED ONE, THROUGH OUR COMMON FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR, WE SHALL BE REUNITED AGAIN FOR ETERNITY.

BUT FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT SAVED A FAR MORE HORRIBLE FUTURE AWAITS. THE SCRIPTURE TELLS US THAT FOR THOSE LEFT BEHIND, THEER WILL BE A TIME OF INTENSE SUFFERING AND PERSECUTION, THAT WE CALL “THE TRIBULATION.” NOW AS TO AN EXACT TIMING OF WHEN THE TRIBULATION PERIOD STARTS, THERE ARE DIFFERENT VIEWS ON THAT, BUT FOR ME, THE ONLY LOGICAL ONE WOULD BE THE PRE-TRIBULATION VIEW. THIS MEANS THAT THE CHURCH IS RAPTURED BEFORE THIS TRIBULATION PERIOD BEGINS, AND THAT THE TRIBULATION PERIOD WILL END WITH THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF CHRIST, HIS SECOND ADVENT.

FOR THOSE LEFT BEHIND THE HORROR BEGINS WITH THE RESULTS OF THE RAPTURE. PLANES WILL CRASH AS PILOTS THAT KNOW JESUS VANISH FROM AT THEIR CONTROLS. BUSES AND CARS WILL VERE OFF ROADS AND HAVE ACCIDENTS AS NOONE SITS AT THE CONTROLS. DOCTORS WILL SUDDENLY VANISH IN THE MIDDLE OF OPERATIONS, AND PATIENTS WILL VANISH FROM DOCTORS IN THE SAME WAY. MORTICIANS WILL GO INTO FUNERAL HOMES TO MAKE THE FINAL PREPARATIONS OF BODIES FOR BURIAL ONLY TO FIND SOME OF THE CASKETS EMPTY.