MYSTERIES REVEALED: The Next Big Thing

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

What is the next big thing to watch out for that would herald the coming of Christ for His church?  Are there prophecies to be fulfilled?  Are there signs to watch for?

No. Zip, zero, zilch. From the first century to the twenty first century, there has never been a generation that could not expect to see Jesus coming in the clouds for them.

The next big thing is the rapture of the church.  While, it is fascinating to see developments rapidly falling into place, which intensify my belief that very soon we will hear the trumpet call, the reality is Jesus could appear before I finish typing this post, or before you finish reading it.  What if it were today?  That is how we ought to live.

Paul speaks here of the rapture of the church.  While the term is not found in the Bible, the teaching certainly is.  The word comes from the Latin expression for being “caught up.”

Paul tells us to comfort one another with these words.  It is comforting in knowing we will again see our loved ones who died in faith.  They will rise first and we will be “together with them.”  It is comforting to know that living saints will be transformed, set free from the sin, suffering, and sorrow of this world.  It is comforting to know that before God pours out His wrath on a Christ rejecting world during the seven years of tribulation, that Jesus will remove His bride, the church.

LOOKING UP WHEN FEELING DOWN

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”  (Rev.4:1)

If your head is bowed and your heart is broken, it is time for a change of perspective.  We can choose to lift our head and incline our heart heavenward.  While it may not change the circumstances, it will alter our attitude.  We cannot always control what happens outside us, but we can choose what happens inside us.  

My mother-in-law, Louise Crayton—now in heaven—was one of the most radiant Christians I have ever known.  For the last years of her life she was debilitated by multiple sclerosis that left her immobile.  She couldn’t feed herself, clothe herself—she was like a baby who had to be diapered and cared for.  Despite this, you seldom heard her complain.  Here is what she did say: “It is good that I have been sick because it gives me more time to pray.  When you’re flat on your back, you have nowhere to look, but up!”  Louise had a choice—to wallow in a sickbed of self-pity or to soar by faith into heavenly places.  

The Apostle John, in the fourth chapter of Revelation, gains a new perspective.  He looks up when feeling down.  Remember, he was exiled on the prison island of Patmos.  His only crime was faithfulness to Jesus.  Then, Jesus shows up.  He is without human companionship, but in chapter one he encounters the glorified Christ.  Next, Jesus speaks up.  Chapters two and three record the messages Christ had for His churches.  They were having their struggles.  These seven prophetically point to the course of the age—from the apostles to the apostates—a downward direction.  Yet, even in the midst of decline, there was a faithful remnant—a bride preparing for the bridegroom to come.

Jesus showed up, spoke up, and now in chapter four, John is caught up.  This speaks figuratively of the RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH (v.1-3).  At the end of Rev.3, the word “church,” is nor used again until 22:16.  During those chapters of tribulation—as judgments are poured out on a Christ-rejecting world—the church is missing on earth because she has been taken to glory.  John has seen a door opened in heaven and the invitation to enter has been given.  He has heard a trumpet voice that called him.  Maybe today, the trumpet will sound calling the dead in Christ from their graves and the living saints to be translated with them into the clouds (1 Thess.4:16-18). 

There follows the REWARD OF THE CHURCH (v.4-5).  The church will wear a righteous robe.  The soil of sin will be washed away, and we will be dressed fully in the righteousness of Christ.  The twenty-four elders represent the redeemed of all the ages—12 patriarchs of the Old Testament and 12 apostles of the New Testament.  They wear not only a righteous robe, but a royal crown.  We will wear a crown of victory some day!

This brings the REJOICING OF THE CHURCH (v.6-11).  The natural creation adores the Creator.  That is what the four living creatures represent.  The new creation acclaims Him, casting their crowns at His feet!

As the old hymn says, “Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come!”  As the darkness grows about us, look up dear brothers and sisters—a new day will dawn with the coming of the Son!

LEFT BEHIND

Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.”  (Revelation 6:1)

“Left Behind,” was a series of popular books that later became the source of several movies.  The characters and conversations are fictional, but the basic story line is Biblical.  Scripture portrays the end time commencing with the rapture of the church.   When Christ raises the sainted dead and raptures the living believers, those who are “left behind,” will face a world gone mad.  The primary restrainer of evil—the church—is gone.

Imagine a powerful magnet suspended over the earth—a magnet that would only attract gold.  As it moves over the planet, the iron, copper, silver, and aluminum are unaffected.  Only the gold is drawn to the sky.  That is akin to what happens when the rapture of the church occurs (1 Thess.4:16-17).  The light of the world and salt of the earth is removed.  The darkness of evil then completely engulfs the globe.  The rot of sin has no restraint.  With the eclipse of hope comes the outpouring of God’s wrath.

It is called the time of tribulation—seven years of judgment on a Christ-rejecting world.  The last half of that is known as “the Great Tribulation,” so intense will the suffering be.  Jesus described it in Matthew 24 as a period of unparalleled horror which if not brief would bring extinction of all life!

This wrath is outpoured as the seven seals of the heavenly scroll begin to be peeled open in Revelation 6.  The scroll has been delivered into the hands of the Lamb.  Jesus holds the title deed to the universe.  When each seal is opened, a judgment is unleashed.

The first seal is the judgment of a false messiah (v.1-2).  This rider on a white horse has the appearance of being Christ, but he is instead a counterfeit—the Devil’s hand-picked man who will rule the world.  Satan will have his man waiting to takeover.

The second seal opens to reveal the judgment of war (v.3-4).  The pseudo-peace promised by the Antichrist is quickly broken, as covetous men jockey for power.  War sweeps in a crimson wave across the planet—a time of “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt.24:6).

The third seal discloses a time of famine (v.5-6).  Famine will follow the fighting.  Our economy has become global in scope, so that when it is disrupted by world war, the entire financial system collapses and people will be starving.

The fourth seal pictures the rider on a pale horse and that is death (v.7-8).  A quarter of the world’s population dies as a result of war, famine, and disease that comes in its wake.

The fifth seal is the martyr’s seal (v.9-11).  There are many in our world that have never heard the name of Christ.  God is so gracious that even in such days, those people groups will be evangelized, and many converted.  They will seal their testimony in their blood.

The opening of the sixth seal unleashes an earthquake as the foundations of the earth are shaken.  Rather than fleeing to the Rock of Ages for salvation, they cry out to the rocks to hide them.  Such is the steadfast heart of sinful man, set against the True God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  You do not want to be in that number—the multitudes of those judged. 

Trust in Jesus!  Don’t be left behind!