LEARNING DAILY

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Paul writes a pretty intense vision of the rapture of the true Believers. It is going to happen because God has declared it would happen. It will happen suddenly and will be seen by all, worldwide. It is when Believers will be taken to meet Jesus in the air. It is a time when Believers will be saved from the wrath to come; it is a time when they will step right into God’s kingdom – for eternity. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Paul writes, “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.” It will happen suddenly and will occur in the “twinkling of an eye” – no time to prepare, to get ready. Nothing else needs to happen before this takes place and that means the trumpet could blow at any moment!

I want to emphasize I do not know when this is going to occur. But don’t laugh or don’t scoff – it is going to happen – without warning. If you are putting off walking on the narrow way with Jesus or even thinking you will accept Jesus as your Savior later, you might miss this event.

Jesus spoke about this to the church at Laodicea, which represents the lukewarm church of the church age before Jesus returns. This church, today, has a spirit of godliness but denies its power (2 Timothy 3:5). The church knows how to sing the right songs, speak the Christianese language, has diluted the Word of God so it does not offend anyone, preaches watered-down sermons that entertain rather than convict of one’s lifestyle, and is more concerned about being accepted than doing what God says to do in His Word. Do people believe Jesus is going to return? Yes, but their belief is not now.

God is shaking His people to get them to wake up. Luke 21:36 tells the Church, Believers, to watch and pray to live as God desires we live. God’s desire is that each Believer have a clean heart. Yes, when you accepted Jesus as your Savior He forgave your sin past, present, and future; you just have to confess when you sin, knowing that you have an Advocate with the Father. When the enemy accuses you and you have repented, Jesus reminds the Father that you placed your faith in Him (1 John 1:8 – 2:2). That is part of the watching and being ready as written by Luke. Doing this ensures our hearts are cleansed and our conscience is clear. It means asking the Lord to show you any unclean thing in your heart and being committed and willing to have Him remove it.

While we wait, we wait expectantly, putting aside the ways of the world. Those things that occupy our thoughts and time need to be out into the proper perspective; not one of can be prepared for the rapture by just willing ourselves to stand against all the worldliness and the “stuff” the devil throws at us. You must be in prayer and in the Word of God, building the relationship to Him that comes by following the Holy Spirit’s leading. Only then will we be able to stand against false teachers, dangers in this world and even physical dangers. The reward comes when Jesus says to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:23).

Oh, what a day that will be!