Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Speaking to an elderly Christian recently, I was slightly shocked that she did not believe in Christ’s literal return. It prompted me to do some research in the matter and I was even more shocked in learning that some prominent radio pastors and teachers you have probably heard, do not believe in it either, although the majority of evangelical ministers do. In it’s website, one prominent denominational church even went as far as stating emphatically that it did not believe in the rapture, one of their main reasons being that, according to them, the concept of it only began to be advocated by a Scottish pastor in 1807. Horse Feathers! Their ignorance of clear and simple bible verses is evident to me and reminded me of Paul’s words to the Romans about those who suppress the truth. He said that “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:22) This also reminded me of the eternal truth that much of God’s Word can be understood by children, yet hid from those who pretend to know it all. In His prayer to the Father in Matthew 11:25, Jesus said: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
Any trusting and believing child can understand what the angels said to Jesus’ Disciples when they saw Him slowly disappear from them on the day He went back to the Father. They said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Also, how much intelligence does it take to understand Paul’s words to the Thessalonians about Christ’s return? The subject is covered in I Thessalonians 4:13-18, with verse 16 saying, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
I firmly believe that these Rapture doubters are incorrect but even if they’re right, Christ is still our main hope, not the Rapture. Our salvation will not be affected whether we believe or not believe in it. With each new day, my chances for actually being here on the day of the Rapture grow slimmer. Nevertheless, I won’t miss out on the joy and excitement of it, and neither will you, for our ultimate joy and ecstasy will come on the day we see Jesus, whether we go by ourselves or all together in a great multitude.
Memory verses for the week: (Romans 8:38-39) “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
