Do you believe that might be true?
Do you believe that might be true?
Grace is being used today, as Jude warned, as an excuse for immoral behavior.
Those who stand with the Lamb in the Christian Church are blameless, not by "grace," not by imputed righteousness. They actually are blameless in the sight of God and Lamb. God finds no fault in them.
Is that possible? The Bible says so. Ten thousand harps say so. "The spirits of righteous men and women made perfect." These shall follow the Lamb wherever He goes. This is true today. It shall be true when He next appears.
Remember Gideon and his three hundred. Why did the Spirit of God put the description of them in the Bible?
Why are we told of the Royal Priests who cannot be injured by the second death?
Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
Why were there only three disciples with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration?
We must agree that God has emphasized that He chooses to work with a limited number of people.
One shall be taken and the other left.
When Lot and his family left Sodom, fire came down and destroyed Sodom and the other cities of the plain.
It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:28,29)
The cities of the plains probably were much like Sodom. They were continuing in the ordinary pursuits of people, including much sinful behavior. It reminds me of America today.
One of our big problems of Bible interpretation is that we do not understand the severity of God. We speak about His great love, but we do not always recognize how He spares only Jeremiah, Ebed-Melek, and Baruch in the midst of a conflagration.
The philosophy of Humanism has entered Christian thinking in America until we believe we are going to tell God what He can and cannot do. We are greatly deceived in this.
If I am correct, when Jesus appears there will be a relatively small remnant of believers who truly will be new creations in Christ and thus eligible to meet Him in the air.
The Bible speaks of the fire that will burn up those who do not abide in Christ, those who do not bring good fruit to maturity.
There are two other passages that often are used to illustrate a "rapture."
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
Notice the words "kept" and "keep."
These are the same Greek term. They mean "guard."
Since you have guarded My command, I will also guard you.
There is nothing in the verse that suggests a catching up to Heaven.
Notice how the same Greek word is used by the same author in another passage:
I do not ask that Thou mayest take them out of the world, but that Thou mayest keep them out of the evil. (John 17:15–YLT)
The company of guarded people are not those who have "accepted Christ," but those who patiently have endured the tests and trials of life on the earth, guarding the Word of God carefully.
It reminds us of the Ninety-first Psalm.
If you say, "The Lord is my refuge," and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; (Psalms 91:9-11)
Think of Daniel in the lions' den; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. It is God's way to save people in the midst of danger, not to take them to Heaven to escape danger.
It is true also that we do not know what it will be like when we get to Heaven. We have many myths that inform us what it will be like after we die. But we may find out that we are placed with people whose personality is similar to ours. We may not be pleased with this!
The wicked servant who told his master's servants to change the amount of their indebtedness found them willing to do this, for they were as wicked and dishonest as the unjust steward.
His reward for his treachery is to be placed together with them in eternal habitations.
So it is with us when we die and pass into the spirit world. We will be welcomed by people like ourselves. If we do not enjoy this thought, we better start behaving like the people we want to be with!
Speaking of living in Heaven, the element that makes an environment loving, peaceful, and joyous is the type of people who are present. Is that what you and I are?
Sinful, self-willed Christians hope to go to Heaven by grace. One such person entering Heaven would soon turn Heaven into the beginning of Hell.
Since we are speaking, in Revelation 3:10, of the "hour of trial," we may not be referring to physical danger but to the temptation to sin. It reminds us of "Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one," of the Lord's Prayer.
There is a day coming when the hearts of people will grow cold because of the abundance of sin.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:12,13)
It may be true that Revelation 3:10 is not speaking of physical tribulation but of the temptation to sin. Those who have endured their tests and temptations will be kept from sinning by the power of Christ.
In any case, to interpret Revelation 3:10 as a catching up of believers to escape Antichrist and the Great Tribulation is not worthy of a conscientious scholar who views himself as a meticulous expositor of the accepted Old and New Testament texts.
The "rapture" is an emotional issue, not the fruit of a scholarly exegesis of First Thessalonians.
A second passage that has to do with the temptation to sin is found in the Book of Luke. This also is being presented as proof of a "rapture" of the believers to escape trouble.
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36)
I think the expression "stand before the Son of Man" is viewed as meaning stand in Heaven so one will not be harmed by the dangers of the closing days of the Church Age; while "escape" suggests being caught up to Heaven.
In a previous passage we found this expression: " the one who stands firm to the end. Obviously this expression does not mean go to Heaven and stand there. Elijah and Elisha while they were on the earth spoke of standing before God.
The expression in Luke "you may be able to stand before the Son of Man" probably is not speaking of being caught up to Heaven. The context of the expression is: "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life."
So the above passage from Luke may not mean we will be caught up to Heaven and stand before Christ there, but that we will endure to the end of the carousing and drunkenness and continue to live a righteous, holy life before Christ. Such faithful believers, the Bible tells us, shall be saved.
It is interesting, isn't it, that the believers are quick to seize on a doctrine that appears to assure the continuance of their adamic life without danger or harm.
The true meaning of the two passages we have discussed may mean instead that those who remain faithful to Christ will we kept from falling into sin.
I think we are supported by the Bible when we state that there will be no "rapture" to take the believers in Christ, many of whom are far from being new creatures of righteous, holy, obedient behavior, up to Heaven so they will not be harmed by Antichrist or the Great Tribulation.
If such a thing took place, it would bring sin and self-will into the Presence of God. This shall not happen!
The true vision is glorious for those saints who patiently are bearing their cross as Jesus leads the way. They shall be transformed and caught up to be with the Lord forever.
The true vision informs the believers who are not abiding in Christ that their future is grim indeed. They will suffer when the victorious saints are caught up to Christ and the vials of wrath are poured out on the earth.
When they die they will be placed in the spirit world with those of similar personalities. In the final Day of Judgment they will stand before Christ, His victorious saints, and perhaps people whom they have harmed.
A friend, Bob Taylor, before he died had a vision of the final resurrection. He saw the faces of people. They were full of joy. As time went on the joy turned to terror.
Knowing Bob, I knew this was a true vision. It tells me that when people die who have not been faithful to Christ and other people, they may not know of their final placement until the Day of Judgment.
They may be placed in the spirit world with people like themselves, there to await the final judgment. It is at the final judgment that they shall receive the good or the evil they have done.
The Lord's victorious saints are going through the Judgment Seat of Christ now while they are living on the earth. They turn away from their sins when they are pointed out to them. Their self-will is burned away as they faithfully endure the difficult situations they are called on to endure, the deferral of their most fervent desires.
When Jesus appears, they are eligible and competent to be resurrected, caught up to Him, and then descend to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth. As I stated previously, they shall be with the Lord forever.
If there is to be no "rapture," what, then, is our hope for survival during the coming days of moral and physical chaos in our country, should the Day of Christ be delayed?
The same hope that has been the comfort of all of God's people from the beginning:
No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalms 34:7)
And similar promises—and they are numerous!
But we must do our part by abiding continually in Christ, remaining under the shelter of the Most High.
Would you like to read a description of the "rapture," the appearing of the Son of Man and the gathering of the elect?
"Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
"Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." (Matthew 24:19-21)
Such is the great and terrible Day of the Lord.
There is no other coming of the Son of Man; no other Day of Christ; no secret gathering of God's elect before or after the Day of Christ.
How could there be?