If you don’t have to know about or believe in a Rapture to be raptured, then why talk about it? The Rapture is the part of the Second Coming of Christ, where we “meet the Lord in the air” (1Thessalonians 4:17 KJV), so we can return with Him to earth. If we “love His appearing” (2Timothy 4:8), then we are “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, [that] we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12). The Rapture is all about the hope of those who are living godly, for it is the godly who are “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (2:13). Likewise, only godly living will be “looking for and hasting [hastening, yes, hastening] unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2Peter 3:12). You can see that only a godly heart will love His appearing and will be raptured. LORD, work in us a godly heart that we might commune with You now, and that You might rapture us Home later. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Hastening the Lord’s Return
Hastening or Hindering, Restraining or Unleashing
Hastening or hindering, the Almighty allows us much more than we imagine. Children can help parents accomplish their goals or get in the way. When we pray for the fulfillment of prophecy, we are hastening Christ’s Second Coming. “Looking for and hasting [literally, hastening] unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2Peter 3:12 KJV). We may pray, “Thy kingdom come” (6:10) and promote His return. But, if we should discourage the faithful from seeking our Lord’s imminent appearing, then we are hindering the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. When Jesus promised, “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20), shouldn’t we hasten His return by praying, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (22:20)?
Restraining or unleashing, the LORD God seeks our comradeship in warfare. Allies can assist or delay final victory. Working with the Spirit of God, the godly, as the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), represent the greatest restraining influence in the world against the adversary, his Antichrist, lawlessness, anarchy, malevolence, utter disregard for life, property, and the morals of others. Not simply the influence noticed by the world, e.g., anti-abortion, anti-pornography, pro-family, but the freedom, prosperity, and peace enjoyed by all, results from the peace the LORD grants to the righteous. “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace” (Jeremiah 29:7). Though Abraham’s concern was for the welfare of “just Lot” (2Peter 2:7), his intercession provided the Judge of All the Earth (Genesis 18:25) the sanction or approval to unleash His judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, after Lot was removed.
By contrast, the Great Removal of the Church at the Pre-Tribulational Rapture represents the LORD determining He had sufficient sanction to remove the Restraining Influence — the Spirit Indwelt Saints — from the world. “7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he [Holy Spirit] who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming” (2Thessalonians 2:7-8 NASB). As an omnipresent influence, the Holy Spirit continues His function in the world, but the noticeable absence of the restraining influence of the raptured believers will be profound. The Almighty will be proceeding with His masterful end game in dealing with the earth.
LORD, You are sovereign in determining when You will return. We are humbled that You would seek our companionship, labor, and approval in what You choose to do. Grant to us an understanding heart that You may be even more greatly magnified, when You choose to rapture Your Church. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Antichrist: Response to the Rapture (Revelation 13:10)
The sudden disappearance of people worldwide will not only be noticed by all, but must be explained by world leadership, especially by the one Christians identify as the Antichrist. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1Corinthians 15:52 KJV). If we recall the words of Jesus, “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20), we should understand the “dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [Greek, harpazō] together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” (1Thessalonians 4:17). The Second Coming of Christ combines the Resurrection of the Saints “first,” then accompanies the harpazō of the living saints “together with them” (4:17). The nature of our translation is called a “mystery,” because much takes place in the Unseen Realm, before His return, then “every eye shall see Him” (Revelation 1:7). “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1Corinthians 15:51). This is for our encouragement, not just theological slight of hand.
The “mystery of iniquity” (2Thessalonians 2:7) has been conspiring against the Almighty, since the original rebellion. Answering the Removal of Saints worldwide would be the goal of the devil, certainly by the time of the modern rapture theory discussions, but anciently speculated due to the examples of the raptures of Enoch and Elijah.
What will be the response of the Antichrist to the Rapture?
First, the sudden removal of all the godly influence of Spirit Indwelt Saints would leave not just a moral vacuum, but a disruption of the peace due to the absence of all the godly, who have departed this world (Jeremiah 29:7). Second, Antichrist must offer himself as a leader, actively promoting and attempting to replace the world’s missing peace, requiring the cooperation of the world’s leaders. This would be in connection with the peaceful-conquering-by-displaying-power diplomacy of the First Seal Judgment (Revelation 6:2). A “king of fierce countenance” (Daniel 8:23), shall promote the demonic “craft [witchcraft] to prosper in his hand” (8:24), and will eventually proclaim his divinity, when “he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many” (8:25). Third, Antichrist will do like the New Age literature prophecies of a coming alien visitor Avatar, seeking to aid us in our evolution, overcoming poverty, disease, famine, war, political, cultural, religious, and economic division, while promoting unity through “globalism, ecumenism, personal immortality (reincarnation), pantheism (‘you will be like gods,’ Genesis 3: 15), moral relativism, and the notion that the Bible is not the word of God” (from Alien Encounters, Ch. 13 “The Cosmic Deception” by Chuck Missler).
Fourth, malcontents have been removed, i.e., by the Rapture, and are being removed, i.e., the Fifth Seal Judgment of martyrdom of post-Rapture, born-into-the-Kingdom-during-the-Tribulation Saints (Revelation 6:9-11). Fifth, global unity will be promoted through the construction of a World Temple at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. If Solomon built the Temple in seven years, Oppenheimer built the atomic bomb in less than three years, couldn’t the Antichrist complete the Tribulation Temple with all the resources of the world, in less than 3 1/2 years? “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains” (Matthew 24:15-16).
Sixth, miracles and “powers and signs and lying wonders” (2Thessalonians 2:9) will be used by the Antichrist to persuade the religious and the scientific to trust the Antichrist, and to unreasonably fight the LORD God Almighty. The inexplicability of UFOs defying the laws of physics, the paranormal activities of demon possessed individuals, all of these will increase. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2:10-12). Seventh, it is extermination by Antichrist for any found godly, but of more significance, God’s patience has finally come to an end in finishing His Final Harvest, so He can now complete a thorough cleansing of the ungodly from the earth. “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Revelation 13:10).
LORD, cause the Sleeping Church to awaken to the battle against the enemy. May we be praying for the success of Your Gospel, the unstoppability of Your Gospel, obedience to the Gospel, showing us who must next receive Your Message, the boldness to explain Your plan, the preparation of their hearts to repent and receive the Gospel, education of Your children, the sustenance of Your family, the overcoming of our ignorance, the hastening of Your return, the defeat of the forces of Antichrist, and the judgment of the devil and his little gods. Make us willing to witness a good confession laying down our lives, if need be. May the ideas put forth by this writer prosper, even as it is understood, if Your Spirit is making me think these thoughts, there are others thinking them, as well. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Why We Live
Christ is the reason we live. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 KJV). Anything else is robbing God. “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8). Our purpose for existing cannot merely be the keeping of commandments, but glorifying God from a pure heart. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1Peter 1:22). How better to self-test our love of God, if Christ is indeed the reason we live, but do we love our neighbor as ourselves (1John 4:20)? Do we love one another, especially the household of faith (John 13:35)? If we are like the rest of creation groaning, awaiting the future redemption of our physical bodies (Romans 8:23; 1John 3:2) in New Heavens and a New Earth, then we should be praying our understanding and cooperation with the indwelling Christ would grow, so He would hasten to physically and corporally return (Acts 1:11; Revelation 22:20). “Looking for and hasting [literally, hastening] unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2Peter 3:12). LORD, help us to see the daily fulfillment of our purpose for living is intimately connected with Your future plans for returning that “God may be all in all” (1Corinthians 15:28). That You would dwell with us forever (Revelation 21:3). Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen and amen.
We Need A Miracle 