“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13 NKJV). Sure, I’d like to go, if there’s a Rapture, but how do you know it’s so? Harpazō is the NT Greek for catching up or rapture. “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: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Thessalonians 4:17). Here, harpazō is understandably connected with the “coming of the Lord” (4:15). We will be “caught up” (4:17) to the Lord in the air to reunite with our predeceased brothers and sisters before we all return with Christ. Harpazō also occurs in Revelation 12:5, where the “woman” (12:1), representing Israel, brings forth the Messiah, who is “caught up” (12:5) to the throne of God. Likewise, the Church as the Body of Christ will be raptured to Heaven, after which Israel will be forced to flee “into the wilderness” (12:6). May the Spirit of Christ “comfort” you (1Thessalonians 4:18) with these words, but let us not be impatient or contentious with one another, least of all, about the Rapture. “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29).
Suffering Church
My Servant Jōb
We don’t say it, but it’s hard not to feel, it wasn’t fair for Job, a “perfect” man (Job 1:8 KJV) by God’s own estimation, to be subjected to all the pain, suffering, and deprivation he endured at the hands of the satan. But, doesn’t God the Judge determine what is fair? The same kind of thinking was voiced about the blind man in the NT. “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:2-3). The Almighty never apologized to Job and said, ‘I did it to win a bet with the satan.’ After the Almighty responded out of the whirlwind, Job could only say, “Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3, 6). LORD, may we be as Your servant Job. Amen.
Smyrna Was A Suffering Church
Smyrna was a suffering church. In Revelation 2 and 3, only Smyrna and Philadelphia were not rebuked by Jesus. “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10 KJV). God’s appointed suffering is always measured (“tribulation ten days”) because He remembers our frame is dust.
We Need A Miracle 