THE RAPTURE

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins wrote a phenomenal series of books based on the scriptures regarding the rapture of the church and the days that are to follow. Although this was a fiction book, it held very closely to scripture and gave the reader a good idea of what it may actually be like when that wonderful day arrives.

The word 'rapture' is not actually used in the Bible. I Thessalonians 4: 15-17 describes it this way:


For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep [dead]
for the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.


The LEFT BEHIND series written by LaHaye and Jenkins did quite a job of painting a picture of just what it will be like on that day. Imagine with me for a moment, if you will, that you are driving to Walmart in your car. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye (which is faster than you can blink) we are gone! Cars will go crashing into others as drivers vanish. Planes, trains and all sorts of transportation will suddenly crash as drivers, pilots and engineers are no longer at their controls. Cashiers will vanish from their cash registers. Nail techs and hairdressers will leave customers with their hair and nails half done. Doctors will be examining a patient and suddenly the patient will no longer be on the table. Dentists will be extracting a tooth one moment and the next their chair will be empty...or maybe the patient and the densist will BOTH be gone and the hygienist will be left. I am convinced that should the rapture occur on a Sunday, there will be both preachers and pew sitters left in the churches in many churches across this land.

Yes, it is going to be quite a day as thousands of believers are caught up into the air with the Lord Jesus to meet Him in the air while the world is flung wildly into chaos and CNN goes into overdrive to explain these wild and crazy happenings. I have a feeling it will be just as it is portrayed in LEFT BEHIND. Lots of theories will surmise what happened...from UFO snatchings to terrorism to some sort of vaporization.

But, make no mistake, it WILL happen. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. No one knows the day nor the hour. But, it IS coming. And oh what a day that will be!!

And to be quite honest...I am looking more and more forward to that day.

Many Bible scholars feel it could be very near. There are no further prophecies that have to be fulfilled before it occurs. So according to scripture it COULD be any day. Or, it could be decades or centuries away...we do not know.

But it does give us hope to think about it in light of the downward spiral that our world seems to be taking. As Revelation 22: 20 says "Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus."