On Your Agenda

Let’s say that you have a meeting with someone very important in just a week’s time. Let’s say it’s a president—a great one, one who does a lot of good for your country. This is the opportunity of a lifetime.

You book a hotel room in the capital, where you’ll meet him. You look at your calendar and you set an appointment for a haircut. You also schedule time to journey to the place where you’ll meet the president. You prepare your clothes and suitcase a few days before the trip, and you feel good. You're ready!

All Christians should plan to meet Jesus face-to-face. It's on our schedule whether we know it or not. Don't you know we're going to see him?

You often hear talk of the Rapture among Christians. It's a very popular subject. You’ve heard that the Rapture is when you get caught up to the clouds, but did you know that the goal is not to be in a cloud? It’s to meet Jesus there in the cloud. The cloud is a meeting place, like the White House in the illustration.

The goal visiting the White House is to meet the President of the United States. The goal of the Rapture is to see Jesus face-to-face.

We Shall See Him

Christians look forward to the Hope of the Kingdom--a Kingdom that is going to last forever. But the initial experience of Kingdom life is a personal encounter with Jesus. That encounter is where your Kingdom existence begins.

Sure, just prior to that encounter in the clouds, we get snatched up by angels. That's the Rapture, and it's going to be exciting. Right as an angel snatches you, you’ll be transformed in the blinking of an eye. That's also very exciting!

We are excited to get a new nature—the divine nature. That’s all great. But we’re not so sure about the details of our transformation so there's not a whole lot to say about it except this: We'll be like Jesus.

Yes--what we do know about our transformation from the human nature to the divine nature is when we see Jesus, we’ll be like him. We'll be 'like him' in that we'll also have a divine nature. We'll be 'like him' in that we'll also be eternal. We'll be 'like him' in that we'll also be powerful.

Here's what the Apostle John said about our metamorphosis:

… what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this Hope in him [Jesus] purify themselves, just as he is pure (1 John 3:3).

Details: The Rapture Event

So, we've described the event: our encounter with Jesus in the clouds. The appearing of Jesus in a cloud to snatch us up to him and to take us to Heaven. It's a glorious event--we call it the Rapture.

Another description of the Rapture is found in 1 Thessalonians:

... 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. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

And still another description of the Rapture is found in the Book of Revelation:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of Man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

Then another angel came out of the Temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, 'Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the Earth, and the Earth was harvested (Revelation 14:14-16).

Purification

Now we know what the event will be like. We have an idea of the details. But, what does the Hope of the event do to us. If your Hope is to see Christ, does that really change your daily existence now? How does looking forward to the event affect a person today?

Quite simply, it purifies us. It makes us more holy. It fills us with more love. The Hope of seeing Jesus purges us from sin.

We prepare ourselves for that encounter just like a person who is preparing to meet a president. We take steps to prepare ourselves. We know that Jesus is pure, so what do we do? We purify ourselves in preparation for our encounter. We purify ourselves because Jesus is pure.

Ways in which we purify ourselves include: confession and repentance of sins, living in faith, living in love, and obedience. The closer we get to his coming, as the signs of the Last Times manifest themselves, the more intense our preparation will be.

A Warning Against Doubt

When you make plans for the future, always say "God willing, and if the Lord doesn't return first."

Never whisper in your heart “Jesus isn’t coming back soon.” Never allow such a thought in your mind! That thought will lead you to spiritual lethargy and laziness. It will dampen your love for fellow Christians.

Then, after your love for Christians has grown cold, you will mistreat your fellow believers. You’ll be busy associating with unbelievers, forming bad habits, and distancing yourself from God. Jesus warned of this attitude. But it's an attitude many Christians have! They live as if retirement was their goal. They act like Jesus will not be returning soon.

Jesus told a story about a steward who was in charge of his master’s household while his master went on a long journey.

The steward's bad attitude led to his ruin. What was the root cause of his bad attitude? He said to himself 'My master is staying away a long time.'

… suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 24:48-51).

Bad Pastors

Pastors who think that Jesus will delay or “tarry” end up getting involved with many unsavory sins. What will happen to them when Jesus returns? Their punishment will be very great! Don’t associate with them.

If their priority is their own "vision" for the church and not the Kingdom of God, and if they speak very little of the Return of Christ--those are the clues that they are doubt the nearness of Christ's Return. Those men are building their own empires. They're not serving God's Kingdom.

Because they doubt the nearness of our Lord’s return, many pastors enter into a lifestyle of sin. Their hope of seeing Jesus is diminished so they cease to purify their souls. They fall into sin--sins that are borne out of their lack of belief in the Hope.

They don't preach the Good News of the Kingdom. They have stopped waiting for the return of their master. They refused to be vigilant and watch--things Jesus commanded us to do.

... keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Matthew 24:42-44).

Living in Hope

The right attitude is to live in the Hope. The true Church cries out ‘Come!’ And the true Church (not all churches are true churches) makes that cry right along with the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ (Revelation 22:17)

The Bible closes with this example--the example of a Church which longs to see Jesus. The Bible closes with the Church crying out to Jesus to come back.

Are you in a church where the members of the congregation hope for Jesus’ soon return? Or are people so comfortable with their positions in the World that they have no desire to see him? Where's the burning desire to see Jesus? Find it.

Can't Wait

Just like a woman who has been raising kids alone for a long time without the support of her husband—because the husband away on a long trip—the Church longs to see her Lord again.

Jesus knows that his Church wants him to come back. The cry of the Church in Revelation 22:17 gets a reply from Jesus in none other than the penultimate verse of the Bible. Look at what Jesus says:

‘Yes, I am coming soon.’

‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus’ (Revelation 22:20).

And that’s how the Bible ends! That’s how the greatest book ever written concludes—with the promise of Jesus that he’ll come soon. The Church replies ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!’

Will Jesus' promise be fulfilled? Absolutely, yes! Will the Church maintain her expectancy? We're not sure.

Will she say in her heart ‘Come’? Time will tell. Jesus had his doubts.

However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find the Faith on the Earth?”(Luke 18:8).

Jesus’ advice for us is that we watch and be alert. The Rapture will happen on a day when many do not expect him.

That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come (Matthew 24:39-42).

Get Ready

Jesus told a parable with the theme ‘many are called but few are chosen.’

What’s the difference between people who are "called" and people who are "chosen"? The difference is that those who are "called" are many, but among them are some who prepare themselves. Those who prepare themselves are the ones who prove that they are "chosen."

We have one more parable to share with you. A man was invited to a wedding banquet along with all the rest, but he did not properly prepare himself. He entered the banquet with the wrong clothes. He was not properly dressed. Do you know the parable?

What happened to that man? He was thrown out of the wedding feast. What an utter failure! And he could have avoided it by preparing himself. That's all he needed to do was to prepare himself.

The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a man—a king—who gave a wedding celebration for his son… But when the king came in to see the dinner guests, he saw a man there not dressed in wedding clothes. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here, not having wedding clothes?’ But he could say nothing.

Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ (Matthew 22:2, 11-13; LEB)

Preparation, Endurance, Purification

People who have been invited to God’s Kingdom but who have not properly prepared themselves will not remain in the Kingdom. They will be kicked out!

How can we prepare ourselves? Firstly, by clothing ourselves with Christ in baptism. Secondly, we need to obtain the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, we need to persevere.

... he who endures to the End shall be saved (Matthew 24:13; NKJV).

So, ask yourself—you who have been called to inherit the Kingdom—have you prepared yourself? Are you showing yourself to be chosen? Are you persevering? Are you ready to face the trials that will come upon us in the Last Times?

Most of all, do you hope to see Jesus face-to-face? If you do, your hope will purify you. Jesus is pure, and the Hope of seeing him purifies us. It frees us from the things of this World which so easily entangle us.