There’s a rumour of a “Rapture” about
to happen any minute now. The trumpet will sound and all the Christians, those
alive and the resurrected dead in Christ, will be whisked away to the bliss of
Heaven, and the world will degenerate into utter Godlessness under an
antichrist.
Now I confess that the thought of an
imminent Rapture has a great deal of appeal. Who wouldn’t want to go to Heaven
and leave this mess behind with all of its pain and uncertainty, its injustice?
A lot of other people think so too. Millions of dollars are made on DVDs, TV
series and books which feed the rumour, telling of the horrors that await those
“left behind.”
At the turn of the century as the new
millennium approached, there was a fever of excitement. We were told by popular
tele-evangelists that there was only a “sliver of time” left before it would
all happen. As millions suddenly disappeared, planes, trains and cars would go
haywire and crash if the driver happened to be a Christian. Then all those
raptured would enjoy a big celebration in Heaven while the people of the world,
including all their unsaved loved ones would serve the antichrist on Earth or
else!
I bought it all once – for about ten
years. I thought it was the most exciting thing that could ever happen and of
course, like all Christians, I wanted to see Jesus. I even dreamed about it and
when I read that Enoch was raptured by faith (Hebrews 11:5), I wondered how
could one work up enough faith to be raptured. Here I come Lord! I had much to
learn. There were some things that didn’t quite gel in this teaching, like
Revelation 4:1 being the Rapture of the Church, but after all I was only a
comparatively new Christian and others must know better than I.
Then I heard a tape by a favourite
teacher of the Word called Bob Mumford. He said that he had all his charts
drawn up – Antichrist, Rapture, Marriage Supper of the Lamb etc, he had it all
worked out, then he had a shattering revelation after which he burned all his
charts because he realised that it’s not going to happen like that. I was intrigued and I wanted to know more.
Bob didn’t elaborate, but I gathered it had a lot to do with the types of the Old
Testament which was a favourite subject of mine, so I set myself to see what he
had seen. It took some time, but the pieces began to fall into place and I saw
that the Lord was taking the Church toward a destination in the Earth. I saw
that the glory of the Lord filling the Earth was dependant on the people of God
possessing the Promised Land. (Numbers 14:21) I came to understand that this
was about reclaiming the Earth for God - recovering our lost inheritance.
I wrote a rather long manuscript of a
parallel study of the three main Types but something wasn’t quite right towards
the end. I was resorting to works. The Lord said “Learn more of My Grace.” When
I had the revelation of the meaning of the rent veil and the finished work of
Christ the last piece fell into place and I saw the whole picture.
I can
now say unequivocally that there is NOT going to be a rapture at any minute
now. Burn your charts, seek the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to show you.
Exciting things ARE about to happen even more exciting than a rapture. The
Church is going to rise up in the power and glory of the risen Lord and bring
in the Kingdom. Then the Lord will return to take up His throne.
The prophetic picture of this great
event is seen in Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on that last Passover:- He
descended from the Mt of Olives with His retinue of disciples plus others from
the surrounding villages. The crowds in Jerusalem went out to meet Him because
that’s the way a king was welcomed into a city. Then together they all escorted
Him back into Jerusalem. Even so at the Second Coming, the Lord will return
with ten thousands of His saints and “we who are alive and remain” shall be
caught up together with the resurrected saints to go out to meet the King and
escort Him back to the throne. That’s the Rapture of the Church – at the time
of His Coming. When the Lord of Glory enters this Earth’s atmosphere,
everything will come alive and Creation will be renewed. (Romans 8:19 – 23) Yes
there is going to be great conflict ahead but we will be ready and we will win.
Am I saying that we’re going to be here for the “Tribulation?” No! I’m saying
that we’re going to be here for the Glory and the Victory.
When it comes to end-times, there is a
lot of talk or debate about whether there will be a “pre-trib” or “post-trib”
Rapture, the main concern for some seems to be whether they will go through the
anticipated Tribulation or not. But I
wonder if that is supposed to be the focus for the Christian. Should it not be
rather “Have we finished the job Jesus gave us to do?”
“....make
disciples of all the nations....teaching them to observe all things I have
commanded you:”Matthew 28:19,20
There are at least 50 nations in the
world which are less than 5% Christian. The Chinese “Back to Jerusalem” movement
is dedicated to doing all they can to finish the job, pledging their lives to
it. Of them it could be said “....they
loved not their lives to the death”
(Revelation
12:11) They believe that Jesus won’t
come back until the Great Commission is completed. If all the Church was like
minded, and if all the energy and resources that go on preaching an imminent
Rapture, went into prayer for the nations and working together to evangelize
them, we would be a lot closer to His coming.
It is asserted that Jesus will rapture
the Church out before the tribulation, because we are “not appointed to wrath”
and it is true that those in Jesus do not come under the judgement of God for
sin, but when God sent judgement upon Egypt, where were His people? They were still in the land and God looked
after them. He didn’t have to evacuate
them first in order to judge Egypt. In the judgement of Noah’s day, the people
of God were kept safe in the Ark which is a type of Christ. It was the others
who were “taken away” in judgement. Noah and his family came through the Flood
and inherited the Earth – a very different Earth, cleansed by the Flood.
It matters a great deal what we
believe about end-times. God’s will is accomplished through His people. If we
don’t have a vision for taking the Earth for God, then it won’t happen.
Christians who believe in an imminent rapture tend to opt out of involvement in
the world. In the meanwhile satan is having a heyday. Abortion, same sex
marriage, euthanasia drugs, lawlessness, all kinds of godlessness is on the
increase with very little opposition from the Church. Preachers need to be
inspiring their congregations to stand up and be counted and make a difference.
This is God’s world and Jesus said “Occupy till I come.” We are assured of victory
if only we will fight. This is a battle which has to be fought on many fronts.
Rapture-at-any-moment makes for popular exciting teaching, but is it
right? I don’t think so. Rather it tends
to immobilize the Church. We are supposed to be the Army of God. We are
supposed to wage spiritual warfare for the nations and also to stand up for the
principles of the kingdom here in the Earth.
It is often said that nothing remains
to happen before Jesus comes again. Here are a few things that haven’t happened
yet:-
* The Church has to complete the Great
Commission.(Matthew 28:18-20). This is on the basis of the fact that all
authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to Jesus.That authority has been
delegated to the Church to exercise in His Name to bring down the strongholds
of the enemy and to set the Earth free.
* Elijah must come first and
restore all things. (Read Matthew 17 1-13) This is not a literal return of the
Prophet Elijah, but the Spirit that rested upon Elijah coming upon the end time
Church to challenge the powers of darkness and turn the world back to God.
John’s arrival on the stage of history was a partial fulfilment of this
prophecy. “Elijah” prepares the way for the 2nd Coming of Christ
just as the Spirit of Elijah resting on John prepared the way for His 1st
coming. According to Acts 3:21, the heavens must retain Jesus until the time of
the restoration of all things. I have written about Elijah more fully in “The
Other Bible Code.”
* The Church must rise “to the unity of the faith and the knowledge
of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) and become “a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing …holy
and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27) The Word says that it will. It certainly
hasn’t happened yet. But it will!
* The Church has to demolish the gates
of Hell. Jesus said:
“I
will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
(Matthew 16:18)
Our understanding of this Scripture in
the past has been that the Church will stand against any attack of the enemy.
We are the ones valiantly holding the fort till Jesus comes. However in warfare
do gates attack or are they attacked? Our position has usually been defensive
when we should be on the offensive. We are here to bring down the strongholds
of the enemy and the gates of hell will not stand against us. Jesus is
building a victorious Church which will obliterate hell’s intrusion into the
Earth. This is in line with the promise God made to Abraham
“..thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”
Genesis 22:17 KJV
Abraham’s seed after the natural did
just that. The journey to and possession of the Promised Land is a type or
prophetic picture of the Church enforcing Christ’s victory over satan and
establishing the Kingdom in the Earth.
I have written about this further in
the section in this book “Reclaiming the Earth for God” and also in my other
books, “The Fall of the Gates of Hell” and “The Other Bible Code.”
--oOo--
So the Word shows that there is much
to happen yet before the return of Christ; however it will be a quick work once
we get the vision.“The ploughman shall
overtake the reaper.” (Amos 9:13) This will be our finest hour!
Studying the Types show that they lead to
Victory and Glory for the Church and to a great harvest. They don’t accommodate
a runaway Church. Moreover the Word says that all things in heaven and earth have
been reconciled to God by the blood of the Cross of Christ. (Colossians
1:19,20) This has yet to be brought into manifestation.
Some people have endeavoured to fit the
Rapture into the Types, e.g. Joshua taking the people into the Promised Land is
a picture of Jesus taking the raptured saints into Heaven etc: But to arrive at
the true meaning of a Type we have to look carefully at what was being
portrayed. Going into the Promised Land involved warfare and overcoming the
enemy. Is that how we get into Heaven? The Promised Land, as I’ve shown
elsewhere is not a picture of Heaven. We don’t have to fight to get in there.
It is a picture of the Earth which we have to possess for the Kingdom. That is
what we have to fight for; that is what the Great Commission is all about –
making all the nations Jesus disciples.
The Types are to be fulfilled in the
Church in the Earth. It is regrettable to say the least that people accept the
Rapture- at -any -moment teaching without question and then fit all other end
time teaching around it. It has become a “sacred cow” not open to question.
This kind of teaching closes people’s minds to what the Spirit is trying to
show the churches. The more it is promoted, the longer it will be before Jesus
returns.
In God’s plan for the Church as shown
in the Types, the Church is still on the wrong side of Jordan. The ministries
in the Church should be preparing the saints to be warriors with a vision to
take the Land for God, not trying to make them more comfortable in the
wilderness as so many preachers and teachers are doing. Out in the wilderness
the people complained and grumbled because things weren’t just as they wanted
them to be. e.g. they complained about the daily diet of manna, but if they’d
just gotten on with the assignment they’d been given, they could have been
feeding on milk and honey and all the fat of the Land. If we “seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness” i.e. get on with our assignment of
bringing in the Kingdom, then all the things we have prayed and longed for and
more, will be ours.
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The Rapture Rumour. Is there a 'Rapture' about to happen any moment, or has God some great plan for the Church on Earth yet to be fulfilled?
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