The word rapture is not found in the Bible but the process is mentioned in these 2 verses in the Bible:
"Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality." (I Corinthians 15:50-53)
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." (I Thessalonians 4:16-17
There are a lots of controversial on when rapture will happen as well as are all Christians will be rapture. The reason for the not having a unified view is that it is not revealed in the Bible and also depends on how you interpret certain verses.
The Bible, on the other hand, did spell out how we are to prepare for Jesus' second coming. Lets examine this in this blog post
Starting from Matt 24:37, it talks about the coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah which no one knows and not prepared. Verse 40 and 41 talks about 2 men and 2 women one is taken and one is left behind. Just by reading these 2 verses we can say that one is Christian and one is a non Christian.
"Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality." (I Corinthians 15:50-53)
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." (I Thessalonians 4:16-17
There are a lots of controversial on when rapture will happen as well as are all Christians will be rapture. The reason for the not having a unified view is that it is not revealed in the Bible and also depends on how you interpret certain verses.
The Bible, on the other hand, did spell out how we are to prepare for Jesus' second coming. Lets examine this in this blog post
Starting from Matt 24:37, it talks about the coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah which no one knows and not prepared. Verse 40 and 41 talks about 2 men and 2 women one is taken and one is left behind. Just by reading these 2 verses we can say that one is Christian and one is a non Christian.
In
verse 42, it begins with the conjunction "therefore". which means one
is taken one is left behind therefore be on alert with a reason saying
we do not know which day the Lord is coming. In verse 43, it talks
about if we know when a thief is coming the owner of the house will be
alert as well as be ready for the thief - do whatever is necessary to
prevent the thief to take his properties. "For this reason" we are to
be READY for Jesus' second coming. Then the question is how are we to
get ready. Verse 45 tells us that we are to be a faithful and sensible
(wise) doing what we are suppose to do and in the case for the slave it
was to give out food to the household because the slave is in charge of
the the house.
From Matt 24; 37 - 51, what we can tell are 4 things when Jesus comes again:
- We do not know when this will happen
- Some will be taken while some will remain
- Faithful and sensible slave will be rewarded
- Evil slave will be punished
Up to this point we cannot tell if all Christians will be rapture.
If we continue to read chapter 25, we see "then" but in Chinese it is "那時". When is 那時呢 ? It is the second coming of the Lord. Matt 25:1 said 那時 the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to then virgins ... We all
know the story. 5 are prudent or wise or sensible as mentioned in Matt
24:45 the sensible slave. Now the 5 prudent virgins are able to go in
to be with the bridegroom. "... those who were READY went in with him
to the wedding feast..."
There are 3 things that we can tell from this parable:
Be on the alert is how we should be to get ourselves ready for Jesus' second coming. But do you know exactly what to do? In a parallel passage Luke 21:36 gives us a clue " .... But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”. This verse tells us to be on the alert at all times and to pray. What are we to pray? We are to pray that we may have strength to escape all these things thing that are about to take place and this is also why I think rapture comes in the middle of the tribulation. Also in Col 4:2 - "Devote yourself to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving."
There are 3 things that we can tell from this parable:
- The wise/prudent virgins can go in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast
- The foolish virgins are not able to go in
- The bridegroom said in Matt 25:12 that he does not know those 5 foolish virgins
Be on the alert is how we should be to get ourselves ready for Jesus' second coming. But do you know exactly what to do? In a parallel passage Luke 21:36 gives us a clue " .... But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”. This verse tells us to be on the alert at all times and to pray. What are we to pray? We are to pray that we may have strength to escape all these things thing that are about to take place and this is also why I think rapture comes in the middle of the tribulation. Also in Col 4:2 - "Devote yourself to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving."
Usually in sermon or bible study we will look at the parable of the 10 virgins as a single unit but there are more.
Then in verse 14, "For it is just like" in NASB. Chinese translation give us a better clue. "天 國 又
好 比 ..." This tells us that Matt 25: 14 - 30 is related to Matt
25:1-13 and in fact, Jesus is using another way to illustrate the same
thing. So in Matt 25:14-30 we all know it talks about the "good and
faithful" slave. The out come of the evil slave is to be cast to the
outer darkness.
Coming
back to how to be ready for Jesus' second coming. We are to be a Good
(best), faithful and sensible slave. For me it does not matter what our
role is the most important aspect to be ready are:
- Do the will of God
- To pray at all times
- Do our best
- Being Faithful
- Be sensible
- Be a slave of God to do whatever He want us to do
Do the will of God
In Matt 25:12 the bridegroom said to the 5 foolish virgins that he does not know them. In Matt 722-24, it also talks about this concept. Only those who do the will of God will be able to enter the kingdom of God and for those that cannot even they have done great things, Jesus tell them - "I never knew you". Matt 7: 24 - "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock."
To pray at all times
Our whole life should be a prayer. We need to devote ourselves in prayer at all times and in specific to pray for Jesus' second coming and also we will have strength to escape the difficult times during the tribulation.
Do our best
Jesus looks at our heart. In whatever we do, we give our best. Picking up trash for God is also a service. While service and worship is interchangeable, we should bring our best to worship God on Sunday. Go to bed early on Saturday so that we will not be at the worship service half asleep.
Be Faithful
When we serve God we put in our full attention. We will stay on our job even when we encounter difficulties
Be sensible
To be sensible means we are to be alert and to pray.
Be a slave of God
Our lives are bought by the blood of Jesus as he die on the cross for our sin. We are to be slaves of God. One characteristics of being a slave is obedient and this will include to do ALL the will of God.
These are the things that we need to do to be ready for Jesus' second coming as revealed in the Bible. There could be more but at this time this is what I know.
Let's be ready for Jesus' second coming.
In Matt 25:12 the bridegroom said to the 5 foolish virgins that he does not know them. In Matt 722-24, it also talks about this concept. Only those who do the will of God will be able to enter the kingdom of God and for those that cannot even they have done great things, Jesus tell them - "I never knew you". Matt 7: 24 - "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock."
To pray at all times
Our whole life should be a prayer. We need to devote ourselves in prayer at all times and in specific to pray for Jesus' second coming and also we will have strength to escape the difficult times during the tribulation.
Do our best
Jesus looks at our heart. In whatever we do, we give our best. Picking up trash for God is also a service. While service and worship is interchangeable, we should bring our best to worship God on Sunday. Go to bed early on Saturday so that we will not be at the worship service half asleep.
Be Faithful
When we serve God we put in our full attention. We will stay on our job even when we encounter difficulties
Be sensible
To be sensible means we are to be alert and to pray.
Be a slave of God
Our lives are bought by the blood of Jesus as he die on the cross for our sin. We are to be slaves of God. One characteristics of being a slave is obedient and this will include to do ALL the will of God.
These are the things that we need to do to be ready for Jesus' second coming as revealed in the Bible. There could be more but at this time this is what I know.
Let's be ready for Jesus' second coming.
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