Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
I don’t know anyone that doesn’t own a timepiece of some sort. We are bound by time and time is important to us. In fact, sometimes timing is everything. Jesus knew that, too.
Scripture
John 7:6-8
Jesus: My time has not yet arrived; but for you My brothers, by all means, it is always the right time. You have nothing to worry about because the world doesn’t hate you, but it despises Me because I am always exposing the dark evil in its works. Go on to the feast without Me; I am not going right now because My time is not yet at hand.
Devotional
Timing is important in almost every aspect of life, did you ever think of that?
Planting
Harvest
Cooking
Football plays
Construction
Training
Project execution
God understands timing
Genesis
Separation of light and darkness comes first
Separation of water and earth come next
Life in the seas comes before life on land
Plant life comes before animal life, food chain, herbivores before carnivores
Perfect timing for creation and everything in it
Jesus’ task to save the world
World already began to hate Him because of His message and His fight against evil
Satan knew who He was
Began working against Him at His birth with no place for Mary to give birth to Him
Temptation in the wilderness before He started His ministry
Scribes, Pharisees and Sanhedrin for His message
Jesus task was not yet complete
Needed to train the twelve
Needed to ensure the remembered the message
Needed to make sure they saw and remembered the evidence of who He was
Time wasn’t right for the completion of His task
Sometimes we will ask God to come alongside us for something we want to do. Something we even think He has asked us to do, and it will seem like He is absent from the scene. He’s not. If He gives us something to do, He will be in it, but His timing is perfect. Like the secret play or the secret weapon pulled out at just the right moment to win the game. God comes on the scene at just the right time.
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Today’s Devotional
Matthew 24:15-22 Jesus: You will remember that the prophet Daniel predicted this—predicted the abomination that causes desolation—when you see the prophesied desolation of the holy place. (Reader, take notice; it is important that you understand this.) When you see this, let those in Judea flee to the mountains. If you are relaxing on your rooftop one evening and the signs of the temple’s destruction come, don’t return to your house to rescue a book or a pet or a scrap of clothing. If you are in the field when the great destruction begins, don’t return home for a cloak. Pregnant women and nursing mothers will have the worst of it. And as for you, pray that your flight to the hills will not come on the Sabbath or in the cold of winter. For the tribulation will be unparalleled—hardships of a magnitude that has not been seen since creation and that will not be seen again. Indeed the Lord God your merciful judge will cut this time of trial short, and this will be done for the benefit of the elect that some might indeed be saved—for no one could survive the depravity for very long.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
There’s a lot of debate about the rapture, the point in time when Jesus will resurrect His followers who have died and take up those who are still living to be with Him forever. Some say the rapture will happen before the tribulation, some say it will happen during the tribulation and some say it will happen after the tribulation. Scripture can support any of the theories depending on which scriptures you use and how you interpret them.
I suppose I could give you my opinion and you could send me your concurrence or argument against my opinion if you choose, but really, what does it matter? If God chooses for His children to go through the tribulation to sift out the true believers from those who just use His name as a tag to hide behind, that’s His business. He will be with us to the end and give us strength to endure the tribulation if He wants us to walk through it.
If God chooses to put us through to the midpoint of the tribulation when the three prophets speak in Jerusalem, that’s okay, too. We will witness the beginning of the outpouring of God’s wrath and perhaps be able to win some of those we’ve prayed for so long. Perhaps with God’s help in those days, He will enable us to share in new ways the good news of salvation so that some will come to know Him because of the intense suffering that so many will endure during those first three years of the tribulation. If then God chooses to take us home with Him at the midpoint to spare us from the remaining aftermath of His wrath, He just shows us more of His grace and mercy and love to an undeserving bunch of sinners.
And if God chooses to take us home with Him before the tribulation begins to spare us from even the beginning of the outpouring of His wrath upon the world for humanity’s refusal to acknowledge Him as God, then we are certainly blessed by the outpouring of His mercy. Do we deserve an early rapture? No. Do we deserve redemption? No. Do we deserve anything from God? No.
So how should we approach the debate when Christians begin to argue among themselves so fervently about pre-, mid-, and post-tribulation rapture? We should probably sit back and laugh at the brawl that ensues or perhaps weep for our misguided brothers and sisters who spend so much energy on such an unimportant thing.
What does it really matter after all? The question really is, “Will I be part of the rapture when it happens?” As long as I’m right with God, He will see me through the tribulation. Will I suffer during those times? Probably, as will every other human being on the planet. Will I suffer as much as those not right with God? Probably not. But for sure, if I’m right with God, I will not spend eternity in hell, separated from Him. If I’m right with God, I will be part of the rapture whenever it occurs and that’s the more important question. Not when it will be, but will I be part of it?
I will let others argue about when the rapture will happen. I don’t really care. I just want to be in it. So how do I want to live in relation to the tribulation? I will live so close to God that if the rapture is post-tribulation, I will rest in Him and be prepare to suffer through the awful state of the earth through those seven years of God’s wrath. If Jesus comes at the midpoint of the tribulation to take His bride home and the tribulation happens at the three and a half year point, I will praise Him for relief from the suffering and rejoice with Him forever. And if the rapture comes before the tribulation, well…, can you say joy unspeakable?
When those around you want to argue about the timing of the rapture, just remember the real question. It’s not when it comes, it’s are you part of it?
