On Being Rapture Ready Part II (Nearing Midnight)

There is no specific signal that presages the Rapture of believers in the Scriptures. That calling by Christ to those who know Him as Savior will be unannounced and instantaneous. Paul the apostle’s words inform us of that stunning event: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

Paul says further: “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” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The website Todd Strandberg began in 1987, before the internet was making an impact to any extent on life in America and throughout the world, encompasses what Christ expects every born- again believer to become. Todd gave it the name raptureready.com, a nomenclature defining a spiritual condition eternally crucial to each and every living individual.

All who have died during this Church Age (Age of Grace) are now beyond getting "Rapture ready." They are either "Rapture ready" or not. People alive at the present time, if they don’t know Christ as Savior, still have opportunity to get Rapture ready. All who are saved (know Jesus as their Savior) are Rapture ready in one sense, but might not be Rapture ready in another. We will try to clarify these matters. It is most important that we do so.

I testified in my Nearing Midnight commentary last week of instantaneously standing before a throng of heavenly witnesses (Hebrews 12:1-3) the moment my heart stopped beating. This happened three separate times. Each time my heart ceased to beat, I was somewhere in eternity. God the Holy Spirit’s assurance of where I was and who the beautiful, cheering young people were becomes more strongly burned into my own spirit by the day.

The only action I have taken in my life to warrant being instantly transported to that heavenly realm was to accept Christ as my Savior. There is no other action I could take while in this physical life to assure my instant transport into those stunning surroundings. While my near-death experience wasn’t the Rapture, of course, I believe with all that is within my spiritual understanding that it was a type of what awaits the generation of Christians alive at the time of that great event, as described by the apostle Paul’s prophetic words as given above. At that future moment of Rapture, all who have died during the Church Age, or who are living at the time, will stand not before a throng of witnesses as I did, but before the Lord Jesus, Himself! “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

All who are living today who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior stand in mortal danger. When their hearts beat the final time, they will find themselves in the same, unimaginably horrid place as the rich man described by Jesus in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (read Luke 16:19-31). Likewise, the moment Christ says at the Rapture: “Come up hither” (Revelation 4:1), the person who hasn’t accepted Christ will be left behind on earth to face a time in human history of which the Lord Jesus Himself said: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved" (Matthew 24:21-22a).

Being Rapture Ready

So, it is imperative to make clear what it means to be Rapture ready. Our eternal souls hang in the balance of God’s impending judgment. The Lord of Heaven must judge sin, because He cannot abide sin in His holy presence. No sin can enter the gates of Heaven. And this is where God’s magnificent love comes to the forefront of His dealing with each of us who are sinners.

He loves you and me so much that He sent His Son–God in the flesh, Jesus Christ—to come to earth to be the perfect sin-sacrifice, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, whose blood takes away the sin of the world. To be Rapture ready, you and I must be “saved” from our sins and made pure in the righteousness found only in Christ. When we believe God and accept Christ as Savior, we become Rapture ready in the eternal sense. We will go to Heaven upon our death, or will be raptured when Jesus steps out on the clouds of glory and shouts: “Come up hither!”

But, there is another meaning of being Rapture ready. Each Christian is responsible for being Rapture ready in this sense. To be Rapture ready as a child of God means we are to be living our lives in a way pleasing to God. We are to lift the name of Jesus so that men, women, and children will be drawn to Him for salvation. We are to be watching for His any-moment return in the Rapture.

Let me make it clear. I believe the Word of God tells us that every person who is saved through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ will go to be with Him at the moment of Rapture, no matter the state of his or her fellowship with the Lord. We will ALL stand before Him, Paul tells us.

However, to be truly Rapture ready as a Christian means that we are living life in such a biblically prescribed way that when Jesus calls us we will not be ashamed to look Him in His omniscient eyes. We should desire above all else to hear Him say “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:23b).

End- times world conditions today are unmistakable. That face-to-face meeting could take place at any moment!

Terry

Thank you so much Kathy! A hearty AMEN!

2 Corinthians 6:2
For he said, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Grace and Peace be with you all!

Awesome, wonderful words from Terry James. Thanks Kathy G! God's grace is so magnificient, so extravagant and so available to the highest or lowest human being on earth who is willing to cry out to God for help.

Romans 5:6-11: For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some would dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from WRATH THROUGH HIM. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be SAVED BY HIS LIFE.

Romans 5:17: For if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by ONE, Jesus Christ.

You said it, Texas Sue! All of you!

I can only add that I fully concur with what Terry James said in his article. And I might add to something that he said in that article, too. He said, "We will ALL stand before Him, Paul tells us." That's right. Not only that, we will ALL stand before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ. That's all the more reason to be staying close to Him, so we won't be ashamed when we stand before Him, and so He'll have something to say "Well done" to us for.

Bump.

Thanks for bringing this back to the top, Kathy!

I missed it the first time around.

Praise God!!! What a wonderful report.

Maranatha!

Excellent article Kathy, thanks so much for posting it! It truly is a blessing encouragment to read!

Blessings in Jesus,

Valerie

I think I'll bump this back up again!

Bump.

Thanks Kathy for this wonderful teaching from Terry. He does a super job of clarifying issues that confuse so many today. Thanks for sharing this with us all!
Your brother in Jesus,
Larry

"Fair Use for Information & Discussion Purposes"

Caught Up (Nearing Midnight)


We just upgraded to a system that has added an extra 500 channels or so to our television programming. All of it comes automatically with what I really wanted to acquire, Internet service that increases my download capacity and speed by a factor of three or four.

I realize there are many who read these columns who believe strongly that there should be no television in the home whatsoever, so I’m almost apologetic–but not quite. I was sick and tired of waiting sometimes hours to download materials I needed to do my work for Rapture Ready and for other work.

Clicking through the myriad of TV channels I now have, I am amazed at all of the things of life that bombard us. I can no longer “see” the programs and their content because of retinas that no longer work–which I suppose makes the upgrade sound ludicrous. I do hear, however, with at least a modicum of ability in my closing ears and years, so I get the gist of the programming. The many aspects of everyday living in America today are astonishing--not in scope, but in the absence of the profound.

By this, I mean that in America all that is presented on the programming revolves around nurturing self-centeredness that directly affects the average U.S. citizen in one way or another--love, sex, finance, lifestyle, and health.

Religion is covered by TV entertainment and news to a much lesser degree, and increasingly in a way that moves ever farther from the biblical fundamentals of the faith once delivered to the saints. The only things that matter for life more abundantly, according to Jesus Christ, are conspicuously absent from this massive programming regime. Things of truly eternal value are sequestered in the corners of the religious channels, and few of those Christ-centered programs exist. The majority of so-called Christian programming involves prosperity-a-thons that are almost as ubiquitous as the secular infomercials that incessantly barrage the late-late-night/early-morning viewers. Most in America in these closing days of this Church Age comprise a generation caught up in a world system that long ago pushed God out of the equation for living on the planet He designed for mankind.

Jesus forewarned of a future generation of believers that would be caught up in such a world system at the time when His return neared. He had just gone through the many signs of His coming again, and had given His disciples the answer to their questions: “Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?”

Jesus said in forewarning that future end-times generation: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-36)

Sadly, Christians in mass numbers seem to fit the description of that final generation of the Age of Grace. If we are honest, we have to consider that it appears that the everyday cares of life hold most captive like the Lord’s description of those who will be alive at the time of the “snare” that will come upon the whole Earth. I’m convinced that “snare” referred to will be none other than the rapture of the church.

It will be a startling thing for those so married to this world to suddenly be in the presence of their Lord. Having been caught up in the world and all of its quicksand of immorality, they will suddenly find themselves “caught up” into the holy presence of the One who died for them.

While every true believer will meet the Lord in the air when He calls, “Come up here,” the above Scripture leaves little doubt that there is a most serious issue involved in the words the Lord used: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Christians are not to be caught off guard like the lost of the world, for whom the rapture will be a thief-in-the-night experience. To be caught off guard in the sense that we are living like the world, with little thought of Jesus’ coming back for us, will demonstrate unworthiness to stand before Him at that monumental moment. Our worthiness will determine whether we hear Him say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant,”when we then move to Heaven and the Judgment Seat of Christ for rewards earned in this life.

--Terry