Rapture Weariness

Rapture Weariness – Jonathan Brentner - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ It was a warm evening, and the window in my college dorm room was open wide. I don’t recall if I decided to give in to the drowsiness I felt or if I just dozed off in themidst of studying. Suddenly, the loud blaring of a trumpet awoke me from a deep sleep, and I instantly thought, “This is it, the Rapture!” That was fifty years ago. I had just finished reading The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, and for a fleeting moment, I imagined an upward pull of my body toward theceiling. What I might have regarded as signs of the approaching Tribulation five decades ago pale in significance to the signs that abound all around us today. Yet we still wait andfeel a bit impatient for the Lord to intervene in a world that’s gone crazy. I remember an illustration that JD Farag used a few years back. He compared the events of our world to the stretching of a rubber band, which at some point will break. WhenI look at today’s world, particularly recent events in America, it seems as though we are well past the snapping of the rubber band. The Lord is holding things together until the appointed time; He’s keeping the rubber band intact, for now. In the U.S., inflation continues to soar far beyond the official numbers with no end in sight. The impact of higher insurance rates for cars and homes, along with hikes inproperty taxes, will push many more families to the breaking point. I’m amazed that we still exist as a nation. I often wonder if America’s enemies are not attacking, either from within or without, because they sense it will soon implode andthey can pick up the pieces. Is it any wonder that we grow increasingly fatigued as we wait for Jesus to take us home? If you feel increasingly weary in your wait for Jesus’ appearing, I understand. That’s why I want to share a couple of truths from Scripture that recently helped with my Rapture weariness. The Father Has Set the Time I recently came across these verses from Psalm 75 that brought a degree of relief to my impatience: “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” Selah (vv. 2-3). Although these verses don’t refer to the Rapture, they speak to God’s judgments upon the world that will occur soon after Jesus takes us home to glory. They reminded me ofHis sovereignty over all things. He sees all that’s happening around us today, and He will surely respond. It’s not a matter of if the Rapture happens soon, followed by the day-of-the-Lord judgments (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10), but when. Jesus referred to the Father’s role in setting the timing for end-time events in both Matthew 24:36 and Acts 1:7. Perhaps it’s because we cannot know the day or the hour thatthe Lord instructs us to remain watchful (Matthew 24:44). These thoughts helped soothe my anxious feelings. Contrary to what the scoffers tell us, the Rapture and seven-year Tribulation will most certainly happen. The two-thousand-yeargap between Jesus’ command for us to wait and today has not nullified Jesus’ solemn promise to take us to Heaven (John 14:2-3). If anything, what we see today intensifies our expectation of meeting Jesus in the air in the near future. Although waiting for Jesus’ appearing is not easy at times, we know it will surely happen because God the Father long ago determined when it would happen. We trust His perfecttiming for all things. It Will Be Worth the Wait Waiting for the Rapture reminds me of past vacations where the arrival at the destination made the arduous journey to get there worthwhile. When Jesus appears, the glory wewill then experience will instantly make us forget about dreary weeks and months of waiting for it to happen. The greatest tragedy that flows from the silence regarding the Rapture in most pulpits today is that it focuses the attention of the saints on this life where they find nosolace for these perilous times. Some hear that the church will prevail against the evils of our time. Others believe that our world will eventually return to a sense of normalcy. It’s because we know what Scripture says about wonders ahead for us in eternity that we can face the extreme wickedness, lawlessness, deception, and violence around us. Hearingabout the promise of Jesus’ appearing reminds us that a far better day is coming, one that will exceed anything we can now imagine! Paul summed up the New Testament mindset regarding the fact that whatever we suffer in the interim, our experience at Jesus’ appearing will be so much worth the wait. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Romans 8:23-24 clarifies that the apostle had the Rapture in mind when he wrote about “glory” ahead for us. It’s at Jesus’ appearing that we will fully experience our “adoptionas sons” and receive “the redemption of our bodies.” Imagine enduring all the affliction and persecution that Paul experienced and then saying that our experience when we get to Heaven will be so spectacular that it’s beyond comparison with all the grief ofthis life. The days may be long in this vale of tears, but oh, what a joyous and glorious day awaits when the trumpet sounds (for real) and we meet Jesus in the air.