During this soul-trying, end-times darkness, trepidation crushes in from every side, quenching the remaining, lingering rays of hope. This is the picture troubling issues and events force us to commit to the electronic page each week in these commentaries. But there is about to burst forth a dazzling spectacle of a future world brilliant beyond all imagination.
You and I, of all generations of all of human history, are here at this
moment in time--put here by the Creator of all that is. No other people
of any previous generation have been so near to attaining the things the
God of Heaven has prepared for those who love Him. Those who have chosen
to accept God's offer to be part of His family have at the forefront of
their spiritual understanding, a spectacular panorama of what is to come.
We get this truth from the words of the apostle Paul:
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit:
for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For
what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in
him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which
is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God. (1 Corinthians 2: 9-12)
God's love letter to mankind--the Bible--makes it clear that this world
system will come to an end and a new era will begin in which planet
earth will be restored to a perfect geophysical environment like that of
the Garden of Eden. All hunger will be replaced by abundance far beyond
any known since Eden was in full bloom. Human government, with its
murderous, tyrannical, self-serving rulers, will be forever done away
with, replaced by the absolute perfect reign of King Jesus.
All citizens of the millennial kingdom will prosper in every way.
Although sin will still exist, Christ's perfect rule with a "rod of
iron" will assure that all sin will be kept beneath the surface of the
society and culture of that marvellous era. Crime will be instantly dealt
with, as nothing can be hidden from His Majesty's omnipotent law
enforcement. Who knows? If you are a child of God now, in this
pre-Tribulation dispensation, you might be one of the King's millennial,
perfect law enforcement agents during Christ's one-thousand-year reign.
All of God's children who have lived and died during this Church Age or
Age of Grace will, at the moment Christ calls "Come up here," be
instantly changed into immortal beings --supernatural citizens of God's
Kingdom. As Christ's Bride, Church Age saints will Reign with the Lord,
judging even the angels of Heaven. Having the perfect, sinless mind of
Christ, each of His beloved family members will bless the millennial
earth with contributions commensurate with the heavenly administration
rewards received at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Each raptured saint will be fellow possessor of all of God the Father's
heavenly riches. When you accept Christ while in this present
dispensation, you become joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. All of
God's treasury will then be yours when you find yourself in the presence
of the Lord Jesus at the moment of Rapture.
That instantaneous movement into the heavenlies at the time of death or
Rapture is without even a microsecond of hesitation. I can testify to
that Truth whether I am believed or not by those who I no doubt keep
boring with my own Good Friday experience of April 22, 2011. Regardless
of that risk, I cannot help but proclaim yet again that, as Paul the
apostle said: "To be absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord!"
The instant my heart was stopped three separate times by a "widow-maker"
heart attack on three occasions that day and the doctors declared me
dead on arrival, I was instantaneously staring at the cloud of witnesses
of Hebrews 12: 1-3. I didn't see Jesus, but then, again, I wasn't kept
in that eternal realm, but was sent back to, for one thing, to write
today's column!
I've been shown in my spirit that they were cheering the very things we
are considering in this commentary in thinking on the promises of God's
prophetic Word regarding Christ's any-moment call to His Bride, the
Church, and the glorious post-Rapture things to come.
I am of the strongest conviction that all believers are about to
instantaneously find ourselves looking directly into the soul-piercing
gaze of the Creator of all things --into the eyes of Jesus, Himself.
Everything points to the certainty that this Age of Grace is on the cusp
of completion. The very next event that is prophetically scheduled is,
from what I believe the Bible foretells, the change from mortal to
immortality--the Rapture.
What a glorious prospect! As our Lord escorts Heaven's newest citizens
into the Father's house, the effulgence of the glimmering, shimmering
spectrum of colours, sights, and sounds never seen or heard this side of
eternity will drench our supernaturally enhanced senses while we
proceed. This is not pie in the sky, as mockers often taunt in scoffing
at those who have faith that God's Word presents the Pre-Trib Rapture
view of prophecy. This is really about to occur! The ultimate
fulfilment of prophetic promise for believers in Jesus Christ, securing
their future life that will never end, rather will only increase in
pleasure and power beyond the ability to fathom, is at hand.
We too easily forget Jesus' promise to come for us and take us to His
Father's House:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14: 1-3)
While we involve ourselves in the daily pursuits of life, thinking on
jobs, our children, our friends and social obligations and functions,
our pleasures and our problems, we must, as believers in our Lord's
Promises, look around us at the prophetic signs and discern these
strange times. We must understand that Jesus could at any moment stand
from his seat at His Father's right hand and come to gather and take all
of those who are but strangers upon this fallen planet into the Father's
house--into Heaven.
All the signals point to our going Home!