WILL ALL BE READY WHEN THE LORD JESUS RETURNS TO RAPTURE THE CHURCH?

Today we want to answer a critical question: “WILL ALL BE READY WHEN JESUS RETURNS TO RAPTURE THE CHURCH?”

“For the Lord Himself shall descend (come down) 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: 17 Then we which are alive and remain (in faith) 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 Thess. 4:16-17).

Many Christians live their lives today as if the end will never come. Many have no consciousness of eternity in their heart. They think they still have a million years more to live on earth. And this is why such Christians make no conscious efforts to truly repent of their sins and make their ways right with God.

But knowing how brief this life is (Job 14:1-2; Ps. 90:10) the Psalmist prayed saying, “…Lord, teach me to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom” (Ps. 90:10).

For this reason, as we can see from the Scriptures that not all who profess to be Christians will be ready when the Lord returns to rapture the church.

To impress upon His hearers (you and I today), the necessity of being ready at His coming, the LORD warned saying:

1. That He is going to come like a thief.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 says, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” 

The truth is that many in the church today are waiting but not watching. In Revelations 16:15 Jesus said, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that (1) WATCHETH, and (2) KEEPETH HIS GARMENTS (of righteousness spotless), lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

It is your responsibility to keep your Garment of Righteousness spotless. In Ecclesiastes 9:8 God said, “Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.”

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7).

“And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1 Jn. 3:3).

In Matthew 24:43 Jesus said, “But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have al his house to be broken into.”

In Matthew 25:13 Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

2. He spoke a parable of the 5 wise and the 5 foolish virgins who went forth to meet the bridegroom (Matt. 25:1-13).

Here Jesus teaches the necessity of preparedness for His imminent return. It clearly teaches that when Christ arrives to rapture the church, some of His followers will be ready to meet Him, but unfortunately others will not be ready. He compares the rapture to a joyful wedding procession in which the unprepared cannot participate.

For those that are procrastinating the surrendering of their lives to Christ, take note that: At Jesus’s return, it is too late to receive Him as Lord and Saviour (Matt. 25:12).

His return for the church will be so sudden and fast that no one will ever have time to repent of his/her sins. That is to say that if you cannot make things right with God right now and be ready for the imminent return of Christ, you may never be ready.

Who are the ones that will be ready at His coming? These are the ones that are not only waiting, but also watching.

Therefore, everyone that truly wants to make it in the rapture will make things right with God right now and watch carefully because no one knows neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will return.

Watchfulness does not mean idleness. It means a faithful discharge of your responsibilities (Matt. 25:14-30). The wise use of gifts and abilities given to you will result in more opportunities, while their neglect will result in the loss of more opportunities, and that which was entrusted unto you.

To watch means to discharge your responsibilities in righteousness and holiness.

Remember that after the door is shut no one can enter anymore. The doors were always locked to uninvited guests and for fear of thieves, who would rob the guests or kidnap the bride for a ransom.

To illustrate the seriousness of this danger, Jesus gave two examples:

a) He referred to the conditions that prevailed in the days of Noah, and noted that history would repeat itself at the time of His coming for the church.

In Luke 17:26-27 Jesus said, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”

There is nothing wrong with eating and marrying in themselves. Christ ate and drank. He attended a marriage feast at Cana of Galilee (Jn. 2). The problem is the fact that men became too preoccupied with earthly matters and made them the chief purpose of life. 

Such people forgot and ignored spiritual things. They ignored the preaching of Noah in his day. They failed to heed the prophecies of Enoch whom God sent to warn that generation. They could not discern the signs of the times. As a result, they did not know when the flood came and took all of them away.

b) Jesus also likened the days of Lot to the time of His coming for the church.

In Luke 17:28-30 Jesus said, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from Heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Lot lived in Sodom, a place noted for its extreme wickedness. Jesus referred mainly to the fact that the people of Sodom were totally involved in material things. They did buy and sell, plan, eat, drink, build, marry etc. They had no time for spiritual things. They were so engrossed in the things of this world that they did not entertain the slightest suspicion that they would never see the light of another day.

So it is today around the world: men are so engrossed in their work, businesses, research, profession, pleasures, hobbies, and plans that despite the fact that the sword of atomic destruction is hanging over their heads, they continue to be absorbed in vanity (those things that have no eternal value, those things that are about to perish).

Today, you have the great opportunity to change your eternal destiny. Your name must be in the Lamb’s book of life for you to qualify for the rapture. You are not going to be raptured because you are acting nice. You are not going to be raptured because your name is in a church register. You are not going to be raptured because you are a leader in the church. You will be raptured only on these conditions: (1) you MUST be Born Again (Jn. 3:3), and (2) live a holy life (Heb. 12:14).  

Proverbs 27:1 says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (NASU).  

So hurry, and make peace with God right now! Get ready before the door is shut.

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Head Pastor)    19^th July, 2020