How Close Are We to the Rapture of the Saints?

The Rapture. In Christian circles, it is a huge topic. Some believe in it, and others do not, some believe it will occur before the great tribulation spoken of in the book of Revelation, others believe it could come during that tribulation or even afterwards. Here are a few facts about the topic of the Rapture....First of all, the belief in the taking up of the Saints prior to the tribulation is called, "pre-trib rapture". This is the most popular viewpoint as it seems to be the one favored by the writers of the Bible itself. The mid-term rapture is called the "mid-trib rapture" and in that case the believers in Christ are supposed to be here on Earth for the start of the tribulation and then are taken up after the first 3 1/2 years of the seven year period.

The third format that some Christians believe in is the "post-trib rapture", which is characterized by Christians going through the entire tribulation only to be taken up by Christ at its end, to immediately return back to Earth with Christ as part of His army that defeats the anti-Christ. There are other more minor beliefs but these are the three majors. I personally believe in the pre-trib rapture, simply because in the book of Revelation, the churches of Christ are discussed in great detail right up until Chapter four, verse one, at which time, John hears the voice say, "come up hither!" After that point in the narrative there is no further mention of the Christian church. Many Bible scholars interpret that as to mean that the Christian faithful will no longer be upon the Earth after they hear that command.

However the individual believes is actually irrelevent . The prophecies will be fulfilled at the proper time and in the proper way, according to God's will. To tell the truth, nobody will know on what day this takes place or at what hour. They are not allowed to know, and it has been written that even Christ Himself does not know, nor do the angels, but only the Father alone knows the time and date that this grand event will take place. The rest of us are commanded to watch and wait, so that we are not taken unawares, in case Christ returns like "a thief in the night" and finds us not ready for Him. People have been watching and waiting for millennia to the point where now some have lost hope in Christ ever returning again. I believe it was the singer, Tiny Tim who once stated that there were two things he knew would never happen, number one was a second hit record for him, and number two was Jesus returning.

But even though we are not to know the exact time and date of the rapture, we have been given certain clues in the Holy Bible. For example, it states that the generation that sees Israel become a nation again would not pass away before the rapture. Israel had no home for something like two thousand years, and suddenly, in 1948, it became a nation again. That means that the people who were alive to see that happen will not all pass away until the rapture of the church of Christ. There are millions of people alive today who were around in 1948, my own parents and grandmother included. This, of course, does not tell us when the event will take place but it does tell us just how close it really is, since that generation cannot all pass away before it comes. If we take that little clue into consideration it is entirely possible that the rapture could occur tonight, or it could occur ten years or twenty years from now. No one but God the Father will know until the time comes.

The Bible also states that just before THAT time, there will be wars and rumors of wars, there will be signs in Earth and in the heavens, and there will be an escalation of natural disasters all around the world. Interesting, isn't it? When a non-believer sees huge forest fires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other weather anomolies, he or she immediately thinks, "global warming". But when a Christian sees those same events occuring, the first thing they think is, "yes, Lord Jesus, come quickly," which by the way, is the second to the last statement written in the last book of the Bible, known as Revelation. Perhaps it is considered egotistical for the Christian to think that their personal beliefs are the "correct" ones, but they are merely following the Word of God, not re-writing it to suit themselves.

The truly arrogant ones are the people who deny the Creator God and declare that humans are wrecking the Earth in various ways. Truth of the matter is, God did create this world and only He knows the secret combination for destroying it completely. Typically, when humans try to take over the "acts of God" they successfully botch the job. This is why so many lakes, rivers and streams now have huge populations of the wrong kinds of non-indigenous wildlife in them, which reproduce in massive numbers, blocking out the native fauna, because humans have at some point in the past, interfered with the natural wildlife of that area and introduced those foreign animals to that site. Now they have to spend millions of tax-payer dollars to correct the problem, probably causing further problems in the process. Yet even then they do not destroy the entire Earth, but merely damage small parts of it.

So, if you can see the types of problems playing God can create on Earth, imagine what playing God does to people's spiritual beliefs. This is why Christians are so looking forward to the rapture, so they can be taken up out of this world and avoid the trouble that is to come. During that time, people will be fooled into believing Satan's lies, and will accept the anti-Christ as God. Don't think it will happen? Think again. Satan is the cleverest of all the demons, and will be as convincing as can be. This is something that Christians are happily looking forward to avoiding, which is what God promised in His Holy Word.

How close are we to the rapture of the church of Christ? Nobody can tell you that, and if they do give you an exact date, mark them off as charlatans and liars. The date is close, but I won't pin it down even to this particular decade, let alone to a particular day. All we can do is follow the clear Word of the Living God and look up, for our Redemption draweth nigh.