The Right Response to the Rapture

Many were claiming that the Lord would come on September 23, 2017. The date-setters were wrong once again. Because I rejected the teaching that the "great wonder" in Rev. 12:1-2 was going to be fulfilled in the stars on September 23rd, I was labeled as a scoffer by some who fell for that nonsense. I am a Bible-believer, not a Bible-scoffer! I do not reject the truth of the rapture. I reject the private interpretations of men who twist the scriptures in trying to set a date for coming of the Lord. 

I believe with all my heart that Christ will rapture the Church which is His Body BEFORE the 70th week of Daniel (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess. 5:9). We are to be looking for Christ from heaven (1 Cor. 1:7; Phil. 3:20; 1 Thess. 1:10; 2 Thess. 3:5; Titus 2:13), not the antichrist on the earth. The apostle Paul taught a pre-tribulational rapture, and it is in his writings alone that we find this wonderful doctrine. It was one of the mysteries that Christ revealed through him (1 Cor. 15:51) for this present age of grace. The reason so many are being moved away from this blessed hope today is that they do not recognize Paul as being God's spokesman to the Body of Christ. Instead of rightly dividing the word of truth, they mix it all up and confound passages about the second coming of Christ with passages on about rapture (which are two different events). 

How should Bible-believing Christians respond to the truth of the pre-tribulation rapture?

1. We should LOVE it (2 Tim. 4:8). If we love Christ, we will love His appearing! When He comes we will see Him; we will be like Him (Phil. 3:20-21); we will be with Him forever (1 Thess. 4:17).

2. We shold LOOK for it (Titus 2:13). If the blessed hope is truly in our heart (not just a doctrine in our head), we will look for it daily with great anticipation. There are no signs for the rapture, it could happen today! It is nearer now than when we first believed (Rom. 13:11). 

3. We should LIVE in light of it (Titus 2:11-15). Believing that Christ could come today, and that we must give an account of our service at the Judgment Seat of Christ, should certainly affect how we live! Demas forsook Paul because he loved this present world instead of the appearing of Christ (2 Tim. 4:8-10).

I don't need signs to get me excited about the rapture. God is not giving us signs today (1 Cor. 1:22; 13:8-13), but He gave us His perfect word, and that is all we need (2 Tim. 3:16-17).