How Do I Prepare for the Rapture?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - From the Ask Pastor John podcast inbox,

00:00:07.520 | hello, my name is Lydia.

00:00:09.200 | I listen to you daily from Argentina.

00:00:11.320 | I really wanted to thank you for your podcast.

00:00:13.320 | I enjoy it and learn a lot with every episode.

00:00:15.780 | My question for Pastor John is this,

00:00:17.960 | what are your thoughts about the rapture of the church

00:00:20.080 | and what we should do to prepare for it?

00:00:22.400 | - I wrote a piece about this a long time ago

00:00:26.080 | with a lot of definitions and arguments

00:00:29.360 | that you could check out at Desiring God website.

00:00:32.960 | But so let me be brief here.

00:00:35.200 | The rapture refers to the rising of the church

00:00:39.120 | to meet the Lord Jesus in the air at his second coming.

00:00:43.520 | So here's a description of it in 1 Thessalonians 4.16.

00:00:47.560 | The Lord himself will descend from heaven.

00:00:50.680 | This is the second coming.

00:00:52.480 | Will descend from heaven with a shout,

00:00:54.900 | with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God

00:00:58.860 | and the dead in Christ.

00:01:00.800 | So all your dead friends who are believers

00:01:04.200 | will rise first and then we who are alive and remain

00:01:09.200 | shall be caught up together with them in the clouds

00:01:14.840 | to meet the Lord in the air.

00:01:18.240 | And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

00:01:22.640 | That's what is referred to as the rapture,

00:01:26.320 | the old word rapture to be snatched up

00:01:29.400 | or snatched up into the clouds.

00:01:32.880 | So my first thought about the rapture

00:01:36.320 | is that it is true and wonderful and encouraging.

00:01:41.320 | In fact, Paul concludes that paragraph

00:01:44.440 | in 1 Thessalonians 4 with these words, verse 18.

00:01:48.520 | Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

00:01:51.000 | Encourage one another with these words.

00:01:53.200 | He's coming.

00:01:54.440 | You can be caught up to meet him.

00:01:55.900 | Both the dead and the living.

00:01:57.280 | You won't miss out if you've died

00:01:58.760 | and you won't miss out if you're alive.

00:02:01.320 | You'll be caught up and meet him in the air.

00:02:04.880 | Just like he ascended on the clouds,

00:02:06.720 | you will rise to meet him in the clouds.

00:02:08.800 | He's coming and whether we are alive or dead,

00:02:12.060 | we will live and rise and meet him and so be encouraged.

00:02:16.560 | We're gonna be a great assembly of worshipers.

00:02:19.640 | In fact, according to 2 Thessalonians,

00:02:23.200 | we're gonna marvel and exult in his glory at that moment.

00:02:27.260 | It says in 2 Thessalonians 1 10,

00:02:30.920 | he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints

00:02:35.920 | and to be marveled at among all who have believed.

00:02:40.620 | Human beings were made to marvel.

00:02:44.480 | And never have we marveled in this life

00:02:51.380 | like we will marvel on that day.

00:02:54.460 | This will be the great climax of all our Christian hedonism.

00:03:00.340 | We will experience our greatest joy in marveling

00:03:07.140 | the way we were finally made to marvel.

00:03:11.020 | And Christ will be magnified in our marveling

00:03:15.100 | as never before.

00:03:17.060 | It will be a glorious consummation of history.

00:03:22.060 | Now, the question that conservative evangelicals

00:03:27.460 | have raised over the years is does this event

00:03:31.140 | of rising to meet the Lord in the air,

00:03:33.900 | does it happen after or before this season

00:03:38.140 | of great tribulation at the end of the age

00:03:40.520 | that Jesus refers to in Matthew 24 21

00:03:44.080 | and Revelation refers to in Revelation 7 14?

00:03:47.500 | Do we rise to meet him and get taken away

00:03:51.800 | from the earth for seven years of tribulation,

00:03:55.940 | which we skip, waiting in heaven,

00:03:58.620 | or do we go through the tribulation

00:04:01.820 | and exult in his coming at the end of history

00:04:06.860 | to destroy all his enemies?

00:04:08.520 | And my understanding of the New Testament

00:04:11.580 | is the second alternative.

00:04:13.360 | It's called post-tribulation because it comes after.

00:04:18.180 | The second coming and our rising to meet the Lord

00:04:20.780 | in the air come after that terrible season

00:04:24.220 | of suffering at the end of history.

00:04:27.980 | And I've given nine reasons in that article

00:04:30.700 | I referred to at Desiring God.

00:04:32.560 | Let me just give you one as we wrap this up.

00:04:35.440 | The wording of 2 Thessalonians 1 5-9 is the key.

00:04:42.260 | Here's what it says.

00:04:43.460 | Your suffering, so the Thessalonians had been suffering,

00:04:48.440 | is evidence of the righteous judgment of God

00:04:51.300 | that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God

00:04:55.260 | for which you are also suffering,

00:04:58.120 | since indeed God considers it just

00:05:01.440 | to repay with affliction those who afflict you

00:05:07.660 | and to grant relief to you when you are afflicted

00:05:12.660 | as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed

00:05:18.740 | from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

00:05:22.720 | inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God

00:05:25.780 | and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

00:05:29.240 | They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction

00:05:31.700 | away from the presence of the Lord

00:05:33.260 | and from the glory of his might.

00:05:34.620 | So here's my conclusion from those verses.

00:05:38.660 | It seems clear to me that Paul expects believers on earth

00:05:44.540 | to get rest from their suffering at the same time

00:05:49.660 | and in the same event that their enemies get punishment,

00:05:55.060 | namely at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

00:06:00.500 | Somebody can read that part again.

00:06:02.240 | God considers it just to repay with affliction

00:06:06.560 | those who afflict you, that's one,

00:06:09.620 | and grant relief to you who are afflicted, that's two.

00:06:14.620 | And when do both those things happen?

00:06:17.220 | When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven

00:06:20.760 | with his mighty angels in flaming fire.

00:06:23.260 | And that revelation of his mighty angels in flaming fire

00:06:26.220 | is not the snatching of the Christians out of the world

00:06:30.000 | and taking them away for seven years

00:06:31.600 | and coming back seven years later

00:06:33.400 | to do that kind of punishing work at his second coming.

00:06:37.560 | So I think there's only one second coming,

00:06:42.560 | not two stages, but one,

00:06:44.920 | and it happens after the church goes through

00:06:48.800 | that period of suffering and affliction

00:06:51.360 | at the end of the age.

00:06:53.920 | So my answer to the question of how to prepare

00:06:58.000 | is pray for the Lord to come.

00:07:01.520 | This is what we long for.

00:07:02.680 | This is our great and blessed hope.

00:07:04.680 | We want the Lord Jesus to come, let's pray.

00:07:06.880 | Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

00:07:09.600 | And the way to get ready for it

00:07:11.720 | is to trust the promises of God,

00:07:14.620 | to turn all our sufferings,

00:07:16.320 | we're not promised to escape suffering,

00:07:18.720 | to turn all our sufferings for our good

00:07:21.920 | and then be about the will of God

00:07:25.100 | so that when he comes,

00:07:26.640 | he will find you faithful at your appointed task.

00:07:31.640 | Yes, amen, come Lord Jesus.

00:07:33.440 | Thank you, Pastor John,

00:07:34.420 | and thank you for listening to this podcast.

00:07:36.080 | You and thousands of other listeners

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00:07:39.400 | from America, Canada, Australia, Argentina,

00:07:43.200 | and all over the world, and we are honored by that.

00:07:45.160 | So thank you for listening.

00:07:46.080 | If you've found this to be a helpful resource

00:07:47.840 | for your Christian growth,

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00:08:08.880 | on topics like the rapture.

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00:08:24.720 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:08:25.680 | Thank you for listening

00:08:26.520 | and thank you for partnering with us.

00:08:27.680 | We will see you tomorrow.

00:08:28.920 | (upbeat music)

00:08:31.500 | (upbeat music)

00:08:34.080 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

How Do I Prepare for the Rapture?

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