(upbeat music) - From the Ask Pastor John podcast inbox, hello, my name is Lydia. I listen to you daily from Argentina. I really wanted to thank you for your podcast. I enjoy it and learn a lot with every episode. My question for Pastor John is this, what are your thoughts about the rapture of the church and what we should do to prepare for it?

- I wrote a piece about this a long time ago with a lot of definitions and arguments that you could check out at Desiring God website. But so let me be brief here. The rapture refers to the rising of the church to meet the Lord Jesus in the air at his second coming.

So here's a description of it in 1 Thessalonians 4.16. The Lord himself will descend from heaven. This is the second coming. Will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ. So all your dead friends who are believers will rise first and then we who are alive and remain 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. That's what is referred to as the rapture, the old word rapture to be snatched up or snatched up into the clouds. So my first thought about the rapture is that it is true and wonderful and encouraging. In fact, Paul concludes that paragraph in 1 Thessalonians 4 with these words, verse 18.

Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Encourage one another with these words. He's coming. You can be caught up to meet him. Both the dead and the living. You won't miss out if you've died and you won't miss out if you're alive. You'll be caught up and meet him in the air.

Just like he ascended on the clouds, you will rise to meet him in the clouds. He's coming and whether we are alive or dead, we will live and rise and meet him and so be encouraged. We're gonna be a great assembly of worshipers. In fact, according to 2 Thessalonians, we're gonna marvel and exult in his glory at that moment.

It says in 2 Thessalonians 1 10, he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed. Human beings were made to marvel. And never have we marveled in this life like we will marvel on that day. This will be the great climax of all our Christian hedonism.

We will experience our greatest joy in marveling the way we were finally made to marvel. And Christ will be magnified in our marveling as never before. It will be a glorious consummation of history. Now, the question that conservative evangelicals have raised over the years is does this event of rising to meet the Lord in the air, does it happen after or before this season of great tribulation at the end of the age that Jesus refers to in Matthew 24 21 and Revelation refers to in Revelation 7 14?

Do we rise to meet him and get taken away from the earth for seven years of tribulation, which we skip, waiting in heaven, or do we go through the tribulation and exult in his coming at the end of history to destroy all his enemies? And my understanding of the New Testament is the second alternative.

It's called post-tribulation because it comes after. The second coming and our rising to meet the Lord in the air come after that terrible season of suffering at the end of history. And I've given nine reasons in that article I referred to at Desiring God. Let me just give you one as we wrap this up.

The wording of 2 Thessalonians 1 5-9 is the key. Here's what it says. Your suffering, so the Thessalonians had been suffering, is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering, since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you when you are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. So here's my conclusion from those verses. It seems clear to me that Paul expects believers on earth to get rest from their suffering at the same time and in the same event that their enemies get punishment, namely at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Somebody can read that part again. God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, that's one, and grant relief to you who are afflicted, that's two. And when do both those things happen? When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire.

And that revelation of his mighty angels in flaming fire is not the snatching of the Christians out of the world and taking them away for seven years and coming back seven years later to do that kind of punishing work at his second coming. So I think there's only one second coming, not two stages, but one, and it happens after the church goes through that period of suffering and affliction at the end of the age.

So my answer to the question of how to prepare is pray for the Lord to come. This is what we long for. This is our great and blessed hope. We want the Lord Jesus to come, let's pray. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus. And the way to get ready for it is to trust the promises of God, to turn all our sufferings, we're not promised to escape suffering, to turn all our sufferings for our good and then be about the will of God so that when he comes, he will find you faithful at your appointed task.

Yes, amen, come Lord Jesus. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast. You and thousands of other listeners tune into this podcast every day from America, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and all over the world, and we are honored by that. So thank you for listening. If you've found this to be a helpful resource for your Christian growth, we encourage you to consider telling others about this podcast.

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We will see you tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)