Words to the Wise (or Those Who Would Be)

“If you ask me if I believe in the eternal security of the believer, I would say I most certainly do. And I also believe in the insecurity of the make-believer.”
– J. Vernon McGee

“We are playing church. We are so busy trying to be relevant to the world that we have become just like the world….AND the world is not impressed.”
- Nancy Leigh DeMoss

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.”
-C. S. Lewis

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
-C. S. Lewis

“I gave in and admitted that God was God.”
- C. S. Lewis

“The safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without any signposts.”
-C. S. Lewis

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
-Charles Spurgeon

“Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?”
-Leonard Ravenhill

“The Bible is either absolute, or it’s obsolete.”
-Leonard Ravenhill

“Today’s church wants to be raptured from responsibility.”
-Leonard Ravenhill

“If Jesus preached the same message ministers preach today, He would have never been crucified.”
-Leonard Ravenhill

“The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church...grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil.”
-Leonard Ravenhill

“Perhaps if there were more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we should more frequently see the results we desire. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts and our feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of eternal things may be the true cause of our want of success.”
-Hudson Taylor

“I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure so that I may save souls. When I sleep, I dream of them; when I awake, they are the first in my thoughts…no amount of scholastic attainment, of able and profound exposition of brilliant and stirring eloquence can atone for the absence of a deep impassioned sympathetic love for human souls.”
-David Brainerd

“We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear cures another. When man’s terror scares you, turn your thoughts to the wrath of God.”
-William Gurnall

The Rapture and the Second Coming

Many people today are confused about the connection between the Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming of Jesus. Some, the post-Tribulationists, think that these events will occur together at the end of the Tribulation period, while others, the mid-Tribulationists, think that the Rapture will occur in the middle of the Tribulation. The view that agrees most closely with that of the early Church is that the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation period starts and that Jesus will return to earth with His Church at the end of the Tribulation. I believe that one of the reasons for the confusion is that believers today have little or no knowledge of Jewish culture and tradition and thus, have no understanding of the metaphors used in the New Testament writings.

When reading the New Testament, we must take into consideration that the great majority of the early believers were very familiar with Jewish traditions and cultural references. For example, Revelation 16:15 says, "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." The Jewish people understood that the "thief" referred to the supervisor of the Temple watch who made unannounced checks on the Levites and priests who were in charge of guarding the Temple. If the supervisor found one of the guards sleeping on duty, he would set his garments on fire at which point the guard would be shamefully exposed. The people knew that Jesus was telling them to stay alert, to be watchful, to take His commandments and commission seriously. If one does not know the metaphoric language, he would not realize the correct interpretation of the phrase. But, one who knows the metaphor has no difficulty making the link.

There was no confusion for the early believers in regards to a Rapture separate from the Second Coming any more than they would mistake a wedding (which must come first) with the birth/revealing of a child (which would come at a later point). When Jesus told His disciples that He went to "prepare a place for you," they knew that He was referring to the groom preparing the bridal chamber (John 14:2). They knew that the Bridegroom would come for His Bride when the Father told Him it was time. They knew that the phrase, "No man knows the day or the hour, but only the Father knows," (Matt. 24:36) was the phrase that a bridegroom would say if someone asked him when the wedding would occur. He said this because the father would watch over the preparation of the bridal chamber, and when it was completed to the father's satisfaction, he would tell his son to go and get his bride. This could happen at any time, day or night. Remember the parable that Jesus told about the wise virgins and the foolish virgins in Matthew 25. He was telling the people to be ready for the wedding departure ("nazal"(Heb.)-catching away, departure= rapture) at any time, just as the bride had to be in constant readiness. They knew that the Father's command to the Bridegroom to go and get His Bride could occur at any instant. The people also knew that immediately after the wedding ceremony, the Bridegroom and the Bride entered into the bridal chamber at the Father's house and stayed in seclusion for 7 days. They did not go out among the people, but rather were hidden away for a week which is a picture of the Church being hidden away or secluded in the heavenly wedding chamber with Jesus for the 7 years of the Tribulation. After this seven-year period, Jesus will return and be revealed to the earth (Second Coming) and will sit on His throne and judge the nations.

Prior to the Rapture and the Second Coming, Jesus said that there would be specific signs in the heavens and in the earth. In Matthew 24:1-35, Jesus spoke about these signs which include the destruction of the Temple, false Messiahs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes and persecution. He told them that the signs of His coming would resemble a woman's labor pains which increase in intensity and frequency as the birth draws near. In Luke 17:26-36, Jesus compares that time to the times of Noah and Lot. On the day that Noah and his family entered the ark, the flood came to destroy the wicked. Likewise, on the day that Lot and his daughters left Sodom, fire fell from heaven and destroyed the wicked. After Jesus takes His Bride away in the Rapture, the Tribulation will begin and destruction will come upon the earth. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells what will happen when He returns to the earth at the end of the Tribulation. Every eye will see Him as He "comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." At this time, He will bring the righteous into His kingdom and send the unrighteous away to eternal punishment.