Four Blood Moons (8 page)

Get ready! The King is coming!

Paul describes the Rapture to the believers in Corinth and Thessalonika by declaring:

1.    “For the [last] trumpet will sound . . .” (1 Corinthians 15:52) and “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout . . .” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

2.    “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—” (1 Corinthians 15:51) and “The dead in Christ will rise first . . .” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

3.    “In the twinkling of an eye . . . the dead shall be raised . . .” (1 Corinthians 15:52) 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” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Have men been taken into heaven before their death? The answer is yes . . . 
twice!

Enoch, the father of Jared “walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24
NIV
).

The prophet Elijah was carried into heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11). He has been there for thousands of years and will return to earth during the Great Tribulation as God's messenger to the Jewish people announcing to them that Messiah is coming!

Think also of Jesus Christ, who went into heaven forty days after He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven
from the Mount of Transfiguration in full view of His disciples. He arose on the 16
^th
of Nisan, which is the Feast of First Fruits. In His resurrection, He is the firstfruits of the millions who will be raptured in the church.

The following verse paints this picture—Jesus Christ, the Prince of Glory, appearing suddenly in the heavens:

Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.

(A
CTS
1:11)

When the time comes, the trumpet of God shall sound, announcing the appearance of royalty, for He is the Prince of Peace, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is coming in the clouds of heaven for those who are watching for His glorious appearing. Look up, my friends, for the King is coming!

If you don't believe in the Rapture as described in the Bible, where believers rise to meet the Lord in the air, how will you know when the real Jesus comes to earth?

Anyone can stand on the Mount of Olives and say, “I'm Jesus.” Anyone can wear a white robe and claim to be a descendant of King David. Anyone can have his followers crown him
as the king of the “New Israel” on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Anyone can surgically have scars placed in his hands and feet. Even the False Prophet of the Antichrist will cause a statue to speak and perform other miracles at his bidding.

This is not the real Jesus! He's an imposter! A fraud! This is satanic deception—which Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24:5 and 11.

God knew from the beginning that imposters and frauds would come and claim to be Christ, deceiving many, “if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). Jesus said, “If anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ,' or ‘There!' do not believe it” (v. 23).

On one occasion a church member told me, “Pastor, a lady said she was driving in California, and suddenly Jesus appeared in the car with her. What do you think?”

“I'll tell you what I think: I believe it not!”

Jesus Christ is not in California, New York, or Rome. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father—where He will stay until Gabriel blows the trumpet to call the dead in Christ from their dusty couches of slumber to mansions of splendor in heaven.

Jesus knew that many “false christs” would come, saying, “I am the Christ” and will deceive many (Matthew 24:5).

God installed a
failsafe strategy
in Scripture that is so staggering
in supernatural power, so earth shattering by design, that not even Satan and his demonic legions could imitate it, much less duplicate it.

That failsafe strategy is the rapture of the church!

Satan tries to replicate whatever God does. He disguises himself as an
angel of light
emulating Jesus Christ who is the Light of the World (2 Corinthians 11:14). In Revelation 6, the Antichrist rides out onto the stage of world history on a
white horse
as the “prince of peace” who will plunge the world into the bloodiest war in history. He does so because Jesus returns to earth riding a white horse in the book of Revelation (19:11).

The Antichrist will be shot in the head and will
recover miraculously
(Revelation 13:3), imitating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Satan hates the Rapture teaching and has his deluded disciples saying there will be no Rapture. The rapture is Christ's celebration over death, hell, and the grave which He defeated when He died on the cross. It is the ultimate humiliation of Satan.

How will you know when the real Jesus gets here?

Not by what you read in the
New York Times
or by what some Ivy League theologian says, not by some charismatic personality standing on the Mount of Olives in a white bed sheet saying he is the king of the New Israel, and not by a warlock calling fire from heaven.

You will know it's the real Jesus when your body sails
through the air past the Milky Way a million miles a minute; you will know when you stand in His glorious presence with your brand-new, disease-proof body.

When you stand in His presence with your transfigured body, your fatigue-free body, your pain-free body, and your never-dying body, you'll know it's the real Jesus and this is the real heaven.

Those attacking the Rapture are teaching that the Bible is not literal, that it's allegorical or a myth. If the Bible is a myth, then I'm
myth-taken, myth-tified
, and of all men most
myth-erable
! The Bible is literal from cover to cover:

• God Almighty literally created the “heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

• Jesus was literally born of a virgin named Mary. (Luke 1:34)

• He was literally born in Bethlehem, Israel. (Matthew 2:1)

• He literally healed the sick, diseased, the blind, the lame, and the leper instantly. (Matthew 4:23; Mark 10:52; Luke 7:22; John 5:8)

• He literally died on the cross. (Mark 15:22–32; Matthew 27:33–44; Luke 23:33–43; John 19:17–24)

• He literally was buried in a borrowed grave. (Matthew 27:57–61; Mark 15:42–47; Luke 23:50–56; John 19:38–42)

• He literally rose from the dead and was seen by five
hundred plus people in thirteen different places. (John 21:14; Mark 16:14; Acts 1:1–13)

• He literally sits at the right hand of God the Father. (Hebrews 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22)

• We are literally going to rise to meet Him in the air in the twinkling of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15:52)

• He literally is coming back again with power and great glory, and: “Every knee should bow . . . every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11).

• We are literally going to walk on streets of gold. (Revelation 21:21)

• We are literally going to wear a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

• We are literally going to live forever and forever in God's tomorrow. (Revelation 13:6)

Critics of the Rapture claim that, “The Rapture does not exist because the word
Rapture
does not appear in the biblical text.” True, the specific word
Rapture
is not mentioned in Scripture; however, the Bible is a book of concepts and word pictures, so simple that a person of modest comprehension can grasp its truth.

The biblical text does not have the word
Trinity
, but repeatedly the Scripture refers to “the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

The concept of the Trinity is very clear within the context of Scripture.

In Genesis we have the first hint of the Blessed Trinity, a plurality of Persons in the Godhead.
²
Later in Genesis 1:26, God said: “Let
Us
make man in
Our
image.” “Our image” refers to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Trinity is also seen during Jesus' baptism:

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were open to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

(M
ATTHEW
3:16–17)

Notice the depiction of the Trinity in this Scripture setting: Jesus the Son is in the water being baptized; the dove, representing the Holy Spirit, is descending from heaven and the voice speaking from heaven is God the Father, extending His blessing upon His Son.

Matthew 28:19 also refers to the Trinity: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [three in one].”

Just as these examples depict the Trinity, 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 and 1 Thessalonians 14:16–17 are clear word
pictures of the Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ.

Although Christians like to debate about when the Lord will come, Scripture is clear that the Lord expects us to be on the alert for the time He is coming in the clouds to take his bride to heaven. Why? The answer is in the Word of God.

But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

(L
UKE
21:36
NASB
)

So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

(R
EVELATION
3:3
NASB
)

Jesus Christ is telling us to stay on the
alert
and to
wake up
! Because if we are not watching for His return, we will miss His coming and will not escape the future horrors of the Antichrist, and we will not receive the crown of life.

. . . in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

(1 C
ORINTHIANS
15:52)

“The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout” and summon the righteous from their graves with the sound of the trump. All over the earth, tombs will explode as the occupants soar into the heavens; headstones and marble mausoleums will topple as the bodies of resurrected saints rise to meet the Lord at the meeting in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).

When that time comes, cars will suddenly stand empty beside freeways and highways, their motors running with drivers and occupants strangely missing. Homes of believers will have the dishes on the table; the food will be on the stove in preparation of the meal, but the tenants will have gone to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Headlines will be screaming in bold type: “Millions Are Missing.” “Christians Have Disappeared from the Earth.” “Global Economic Crash Is Coming!”

TV cameras will go to the cemeteries around the world broadcasting empty graves and shattered mausoleums. They will show abandoned homes in suburban neighborhoods, the vacant high rise apartments in the world's cities, and tractors running aimlessly across acres of planting fields because the Christian farmers are gone!

All
Christians will have been caught up heading to mansions on high!

Phone lines will be jammed with families trying to “reach out and touch someone” but their long distance service won't reach that far! People will be screaming into their smart-phones, “Can you hear me now?”

Churches all over the world will be packed with weeping, sobbing, and hysterical people. Their friends and loved ones will suddenly be gone, and they will be left behind to go through the living hell of the Great Tribulation.
³

When that happens, the chaos on earth will be failsafe evidence that Christ has removed His church from the planet. The salt and light of the earth will be gone. The restraint of the Holy Spirit will be removed and Satan and the demons of hell will rule the earth for seven years of unspeakable horror and bloodshed.

There are some who, because of their interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:51–52, teach that the church will go through the Tribulation.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep [in death], but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet
.

The confusion comes with the phrase “the last trumpet.” The only Bible passage that describes a series of trumpets is in
Revelation, where seven trumpets announce seven judgments coming on the earth.

Those in confusion interpret that the Rapture will happen after the seventh trumpet sounds, since it's the last trumpet in a series of trumpets. This interpretation is in error.

The
first trumpet
(shofar) sound recorded in the Bible was at Mount Sinai, where the children of Israel received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:16):

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.