When is the rapture?
- D E Wasake Esq.
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
There is a moment coming in the history of this world that will divide every life on earth in less than the blink of an eye.
Paul described it as a moment when the Lord Himself comes down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God -- and those who are still alive are caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Caught up.
Not gently lifted. Not slowly translated. Caught up -- the way a parent catches up a child out of traffic. The way God took Enoch and Elijah.
It is the Rapture.
And before I take you into what Scripture says about it, let me tell you who I am preaching to today. Because there are at least five of you reading this message right now.
To the Date-Setter
You who keep buying books and watching videos that claim to have decoded the year of the Rapture. You who set 1988. Then 2000. Then 2011. Then 2017. And every time the date passed, you bought the next book.
Hear the Lord Jesus Himself: no one knows the day or the hour. Not the angels. Not even the Son. Only the Father.
Stop the date-setting. Start the watching.
To the Scoffer
You who say: "They have preached the return of Christ for two thousand years and nothing has happened." Hear Peter, who saw this scoffing coming:
2 Peter 3:3-4, 9 (NIV) "...in the last days scoffers will come... They will say, 'Where is this 'coming' he promised?'... The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise... Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
The Lord's delay is not absence. It is mercy. He is holding the door open for one more soul. Maybe yours.
To the Believer Asleep in Sodom
Lot was a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7). But Lot was asleep in Sodom -- his living, his daughters, his heart were settled there. So settled that on the morning of judgment, the angels had to take him by the hand and drag him out.
There are believers today asleep in cultures that smell like Sodom.
Wake up. Pull your heart out of the place before the judgment forces you out.
To Whoever Has Grown Casual About the Day
You who have decided in your heart -- whether you will not be here when the great trouble comes, or whether the Rapture is decades away -- and so you have stopped watching.
Your Bible has grown thin. Your prayer life has grown thin. Your faith has grown thin.
If your timing is wrong, and the trumpet sounds today -- where will you be?
Watch every day. Build endurance every day. Just in case.
To the Discouraged Faithful
And then -- there is you. You who have watched for years and grown tired. You who have prayed Maranatha so many times the word now feels worn. You who have buried friends who died waiting. You who have wondered, in the late hour of the night, whether He is really coming at all.
Hear the Lord Himself:
Hebrews 10:37; Revelation 22:20 (NIV) "In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay... Yes, I am coming soon."
He is coming. He is not slow. He is not late.
And those who endure to the end will hear Him say: well done. (Matthew 24:13; Matthew 25:21)
Whichever of these you are reading today -- the message that follows is for you.
The trumpet will sound. He already knows the day.He who has an ear — the watching are the ones who will be ready.
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