Robert McLaughlin
Part 3. The imminence of the Rapture.
Many signs were given to the nation Israel which would precede the Second Coming which is a totally different event then the Rapture. This is so the nation would be living in expectancy when the time of His coming should draw near. Although Israel could not know the day nor the hour, they could know through these signs that their redemption is drawing near. To the Church however, no such signs were given. The Church is told to live in the light of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ (JOH 14:2-3; Acts 1:11; 1CO 15:51-52; PHI 3:20; COL 3:4; 1TH 1:10; 1TI 6:14; JAM 5:8; 2PE 3:3-4).
ACT 1:6-11, And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into Heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into Heaven. For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”
PHI 3:21 “who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Passages like 1TH 5:6; TIT 2:13; REV 3:3, all warn the believer to be watching for the Lord Himself. Not for signs that would precede His coming. So, if there was no Rapture of the Church, the many signs given to Israel would also be given to the Church! The multitude of signs given to Israel to stir them to expectancy would then also be for the Church and the Church could not be looking for Christ until these signs had been fulfilled. We would be looking for world wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in several places at the same time. MAT 24:7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.” We would be looking for the re-gathering of Israel (Ezekiel 36-37). The Rise of Russia and her allies in preparation of fulfilling Eze 38-39. The increase in travel and knowledge. DAN 12:4 “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”
Although many of these things are upon us they seem to be the signs of the last days, the Church is not told to look for these signs. The labor conflicts (JAM 5:1-6). This is said to be the historical trends of the last days. Scoffers (2PE 3:1-2), this is a sign of the last days. Scoffers dominate the most influential agencies of all countries today, even our own. They control media, entertainment, education, and, for the most part, government. They are willfully ignorant and walk after their own lusts, as predicted. The moral breakdown in Society (2TI 3:1-5), the trends of moral breakdown during the last days are read almost every day in the newspapers. A Rise in Lawlessness (2TH 2:7-10). A Rise in Occultism and Cults (1TI 4:1-5). There have always been cults and demon activity, but nothing in modem history is like today, and it is increasing. Apostasy (1TI 4:1). The liberalism and legalism of doctrine that is around today is deceiving millions of believers.
The Church is to live in the imminence of the Rapture. Imminence means impending, or threatening to occur immediately. Imminence is used technically for the fact that no prophecy has to be fulfilled before the Rapture occurs. The rapture will occur when the last member of the body of Christ is saved. So, this is why the Church-age is the only dispensation in which there are historical trends and no prophecy. The Church-age began with an event that was prophesied: The baptism of the Spirit. Our Lord prophesied this in the upper room discourse just before He ascended. The Church-age terminates with the Rapture, which was also prophesied, and there is no prophecy between these two events. This is the age of the mystery doctrine. No prophecy between the baptism of the Spirit and the Rapture means that the Rapture is imminent. It could occur at any time. No one knows the day or the hour. The resurrection of the Church, like our dying, is completely out of our control. Before the Second Advent occurs, there are many prophecies which must occur, the Rapture, the events of the Tribulation. However, the Rapture could have occurred at the time of James or Paul because no prophecy had to be fulfilled before the resurrection occurs.
Distortion of the imminence of the Rapture results in instability and foolish explanation or speculation about the time of the Rapture; hence, James gives us an admonition in JAM 5:7 8, “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord [the Rapture]. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
To have patience means to apply what you know. Patience is a system of thinking Bible doctrine, a system of concentration, the application of doctrine to experience. You can, by positive volition, execute the PPOG or, by negative volition, be a cosmic believer, and be your own worst enemy. In this passage, the farmer invests by sowing seed, he must break up the soil and sow the seed, and then he must wait. There’s nothing he can do while waiting, the seed will either come up or it won’t. Either he will have production or he will not. In the time of this writing, that depended upon the soil and the rains. The farmer did not have control over those elements. You cannot have patience without a stabilized mentality. Every day in the Church-age, the Rapture draws closer. Every day that the Rapture approaches, you still have control over your life as long as you live. You have control in the sense that you can be a winner believer or a loser believer.
In fact, because there is no unfulfilled prophecy before the Rapture could occur, the early Church anticipated the Rapture under the concept of imminence. 1CO 1:4 8, “I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Corinthian church was made up of loser believers, yet Paul thanked God concerning them because they were the beneficiaries of phenomenal grace, they were in union with Christ, and most of all, were enriched by Him. Enrichment in the Christian life is not measured in terms of work and Christian service, but in terms of doctrine and knowledge. Yet most of the Corinthian believers rejected that doctrine.
So while the Rapture is imminent, no one knows when it will occur. In the meantime, the Royal Family of God lives in this dispensation of historical trends. In fact, the imminence of the Rapture is a doctrine for mature believers only. A mature believer lives as though the Rapture could occur at any moment. A mature believer should be eager for the Rapture to occur. However, only the Trinity knows when the Rapture is going to occur.
(to be continued)
Robert McLaughlin
ABSOLUTELY!
I can hardly wait!