the rapture

We have all heard various teachings on the rapture. If you think that you may be “left behind”, though you believe in Jesus, that would leave you with many fears . . . fears that will undermine your faith. Today I will address this scripturally, to set you back into the confidence you should walk in, in Christ Jesus (Heb 10:35).

People who fear being left behind by Jesus usually wonder how they could have missed the clues that they were rejected by Him. This is the feeling of being disconnected. Here is one of the verses about people who lack in the area of being “connected”;
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. (Col 2:18-19)

These verses say that it is “idle notions” that disconnect us from the Head. We are all supposed to be connected to Jesus, but those who get side-tracked by false humility or worship angels become disconnected. So, unless you carry such idle notions around in you, you are not disconnected; you are connected. It is not God who is causing you to fear being disconnected, it is your enemy.

The feeling of being left behind that is most prominent is abandonment. God is not a God who lightly leaves His people behind, as seen in these scriptures;

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb 13:5)
“(nothing) will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (see Rom 8:35-39)

In the verses in Romans we again read that “Neither angels nor demons, nor the present nor the future” can cause God’s love to separate from us. This does not mean that we’re saved no matter what we do with our lives here on the earth, such as going back into sin. But it does show us that God’s intentions are to save us because He loves us, and that His love is stronger than any other forces at work in our lives. We would actually have to reject God for the rest of our lives . . . and even then He would try to change our minds so that we wouldn’t be sent to hell. To rid ourselves of the fear of abandonment are these scriptures, and more, which tell us how strong God’s love for us is. Fearing abandonment is the opposite of trust, and without trust our love of God and faith in His goodness will not develop.

Being left behind also makes one feel that God is unjust, for we believe in Him and trust the Holy Spirit to show us our hidden sins and weaknesses. Yet, God is known for being just. Satan accuses God of being unjust to take our hope away. But we see that the Father has put Jesus on our side, to intercede for us on a daily basis (Heb 7:5). Jesus’ prayers and ongoing ministry to us by His Holy Spirit knit us together with the Father. The cross was just the beginning of Jesus’ care over us. For those who feel hopeless, He holds out hope, and “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Heb 2:18), and “He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray since He himself (was) subject to weakness.” (Heb 5:2). So hope is very important, and maintains our faith in the good and just character of our God who will help us.

At times we may not feel fully forgiven of our own sins, and therefore feel disqualified for God’s grace. Let’s look at the next scripture to see how God feels about accepting us;

Both the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers, (Heb 2:11)
In the literal translation it says
For both He sanctifying and the (ones) being sanctified (are) all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers,

God doesn’t expect our sanctification to be an instant occurrence, but a process that takes place all our lives. Yes, we are weak, and yes, sometimes we sin. But Jesus washes us daily as we bring our shortcomings, fears and sins to Him in repentance. What is confessed and repented of goes under the blood.

As people who minister God’s word to others, we need to encourage the weak and those who stumble in sin to put their sins under Jesus’ blood. His sacrifice not only bought us from a life of sin, but His blood continues to cover the sins we confess to Him. It is that strong. We need to believe in the goodness, fairness, and honesty of God’s nature in that He truly does forgive us of our sins, He would never forsake us, and He is always working with us to be formed into His image. When we truly believe God is this good, and the blood is that strong, we are ready to face our enemy with a new weapon.

When Jesus was resurrected He breathed on His disciples and told them that they had the power to forgive sins (Jn 20:22-23). This is just as powerful of a gift as prophesying or casting out devils. In fact, satan accuses our brethren to us just so we won’t forgive and intercede for them. Ransoming a soul from sin is so power a gift that satan and all his demons are purposed against us forgiving. We scare satan, when we truly forgive and pray for those who sin. This is the beginning of true power in the kingdom of God, but very few Christians practice it. The reason for this is that all our attempts to forgive and pray for those who sin are met with a strong and unrelenting resistance from satan. And yet, the more we stand for people, the more we are in our priestly role, and found to be in the image of Jesus, our priest. That’s where true power comes from; being found in His image, with the sweet incense of His nature offered up with our prayers.

Today, if you fear being abandoned, treated unjustly, disconnected or disqualified by God, realize that your enemy has put these fears in your heart. For God does not give us a spirit of fear. But He has given us the scriptures mentioned in this lesson, and so many more, that tell us we are loved, interceded for, planned for, worked with, forgiven . . . and many more good things, for God is good. It is time we stand in the truth of God’s word, and use the weapons God has given us to defeat the Accuser. This message, and not the rapture, needs to be taught so that God’s people will be knit together into one strong body, ready for Him when He comes. Please encourage one another as you see that day drawing near. Amen.