Signs in the heavens, Pt 2.

In the previous post, I introduced the concept of "the Rapture", and we discovered, from God's Word, that there will be a departure we will make at that climactic event - a departure that is certain, and that will be sudden.

However, we must also consider the destination we shall have.  “… we shall be caught up … to meet the Lord in the air.” (I Thess.4:17).  We won’t depart merely in order to wander around, aimlessly, in space like rogue satellites, or even disembodied spirits!  We will have a destination, a goal, to which we will go.  And that destination will be the Christ Himself! 

There will be a Person we will meet.  And we will meet Him “in the air”.   Since the air was thought of, in Paul’s contemporary culture, as being the abode of all manner of evil spirits; since the devil is even designated “… the prince of the power of the air,” (Eph.2:2); it is a measure of the complete supremacy of the Christ, that He should meet His people in that region.

So, although I would contend that these words be taken literally, they also have a symbolic meaning pointing, as they do, to the majesty and power of the victorious Jesus.  He is the Person we shall meet. 

But there is also a perfection we will gain.  No matter how faithful a disciple of Jesus I might be( and oh, how I wish that I were more faithful!), I am still, while dwelling in this mortal body, imperfect.  There is, raging within me, that battle of which Paul wrote to the young church in Rome: “I cannot understand my own behaviour.  I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the very things I hate.  When I act against my own will, that means I have a self that acknowledges that the Law is good, and so the thing behaving in that way is not my [converted] self but sin living in me.” (7:15-127; Jerusalem Bible). 

The devil continues to exert pressure on us; we are tainted by the influence of the world around us, from which we cannot really escape.  Sanctification (also dealt with in "Great Words of the Faith"), the process of “perfecting” for the disciple of Jesus, is only completed when we enter the immediate presence of the Lord – either at our physical death, or at the Rapture.  But then, we shall be perfect, even as He is perfect. (see I John 3:2).

So, at the Rapture, there is a departure that disciples of Jesus will make; there is a destination we will have; and, as we shall discover next time, there is a delight that we shall know.

Promoted to Glory.

At the end of last week, my wife and I received the news of the death, in Scotland, of a very dear friend of more than 30 years. Sadly, we were unable to travel back to attend the funeral service. We are so glad that we were able to attend the wedding of our friend Peter, to his second wife, Kate - both of them having been widowed, but having known one another before either of them were first married!

Although current restrictions meant that, in order to broadcast the service, it had to take place in the Chapel of Rest, in the Border town of Dumfries, Peter and Kate worshipped with the Salvation Army. I love the way in which the Salvation Army refers to the death of a disciple of Jesus. The person has not "passed away", or "been lost", or started "kicking up the daisies", or any other euphemism! No! When a disciple of Jesus in the Salvation Army dies, that person is "Promoted to Glory"!

Promotion, in any area of life, is seen as a very good thing. Many spend their lives seeking it - in work, in organisations, in many other fields of existence. However, I have not a shadow of doubt that the greatest promotion that anyone can experience is to be "Promoted to Glory". So what does the expression mean?

Well, "glory" refers to heaven - the "dwelling-place" of Almighty God. The eternal spirit of the  disciple of Jesus, at the moment of physical death, leaves the mortal body that had been its dwelling-place for the earthly life of the individual, and goes directly to be "with the Lord". Paul writes: "So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." (II Cor 5:6-8; emphasis added). The Lord Jesus, Himself, assured one of those who was being crucified alongside Him, but who had recognised that this Man was no common criminal, that "Truly, ..., today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43; emphasis added).

Now that, of course, is not the full story! Thinking along such lines was the problem for the early believers in Thessalonica, that led Paul to provide this assurance: "But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord." (I Thess 4:13-17; emphasis added).

What Paul is emphasising is that, until the Rapture*, it is the spirit of the disciple of Jesus whose earthly sojourn has come to an end, that goes to be "in Paradise" - the mortal remains are dealt with in an appropriate manner. Then, at the Rapture, those 'dead' bodies will be resurrected and instantly changed into 'resurrection' bodies (see I Cor.15:52), that shall never decay and, as they rise to meet the Lord Jesus "in the air", those disciples of Jesus who are alive at that moment, will be caught up with them, and all of His people will be with Him throughout eternity*.

Of course, as my repeated reference to "disciples of Jesus", and equivalent terms, will have emphasised, the written Word of God, the Bible, makes clear that all of this is only true for those who are "in Christ" and who have the Christ "in them". If you are not in that position, or if you have some doubts, then I would encourage you to read the previous four posts. I do not believe that it is 'coincidence' that I am composing this post immediately after them!

As always, if I may be of further assistance, at a more personal level, please feel free to contact me at the e-mail address above.

*These words are dealt with, more fully, in my first book - Great Words of the Faith. Please remember that I urge folk to purchase any of my books, not for personal gain, as ALL royalties are sent, directly, to Release International, in support of the persecuted church, but because I believe that they will be found to be helpful to those who are seeking, and also to those who have found!