The Rapture: In The Twinkling Of An Eye (12 page)

“Those of you who have been in your seats for a few moments may want to glance around before I begin,” he said. “This may be the largest crowd ever accommodated by this building.”

Irene swiveled to see every pew filled, even in the tiny balcony. Could anyone explain this renewed interest in the things of God? And was there some cosmic explanation for why it did not extend to Rayford Steele?

After Pastor Billings opened with his usual prayer, he ran through a fast recap of what he had already covered in the series, emphasizing that “no man knows the day or the hour of the return of the Lord, not even Jesus Himself. He told His disciples that only the Father knew when the end would come, so anyone who says he knows when this will occur is engaging in the highest and most shameless form of folly.

“One thing we know, and that is that there is nothing left on the prophetic calendar that must occur before Jesus comes from heaven with a shout and the trumpet blast and gathers true believers from all over the globe. Scripture teaches us to live in light of His imminent return and to conduct ourselves as if it could be today. And yet God in His mercy might wait one more day, which in His economy of time—the Bible says—is a thousand years. My faith would not be shaken if He tarried past my death. But it behooves us to know what it means to live as if He could return today.

“He will not return to the earth this time, but rather He will appear in the clouds. And the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we who remain shall be snatched away in the twinkling of an eye, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

“Oh, make no mistake—He will return and set foot on this earth again someday, but that is not the Rapture. That will be the Glorious Appearing, seven years after Antichrist signs a fake covenant with God’s chosen people. Some teach that this seven years begins with the Rapture, but I believe it begins with the signing of that covenant, which could take place anywhere from a few days after the Rapture to a couple of years later.

“Regardless, true believers who are raptured will enjoy seven years in the house of God with Christ, who has spent two thousand years preparing that place for us. We have covered many times who will go, but it is always good to rehearse it. Good people? No. The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Religious people? No. God is no respecter of persons. The kind, the generous, the serving? Well, hopefully, those who qualify will exhibit these qualities. But Scripture is also clear that it is not by works of righteousness we have done but by God’s mercy that He saves us. It is ‘the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

“Acts of service, works of righteousness—surely these are good and positive and necessary things for the believer. But they will not save him. They will not get her into heaven. They will not prepare one should the Rapture occur today. Those are things that should be done in response to the free gift of salvation that has been offered… and to whom? To those who believe. To those who trust in the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of their sins.

“You have heard me say before that some of the people who go may not be as nice as some of the people who are left. Just because all men and women are sinners-- either saved by grace or still lost in their sins--does not mean there are not nice and pleasant people around.

“I’m often asked, “Isn’t this discriminatory? Aren’t you being exclusivistic? Who are you to say that sincere, devout people of other religions will be lost, left behind?” I realize that we live in a pluralistic society and that people of all faiths and persuasions deserve respect and have the right to make their own decisions. I want to be as tolerant as anyone, and you will never hear that Vernon Billings or New Hope Village Church or—I pray—any true follower of Christ would condemn another person simply because they choose to disagree with us. We are to love even our enemies, let alone colleagues and friends and acquaintances and relatives who simply disagree with us.

“But it is also our responsibility as ambassadors of Christ to tell the truth as we know and believe it, that Jesus Himself claims to be ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ and that it was He Himself who said He was the only way to God. We may not like that. That may not have been the plan had we been God. We don’t have to understand it. God’s ways are not our ways. So, we don’t share this news to offend or divide. We share it simply to inform and to urge people to make up their own minds about what they will do with this alarming statement.

“Our job, our obligation, is to spread the word, to plead with people to investigate the claims of Christ so they might be ready when that great day comes. What they do with the message is up to them. And how we respond to their decision reflects on our Lord Himself. You will not hear of true Christians hating, condescending, terrorizing, bombing, killing, or flying planes into the buildings of those who exercise their freedom to disagree. Christ tells us to love and pray for them.”

Irene sensed an unusual stillness in the sanctuary. Often when the place was full there seemed to be a hum or a buzz of activity, and one had to work at concentrating. But today, despite the biggest crowd ever, no one seemed to even move. Pastor Billings had once said that when prophecy is preached and taught, the body is challenged to holy living. He was hardly one who advocated turning one’s back on the ills of society merely because you hoped to one day be miraculously rescued from it. Rather, he said, we should be all the more concerned with poverty, hunger, widows, orphans, and those in need.

“But now,” he said, “and I know you were wondering if I would ever get to it, I would like to conclude my series with what we might expect on that great day.”

Pastor Billings announced three separate Bible texts, and while these were projected on a screen behind him, Irene also thrilled to the sound of onionskin pages being riffled all over the auditorium. She and Raymie were among those who found all three passages and kept a finger or marker in each one.

The first was John 14:1-6, where Jesus was talking to His disciples:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Next Pastor Billings directed them to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, where the apostle Paul had written to the church in Thessalonica:

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

“I don’t want to assume that everyone here knows what Paul meant when he wrote of those who have “fallen asleep,” Pastor Billings said. “Those are the dead. So we are not to mourn those who die in Christ, for we believe that they too will be snatched away to be with Him on that great day—even before we are, should we be alive at the time.”

Finally he asked people to turn to 1 Corinthians 15:50-58:

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…

“In other words, we cannot live with God the way we are. Something has to change, and this is not something we ourselves can accomplish.”

... nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible…

“Our bodies will be changed and glorified to be like Jesus’ body.”

... and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

“In other words, our sinful, fallen, mortal bodies must be changed by God into incorruptible, immortal bodies.”

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?”

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

“Paul is saying here that while our works will not save us, the hope of the resurrection makes them all worth it. Nothing done in Jesus’ name is wasted.

“So do you see the progression here, people? The dead in Christ shall rise first. Can you imagine? Bodies in graves and crematoria, lost at sea, buried by natural disasters, entombed in sunken ships, obliterated by bombs, consumed in fires, aborted… all rising before those who remain alive in Christ.

“And then I foresee a great reunion of believers—perhaps a billion or two from all around the globe—in the clouds. Then we shall rise to meet Jesus. And then He will take us to His Father’s house. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait. I wish I could describe this to you, but Paul, writing to the Corinthians, echoed the writing of Isaiah when he said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

“The only passage in the Bible that describes God’s house is Revelation 21, where it is seen descending out of the heavens to the earth at the end of the Millennium—Jesus’ thousand-year reign of peace on earth following His glorious appearing at the end of the Tribulation.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

... And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Irene was scribbling as fast as she could, and Raymie was too. It was nearly overwhelming, all this detail. Never before had she so looked forward to the return of Christ.

But Pastor Billings was not finished. He also told of the judgment seat of Christ, where the deeds of believers would be tested and rewarded—or not. “Just as our works cannot save us, neither can they cause us to lose our salvation. But it is clear from Scripture that they will determine the level and extent of our heavenly reward. So for those who say they have believed in Jesus just for fire insurance, just to stay out of hell, they would be wise to consider that everything they have ever done will be revealed in that judgment.”

Pastor Billings concluded with a resounding treatise on the symbolic marriage ceremony in heaven of Jesus the Lamb to His bride, the church. “The wedding supper, the celebration, will be reserved for the Millennium seven years later,” the pastor said. “But imagine the ceremony itself.