What If We Are Wrong?

I have been researching Jesus’ second coming for a long time now and there are two main camps of thought regarding the rapture that I want to address today.

I’ve been taught all my life that we get raptured before the Tribulation, when all hell breaks loose on the earth and the AntiChrist shows up and persecutes the Jewish people and believers in Jesus. Neither camp of thought likes to give any credence to the other side or to teach that they could possibly be wrong and Jesus might come differently than they expect. I think that it is vitally important for us to know these viewpoints and to be prepared.

What does that mean to be prepared? We will get to that in a little bit.

One side of the argument brings up the vitally important view of Jesus can return anytime, which means we need to be ready. How are we ready? We need to get our lives right with Jesus and tell everyone we can about Jesus, so they don’t have to go to hell. The time is short.

The other side says that we may be here for some or most of the tribulation before Jesus comes back to take us. What does that mean practically? How do we prepare? We need to be ready to follow Jesus through tribulation and trial, to be ready to suffer and possibly even give our lives for Jesus.

I know many people who teach absolutely Jesus is only going to return before and others who teach that He will absolutely return during the Tribulation. I think that both sides are incomplete.

There are absolutely great cases for both and reasons why we should prepare for both. If we fail to prepare for one of these possibilities we may be in for trouble. I will explain. If we think that we have time, we don’t have to worry about anything until the Antichrist comes on the scene, that is when we need to pay attention and get our act together and start witnessing for Jesus, we are missing the urgency we need in our lives.

The Bible times are not just what happened in the Old and New Testaments, we are living in Biblical days! We are in the greatest generation and possibly the terminal/last generation. Jesus can and will return soon. Our lives should always be about knowing Him intimately and making Him known to others. Every day we can ask God to open the door for us to share this life we have with others, to share why we have hope even in dark times.

On the other hand, what if we only prepare for Jesus’ imminent return? On this side, I believe it is very dangerous because we may not be ready for the things that we may have to face.

Jesus gives us some critical advice in the 7 letters to the churches in Revelation 2 & 3

2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God.”

The one who overcomes what? If we are raptured first, why is Jesus giving this warning to the churches? Is this just for the people who get converted during the tribulation as many theorize?

2:10-11 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. The one who overcomes shall never be harmed by the second death.”

Why does He warn us to be faithful unto death?

2:16-17 Repent then! If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna , and I will give him a white stone—and written on the stone a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Common theme of the one who overcomes… have you noticed that yet?

2:25-29 Only hold firm to what you have until I come. 26To the one who overcomes and guards My deeds until the end, ‘I will give him authority over the nations 27and he shall rule them with an iron rod, as when clay pots are broken into pieces.’ 28Even as I have received from My Father, so I will give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

Hold firm until He comes- wait for His timing.

3:2-6 Wake up, and strengthen what remains that was about to die. For I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. 3So remember what you have received and heard—keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. 4“But still, you have a few people in Sardis who have not stained their clothes. They will walk with Me in white, because they are worthy. 5The one who overcomes thus will be dressed in white clothes; I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life, and will confess his name before My Father and His angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

He will come like a thief to those who are asleep

3:10-13 “Because you have kept My word about patient endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. 11I am coming soon—hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 12The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the Temple of My God, and he will never leave it. And on him I will write the name of My God and the name of the city of My God—the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God—and My own new Name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

What does it mean to keep us from the hour of trial. It could be that we are rescued before the tribulation comes as many suggest, but He could also keep us in the midst of it, as He did with Noah in the boat. Enoch and Elijah were taken or raptured, everyone else God rescued through the challenges and storms. My point is to be ready for either scenario and we won’t be caught off guard.

3:15-22 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, that you were either cold or hot! 16So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of My mouth. 17For you say, ‘I am rich, I have made myself wealthy, and I need nothing.’ But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked. 18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may dress yourself and so the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21To the one who overcomes I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

There are so many promises and rewards for those who overcome and who hang on until the end. Why is it so big of a reward if we aren’t even here very long? But what if we are? Wouldn’t we want to know both sides? Jesus cautioned us not to be deceived.

The rapture is connected with the resurrection, but the 1st Resurrection takes place in Revelation 20

Revelation 20:1-6
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and satan—and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He also threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed. After these things, he must be released for a short while. 4 Then I saw thrones, and people sat upon them—those to whom authority to judge was given. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Yeshua and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image, nor had they received his mark on their forehead or on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 How fortunate and holy is the one who has a share in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no authority, but they shall be kohanim of God and the Messiah, and they shall reign with Him for a thousand years.

This is the first resurrection. There are only two. If there is a resurrection at the beginning of the tribulation, so that the rapture can take place at the beginning, yet people keep dying during the tribulation and have to also be resurrected at the end, that doesn’t make sense. It is plausible that the rapture happens at the end of the tribulation before the wrath of God is finally poured out on the wicked, who after all the warnings and trials, still refused to turn to God, but hardened their hearts against Him as Pharaoh did.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with Him God will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. 15 For this we tell you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of God’s shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will 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. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

When we put that in the context of the previous verses in Revelation, it is clear that, just as the resurrection of the dead is clearly happening just before God’s wrath and the millennial reign of Jesus, then so too, must the rapture take place at the same time. I won’t be dogmatic about this, because actually I want to have the urgency to reach the lost knowing that our time is short, whether we die, are raptured or endure the tribulation and watch countless miracles of God preserving us all the way, no matter what happens, I want to be ready. Jesus told us to watch and pray. We should be praying and we should be aware and watching what is happening.

I feel like it is dangerous to assure our people and churches that “we don’t be here for the tribulation, so don’t worry about that,” which I have heard so often, from pastors I love. We need to have this tension of being ready for either way and either timing and let Jesus decide. If I am wrong, great! I would prefer to miss out on the tribulation, but if I am right, then I want to be ready. Let’s draw near to Jesus every day, and reach out to those around us, drawing them near to Jesus as well. Our time is short, and our God is able to bring us to Him even today, and He is also able to preserve us in the midst of great tribulation, as He did with Israel in Egypt. They went out after the last plague, but the wrath hadn’t even come yet, the wrath came on all the Egyptians who pursued them into the Red Sea, for they were drowned.

Plagues are not God’s judgment, but rather mercy. For a person to get sick, and even die, that is sad. But when we look in the light of eternity, death is nothing. Eternal life and Eternal death are everything. God is waking us up, shaking the world and calling us back to Him.

This is His mercy, today you still have a chance. If you are alive, you can still turn to Him, repent of your sins and receive His forgiveness and reach out and offer the same to others. Today is the day, wake up and turn to Him