‘“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? I am going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. ‘ John 14:1-3(NLT)
‘For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.’ 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18(NLT)
‘Now concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you. For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. ‘ 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2(NLT)
‘Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him— even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen! “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”’ Revelation 1:7-8(NLT)
‘“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”’ Acts of the Apostles 1:11(NLT)
‘And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.’ 1 Thessalonians 1:10(NLT)
We’ve learned so far that Jesus is our bridegroom, that we’re His bride, and that a wedding is coming. Scholars may differ on certain interpretations and timelines regarding this coming wedding and feast, but we can all agree that it’s going to happen.
The return of Jesus Christ is prophesied a whopping 329 times in the Bible. There are 129 prophecies regarding Jesus’ first coming, so His return is prophesied almost three times more than His first coming. These numbers can assure us that He’s coming again!
According to Tim LaHaye, a popular author on endtime events, the second coming of Christ will occur in two phases, beginning with the rapture of the church. Then, at least seven years later, Jesus will physically come to the earth in what LaHaye calls the “Glorious Appearing.” For this study’s sake, I’m going to align with the interpretation in Tim’s book “The Merciful God of Prophecy: His Loving Plan for You in the End Times” to help us develop a foundational understanding of these prophecies.
Today, let’s focus on the rapture, when Christ will come back for His bride, the universal church. When God the Father gives the order, He’ll come at a time no one suspects and snatch His bride out of the earth. With a shout and the call of a trumpet, we’ll meet Him in the sky. And just as the Jewish bride wanted to be found ready, we too need to be ready to meet our bridegroom face to face.
In the rapture, the spirits of already deceased believers will receive glorified bodies, as will the believers who are alive on earth. I firmly believe that we’ll be raptured up to heaven with Jesus before the great tribulation, a time of unprecedented evil on earth when the antichrist will rule for seven years.
We can look back throughout the Bible and see that God consistently rescued His people from destruction. For example, he saved Noah and his family from the flood. He saved Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and He saved Rahab and her family from the destruction of Jericho.
This leads me to believe that He’ll save us, His believers, from the coming horrors of the tribulation, too.
I know it sounds cruel that those who aren’t betrothed to Christ will remain on earth during this horrific time, but love without free choice isn’t really love. Just as the Jewish bride had the choice of whether or not to accept her bridegroom, Jesus offers us each the personal choice to become His bride.
If we say yes, we become a member of the universal bride made up of all believers, just as a university has one student body consisting of many students. Jesus wants us for His own and loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
Like a thief in the night, the rapture will be sudden and unexpected—much like the Jewish bridegroom would come at a time the bride didn’t expect. Jesus will take us to His Father’s house, where we’ll celebrate “the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
This wedding and feast will be holy, magnificent, beautiful, majestic, and full of love and joy. It’ll be beyond anything we could ever imagine!
from Will You Marry Me?