Christ’s letter to the last church in Revelation 3 seems negative. We like the idea that Christ is knocking at our door, but blind and naked is a bad combination for getting to the door, and naked means we aren’t ready to open, and it also means the loins are not girded with truth, Eph 6:14. “Rich and increased with goods” fits most of western Christianity.
We tend to be shaped by common views or authority opinions, without considering why it may not be right. Here are some assumptions that maybe we should consider…
#1. An assumption that the biblical end-times are years away. It may be so, but maybe not. “The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, for when they shall say, ‘Peace and safety,’ sudden destruction comes…” 1Thess 5:2,3. Paul is saying that end-times can come suddenly, and the UN theme for last year included the words, peace and safety. Lots of signs support trouble as impending.
#2. Another assumption is that “the Bridegroom comes” in Matthew 25 is about His coming in the sky (so we can eat cake in heaven?) We overlook the Old Testament model when God executed judgment on Egypt and took His people to a covenant, later saying “I am married to you,” Jer 3:14.
The Bridegroom’s coming to Egypt meant calamity and Paul included the Exodus when he said, “all those things happened to them for our examples …ends of the world.” 1Cor 10:1,11
We aren’t seeing how the US is like Egypt--they killed babies (Exodus 1) and the US has aborted 60 million. Egypt enslaved Israel and corporate US has enslaved most people with alcohol, tobacco, drugs that we call healthcare, but they are a leading cause of death. People are in bondage to food, fashion, fiction, gambling, music, sex, perversion, TV, violence, etc.
History will repeat and we need to understand more before it happens.
#3. Millions of Christians who saw the ‘Left Behind’ movies or read the books that were listed as fiction, still believe “one taken” is a rapture and “the other left” if he wasn’t ready.
In Luke’s account the disciples asked “where Lord?” to which Christ replied, “where the body is, there will the eagles be gathered.” Luke 17:37. It’s good not to be taken, and like the previous parable, the Flood took them all away; it’s better to be left.
#4. Many US Christians think they will be raptured before the tribulation because Christ said He will keep us from “the hour of temptation that will come upon all the world.” They believe it refers to the tribulation in Rev 3:10, but they overlook Acts 14:22 which says, “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
The apostle Paul shows the rapture occurs “at the last trumpet” in 1Cor 15:52, and there are 7 trumpets in Revelation 8 and 9 before the kingdoms become Christ’s, Rev 11:15. Those trumpets are initiated by a great earthquake in Rev 8:5.
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Dr Richard Ruhling is a retired physician who writes on current events and Bible phrophecy topics.