Be Prepared To Be Patient In Waiting For The Lord’s Return

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(7) Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. (8) You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.’ (James 5:7-8); ‘(1) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (2) through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. (3) Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; (4) perseverance, character; and character, hope.’ (Romans 5:1-4)

We typically look at 1 Thessalonians for events of the Rapture; while the word ‘Rapture’ is not used in the Bible most Christians know it is when Jesus, at some point before, during, or after the Tribulation period (depending if your interpretation of Scriptures lean toward either a Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, or Post-Trib Rapture) will call upon His Church (also referred to as His Bride), those who have professed, accepted, and believe in Him as their Lord and Savior.

He is God Manifested, and when He calls us to leave our Earthly existence and join Him before the final and complete severity of God’s Wrath is laid down upon Satan and the unrepentant and Jesus’ Second Coming is realized.  The first three chapters of 1 Thessalonians is Paul expressing the feelings of expectation/desperation/frustration in wanting to be with and hear back from the Thessalonian Christians, and shares that like his feelings, the Church also feels those emotions as we wait for the Rapture Paul speaks of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16.  

But how should we really feel in our waiting?  James 5:7-8 is a call for the Church have the patience of a farmer.  In today’s society where we expect instant gratification (instant coffee, instant oatmeal, instant communications), the farmer must be patient and follow each step of the process methodically to ensure a crop worthy of harvest.  Tilling the soil, planting the seed, watering, fertilizing, de-weeding, de-bugging, more fertilizing, then harvesting the crop can be a 6-month-plus effort for some plantings.  We as Christians are warned in Romans 5 that we too must be patient and follow each step of the process methodically as we wait for the Rapture, one that may not come in our lifetime. 

We start in Faith in belief of our Savior, and through prayer, fellowship, and Scripture reading develop into a Disciple knowing who Jesus is.  There will be times of persecution, or of calamities that the Lord will allow which as stated will build our Christian character and with that increases our hope or desire to be with Jesus.  Unlike a crop that is harvested before the plant dies, we may die before we are raptured by Jesus.

As Believers, we still must prepare as if we will be harvested while alive, per Romans 8:25 we ‘hope for what we do not yet have, we (must) wait for it patiently.’   The Rapture will likely come when we least expect it, and unlike FedEx or UPS, Jesus will not send out a exactly spelled-out, scheduled, ‘advanced delivery notice’; instead Jesus will send an angelic ‘instant message’ – that exact moment of the trumpet sounding to call us to Him.

Before that happens, expect trials and ‘little-t’ tribulations to come our way – even though the ‘little-t’ tribulations may seem pretty big. Remember, the Black Plague killing 50% of Europe’s population in the 13th and 14th centuries (over 50 million) was a ‘little-t’ tribulation period, as were the hundreds of millions of people killed by communism in the 20th century. Tragic tribulations but nothing as severe as the ‘Big-T’ Tribulation at the End of The Age.

The concern we need to have for each other is to look out for those who grow impatient and get frustrated; since Jesus ascended to heaven in Acts every generation since expects Him to ‘rapture’ His Church in their lifetimes.  We see many indications we are closing rapidly in the End Times, but are we?  Only the Lord knows as it is in His timeline. 

Grow in the Lord’s Word and gain His patience and don’t fall into frustration, and if you do don’t turn away but turn to Jesus – in prayer, fellowship, and study of His Word.  For the Rapture, all I can say is that we are one day closer to it today than we were yesterday and tomorrow we’ll be one day closer than we are today.