Let’s talk about Rapture.
Let’s talk a little bit about Rapture.
Not the one from the scary stories from our childhood but the one from scripture.
I know there are several theological positions on eschatology, but permit me to share this explanation.
In Genesis 3, we see that man disobeyed God, and sin entered into the world, disrupting the relationship between man and God. Because God Is too holy to behold sin (Habakkuk 1:13, Psalm 5:4, Habakkuk 1:12–13), the more man sinned, the more the chasm grew between us.
Over time, God orchestrated different ways to restore the relationship and His original plan for the world. He started by selecting a people group (Israel) to be their God and King to showcase how He intended the world to be, but sin (like a leaven) had already infiltrated so much that the children of Israel always returned to their sin. He would send messages to them to repent, but it often went unheard. They killed His prophets, ignored his messages and warnings (1 Kings 19:10, Matthew 23:37), etc.
Have you ever asked why do good things happen to bad people? Why would God allow this to happen? Why won’t He just take out the bad guys? If He’s so good and loving, why will He allow sickness, diseases, natural disasters, etc? In simple terms, sin came into the world and destroyed it.
Even the prophets and saints are also asking God when he will avenge their deaths (Revelation 6:9–11), seeing that they were faithful to Him and fulfilled His law till the end.
One day, God our King will respond, ultimately removing sin from the world — the sole culprit of all this madness. However, God’s love and mercy are staying His hand because when God comes to cleanse the world from sin and restore it to the original plan, sin will go with its accomplices, just the way Satan fell with a third of the angels complicit in his sin (Revelation 12:3–4, 7–9). (2 Peter 3:9).
So then, Rapture, I believe, is when God will come to take His children and keep them safe while He cleanses the heavens and earth, then He’ll create a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1–4), and we’ll return.
Until then, we will live in the fallen world and endure many sorrows (John 16:33), but we will keep preaching Jesus crucified that more people may be free from sin and not swept away with sin when God comes to purge.
