Back in the Future...The Adventure Begins (part 3)

This entry is a continuation of the last two day’s entries. If you did not read the first 2 parts, I would encourage you to go back and read them before proceeding with this entry.

After the rapture and tribulation, as was seen in yesterday’s blog, comes the third major event of the future which is the SAVIOR’S Reign, known as the Millennial Kingdom. When Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation He will chain Satan into a pit and He will then set up a literal Kingdom on earth where He will rule and reign with a rod of iron and we as His church will rule with Him. At the end of that 1,000 years, Satan will be loosed for one final attempt to overthrow Jesus but he will fail miserably.

This will result in the fourth and final aspect of the future, the STATE of Eternity, or what we more commonly call heaven and hell. At this time all who have put their trust in Christ will enter heaven for all of eternity and all who have rejected Christ and His salvation will be cast in a literal lake of fire forever and ever.

As we kick-off this study on the rapture, it is important for us to identify the false views concerning the rapture. This includes the view that the rapture is the same thing as the Second Coming of Christ. A literal interpretation of Scripture would show us just the opposite. The rapture, which could occur at any time, is when Jesus returns in the air for His church. The Second Coming, which occurs seven years after the rapture, is when Jesus returns to the earth with His church to set up His 1,000 year reign on earth.

There are also two other false ideas concerning the rapture. One is called the partial rapture theory which says that only some Christians will be taken at the rapture while sinning believers will endure the tribulation. The second is known as the multiple rapture theory which teaches that Christians are raptured through a series of raptures during the tribulation period based on their spirituality. Neither of these theories is consistent with a literal interpretation of Scripture.

But what do we know about the timing of the rapture? In the Bible, the rapture is always presented as an imminent event. Though there are passages that tell us of specific signs to occur before the second coming at the end of the tribulation, there is not one passage that tells us to look for something to happen before the rapture. The fact is that the rapture could happen at any time. It is that fact that brought comfort to the disciples on that day when Jesus said, “I will come again.”

Jesus went on to say, “I will receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.” Though we learn much about the splendor of heaven later in the New Testament, Jesus did not speak much of the nature of the place when He gave this promise to His disciples in John 14. Why? Because folks, listen, the best part of the rapture is not going to be heaven. The best part will be seeing and being with Jesus. Being with God is sufficient. It is the best part (Philippians 1:23). Heaven is simply the icing on the eternal cake!