In a day and age when everything is based on scientific knowledge it's hard to expect people to believe something as "preposterous" as a moment in time when the entire population of believers in Jesus Christ are going to be plucked from the earth and taken to heaven. Chuck Missler said the teaching of the Rapture is absolutely "preposterous; ...but absolutely true." It's something we've never experienced, it's something supernatural, and it just sounds incredible. But it's true.
The word "Rapture" comes from the Latin translation 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In Latin it's raptus. In the Greek it's "harpazo." The word is strong's G726, translated "to seize, carry off by force, to snatch away." The Scripture tells us it will happen suddenly, "in the twinkling of an eye."
There is a precedent for something like this, something almost too hard to believe. It was in the day of Noah. God told him that the world had become so wicked that he was going to destroy it, and he told Noah to build an ark to preserve his family and some of every kind of animal.
The Scriptures tell us that Noah was "a preacher of righteousness." While building the ark, he was also preaching to the people, warning them. Here's a vignette of how it went as he preached:
“What is that crazy guy doing over there, building something huge?”
“He says he’s building a boat to save people from a flood.”
“A flood??? Here??? It doesn’t even rain here.”
“Well he says it’s going to rain and everyone’s going to die in the flood.”
“He’s been saying that for years. How long is he going to keep this up?”
“He just keeps building and warning people, year after year after year.”
“Has anyone reported him to the mental-health authorities?”
“No, people think he’s harmless, just deluded.”
They scoffed.
...and they died.
Friends, there is another terrible time coming upon the earth. Jesus said that that last seven-year period is going to be worse than anything the world has ever experienced, or ever will after it.
"For then there will be great tribulation,
such as has not been since the beginning of the world
until this time, no, nor ever shall be."
Matthew 24:21
You can read the description of those seven years in the Book of Revelation, chapter 6 through chapter 11.
Jesus said the days preceding it will be "as in the days of Noah." And those are the conditions we're witnessing now. Never would we have believed society would descend into evil and debauchery such as we're witnessing now. It's appalling. Some say society is now worse than it was in the days of Noah. Jesus also likened those days to the days of Lot, in Sodom. Few would argue that the people of Sodom were more debased than society is today. There is no violence, no perversion, that society has been spared from.
Before those last seven years begin, the Rapture is promised to all who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it hard to imagine a moment in which millions are suddenly snatched from the earth? it is. Just as hard as it was when Noah preached to the people of his day that a flood was coming and they all were going to die. They thought he was crazy. And they died.
Don't shrug this off as something crazy. It only seems that way because it's something we've never seen before. But it's real because God has told us about it. Get into the ark before it's too late. The time is almost upon us.
