| Back to Home Page | Back to
Book Index |
Rapture
Rapture
Martin Luther said he only had two
days on his calendar-today and “that day”. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Rapture
The story is told of a generation ago
when an old farmer brought his family to the big city for the very first time.
They had never seen buildings so tall or sights so impressive. The farmer
dropped his wife off at a department store and took his son with him to the
bank-the tallest of all the buildings. As they walked into the lobby
they saw
something else they had never seen before. Two steel doors opened. A rather
large and elderly woman walked in
and the big doors closed behind her. The
dial over the door swept to the right and then back to the left. The doors
opened and a beautiful young lady came walking out. The farmer was amazed. He
turned to his son and said
“You wait right here. I’m going to get your mother
and run her through that thing.”
At the Rapture
we will be taken up.
But we will be transformed and come back with resurrection bodies. ── Michael
P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
All over the Northeast
half a million Adventists -- disciples of New York evangelist William Miller --
awaited the end of the world on April 3
1843. Journalists had a field day.
Reportedly some disciples were on mountaintops
hoping for a head start to
heaven. Others were in graveyards
planning to ascend in union with their
departed loved ones. Some high society ladies clustered together outside town
to avoid entering God's holy kingdom amid the common herd. When April 4
dawned as usual
the Millerites were disillusioned
but they took heart. Their
leader had predicted a range of dates for the end -- dates that have also come
and gone.
Today in the Word
April 28
1993.
There's a man in yonder
glory I have loved for many years
He has cleared my guilty
conscience and has banished all my fears.
He is coming in a moment
in the twinkling of an eye
And no time will be
allotted for you to utter one good-bye.
No time to kiss the
husband or embrace the loving wife
If they are but united in
the bonds of holy life.
Are you ready
Christian
ready
for shout and trump and voice?
Will His coming make you
tremble or cause you to rejoice?
Are you walking
talking
with Him daily
taking Him your care
Do you live so close to
heaven that a breath would waft you there?
Quoted in Fairest of
All
Herbert Lockyer
Eerdmans
1936
p. 71.
The word
"maranatha" is a Syriac expression that means: "our Lord
comes." It was used as a greeting in the early church. When believers
gathered or parted
they didn't say "hello" or "goodbye"
but "Maranatha!" If we had the same upward look today
it would
revolutionize the church. O that God's people had a deepening awareness of the
imminent return of the Savior!
While on a South Pole
expedition
British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant
Island
promising that he would return. Later
when he tried to go back
huge
icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly
as if by a miracle
an avenue opened in
the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men
ready and waiting
quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the island than the
ice crashed together behind them. Contemplating their narrow escape
the
explorer said to his men
"It was fortunate you were all packed and ready
to go!" They replied
"We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was
clear of ice
we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other
'The boss
may come today.'"
The hymn writer Horatius
Bonar exhorted us "to be ready for the last moment by being ready at every
moment...so attending to every duty that
let Him come when He may
He finds
the house in perfect order
awaiting His return." The trump may sound
anytime. How important for us as Christians to be "packed and ready to
go!"
As you leave home today
don't say goodbye -- say "Maranatha!"
Our Daily Bread.
Titus 2:13 - The
believer's hope is an:
1. Encouraging hope. John
14:3 Spoken to discouraged disciples. Discouraged by Christ's departure
encouraged by His return.
2. Comforting hope. 1
Thess 4:13-18
3. Motivating hope. 1 Cor
15:50-58 Knowing that resurrection body will be obtained through death or
translation
that labor isn't fruitless
be steadfast in commitment to Christ
and diligent in service for Christ. (v. 58)
4. Purifying hope. 1 John
3:2-3
K. Laney
Marching
Orders
p. 57.
The effect it should have
on us.
Be careful 1 John 3:1-2
Purity
Be considerate Phil 4:1-5
Be comforted 1 Thess
4:13-18 x@3
Be cheered Phil. 3:21
Transformation of our bodies
we'll be changed.
Be concerned for the
lost.
E.J. Underhill
Fourth
Memorial
October 2
1983.
At the height of WWII
Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned for taking a stand
against Hitler. Yet he continued to urge fellow believers to resist Nazi
tyranny. A group of Christians
believing that Hitler was the Antichrist
asked
Bonhoeffer
"Why do you expose yourself to all this danger? Jesus will
return any day
and all your work and suffering will be for nothing."
Bonhoeffer replied
"If Jesus returns
tomorrow
then tomorrow I'll rest from my labor. But today I have work to do. I
must continue the struggle until it's finished."
Daily Bread
November 10
1991.
After church
where she
had been taught about the Second Coming
a little girl was quizzing her mother.
"Mommy
do you
believe Jesus will come back?"
"Yes."
"Today?"
"yes."
"In a few
minutes?"
"Yes
dear."
"Mommy
would you
comb my hair?"
Don Hussong.
A rural housewife
Fay
Inchfawn
who lived a generation ago
wrote these lines on her need and
expectancy of God's presence which speak to us of the more sophisticated
frustrations of our modern day:
Sometimes
when everything
goes wrong;
When days are short and
nights are long
When wash day brings so
dull a sky
That not a single thing
will dry.
And when the kitchen
chimney smokes
And when there's none so
"old" as folks;
When friends deplore my
faded youth
And when the baby cuts a
tooth
While John
the baby last
but one
Clings round my skirts
till day is done;
And fat
good-natured Jane
is glum
And butcher's man forgets
to come.
Sometimes I say
on days
like these
I get a sudden gleam of
bliss.
Not on some sunny day of
ease
He'll come...but on a day
like this.
Source Unknown.