“…This we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).
But suppose for a moment that everything here on earth was lovely and peaceful; that your family is doing well, you have a comfortable home, and are earning a decent wage; you’re able to enjoy your favorite pastimes and friends. Would you then be as eager for Jesus to come?
I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, and my dad was a blue-collar factory worker. We lived close to my grandparents, who were born and grew up together in the Hill Country in Texas. They came to Oklahoma, and grandpa went to work for the railroad. When I just turned eight, grandpa retired and they moved to the Hill Country to live on a 900-acre sheep ranch he had inherited from his mother several years earlier. They left in the early fall of that year.
The following spring, my grandmother asked my folks if I could spend the summer at their ranch, and they said yes. She came by bus and train to get me. The second day after school was out, we were on a night passenger train to Fort Worth, Texas. What an exciting time for an eight-year-old boy! From Fort Worth, we took a Trailways bus to Mason, Texas, a small-town square type of town. Grandpa picked us up and drove 12 miles to his ranch.
That summer and several that followed still remain vivid in my memory. They were the most happy and carefree days I’ve ever known.
That first summer, they had no electricity, no running water, and an outhouse. My grandmother cooked on a kerosene stove; she washed the clothes in a tub of hot water over a fire pit outside. They did have a twelve-party line phone. Their lights at night were oil lamps. For entertainment, grandpa and I would sit in his ’37 Pontiac at night and listen to country music. I loved everything about it and every minute of it.
When grandpa and I weren’t building a fence, I was roaming the hills, exploring the place, rattlesnakes and all. I will say I was very careful where I walked. Grandpa had given me my own .22 rifle to carry with me. Of an evening, I would hunt jack rabbits, and sometimes at night, we’d go coon hunting. Quite often, in the early morning, our dog would wake me with a squirrel he had treed. My grandmother had a large garden, and it was necessary to keep the varmint population down some.
They had an old wooden icebox that required my grandmother to go to town three times a week to get ice. I quickly got acquainted with a lot of folks. Once a month, the farm folks would have a community get-together with potluck and homemade ice cream: I loved every minute of it. But the end of August came way too soon, and I had to go home.
For nine long school months, all I could think about was returning to the Hill Country in Texas. If things didn’t go so well at school, or at home, or with my friends, inside I was thinking, a few more months and I’ll be in Texas. I loved my home, and my folks, and my sister and brother; but the time at the ranch was a whole different world for me, and I couldn’t wait to go back.
“This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through; my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue…” says an old hymn. I believe that to be truly rapture ready, we should desire to be with the Father and Jesus more than anything this world has to offer. The Psalmist put it this way:
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26).
When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, it soon became apparent that, for many, their hearts were still in Egypt. They placed no value on the inestimable worth of God’s Promised Land. They placed no trust in the Lord, that He could prepare a table for them in the wilderness while on their way to the beautiful land He had prepared for them.
There is a word from heaven that is ever true for God’s children as they make their pilgrimage thru this world.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your steps” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
In Pilgrim’s Progress, the journey to the Celestial City is filled with perils, threats, distractions, and attractions, and that perfectly illustrates what every child of God faces on a daily basis. And will until Jesus comes or calls us home. One thing is certain: the enemy of our soul works tirelessly to so capture our attention to the cares and pleasures of this life that we come to the place where we leave our first love; the things of this world then occupy our minds and affections. And so the apostle Paul exhorts us to do this:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
Being rapture ready is having your heart and mind set on Jesus Christ. It’s about knowing that when He appears, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we’ll be changed: we’ll be given a new, glorious, incorruptible, immortal body. It’s knowing that when Jesus appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Being rapture ready is to know that Jesus has indeed prepared an eternal home for us; a place where we will live with the Father and Jesus forever—a place of everlasting love, joy, and peace.
Paul expressed his thinking this way:
“…I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).
That is being rapture ready!
Brother Bill Oldham