Author’s note: This article was posted originally on Raptureready.com on March 7, 2016. It is re-posted here because some of the same concerns as back then are being expressed through emails and in other ways. My response remains the same because God’s Plan in regard to the Rapture hasn’t changed.
We have looked a number of times in this column at those who mock the end-times message and the Rapture in particular. Because those who scoff have been of the abrasive, unbelieving variety for the most part, there is a standard Bible verse reply I’ve usually employed in response.
The scriptural reply has most often been intended to let those mocking know that they are, in actuality, fulfilling Bible prophecy.
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
As of late, however, such a reply doesn’t quite fit that which should compose an appropriate response. That is because the questions are coming weekly from genuine believers in the Pre-Trib Rapture of the Church. These Christians are worried–some very worried.
These look around them, and on every side they see and feel the satanic pressures from this fallen sphere closing in. Issues and events –the very ambience in which they find their lives engulfed–generate thoughts that their circumstance is beginning to look much like the Bible’s description of the Tribulation itself.
To illustrate the growing angst, I’ve chosen the email of one such Christian brother who wrote this past week. His words pretty much get right to the point of the many other emails expressing like emotion. Here it is in its entirety:
Why is the Lord delaying the rapture? It should have happened years ago. We would be in the millennium now enjoying true peace and prosperity without the suffering. I don’t get it. It’s God’s call, of course, but 58 million aborted babies in the US since 1973, Christians tortured and murdered worldwide, people who believe in Jesus longing for his return suffering immensely. I don’t get it. Where is our Lord and Savior?
The emailer didn’t use any soft nuances of greetings or any other niceties. He just laid his spirit-distressed emotions right out there.
You don’t answer such gut-wrenching concern with the apostle Peter’s prophecy, as given above. This child of God is worried. He is puzzled; he is perplexed. It’s the kind of questioning I’ve heard in my own kids’ anxieties when they were young and felt disappointed for one of my failures or the other to keep a promise. “Dad should never let me down like that” is the tone.
Only this perceived unkept promise isn’t from an imperfect human father. I say “perceived unkept promise” because the promise isn’t unbroken whatsoever. The error is in the question of the imperfect child asking it. His Perfect Father will, as always, be one hundred percent faithful to keep every promise made.
The Lord Jesus, Himself, in His ascended position, said the following to John the Revelator:
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).
Jesus said it, and that means the Heavenly Father said it–promised it! Jesus said that He and the Father are One. They are inseparable–one and the same–the first and second Persons of the Godhead–the Trinity.
God cannot lie, the Scripture tells us. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God keeps His promises. So, this brother in Christ, like all the other believers who look to the “blessed hope” of Titus 2:13, who are in fear and worry while watching this fallen world closing in, need an answer from the Word of God.
The Heavenly Father gave the answer to Peter to pass along to us, just a bit farther on in Scripture. The answer to why the Rapture hasn’t occurred as soon as almost all of us wish it would occur is, at least in part, wrapped up in the following:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
The Tribulation that will follow this Age of Grace will be filled with horrors that even John, under divine inspiration, had trouble describing. The Lord wants to provide every moment possible during this present dispensation for those lost in their sin to come safely into the shelter who is His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. God wants this for the lost because, following the Rapture, making the decision to accept Christ for salvation will be more difficult by a multiple of factors. Facing beheading is but one of those factors!
That is the reason–or at least a primary reason–the Rapture hasn’t yet occurred in this generation, according to God’s Word.
That said, I must take notable exception with the emailer’s contention that God is “delaying” the Rapture. You can take this to the bank–well, to the banks the way they used to be–God is not delaying the Rapture. It will happen precisely in the twinkling of the eye at the moment the Father has determined.
Jesus said: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:36).
God knows exactly the instant He will send His Son to get His Bride, make no mistake. There is no delay.
On that note, issues and events closing in on us show that we are almost certainly very near that exhilarating moment of instantaneously finding ourselves face to face with the Lord Jesus. Just how near we are to the Rapture–if we could indeed know–would likely allay all fears.
I’m excited to tell you that my new book, Rapture Ready … Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind, is at present being prepared within the publishing process. Because of the lateness of the prophetic hour, I sense to a degree never experienced before that this is a book I’ve been commissioned to write. We will be able to tell you more soon, Lord willing.
Authors note: That book, published in 2016, is available on Amazon.
Terry James Prophecy Line 
Thank you. Very timely.
Can’t believe “Rapture Ready” came out so long ago. Seems I just got it a year or so ago. Needless to say, I strongly recommend it because it is still just as relevant, if not more so.
I, too, wish the Rapture would come, like . . . before I get done writing this comment, actually, but I know God will do it according to his time table, based on his omniscience. Not mine where I see into the glass only darkly, as Paul would put it.
I totally agree with the premise that he is tarrying until that last believer of the Church Age is made – and then, he will call us all to be with him. Consider this: YOU may be the very person whose words convince that last person to accept Christ! The next you and the new Christian would then experience is to hear that upward call.
✋Shalom Terry, Got your last e-mail rapture update and felt led to share the following with you. The biblical passages you quoted are most often unfortunately mis-quoted and misinterpreted.
Mathew 24… The context of this passage is when heaven and earth will pass away… NOT the rapture Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
This passage also is often taken out of its proper context. The correct meaning is to preserve and protect, NOT remove or rapture…
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).
The greek word “Tereo” to Keep means….
Tereo
tay-reh’-o Parts of Speech Verb Tereo Definition NAS Word Usage – Total: 71 to attend to carefully, take care of to guard metaph. to keep, one in the state in which he is to observe to reserve: to undergo something Your thoughts,
Blessings in Y’shua Ron
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I understand the part about Jesus “not wishing that any should perish” but at the same time the longer he waits the more are coming into the world that will reject him. We know the Bible is clear that the majority will be lost so I struggle to understand the above verse. The wait is definitely frustrating to some of us eagerly waiting. Maybe we’re just listening to too much rapture teaching and need to get back to other teachings. This waiting breaks my heart.
I expect that God, in his mercy, would rather hold off on the Rapture to save even just one more person, despite that a lot more people will come along and reject him.
Remember that he was willing to hold off destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as bad as the people were in those cities, if he could find only 10 righteous ones. As we know, there weren’t even this many, so he rescued Lot and his family, though his wife made the mistake of looking back and was lost. But Lot himself and his two daughters did survive.
As far as focusing”too much” on Rapture, I personally find that the more I explore it, the more hopeful I become and the more watchful I am for the signs indicating how close it is becoming.
Keep looking up, my friend, because Jesus is indeed coming soon!
The mission remains the Great Commission for us Saints! See (Matt 28:18-20)
Please pray about your part! Precious final minutes. Bema Seat rewards (or not). All Glory to God! Maranatha!
May I say that I am gloriously happy that the Father has not brought the timing of the rapture forward. I was caught in a cult that I thought was teaching the Bible. I was 20 then, I am 83 now. While I knew that the cult (WT) was in error and saw evidence that it did not teach Christ’s love, I was convinced that there was no ‘church’ existing that could save me. While I exited the cult; I remained in spiritual limbo. In my eyes, all churches were riddled with man made traditions, pious behaviours, and power struggles. When my son, who had been in that cult (because of me) finally exited and we reunited, (cults usually demand that you exile/ shun the one who leaves, so for years we didn’t speak) he was just beginning to experience the freedom gained when he was killed in a road accident. That was my awakening from spiritual darkness. I went to pray but could think of no words, I felt as though I were falling into a vacuum; it was frightening, I called out “God help me, I have no faith”; instantly the Lord was before me, stopped my falling and said in the sweetest, loving words, “Come back to me”. I was 75 years old. I believe He used my sorrow to get through to me; I’ve also learned that when we are ‘finally’ at our worst moments when we realize that we cannot save ourselves, that is when we are invited to the feast. The Lord stayed with me, answered questions, guided my study, helped me chop out the wicked branches of that false vine that entrapped me and gave me a table set with spiritual food and water that feeds me every day. That loving guidance took some time but over these years I attempt to break through the indoctrination of that Pharisaic religion with the true teaching of the gospel. I’m full of joy that so many are worshiping the God of Israel and relying on His Son to give them vision and wisdom and forgiveness and hope. When we are born again (something that is never taught in a cult) we have the commission to share that love, forgiveness and hope and if we could just save one person from the anxiety of this world with faith wouldn’t it be wonderful? Teach until the end and we will have run the race.
Evvalynn, thank you for sharing your moving story of God’s promises kept. It struck such a familiar chord with me, I cried. When you reach such a low state that you believe you’re lost forever, and then, even though you know you don’t deserve it, He pulls you up and into His arms, loving and forgiving you, it’s the most glorious feeling of all. No matter how many times we call on Him to spare us from our faulty human stumbles, He’s always there. We can all testify to His saving grace and love. I pray He will keep you safe in His arms until we are called home. In His Holy Name Amen and Maranatha.
I think we can all feel the nearness of the rapture. It’s palpable. There is massive spiritual warfare going on and it’s being played out in our realm. I think we won’t have to wait much longer. There is pressure everywhere, Christians feel it. Something is getting ready to snap and we know what it is. Jesus is coming to get his bride and the restrainer will be out of the way. The antisemitism we are seeing will drive people back to the land of Israel where the time of Jacob’s trouble will play out. I don’t think there’s much time left.