This past Wednesday, I was awakened from a dream with one phrase pressing on my mind: “Rapture Ready 24/7.” The point was not merely to debate whether the rapture is biblical or when it will happen, but to ask a more personal and urgent question: are we living ready to meet the Lord at any moment?
So much attention is given on whether or not the rapture is biblical (in the Bible) or even real … when our attention should be… “are we ready 24/7”.
That question also requires us to notice how the biblical writers thought about God’s future work. If we read Scripture only through modern assumptions, we may miss the urgency and supernatural worldview that shaped their expectations.
I think of the late Michael Heiser’s contention that we often fail to interpret Scripture from the biblical worldview perspective of the various authors God inspired to write His Word. In fact, in the expanded version of his book “The Unseen Realm,” he says,“Seeing the Bible through the eyes of an ancient reader requires shedding the filters of our traditions and presumptions. They processed life in supernatural terms. Today’s Christian processes it by a mixture of creedal statements and modern rationalism.”
They wrote from within the worldview they knew and shared. Ideas such as the sons of God, watchers, Nephilim or giants, the origins of the demonic world, and the Rapture were not approached as strange mysteries detached from their world. In other words, they often understood matters that we now treat as sudden, hidden, or unfamiliar mysteries.
Bottom line, John Nelson Darby did not invent the hope of the rapture in 1830, though many attempt to make that assertion. The larger issue is that the inspired authors of Scripture understood God’s divine plan for the future through the Holy Spirit and through the writings and traditions available to them. As Heiser puts it,“They read books.” They were intentionally knowledgeable of God’s plan. Novel idea, right?
So, readiness is not only about having the correct prophetic position. It is about living in such a way that our profession, our fruit, and our hope all point in the same direction.
Now, back to this idea of being ready for the rapture 24/7. Do you remember the old song of the church, “When we all get to Heaven?” The chorus says:
When we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be
When we all see Jesus
We’ll sing and shout the victory ...
But the song raises a pressing question: are we ready? And if the Lord were to come, who is truly prepared to take part in that great event?
I see people all the time who profess to be Christians, claim to know Christ, or say they follow Jesus, yet the fruit they bear often does not look like the fruit of a child of God.
That has caused me to wonder about people who have passed away and whether the fruit they bore matched their profession of faith.
I realize that kind of question may make some people uncomfortable. But if Scripture calls us to examine fruit and readiness, then perhaps it is time to say it plainly and out loud.
Maybe it is time to take this biblical perspective seriously and truly live ready 24/7 for the Rapture of the church, and even more importantly, for the return of the Lord.
He is coming at a moment we do not expect. But Scripture also tells us that we are children of the light and should not be caught unaware or unprepared. Here is Paul’s reminder to believers:
I Thessalonians 5:1-8 “Now concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you. 2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. 3 When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.
4 But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. 5 For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. 6 So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. 7 Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. 8 But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.” [NLT]
Ephesians 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”[NKJV]
How should we live? In a word, PREPARED!We should live ready all the time, 24/7, so that if we pass away before Jesus returns, people can say with confidence that we were not only with the Lord but also prepared to meet Him.
In closing, notice the words of Paul …
Romans 12:1says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
So, think about it my friend: are you Rapture ready 24/7?
May we not merely talk about being ready, but live ready—awake, faithful, fruitful, and full of hope—so that whether the trumpet sounds today or the Lord calls us home first, our lives will testify that we belonged to Him and were prepared to meet Him.
Have a wonderful day in the Lord my friend!