The Wrong Side of the Rapture

We hear a lot of talk about the Rapture lately, mostly because it’s upon us; this is the season of the Lord’s return for His Church.  While believers everywhere are looking forward to the Master’s return, many of them are totally unaware of the nearness of the Lord’s trumpet call for His bride.  As long as we are walking in Christ, we are saved and made worthy of His glorious promises to us outlined in His Word.  There will always be those believers who may question their salvation or become fodder for the enemy’s barrage of mental games and assaults. The devil will try and remind you of your forgiven past or most recent mistakes; trying to get you to wonder if you’re really saved are worthy to obtain what God has promised you and all of us who love the Lord.

Paul reminded Titus (and us) that…

“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”                 – Titus 3:3-7

• This is a good thing too because all of my efforts to qualify me for anything God has prepared or promised is futile at best and a waste of time as worse.  We just can’t earn our way into God’s presence; He must do it for us, Jesus had to make a way for us to enter in; and He did – this is the gospel.

For those believers who still are concerned about missing the Rapture, I have this to say to you.  You were no more made for Hell than for the seven-year tribulation.  The closet you will ever get to either of those places is what the devil will make you think that you’re going there.  While it’s true that we don’t want to end up on the wrong side of the Rapture, it’s equally true that we won’t if we are hidden in Christ.  We must think like the believer that we are, a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian. 

We need to…

“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”                     – Colossians 3:2-4

This being said and written, there is still a good chance that some people who are reading this blog are not saved (yet), they may miss the Rapture, or they will come upon this write after the Rapture, during the seven-year tribulation.  The purpose of the seven-year tribulation is multifaceted (see my blog on the seven-year tribulation) or more simply put, the purpose for the tribulation is for the salvation of the Jewish nation, Israel.  It was never meant for the Church.  However, many Gentile people will find themselves on the wrong side of the Rapture because they were not saved; they were not walking with God through Christ, they, like the Jews, did not see Jesus as the true Messiah. 

From a certain point of view, the seven-year tribulation will be God’s grace upon the world to warn them of the eternal Hell that awaits all those who die without Christ.  Put another way, everyone in Hell right now would love the opportunity to endure the seven-year tribulation because it would give them the chance they need to repent and be saved; a chance they can never have, but one that all of the unbelieving world will have after the Rapture.  This will be the largest revival of all time, but it will be forged in the adversity of a global judgment from God that will either draw the unbeliever to the Lord, or seal their fate as they die without Him.

The Prophet Micah described the seven-year tribulation like this, from a first person perspective,

“Woe is me! For I am like those who gather summer fruits, like those who glean vintage grapes; there is no cluster to eat of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires.”                                                                                  – Micah 7:1

• Here the prophet is describing a world where the crops have failed.  The fresh summer fruits are no longer available even though men will hunger greatly for them.  This is the description of a famine.

“The faithful (loyal) man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net. ³ That they may successfully do evil with both hands—the prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire; so they scheme together. ⁴ The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge; the day of your watchman and your punishment comes; now shall be their perplexity.”                                                                                                                     – (vs.2-4)

• Here we see that the ‘faithful or loyal man’ is missing, they have ‘perished’ from the earth.  The word used for ‘perish’ here (Hebrew: abad) is used in the past tense, meaning, it already happened.  The word actually means ‘to wander away or to lose oneself.’  This implies the Rapture.

What is left is a world of corruption where men take bribes, families betray each other, and ‘the day of your watchman and your punishment has come;’ a phrase implying that the warnings of an end time judgment of God by the faithful who have perished, has now come.

Micah warns those left behind,

“Do not trust in a friend; do not put your confidence in a companion; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. ⁶ For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.”                                                                                – (vs.5,6)

• Here we can see what happens when food supplies are cut off and resources are limited.  People react and betray, they display their sinful and human nature, and they hurt those closest to them.

“Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”         – (vs.7)

Here is the first glimmer of hope for a repentant sinner caught on the wrong side of the Rapture.  One can still place their faith and trust in the Lord, they can still be saved, they can still have a hope in Christ; but they must endure the hardship (and quite possibly death) of the seven-year tribulation.

Israel’s Confession and Comfort

“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. ⁹ I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness. ¹⁰ Then she who is my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her; now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.”                                                                                                                       – (vs.8-10)

• When a trib-saint comes to faith in God through Christ, they have hope.  God loves them and will be their light and a Light for them as they endure the indignation of the Lord.  This is a picture of a repentant person who came to faith the hard way, on the wrong side of the Rapture.  None the less, they came to faith.

“In the day when your walls are to be built, in that day the decree shall go far and wide. ¹² In that day they shall come to you from Assyria and the fortified cities, from the fortress to the River, from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain. ¹³ Yet the land shall be desolate because of those who dwell in it, and for the fruit of their deeds.”           – (vs.11-13)

• During this time we will see a lot of troop movements and desolation as part of God’s judgment upon the land because of the sin of the people.  This is the culture of the seven-year tribulation where everyone fights to stay alive and overcome the many adversities that threaten to kill them.  We can see that this will be a global event and that the entire world and all of its people will be effected.

God Will Forgive Israel

“Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage, who dwell solitarily (alone) in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old. ¹⁵ “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders.” ¹⁶ The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall put their hand over their mouth; their ears shall be deaf. ¹⁷ They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall crawl from their holes like snakes (crawlers) of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of You.” – (vs.14-17)

• Here we can see the mercy and grace of God being bestowed upon His people (the Jews) as well, those who place their faith in Christ during this horrific time.  God will show wonders like He did when the Israelites left Egypt .  The people who oppose them will suffer, licking the dust (speaks of thirst) and crawling into their holes (speaks of bunkers).  They will fear the Lord, and rightly so; He is to be feared and revered!

Micah shows God’s heart for His people and all those who would call upon Him for salvation.

“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy (lovingkindness). ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our (their) sins into the depths of the sea. ²⁰ You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham (speaking of the Jews), which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.”     – (vs.18-20)

• Here we can see that God is a covenant keeping God and He is still in covenant with Israel.  He wants them saved as He wants all people to be saved; but they have to choose for themselves.  The seven-year tribulation is God’s way of judging the unrighteous, reaching out to the Jewish nation, and letting everyone know that what they are experiencing is nothing compared to the horrors of an eternal Hell in a place that is far from Him.

Nobody want’s to get caught on the wrong side of the Rapture and you don’t have to, if you receive Jesus into your heart.  If you are already saved than you’re good to go; if not, get saved by receiving Jesus.  If you’re reading this on the other side, the wrong side of the Rapture, than you need to repent and get saved because it’s obvious that you weren’t saved because you missed the Rapture.

I have some good tactical advice for those left behind on this blog site that you can reference.    For now, let’s be as ready as we can be, watching and waiting for the Lord’s return.  We need to occupy because we don’t know the day or hour of the Lord’s return, but we know that He is close and we know that He has already instructed us to be occupying till He returns for us.  Love those closest to you, steward well those entrusted to your care, and above all, love Jesus; He is our redeemer.

Maranatha!

Encouragemen is a blog written by Pastor Rob Lee, recently relocated to Northwest Missouri.  He lives with his wife of 32-years, near their three adult children, their spouses, and children (their grandchildren).  Pastor Rob is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, a former Lead Pastor (25 years), police chaplain, and community advocate.  He continues to serve, consult, and disciple men of God, including those who are in the ministry.