Many Christians prepare for the day of judgment. They are wrong. They should prepare for the Rapture, also known as the First Resurrection. (Rev.20:20). There will be a rapture before the Tribulation.
Will there be a Rapture?
Before you can answer this question, you should answer the following questions:
1.) Do you believe in Jesus, the Son of God?
2.) Do you believe in the teachings of Jesus?
If you cannot answer yes to both questions, stop reading. You waste your time.
When on earth, Jesus told you everything you need to enter His Kingdom. He used parables to explain God’s plan of salvation. You need to understand the parables.
To understand the plan of Jesus
God created the earth for a reason. We do not know the reason why God decided to make the world. That is not important. We know that God knew you before the foundation of the world and wants to save all people from damnation.
Although God is almighty and can do anything, God cannot save us with a snap of His fingers. He had to give us both the opportunity and choice to prove we are worthy of His grace.
People are wicked, and God knows the character of human beings. In His creation, He decided to give you three opportunities to prove you are worthy. If you are successful the first time, you will not have to prove yourself again. In this article, we will look at the first and third opportunities.
Your two opportunities
The first opportunity is your experience at present in a wicked world. God gave you a free choice to decide the way you want to live. God also gave you the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
During your life, you will meet people with the desire to please God. You will also meet the people who prefer to do evil. Those people will try to influence you to join them. You will experience dark times in your life, and it is difficult to remain faithful to God. God knew your weakness and realized you might become despondent, losing your salvation. God loves you and gives you a second and even third opportunity.
In this article, we will not discuss the second opportunity. We move to the third.
The third opportunity will be the thousand years of peace. You do not know when that will be, but understand what will precede this period.
Now you can look at what Jesus said.
What did Jesus say?
After the crucifixion, Jesus ascended to His Father in Heaven. The angels appeared to the disciples and promised Jesus would return in the same way. This promise confirmed what Jesus told the disciples during His life.
Jesus told the disciples He would be crucified, arise from death, and ascend to His Father. On two occasions, Jesus told the disciples He would return.
He told them He will return as a thief in the night, and during another conversation, He said all eyes would see Him. That is contradictory.
When a thief enters your home, you are not supposed to see him. You realize you had a visit when you search for your goods. The implication is that you will not see when Jesus returns.
So, when will all eyes see the return of Jesus?
To understand this question, you must look at the third opportunity God gives you to be saved.
The Thousand Years of Peace
During the Thousand Years of Peace, God will eliminate the evil element. Satan will not be present. During this time, God will reign with a rod of iron together with His chosen kings and priests. The kings and priests will be those who proved they are worthy to enter the Kingdom of God with their first opportunity.
The Thousand Years of Peace will end when everybody receives another opportunity to become worthy. Each person will have the free choice to decide whether they want to follow God or Satan. Then the battle of Armageddon will happen, which will be the last war between God and His followers and Satan with his. God will win and send Satan with his followers to burn in hell.
Then the day of judgment will follow.
The question is when and how the thousand years will happen.
The qualifications to be worthy
To answer this question, first, understand the plan of God altogether. You need to know what God expects from you to be worthy of His Kingdom. Who will be ready to join God and reign during the thousand years? The topic is too intense to discuss here, but the conditions are:
1.) You must be baptized
2.) You must be reborn.
3.) You must take part in Holy Communion.
4.) You must comply with the characteristics mentioned in Revelations 14.
The Rapture
The Thousand Years of Peace can only start after God trained His kings and priests.
When Jesus returns, He will first gather those in the realm of the departed, which is a separate topic. Then he will appear in the clouds to fetch you from the earth as He promised. Only those mentioned in the previous paragraph will see the appearance of Jesus. They will change in the twinkling of an eye from mortal to immortal, joining Jesus. All other people will remain on earth. After this incident, those who remained will realize that He came like a thief in the night, taking His own with Him.
Those joining Jesus will be in Heaven for a short time. God will prepare them for their task during the Thousand Years of Peace. When they are ready, all eyes will see Jesus’s return to earth for the third time to establish His reign for thousand years.
Is the Rapture possible?
The Israelites could not find the body of Moses. The assumption is Moses went to Heaven without dying. The prophet Elijah did not die but went to Heaven in a chariot. The Rapture will be without chariots.
A final word
To complete His plan of Salvation, God will send His Son a second time to earth. This time to fetch those who are worthy to reign as kings and priests with God. That will be the Rapture, also known as the Day of the First Resurrection. The Rapture will happen before the Tribulation.
