Is it OK to be afraid of the rapture?

The short answer is – as a Christ-follower, you don’t have to be!

Let’s get to my answer together. Go get your Bible and read Acts 1:1-11 once before you finish reading this any further.

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In the section you just read, Luke the doctor is writing his introduction, and he reminds his reader of what Jesus said about His second coming. Carefully read vs 7 again. What does Jesus say? (He says, “Don’t worry about it.”) Why does Jesus say that? Carefully read vs 8 again. What does Jesus say there? (I’ve given you plenty to do. I want you to spread the gospel throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria – in other words, the world – so get busy and stop worrying about what you can’t know anyway. That’s just for the Father to know!”)

One very simple reason you don’t need to be afraid of the rapture is because Jesus instructs us to focus on the business He has given His followers to do – sharing the gospel! He clearly tells us not to stand around staring at the sky and fearing His return. Those are Jesus’ words.

OK, now I want to challenge you. You ready? Here we go …

Even though Jesus has told us in Acts 1:7-8 not to focus on trying to figure out exactly what the second coming of Jesus will be like, we are curious, aren’t we? God made us curious, so that’s OK. And we’re curious about Jesus’ second coming for many reason. Some people are hopeful, some are scared, some just love knowing stuff, and there are many other reasons why we have been trying to figure out the second coming. The funny thing is, we are not going to know, plain and simple, because Jesus said we weren’t.

But people try anyway. People read the Bible carefully and then they interpret what they read differently. By “interpret” I mean to explain or to understand or to shed light on. Answer this question – if you are trying to explain to an alien (OK, stick with me …) how our alphabet works but you only have some of the letters, do you think your explanation will be very good? Do you think the alien (even if it is really intelligent and really wants to learn) can understand? Both times the answer is nope!

And this is what has happened in our understanding of Jesus’ second coming. God has not given us all the answers in the Bible, and so our interpretations – our understanding – can be different. Just like the alien might not figure out the difference between “rant” “runt” and “rent,” we also can’t figure out the second coming when we’re missing some letters (some information.)

Do you wonder why I am saying all this? Here is the challenge – in our attempts to understand the second coming of Christ, of the rapture, of the final judgment, of the new heaven and new earth, and of the last days and the end of time – there are many different ideas, by many bright people who love Jesus, of what might happen!

I say this is challenging because there may not even be a rapture! Some people think there will be a rapture to lift God’s people off of the earth before a period of great suffering. Another group of people thinks that the rapture will happen after all the suffering (which means Christians will have to suffer, too!) Others think there will not even be a period of great suffering. And the ideas go on and on and on and on.

I want to challenge you to follow Jesus with your whole heart, while at the same time knowing that Jesus has asked us to focus on spreading the good news about Him. Trust Him, even though you will not know all the details of the rapture (or no rapture) and His coming again.

No matter what happens, eternity with Jesus is a magnificent eternity. For that reason, those of us who have given our hearts to Jesus have no need at all to fear the rapture!!

I want to leave you with one more verse – it’s Proverbs 3:5-6.