Understanding the True Meaning of the Rapture, I’ve Welcomed the Lord’s Return (Part 1)
By Damaris, Kenya
Hello, brothers and sisters! I’m sure every one of us is eagerly awaiting the Lord’s return, for Him to bring us up into the heavens where we will meet with Him. But will He rapture us straight up when He returns, as we imagine? It was only through a period of time of seeking that I found the right answer and understood what the “rapture” really refers to, and then welcomed the Lord’s return. Today I’d like to share this joyful experience with everyone.
Contents
Unable to Gain Sustenance From Sermons and Longing for God to Return Soon
The Lord Jesus Has Already Returned?
When the Lord Returns Will He Take People Up Into the Sky?
The True Meaning of “Being Caught Up” Revealed in God’s Words
Unable to Gain Sustenance From Sermons and Longing for God to Return Soon
I was born in Kenya and attended Catholic Mass since I was little. Once I grew up I slowly found that the Fathers just preached about lofty biblical theory and knowledge, but it was totally lacking the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit. Their sermons never gave us any sustenance, either, and we were all very spiritually weak.
Since the Fathers were always preaching about the same old things, I stopped going to church; I read the Bible and listened to hymns at home. Sometimes I’d watch a sermon on television, but I found that that was all platitudes without any new light. My soul was so hungry that I felt lost and in pain; I often prayed to God, asking Him to come back soon. My husband later introduced some brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God to me, telling me that their preaching did contain light and was really enjoyable; he said that he got a lot of spiritual sustenance. So, I started attending online gatherings with them.
The Lord Jesus Has Already Returned?
In the first gathering we talked about the return of the Lord Jesus. Brother Jack bore witness that the Lord Jesus has already returned, that He is Almighty God incarnate. He also shared fellowship that the key to welcoming the Lord’s return is being able to hear God’s voice, and he said that in the last days, the returned Lord is doing the work of judgment starting with the house of God. I was really surprised to hear this and thought, “The Lord has returned? But in the Bible, the Lord clearly said, ‘But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone’ (Matthew 24:36). No one knows when the Lord will return, not even the Son. How could they know?” So, I shared this confusion with him.
This was his response: “Sister, when the Lord Jesus said ‘But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven,’ He wasn’t saying that no one will know when the Lord returns in the last days to appear and do work, but He was saying no one knows the exact time He comes among us. That is, the day, the moment that the Lord comes down, no one will know, not even the angels in heaven or the Son. Just as Almighty God says, ‘At the break of dawn, unbeknownst to the multitudes of humanity, God came to earth and began His life in the flesh. People were unaware of the coming of this moment. Maybe they were all fast asleep; maybe many who were watchfully awake were waiting, and maybe many were praying silently to God in heaven. Yet among all these many people, not a single one knew that God had already arrived on earth’ (‘Work and Entry (4)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). By reading Almighty God’s words we can gain a better understanding that ‘But of that day and hour no one knoweth’ only means that no one knows the moment of the Lord’s coming, but God will certainly let people know about the truths He expresses and His work to save mankind. The Lord’s return to earth in the flesh to do work in the last days is specifically to save mankind, so if no one learned the news of His coming, how could we welcome the Lord and gain the salvation of God’s appearance in the last days? There are a number of prophecies in the Book of Revelation that the Spirit will speak to all churches, that tell us to be sure to listen for God’s utterances. It’s also prophesied that God will knock at the door, and that those who hear and recognize God’s voice will attend the feast with Him. These prophecies tell us that the way to welcome God’s return is to be careful to listen for God’s voice. When we hear someone spreading the news and bearing witness that God has returned, we can determine whether it really is the return of the Lord Jesus by seeing if the words they’re preaching are the truth, if these words contain authority and power, and if they reveal mysteries. We have now accepted and followed Almighty God because we’ve read the words uttered by Him and have seen that these words reveal all mysteries of the truth such as God’s 6,000-year management plan plus mankind’s final destination and outcome. We’ve recognized God’s voice in this and have determined that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus — we have welcomed the Lord’s second coming.”
My heart brightened after hearing Brother Jack’s fellowship. I thought, “That’s true — if the Lord returned and nobody knew, then how could we receive His salvation? God prophesied that He would utter more words in the last days, and brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God have recognized God’s voice in Almighty God’s words. They’ve determined that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus said that all of His sheep can hear His voice, so then can’t I determine whether Almighty God is the returned Lord by reading what He’s said?” This made me want to investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days, and so we arranged to continue meeting for fellowship.
When the Lord Returns Will He Take People Up Into the Sky?
The next day at work, I mentioned to my colleagues that all the prophecies of the Lord’s return had all pretty much been fulfilled and that brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God are bearing witness that He has already come back. One of them just couldn’t accept that; she got a Bible out of her bag and read this: “Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air, and so shall we be always with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). She then said, “In the epistles of Paul, he clearly stated that when the Lord Jesus returns we will be taken up into the air to meet with the Lord but we’re still on the earth, so how could you say that He has come again?” When she said this I thought to myself, “That’s right, we’re still on the earth. If the Lord had returned we should have already been raptured up into the heavens and have seen the Lord!”
I shared my quandary in the gathering that evening, and Brother Jack had this fellowship: “Many believers think that, based on what Paul said, when the Lord returns He’ll lift us up into the sky to meet with Him, but does this idea have any basis in the Lord Jesus’ words? If we go by Paul’s words rather than the Lord Jesus’ own words on the matter of welcoming His second coming, is this in line with God’s will? Paul was just an apostle in the Age of Grace who preached for God; he was a regular person. How could he fathom the mysteries of God’s second coming in the end times? In fact, the Lord Jesus never said that He would lift us up into the heavens when He returns, but instead, He told us clearly, ‘And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven’ (John 3:13). We can see that heaven is God’s abode and only God, no human being can ascend into heaven. How could we be brought up into the sky?
“We all know that in the beginning, after God created Adam and Eve, He put them in the Garden of Eden to have them watch over all things and live properly on the earth. After mankind was corrupted by Satan and the world became full of violence, God wiped out that evil world with a flood. At the time He didn’t take Noah and his seven family members straight up into heaven, but He commanded Noah to build an ark, where he and his family avoided the flood waters and were able to survive. In the Age of Law God worked in Israel; He issued the law and the commandments through Moses to guide people’s lives on earth. But late in the Age of Law people’s corruption by Satan had grown deeper and deeper and they were unable to keep the law — they were all faced with the danger of being condemned and executed under the law. In order to redeem humanity, He became flesh for the first time as the Lord Jesus and came to walk among mankind, and He was nailed to the cross for us. The Lord Jesus’ work to redeem mankind was also done on the earth. Now in the last days, God has once again come in the flesh, expressing truths to judge and cleanse mankind; He is also doing very concrete work on earth to fully save humanity. We can see from the facts of God’s work that He created humanity on earth, He prepared a suitable environment for human beings’ survival on earth, He did the work of saving mankind on earth, and for millennia humans have always lived on earth. And yet, we always think we’re going to be brought up into heaven. Isn’t that contrary to God’s will?”
Source From: Gospel of The Descent of The Kingdom
All believers are longing for the Lord Jesus to return, to be raptured into the sky and meet with the Lord. But what is the true meaning of rapture in the Bible? When it will happen? Read to learn more:
The True Meaning of Rapture in the Bible
The End-Time Prophecies Are Fulfilled: When Will We Be Raptured？
