Is The Rapture Imminent?

Is the rapture really imminent? For many teachers of end-times prophecy this issue is of utmost importance. First of all, we must figure out what they mean when they say that the rapture is imminent? The word imminent means likely to occur at any moment. If you light a firecracker and put it in your pants pocket, then you can be sure that an injury is imminent. If that is what the prophecy teachers meant by imminent then I would agree. The rapture, as part of the second coming of Christ, is not only likely to occur, it will happen. It is imminent. It is to be expected. Jesus said He would come again.

But that is not the concept that is meant when they teach the imminent return of Christ to rapture the Church. What they mean is this – the rapture could happen at any moment, totally unexpectedly. No signature event will precede the rapture. It will be a great big surprise when it occurs. Not a surprise that it will happen, but the timing can sneak up on you at any moment.

This concept is not Biblical, although they would like to suggest that it is. It is part and parcel to a greater doctrine, that the rapture will happen before a misconstrued Great Tribulation. All the prophetic events of Revelation are contained in that seven-year period, they say, so there will not be any events that precede and portend the rapture. It could happen at any time since it is not dependent on any precedent.

But that is not at all what Paul suggests in writing to the Thessalonians. They feared that the Lord had returned and they had been left out, somehow. It seems that there was a false teaching circulating, as though from Paul himself, saying that “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him” had already occurred (2 Thes 2:1-3). Please take note that the coming of the Lord and the gathering of the saints, the rapture, is one and the same event in Paul’s mind. But more importantly, Paul goes on to say, in verse three, that the rapture will not occur until after the man of lawlessness is revealed. Clearly, the “antichrist” will not be relegated to the Great Tribulation. He will be revealed for all the world to see before we Christians are caught up. Furthermore, the great rebellion which he will mastermind will also precede the rapture. That is speaking of the rise of jihadist Islam, the upheaval of nations, and the beginning of Armageddon. So, the rapture is not a total surprise, we have a pretty conspicuous timeframe leading up to the coming of the Lord.

My brother knows that I write about prophecy, though I don’t think he bothers to read much of what I write. He, like most Christians, is unwilling to seriously consider re-examining prophecy and challenging the prevailing interpretations. But he did ask me a question that is worth considering, “You’re not planning to set a date for the return of Jesus, are you?” My answer to him was this: “Not a date and time, but I can give you some pretty precise indicators. God is not one to pull surprises. He makes it very, very clear what He is going to do, and when He is going to do it. He has always been that way.”

Consider the extensive list of events that need to happen before the return of Christ and the gathering of the saints. The seventh beast must be deposed by the eighth beast (Rev 17), in other words, America must be destroyed (Dan 7:11). The sixth trumpet warning must be fulfilled, which is the buildup to and the beginning of the battle of Armageddon. Led by the man of lawlessness, the ten-nation Arab coalition will begin their attack on Israel. With America out of the picture, there will be no one to restrain them. Once that war has begun, we can expect Jesus to return to defend Israel and subdue and slay his enemies. We will be able to anticipate when Jesus will return -- on the Feast of Trumpets (most likely), after Israel has been invaded. That’s when the saints will be gathered, when the rapture will occur.

I don’t see imminence in that scenario. God is very clear in prophesying exactly what is going to happen, step by step, one event after another, to fulfill His righteous judgment. And to fulfill his promise, as well, of salvation and redemption of those who dearly love Him.

Whenever the writers of the NT encouraged the readers to live in expectancy of Christ’s return, they were exhorting them to live with a deep and abiding belief and hope in the eternal plan of God. He was not exhorting them to live in fear of being caught with their hand in the cookie jar when Jesus unexpectedly returns. He was exhorting them to live in hope. The dead in Christ will be resurrected, and saints who will still be alive will be caught up with them. Eternal glory is our hope, not an any-moment, unexpected, imminent return of Christ. 

Eternal Glory

Eternal glory is our blessed hope, the hope of all who put their faith in God. We believe that we will live eternally with Jesus in a new heaven and earth, where Jesus has prepared a place for us. Our citizenship is in heaven, and the things of this earth are temporary, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.” We will live in a kingdom of eternal peace and righteousness. There will be no more pain, or sorrow, or death. We will be conformed into the likeness of Christ, by none other than Jesus Himself. We eagerly await His coming. Why? So that our lowly bodies can be transformed into conformity with His glorious body (Phil 3:20-21).

The rapture is not our blessed hope. The rapture is merely the means by which the saints still living at the return of Jesus can transition into the eternal kingdom. We must ask ourselves, then, where is our hope focused? Is our hope set on being raptured so that we might escape the horrific judgment of God in a period of time we have labeled the Great Tribulation? Is escape from suffering and turmoil our hope, or is our hope properly focused on eternal glory? Let’s be honest, what’s the biggest concern most Christians want answered when it comes to prophecy? It’s the issue of pre-tribulation rapture. They want to know if they escape the beasts and the dragons, the plagues and the judgments described in Revelation.

In several of the scripture passages that address the hope of eternal glory it is set in contrast to, or in succession to our current sufferings. Paul wrote, “our momentary affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory.” (2 Cor 4:17). Afflictions may become incredibly heavy in the days ahead, but eternal glory far outweighs them. Peter wrote, “after you have suffered a little while” the God of all grace will fulfill His calling and bring us into his eternal glory (I Pet 5:10). Paul also wrote, our present sufferings are not worth “comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18). I am afraid, though, that Christians in America today are taught to put their hope in escaping before tribulation arrives, rather than being rescued out of tribulation. This results in a shallow faith that enjoys a consumptive lifestyle in these last days. Rather than expecting a refining fire that will produce vessels of righteousness 

Christians in America do not expect the least bit of suffering before the rapture occurs. We will blissfully enjoy the blessings of living in America until the day Jesus calls us upward. Then, and only then, the Day of the Lord can ensue, after we are gone. But that view of the end times will lead to great despair for many. Because their hope is misplaced, focused on escape rather that eternal glory, they will not stand strong in faith, hope, and endurance. They will think that tribulation, trouble, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and the sword have indeed separated them from the love of God (compare Rom 8:37). His promises are hollow and his faithfulness has failed them.

Tribulation leads to righteousness. And God wants a righteous bride for His Son. The day of the Lord begins with judgment. It is not just all the other people, all those “wicked” people left behind who will be judged. No, in fact, perhaps the beginning of judgment in the last days begins with America. America is the little horn of Daniel 7, the nation that is utterly destroyed (Dan 7:11). And America is the seventh beast of Revelation 13 and 17, the one that the eighth beast (a ten nation Arab alliance) hates and burns with fire (Rev 17:16). Truth and justice have been trampled underfoot in America. This country that we think is so blessed will be exposed as a great harlot, Babylon the Great. She will be burned and destroyed -- death, mourning, and famine will sweep over her (Rev 18:8). But America glorifies herself and lives luxuriously, and believes that she will never see mourning – Christians included (Rev 18:7).

This tribulation will be great, and it will happen before the return of Christ, before the saints are caught up with the dead in Christ to enter into eternal glory. But we need not fear the judgment of God, for He will protect those who are His own. The seal upon us is the hope that burns in our hearts, the hope of eternal glory.

Why Will God Judge America the Beautiful?

Biblical prophecy reveals that America will be destroyed, sometime prior to the closing chaos of the end of the age (Dan 7:11-12). This destruction is not happenstance. Like the other great nations and empires highlighted in Biblical prophecy (Dan 2 and 7, Rev 13), this destruction will be the judgment of God. Which raises the question, particularly amongst Americans, themselves, why would God judge America?

God says of America, “Her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes…. Therefore, in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her” (Rev 18:4,8).  

We who live in America view ourselves as above reproach – we see only what we want to see. Our perception is tainted by wealth, power, pleasure, ease, and freedom. We think we are uniquely blessed by God. We ignore and excuse the great sins in our past. And we overlook our current culpabilities, as well. Like a frog sitting in a pan of water rising to the boiling point we are unaware of impending doom. But soon the blood will begin to boil.

America is repeatedly portrayed in Biblical prophesies as arrogant, prideful, and boasting (Rev 13:5; Dan 7:8,11; Rev 18:7). That is very difficult for Americans to believe, but ask anyone else in the rest of the world and they would agree with Scripture. Furthermore, America is repeatedly portrayed as glorying in her luxury, splendor, and wealth (Rev 18:7,14-17). The nations of the world, though, enjoy the trickle-down effect of America’s great wealth – they worship America (Rev 13:5), while being drunk with the maddening wine of her adulteries (Rev 18:3). America will be judged for mocking God, for blasphemy, and for oppressing the saints (Dan 7:25; Rev 13:5-7). And, let’s not overlook the matter of slavery (Rev 18:13) and bloodshed (Rev 17:6; 18:24). For the most part I leave it to the reader to hash out the details of these Biblical indictments, but the words of God cannot be denied.

Our national desire for wealth and ease of living has run the national debt up into the trillions. The weight of such greed is like filling a dump truck with tons of gravel and trying to balance it on top of a wheelbarrow. Greed, consumption and luxury have run amok, and we all must take responsibility for it.

America is guilty of performing abortions, wholesale, for over 50 years now. The grave cries out for justice for these innocent unborn children. We have been led into the town square of Sodom and Gomorrah and Christian Nationalists think we can still turn back the tide of the LGBTQ’s growing control over our society. Our schools and universities teach that evolution is our source of origin, that everyone’s choices are acceptable and to be tolerated, that God is a silly archaic notion. The meteoric rise of the technological age has enabled America to dominate the world (Rev 13:11-18) – sometimes diabolically.

There you have it. Enough is enough. You cannot imagine how difficult it is to write about America being worthy of God’s judgment. The warning only comes across as bashing America, or “biting the hand that feeds me”. God’s warning should humble us, not raise our hackles. We must turn our eyes upon Jesus.

Perhaps the next question we should ask ourselves is this, “When will God judge America?” 

Woe To You, Babylon the Great

Babylon, the Great City, is a prominent theme in Revelation as the prophecies begin to hone in on the very last days. It is referred to by other names, as well – Babylon the Great, the prostitute, and Mother of prostitutes. It is visualized to John, “in the spirit”, as a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, which beast had seven heads and ten horns. This beast is the same beast as in Revelation 13, but in chapter 17 the beast has this great harlot riding on its back. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls, and holding a golden cup filled with her filthy abominations and adulteries (Rev 17:3-4).

The mention of Babylon the Great is scattered over chapters 14 to 19 in Revelation. It is very helpful to bring these together in one flowing compilation to see and understand what God has to say about this great city of the end of the age, New York City, the heart and soul of America.

A second angel followed and said, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” (14:8).  God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. (16:19). The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great; the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. (17:5). The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. (17:16). With a mighty voice {the angel} shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit….  For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” (18:2-3). Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!” (18:10). The merchants… will weep and mourn and cry out…  When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’….  “Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again” (18:15-21).

Babylon the Great is not merely symbolic. It is a literal, specific city of the last days. The name may be symbolic, obviously, but not the city. Just as historical Babylon was the capital city of the Babylonian empire, each of the seven beast nations has had a capital. The seventh beast, the beast of the last days, has as its “de facto” capital New York City. NYC is the great city that has dominated the world for the last century or more. NYC is the great city being spoken of in Revelation. How do we know that? Because it is destroyed by the eighth beast, the ten-horned beast, the Arab-Islamic coalition of the very last “hour”. So, The Great Babylon of Revelation 17-18 must be the capital city of the seventh beast, America. And for those of you who might believe that Babylon the Great is referring to a historical Babylon, rebuilt in Iraq. you need to consider the prophecy of Jeremiah (51:37,64), saying that Babylon would be destroyed, never to rise again. Besides, there is not enough time before the very soon end of the age to rebuild a world-class city in the deserts of Iraq.

 NYC will be destroyed, both by the eighth beast (Rev 17:16), and by the hand of God (Rev 16:19; 18:8). Its destruction is judgment for the adulteries, abominations, and bloodshed that brought it such great wealth and power. Hard to believe, yes! When it happens, though, we should not be surprised. It is one of the events of the end of the age that must happen (Rev 1:2). Americans, are we ready for the judgment that God has ordained? Are we ready to endure death, mourning, and famine (Rev 18:8)?

America: Repentance or Judgment

I attended an impromptu evening meeting at my church, a few years ago, with an “evangelist” from Nigeria. He was trying hard to work up the crowd to pray earnestly for repentance to sweep over America. Somehow word had gotten to him that Mr. David, sitting over there on the far side, believed that America was soon to be judged, and that repentance was past possible. So, he began to use me for a punching bag, ridiculing and badgering, I just sat and smiled. Nearly 100 people were left debating the question in their heart and mind, “Is America past the point of repentance?”

Don’t get me wrong, repentance is always possible, even when we might think it unlikely. Just ask Hezekiah, or Ninevah, or the thief on the cross. But we must consider several factors when it comes to repentance, and we may discover that “always possible” might be qualified.

First of all, we must understand that repentance is not merely an act of my own will wherein I turn myself around 180 degrees and walk in the other direction, by fortitude and willpower. Rather, it is a change of heart, instilled by the Spirit of God, to which we respond – humbly and contritely. Repentance does not begin with our own initiative.  If that is true, then God reserves the right to determine when the offering of repentance is finished and judgment is determined. Just ask Pharoah Ramses, Noah’s contemporaries, or Esau.

Secondly, repentance is seldom a national movement, it is usually personal, or a movement among an enclave of faithful believers. God’s offering to hear the prayers of contrition and heal the land (II Chron 7:14) was given to the household of Israel (i.e., “my people”). It is not a generalized promise for America, or any other nation. National repentance, the few times we see it in Scripture, was instigated by the leader of that nation humbling himself before God (e.g., the king of Nineveh, or Josiah). The opposite is also true, when a leader fails to humbly repent then the entire nation suffers judgment (e.g., Pharoah, Sodom, Zedekiah, or the Jews in 70 AD).

A third consideration is the scriptural axiom that repentance begins with the household of faith. Had that Nigerian evangelist been calling for the believers to pray for repentance in their own hearts, humbling themselves before God and praying for God to bring about contrition and holiness in their own midst, then I would have gladly gotten on the band wagon. But the idea of repentance in America, for most Christians, is to conquer evil and instill moral standards for everyone to adhere to. Prayer is only the rubber stamp for seeking victory in the political arena.

We believe and understand that God is loving, full of mercy and grace. He is not quick to wrath and judgment. He wants to give ample time for mankind to repent, always (II Pet 3:9). But there comes a time when His patience is complete and He renders judgment. And when that time comes it is predetermined, not reactionary. Furthermore, He always gives warning of His plan for judgment. (Cf Amos 3:7).  God warned for 120 years of coming judgment before hoisting the gangplank of the ark. He spelled out in detail the rise and fall of many nations in the visions of Daniel. And in these last days He has been warning the world of His coming judgment, with the trumpet warnings, and that warning period is soon to elapse. It is critical to note in Revelation, that God makes it very clear that absolutely no one repents as the trumpet warnings are sounded (Rev 9:20, “mankind did not repent”). And that includes America, arguably the key player of the first five trumpets. Do you think that God was making it clear that America would not repent in the last days, that America is in the crosshairs of His imminent judgment?

God spells it out, quite clearly, in Bible prophecy that judgment is determined for America. He spells out the reasons America deserves judgment, the agents who will carry it out, and the time when it will happen. This moment in American history is important to understand. The days ahead are not pretty, they are not “God bless America”. And they are not what most Christians expect. Death, mourning, and famine will soon overtake America, as she is consumed by fire (Rev 13:9-10; 18:8). The destruction will come at the hands of the 8^th beast, a “ten horn” Arab-Islamic alliance. They will “burn America with fire, and eat her flesh” (Rev 17:11-14).

As Jesus said to his disciples at his arrest, It must happen this way! God has determined it. Do you believe the precise and incredible prophecies of God concerning America? Or do you believe that America is too great to ever fall from its zenith of world power?  Whatever God says He will do, count on it happening. Perhaps it is time to quit praying for repentance in America and start preparing for judgment.

Ten Horns, Twice

A vision of ten horns takes the center stage in prophecy, not just once, but two different times. The first time is in Daniel 7, in a vision of five beast nations. The second occurrence is in Revelation 17, portraying an eighth beast that will dominate at the very end of the age.  

Let’s make it clear at the outset, the two images of ten horns are not portraying the same thing. Although the ten horns signify ten nations in both cases, the two prophecies are clearly describing two different things. They are distinctively unique. This is important to understand, because sometimes the imagery in Daniel’s prophecies is reiterated in Revelation. But not the ten horns.

Daniel records the first prophetic vision that includes ten horns. He saw four beasts – a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a terrifying beast. Each beast represented a specific nation – Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. On the head of the fourth beast there were ten horns. They took center stage for only a brief moment, though, because a little horn grew up in their midst, and that horn upstaged the ten horns and took on a character that dramatically captured Daniel’s curiosity. The ten horns represent ten nations that arose out of the Roman empire when it finally collapsed (Dan 7:24). As history unfolded, some one thousand years later, people from these old-Roman nations migrated to the New World in significant numbers. Eventually, America flexed its muscle and became an independent nation. In the process it had to defeat three of the original horns (Dan 7:24) -- England, France, and Spain. What began as a puny, little, fledgling horn in the vision grew to become a boastful, arrogant, oppressive, powerful, and violent empire (Dan 7:25; Rev 13:5-7).

History is always the best interpreter of prophecy, and in the case of Daniel’s vision the interpretation is pretty clear now. There is no need to speculate or conjecture what the ten horns or the little horn represent. The little horn is not a vision of Antichrist as many would suggest, even though it is portrayed with eyes like a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. We know the little horn represents a nation because when it is destroyed it is compared with the destruction of the other four beasts, all of them nations. (Dan 7:11-12). The little horn is even referred to as another “beast” (Dan 7:11), a fifth nation in Daniel’s vision. America, the boastful and oppressive little horn, is likewise the seventh head of the beast in Revelation 13. The lion, bear, and leopard are also heads of that beast (corresponding with the Daniel 7 beasts), specifically heads number three, four and five. Beast nation number six was Rome (cf Rev 17:10) and numbers one and two, if you’re curious, were Egypt and Assyria.

The second prophecy of ten horns occurs in Revelation 17. Actually, it first appears in the Revelation 13 vision of a beast with seven heads and ten horns, but the ten horns are not elaborated until chapter 17. A cryptic statement about the seven heads confirms that the seven-headed beast represents seven nations, not Antichrist. “They are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come” (Rev 17:10). At the time of John’s writing Rome was the empire on the scene, and America had not yet come. But then the prophecy goes on to describe an eighth beast that would supplant the seventh beast and receive authority for just “one hour”. The ten horns in the vision of the beast represent ten kings who will give their authority to the beast (Rev 17:12). They are ten Arab-Islamic kingdoms that will unite under one Caliph-Mahdi at the end of the age to become the last beast empire. The leader of that Arab-Islamic army is identified elsewhere in Biblical prophecy as Gog (Ez 38 and 39) and the man of lawlessness (II Thes 2).

Another little cryptic phrase in the prophecy helps to determine that the eighth beast is indeed an Arab-Islamic alliance.  “The beast who once was, and now is not, and yet will come, is an eighth king” (Rev 17:8,11). The Arabs were always a thorn in the side of the Jews, from the time of Jacob and Esau, all through their history in the land of Israel. But at the time of John’s writing the Arabs were not a force to be reckoned with, not at all (“now is not”). But with the rise of Islam, instituted by Muhammad, in the 7^th century, the Arabs rose up again on the world scene, astonishingly so (Rev 17:8). The Arabs’ long-standing hatred for Israel, coupled with their latent Islamic Jihad mission, will boil over when Armageddon unfolds. That is the message of the ten horns in the Revelation 17 prophecy.

Ten horns, two prophecies. One already fulfilled, for the most part. The other beginning to take shape and dominate the world scene in just the next few years.