Foreboding

 

I have a great sense of foreboding in my heart as we draw ever closer to the end of the age. It is not a sense of anxiety, or fear. It is more of a reality-check, a deep sense of trouble on the horizon, evoking a desire to prepare my heart and mind to trust God like never before.

Jesus had no sooner left the earth and ascended to Heaven when two angels told the onlookers to anticipate His return to earth a second time (Acts 1:10-11). The disciples were probably delighted with the thought that Jesus would soon return. They were clueless how important that statement of hope would become. They could not see beyond the mountain-top experience what was going to happen as they set about to fulfill the mission that Jesus gave them -- suffering, opposition, persecution, even martyrdom.

Christians, particularly in America, look forward to the return of Jesus in two stages – first to rapture the church before the Great Tribulation, then again at the end of the tribulation. This pre-tribulation rapture teaching has been around for nearly 200 years now, and has become deeply entrenched in what is expected at the end of the age. The Christians will be gloriously and blissfully raptured before the Antichrist rules for seven years. And all the people left on earth are the ones who will suffer the judgments prophesied in Revelation.

This pre-tribulation rapture view of how the end of the age will play out for Christians is like a trip to Disneyland. You buy a three-day pass and spend your days on ride after ride, amusement upon amusement. You spend your nights at a comfy motel, and your evenings around a campfire at Huntington Beach. You save the biggest and greatest ride, the Rapture, for the final afternoon of the third day. It is the final thrill of a leisurely vacation, a ride into the sky.

What if the end of the age will be more like the sinking of the Titanic, rather than a trip to Disneyland? We all think that America will never be displaced as the ultimate world power, certainly not destroyed like Biblical prophecy foretells (Rev 17:16; Dan 7:11). We cannot imagine our democracy unraveling, or the US economy completely failing, or life without electricity, or grocery shelves barren and empty. Remember this, the Titanic was the greatest ship ever built. It was indestructible, it would never sink.

Like the people on the Titanic, the realization will sneak up on Christians of America that the ship is listing. When the rescue boats begin to deploy the cold hard truth will be impossible to deny. The party is over. We are going to spend some treacherous time in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. We will find ourselves calling out for rescue, hoping for a savior to appear.

I think that the Blessed Hope has much more meaning when it is understood as a dreadful and faithful call for rescue from a sinking ship. That is what is revealed in the teaching of Jesus in the Olivet discourse (Mt 24) and in the prophecies of Revelation. But that is not what you will hear from the lips of teachers and preachers in America. They want you to put your hope in the Rapture Ride at Disneyland.

The return of Jesus is right at the door. Are you ready for the unexpected?