Three Views of the Rapture, Part 1

The Fact of the Rature

First, we must look at the fact of the Rapture. Many have argued, rightfully so, that the word Rapture is not even found in the Bible. Well, neither is the word trinity or grandfather, but no one is in doubt as to there existence. So that argument simply does not hold any water in the discussion of the subject at hand.

While the word Rapture does not exist in our English Bible, the Greek word “harpazo” does. We find this word in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 were it says, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” The word for “caught” in verse 17 is the Greek word “harpazo” with means to seize, catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force). [1]

We also see the fact of the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 were it says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

There are also places in Scripture were we see foreshadows of the Rapture in the Old Testament. The first of which is in the “taking” of Enoch in Genesis 5:24. The Bible says that “…Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

Enoch was quite literally raptured because of his unique relationship with his God. God decided to transport Enoch directly to Heaven without first having him taste death. This same thing will happen to all of those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ one day because of our special relationship with God.

We see it again in the life of the prophet, Elijah. The Bible tells us in 2 Kings 2:11-12, “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.”

So, we too as children of God have a unique place in God’s economy and one day He will come back and take us home with Him. It was a promise that He made in John 14:2-3 when He said, “In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

These instances are a foreshadowing of a yet future event when millions of Christians will suddenly and seemingly without notice be caught away into Heaven without every tasting death. This event is called the Rapture.

[1] Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.

Still Here

Wow! I thought that the wind would never stop blowing. It started Wednesday morning around 2:00am and stopped last night around midnight. There are trees all over the place here in Rancho Viejo. I got a chance to run to the store this morning. We just got our electricity back about an hour ago. We still have no cell phones for some reason. So, if you're trying to call us, leave a message or shot me an email.

God bless each of you and I truly to appreciate your prayers.

Storm Update

Jannett and I have received numerous call from friends and family that are worried about us with Hurricane Dolly knocking on our front door down here in South Texas. So far, things are just fine. The missions teams from Andrews and Corpus Christi opted not to go back into Mexico and wait it out at Borderland and are doing fine. They probably will not be able to return to Mexico until at least Thursday I would suspect.

The weather service is not projecting the storm to reach higher than a Category 2 at this point. I think that our biggest problem will be the continuous rain that they are expecting over the next three days. It will be especially tough on our brothers in Mexico. Please keep them in your prayers.

God bless each of you!

Good Works

Last week, we left off discussing Galatians 1:6-7 which says, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” Grace is “unmerited favor.” However, we have a tendency to corrupt everything. And with grace, the Bible addresses two problems that we as sinful humans introduce. First, we tend to abuse it. I’ve heard people say, “If I'm saved by grace, not by my works, then I can sin all I want!" No, it does not work that way. Those are teachings of the ungodly. Jude said in Jude 4 “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Second, we tend to think that we must perform religious rituals and obey rules and regulations in order to be deserving of it. In the New Testament, men who thought this way were called Judaizers. These men taught that faith in Christ was not sufficient in itself, but that one must keep the Law of Moses and be circumcised. They believed in salvation in Jesus Christ, but taught that the Law must be kept as well to maintain it.

That attitude is still very common in the church today. Judgments are made against people who enter the doors of the church all the time. "Look at him - he needs a haircut!” “Look at her – she needs to learn how to dress!” Hey! I thought that grace was undeserved? It is not that we take the first few steps, and then God jumps in. It is that God is the initiator. Just look in the Garden of Eden at the fall of Adam and Eve. God had to seek reconciliation with Adam. Instead of coming to God and saying, “I’m sorry”, Adam hid himself.

And so the message of the Judaizers was very dangerous. It was not the gospel. It was a different gospel. And today, too many are preaching a similar gospel - which is really no gospel at all. It is a message of good works to earn salvation, good works to deserve salvation, and good works to keep salvation.

Grace Abuse

Let’s pick up our study in Galatians 1:4 where it says of Jesus: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:” The bottom line is that God allowed His only Son to be killed so that we could be delivered out of this present evil age. All around us, the world is going to Hell. I.e. murders and massacres, child abuse and drug abuse, witchcraft and Satanism, alcoholism and AIDS. This world that we live in has been, and will continue to become, more and more evil, but the good news is that God's grace is offered to us to deliver us from this. The question is, “Will you accept it?”

Notice v.5 which says, “To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Paul writes, "to God be the glory." We can’t take any of the credit. There was nothing that we did to qualify us for salvation.

Notice vv.6-7, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” Remember that grace is God's unmerited favor upon us. It is the fact that God: a. loved us when we despised Him; b. adopted us as His children anyway; c. sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins before we even knew we had sins; d. gave us everything when we deserved nothing (Romans 5:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 5:6)!

However, as human beings we have a tendency to corrupt everything. And with grace, the Bible addresses two problems that we as sinful humans introduce. First, we tend to abuse grace. I’ve heard people say, “If I'm saved by grace, not by my works, then I can sin all I want!" No, it does not work that way, my friend. Those are teachings of the ungodly. Jude said in Jude 4 “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” We will discuss the second problem next week which is that we tend to want to maintain it by works or good deeds.

A Fond Farewell

After serving the people of Borderland Calvary Chapel for ten years, it is now time for me to step aside and follow the Lord’s bidding to my next assignment. It’s hard to believe that it has actually been ten years, but it has. We arrived in San Benito, Texas in March of 1998. My boys who are now 13 and 14 years old were then only 3 and 4. They have grown up in San Benito and it’s all they know. They have no memories of their birthplace and my home in Greenville, South Carolina or of our time spent on the mission field as a family in Zacapa, Guatemala. San Benito has become our home.

As a family, San Benito has been very good to us. We have watched our boys grow and had the privilege of being a part of this community. We have also met many people whom we will never forget. You know who you are and you will be missed tremendously. I know that the Lord had and has a reason for our getting to know one another.

As for the next step, we are still seeking the Lord’s will in that one. He has graciously laid out before us several opportunities that range from South America to both coasts of the United States. We are following through with each of them and know that He will make His will perfectly known to us before it is over. Yes, sometimes I wish that He would just text me or give me a call that would make the decision much easier and faster, but that is not the way God works with His children. It’s also the greatest and sometimes the toughest part of following the Lord. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” God requires us to live by faith. No exceptions.

I’m also reminded of what God told Abraham in Genesis 12:1 when He said, “…Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.” In other words, God’s requirement for Abraham was for him to “get out” before He would reveal to him where He would have him to go. That takes faith; which is exactly what God is looking for and expects from all of us. So, please keep my family and I in your prayers as we too step out for a “land” that we know that He will show us.

For those of you who want to keep up with us, you can visit my new website at www.dwaynespearman.org to get the latest information, keep up with my articles, teachings and other happenings in our lives. We would also love to hear from you as well and how we can continue pray for you and your family.

Also, please keep Pastor Greg Rangel and his family in your prayers as they step in to take over Borderland Calvary Chapel and take it into the future. I have every confidence that God has called him and his family to do this and will provide for him just as he provided for me. I encourage the people of Borderland to support and love him as they have me for the past ten years and I know that God will continue to bless.

I would also encourage you, the reader, to check out what the Lord is doing at Borderland Calvary Chapel. Pastor Greg is fluent in Spanish and has started a 9:00am Spanish service followed by the 11:00am English service. In that way, your entire family can be ministered to. Take the time to check it out. I know that you will be blessed! He too will teach the Word of God chapter by chapter and verse by verse which has become the trademark of all Calvary Chapels. The vision will also continue with San Benito Christian Academy now accepting K3 to K5 for the 2008/2009 school year.

With that, I bid you a fond farewell and leave you with the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:11, “Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

CC Coastlands

I had the opportunity to teach at Calvary Chapel of the Coastlands in Corpus Christi, Texas the other night. My topic was "Hearing the Voice of God." Check it out and be blessed!

Thanks!

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone of you who have lifted up prayers on our behalf. As most of you already know, I resigned as Senior Pastor from Borderland Calvary Chapel on July 1st. My last day will be on August 3rd. We have served that body of believers for the past ten years. During that time, God has indeed truly blessed us and done so many wonderful things through that ministry. God raised up a body of believers that it has truly been a pleasure to serve. Of course, as most of you that are close to me are very aware, it has not always been a walk in the park! The old Devil was not always so pleased with our progress. However, I believe that God's will has always prevailed.

Pastor Greg Rangel stepped in on July 1 and I know that he will do an awesome job. He truly has a beautiful family and a heart for ministry. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

We have had several opportunities to consider as our next step. Thus far we have "ran" most of them down but we just don't see God leading us in those directions yet.

Please keep us in your prayers and we will update you as soon as the Lord "parks" us somewhere.