Waiting for the Trumpet Blast

Will the trumpet sound this week or even within the next month?  At this time that's not something we can say with certainty, but we know this: the LORD will appear at any moment and when we shall see Him, we shall be like Him (1 Jn. 3:2).  All who trust in Christ will be delivered (Jn. 14:1–6; Acts 4:12).  Those who trust in themselves or some other religious figure will not be (Jn. 3:14–18).  Legalists are in as much danger as the lawless, because they are both resting in something other than Christ, but there is equal hope for all.  If Coronavirus and recent developments in Israel have shown us one thing, it's that the door to the Ark is closing fast.

This has been a multi-year journey for all of us, in a way reminiscent of that undertaken by the magi over 2,000 years ago, but the journey is nearing its end.  The trumpet will sound.  The dead in Christ will rise.  Those who are alive and remain will be snatched up to meet the LORD in the air.  These are not suggestions or mere religious interpretations, but unbreakable promises from the God who created the world itself (1 Thess. 4:16–5:3).  His promises are true (Rm. 11:29; 15:8; 2 Cor. 1:20; Rev. 3:14).  That means you can rest in them and trust in them.  God loves His children and His children are those who believe in the Son.

Christians are not promised escape from tribulation.  In fact, we're promised tribulation (Jn. 16:33).  Every generation of disciples has greatly suffered as they labored to bring the good news into the world.  Yet though we are promised tribulation, we are also promised a special escape: escape from the coming wrath (1 Thess. 1:10) and deliverance from the time of trial coming on the whole world (Rev. 3:10).  The wrath and trial to come is often called the Tribulation, the Time of Jacob's Trouble, or Daniel's 70th Week.  It is a period of seven years marked out by God to redeem the Jewish people (Acts 15:14–18; Rm. 11:25–27; Zech. 12:1–13), judge the nations for their division of God's sacred land (Jl. 3:2), and bring all rule in subjection to the Messiah.  It is not a time for the Church, an entity already spiritually redeemed, pictured seated in Heaven (Rev. 4–5) before the first judgments of Daniel's 70th Week commence (Rev. 6).

God has recently given me an open door to share the living hope that I have with several journalists, some of which have already published stories (see here and here), and another which is forthcoming.  For the most part I was accurately reported, and I am grateful for the opportunity.  Of the five persons interviewed in the Washington Post article, four of them appeared to concur that Coronavirus is not all that peculiar, or, at least, not a portent of the end times.  I stood against the grain pointing out that while there have been other pandemics in world history, Coronavirus coincides with signs in the heavens and the general convergence of signs leading us to this unique point in history.

While the world will not end (Ps. 104:5; Eccl. 1:4)—at least not for 1,000 years (Rev. 20–21), and even then only briefly—the world will most certainly change.  In these interviews I was careful to point to this important biblical fact.  The world will not persist in this rebellious state much longer.  We're living on borrowed time, and Coronavirus, in conjunction with the imminent division of the land of Israel and signs in the heavens and signs on the earth, is a powerful portent of the imminent appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ and the sudden onset of the Day of the LORD (1 Thess. 5:2–3).

It's easy for those who don't share our hope to think of us as crazy, but we're standing on the solid ground of Scripture and common sense evidence.  Those who seem crazy are now those walking around oblivious to the fact that the world they knew is collapsing around them.  Global quarantine has never happened before.  Markets are collapsing à la 1929.  The virus is now confirmed in 167 countries, and based on the data currently available, the mortality rate stands at 4.27%.  Governments around the world are suddenly usurping what few rights we have left in unprecedented fashion.  This is a once-in-history type of event and it just so happens to coincide with the convergence of biblical signs, especially as they relate to Israel.  You can't ignore this any longer.

For closing in on three years now, we've speculated what might it mean for the fallen cherub to universally threaten the Church (Rev. 12:3–5).  I think now we know.  Yes indeed.  I think we may have our answer.  While Christians have frequently been persecuted and oppressed, never before has the global Church faced an imminent threat like this.  There is the contagion itself, but there is also massive economic fallout, as well as the political and religious consequences of a worldwide lockdown.  On top of this, Christians are now largely unable to meet corporately.  Hebrews 10:25 sure stands out now more than ever.

Let us be sober-minded like never before, ready to give a defense for the hope that we have, and quick to share the only saving message available for our family, friends, and neighbors: Christ died for our sins and rose again.  If you believe in Him you will be saved, so believe in Him!  There's no point in refusing God's gracious gift of reconciliation any longer.

For these few short days, weeks, and months left, we must continue to watch as servants ready to meet their master, so that when He finally shows, we will be greeted as precious sons and daughters (Lk. 15:17–22; Rm. 8:14–19; 2 Cor. 6:18).

The trumpet will sound.  And then we shall be changed.  We will meet the LORD.

After meeting our LORD in the air we will enter Heaven through a door (Rev. 4) and behold the incomprehensible glory of Almighty God.

Standing before Him in New Jerusalem, surely we will find ourselves falling to our knees.  But the Father will welcome us so tenderly and with full assurance (Eph. 3:12; Heb. 4:16; Rev. 3:21).

The complete redemption of the righteous-through-faith will have begun.  Sons of Adam, now born again into Heaven, are now the sons of God.  Our spiritual eyes will finally see that nothing on earth was ever more pleasurable or beautiful than God.  At His right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11).

And then, confronted with the weight of both God's extravagant grace and His unfathomable power, and aware that judgment must begin on earth, we will look to the only One worthy to finish redeeming the world.

This whole experience will be eternally seared into our memory.  We will never, ever forget.  We trusted in God, and just as He promised, we were not disappointed (Ps. 22:5).

Maranatha, dear brothers and sisters.  And those of you who still don't share our faith: please come with us.  We want you with us.  We genuinely love you.  Come.  Don't be hindered.  Just believe.

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