LENT: Mar 31 - Revelation 4:1

"After these things I looked, and behold,

a door standing open in heaven.

And the first voice which I heard was

like a trumpet speaking with me, saying,

“Come up here, and I will show you

things which must take place after this.’"

Revelation 4:1

Revelation begins in chapter 1 with John the Apostle being caught up in a vision on the Lord's day.

In chapters 2-3, Jesus commands John to write seven messages to seven churches in Asia (modern day Turkey).

And then the end begins. (In fact, then the new beginning begins! But first there will be terrors and tribulations, earthly disasters and Satanic oppression.) Revelation is scary to contemplate living through.

Now there are a number of faithful and major interpretations of Revelation (and then scores twists and branches from these major themes), but one faithful system of interpretation suggests that true Christians won't have to endure the Tribulation. We will be "raptured" and those who don't believe will be "left behind" for the next seven harrowing years.

Made famous in recent generations by Pastor Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" book series, the Rapture is based on two key pieces of scriptural evidence. 

First, Jesus suggests a reaping or rapturing of the faithful when he returns. He says: "(This) is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore, keep watch..." (Mt 24:39-42)

Second, after the Church was the main earthly character in Revelation 1-3, the Church is not mentioned again in Revelation 4-22. How can it possibly be, many ask, that in the most profound era of human history that there is zero mention of the Church and Christ's followers. Many point back to Matthew 24, believing that "what happens after this" is what happens after the believers have disappeared from the earth (and before the horrors unfold).

One plus one seems to equal two ... but the question is: Where does that occur in the book of Revelation?

Today's verse is the one verse transition between those first three chapters which are filled with the Church and the remaining chapters in which the church seems to have disappeared. Hmmm. Re-read today's verse. There is a trumpet. The only believer whose being addressed (John) is invited to come UP to be with Jesus. (Might this represent what will happen to all believers before the trials and tribulations?) What do you think?

My goal today is to not provide answers, but to help you think.

In Christ's Love,

a guy who thinks more and more

that thinking about this might

matter during our lifetimes!