What does Jesus mean by being "ready" for Rapture?

[com7fy8]

Jesus says,

"'Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.'" (Luke 12:40)

I would say that in order to be ready for an event, we need to have in us now what we will need to have during the event. If you want to be ready for a football game, you now need to develop the character and skills and ways of relating and strategy which you will need during the football game.

So, how will we need to be, in the Rapture? I would say now is our time to seek our Father to change us so we will be how He will want us to be in the Rapture. And Jesus says it is blessed to be >

poor in spirit

meek

merciful

pure in heart

He says this in His Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:3-10. So, I would say that, right at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus already was thinking of how we need to become so we are "ready" for Rapture.

And how Jesus is is pleasing to our Father. So, then, I would say this all means to become how Jesus is, so that we are pleasing to our Father, in the Rapture, the way Jesus is so pleasing to our Heavenly Father. And I think our Apostle Peter is talking about this, where he says >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

This has to do with how to be now, so we are ready to reap this in the Rapture.

 

[Eloy Craft]

Ready to die. Out of the body is with the Lord.

 

[3 Resurrections]

None of those options really are on target for the warning Jesus gave His audience. For the ones Jesus was addressing, it meant for them to watch with prayer, so they would notice when Jerusalem was first surrounded by armies. When that happened, they were to immediately drop everything and flee Judea and / or Jerusalem, heading for the mountains to escape the coming Great Tribulation events which would plague Judea and Jerusalem. This is the same reason why John's vision in Revelation 18:4 warned the believers, "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partaker of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (speaking of Babylon, which was Old Jerusalem).

What they were to be ready for was a flight out of the country and the city, hopefully not in winter, and hopefully not on the Sabbath, when the gates would have been locked against their escape.

 

[com7fy8]

For the ones Jesus was addressing, it meant for them to watch with prayer, so they would notice when Jerusalem was first surrounded by armies.

But He said it along with saying the Son of Man will come when not expected. So, from this I would say He means to be ready for Him to come back, and He did not return when the Roman army attacked Jerusalem.

In any case, the intended question is, How do we need to be ready for the return of Jesus so we are ready for the Rapture?

You are welcome to comment on this question, about how to be "ready" for Jesus to come back.

Someone can watch but not be ready. Ones can point to events of history, but this does not mean we are ready. Those ten virgins had lamps which needed something in them, so they would be ready.

So, I see from that how we need what God wants to be within us . . . and this in our character.

So, what have you been getting about this, if you please?

 

[JulieB67]

He lays out everything in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 about what will transpire and it's the generation that sees those "signs:" that will not die out. Naturally we know that Christ has not returned. But he says if someone were to say, there is Christ or there is Christ, believe it "not". He also gives warnings to not be deceived, later on Paul doing the same.

But to be "ready" is to know those signs, to know that many will come in his name, claiming to be Christ. Paul says our gathering back to him will not happen until the falling away (apostasy) and the man of sin be revealed sitting on the throne proclaiming to be God.

We know from Revelation that most of the world will wonder after him this entity (Satan disguised as an angel of light) Paul says people will be thinking peace and safety (because they believe Christ has returned) and that's why Christ says he comes at an hour most do not expect. That's because most will think he's already here. But then sudden destruction/God's wrath when the true Christ returns.

 

[com7fy8]

But he says if someone were to say, there is Christ or there is Christ, believe it "not".

I think this is a good point. In order to stay ready for Jesus, we need to know God's word and the real Jesus, so we are not fooled by fakes.

Thank you

 

[Eloy Craft]

So, I see from that how we need what God wants to be within us . . . and this in our character.

That reminds me that what doesn't produce fruit will be cut off and burnt..

 

[3 Resurrections]

In any case, the intended question is, How do we need to be ready for the return of Jesus so we are ready for the Rapture?

You are welcome to comment on this question, about how to be "ready" for Jesus to come back.

Neither you nor I have liberty to interpret this "ready" status in any other way besides the manner in which Christ told His audience to be prepared for the rapture at His return, and for the "beginning of sorrows" and the "Great Tribulation" which would immediately precede that return, according to Matthew 24:29-30. Christ wanted His living saints to flee immediately OUT of Judea and OUT of Jerusalem before any of those things occurred. The believers were to flee from those locations, before Christ returned to the Mount of Olives to gather all His resurrected saints and "receive them unto Himself, so that where He was, there they could be also."

As Christ's disciples saw those days approaching with the "beginning of sorrows", they were not to be overburdened with riches, cares of this life, even of unnecessarily entering marriage relationships because of the stress of the times, as Paul warned his first-century readers in 1 Corinthians 7:29. "But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world is passing away."

The "rapture" was never intended to remove believers from this planet unless they had DIED prior to that point. If they had died as faithful martyrs under persecution before that point, so much the better, since they would be included in that rapture event and given the "crown of life". This "rapture" event is history, ever since the end of the 1,335th day, which happened to fall in AD 70 on that year's Pentecost Day - 45 days into the Roman siege by Titus.

We know from casualty record lists compared to the AD 66 Passover census coming from this period (from AD 66 until the close of the AD 70 Roman siege) that around 1-1/4 million people had heeded Christ's warning to flee from Judea and Jerusalem after they had first seen Jerusalem surrounded by armies in late AD 66. Those absent 1/1/4 million people knew something about Christ's soon-coming return in that generation that today's Christians do not.

As far as being prepared for Christ's next return in the future, you and I as believers will also receive our rewards then at the next judgment seat: which will be either more or less according to our faithfulness as children of God. Personally, I am trying not to build upon Christ's foundation anything that resembles "wood, hay, or stubble". But you and I will have long since returned to dust before Christ's next return arrives.

The "rapture" promise is not for us; it was for the first-century generation of believers who had died, when Christ came to resurrect and gather His saints, and then left the Mount of Olives to return to heaven with them.

 

[3 Resurrections]

The warning about not being deceived by charlatans claiming to be the prophesied Messiah is linked in time with Daniel 9:25's prophecy about the particular year "Messiah the Prince" would be manifested. The Jews knew very well that the year Daniel was speaking of was the AD 30 year - the end of the 69th week of Daniel's prophecy. This is why they sent a delegation to John that year to ask if he were that prophesied Messiah (John 1:19-28).

The Jews were looking for a militant-type of deliverer. They were not really interested in Christ the Messiah's message of repentance and being "born again" to enter a spiritual kingdom. So they went about trying in vain to find or create their own fulfillment of that "Messiah the Prince" as a military-type leader. The Zealots were especially invested in this idea of one of their own leaders becoming that "Messiah the Prince" by promoting many "false Christs" as contenders for the role.

What was critical was the timing of presenting those "false Christs". They had to rise to power as close to the prophesied year of AD 30 as possible, in order for their deception to be believed by the people. They could cheat a little bit on the AD 30 year, but not by much, or their deception would have been found out.

This dates the revelation of those "false Christs" to that first-century generation, NOT in our own time, which is almost 2,000 years removed from the year Daniel prophesied for when "Messiah the Prince" would come on the scene.

We have the record in Acts 21:38 of one of these "false Christs" appearing in the wilderness with a group of 4,000 murderers. Josephus also makes mention of this Egyptian and other Zealot leaders going into the wilderness, deluding many to follow them. (Antiq. 20.8.6).

The warning Christ gave His disciples was also to disregard those who spoke of the Messiah appearing in the "secret chambers". This was a very specific location inside Herod's temple. Called the "chamber of secrets", this was a repository for anonymous donations, which were to be anonymously given at certain intervals to the poor. Another chamber was for anonymous donations of vessels given for the temple's upkeep.

That means these "false Christs" would be appearing on the scene while Herod's temple was still standing, with its "secret chambers" still in operation.

 

[trophy33]

And the right answer is missing in the poll - to do God's work so that He will not find His servants sleeping and useless.