1997 "…at the last trump…" by G. Stephen Benton
CHAPTER SEVEN: EVERYBODY TALKIN' 'BOUT HEAVEN AIN'T GOIN' THERE!
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE
WHEN THE RAPTURE WILL TAKE PLACE?
That question has been asked of me several times by believers. the prevailing attitude within the Church is that if Jesus is coming, whenever he comes, we're going and that's that! The Church has adopted that attitude because for centuries it has la bored under the impression that initial salvation qualifies one for automatic entry into heaven. That is not the case. Israel was under the same impression after they were saved out of the land of Egypt. Because God promised Canaan to Abraham centuries before Israel became a nation, those who came out of Egypt accepted the land of Canaan as a given. Under Moses, the nation reached Canaan a little over a year after their departure from Egypt. But en route to Canaan, they continually tempted God by not believing his word. They had what God called "an evil heart of unbelief."
The writer to the Hebrews admonished his readers not to emulate the actions of Israel with the following words: "Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
"When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.)" Heb. 3:7-11
The word to-day appears five times in the third and fourth chapters of Hebrews. Whenever God repeats himself, he should be listened to with undivided attention. In the scripture, the "To-day" refers to a period of time when the grace of God is being extended. God expects his word to be believed when it is heard. In this case, he limits the time for his word to be believed. God is patient and gracious, full of mercy and slow to anger. But he can be provoked beyond measure. That's what Israel had done to God. Every time God attempted to prove them, they turned the tables on God and put him on trial. He indicted that congregation because they saw his works but never cam to know his ways. God accused the people of having an unbelieving heart. God has the power to save to the utmost. There is not one sin that you or I can commit that goes beyond God's saving ability except the sin of unbelief. God's hands of deliverance are tied when he is dealing with someone who does not believe his word.
In the tenth chapter of Romans Paul showed that faith in God is accomplished in the life of an individual if that person hears the word of the Lord. Further, in the letter to the Hebrews we are told that "without faith it is impossible to please God." Throughout history, God has been searching for the rare individual who will believe his word without accompanying signs. Because today's Church does not have an ear to hear the voice of the Spirit, it has little or no faith! Because it has very little faith, it is constantly looking for God to prove his word with a display of signs. God initiated signs as an aid for unbelief. Once it has been established that God is faithful to his spoken and written word, signs should no longer be necessary for believers.
The message announcing the day of the Rapture is essentially a sign-less message because God has provided an abundance of scripture announcing the day of his appearing. Those signs covered earlier are gracious confirmations but they are meaningless without the scriptural foundation that allows us to know the day. But because the message has been given to a Church Age who no longer has an ear to hear what the Spirit has to say to it, much of the so-called believing church will stumble at this message and lose the opportunity to be with the Lord forever! Mind you, the Church has no problem with the fact of his coming, the gagging part of the message is God's announcement of the day. Hearing God's word is the ultimate duty and responsibility of every saint but this present Church Age has turned a deaf ear to the word of God. By doing so, it has caused Christ to leave the sanctuary and take a position outside the door.:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Rev. 3:20
That text has often been preached as an evangelistic text tailored to the saving of sinners. That passage is addressed to the last days' Church Age, the one we are living in right now! Jesus has moved out of today's Church. He is knocking at its door in search of those within who will come out and hear his voice. The reason Jesus left his Church was because his voice was being ignored by those who profess to be called by his name. For the same reason Jesus said he would "spue" this Church out of his mouth. Today's Church must come to the realization that it is in the same situation today that Israel was in when that nation approached Canaan.
Israel believed that their entry into Canaan was automatic ad the Church today believes the same regarding its entry into heaven. Paul warned the Church against making the same error Israel made: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." I Cor.10:1-6, 11
Paul used the word all five times. His objective is to over-emphasize that Israel was saved with a common salvation. Just what does that mean? There are many religions in the world and each of their individual members believes that theirs is the right religion. But in truth, God ordained only one religion, the one given to Israel. God has recognized only one group of people as his people: the nation of Israel. God never made a covenant with any other nation except Israel. If anyone had a right to claim that their religion is acceptable to God, the Israelites could. Yet, in spite of the fact that the entire nation was saved by the blood of the lamb in Egypt, they did not make it into the promised land. The children of Israel were not kept out of Canaan because of sin, they were barred because of their unbelief.
Israel's character ever since they were delivered had been one of murmuring and complaining. They had a history of not believing God. They provoked, tried, and proved God every time he opened his mouth. They were stiff-necked and rebellious. God endured their rebelliousness until they reached the border of the promised land. There, God did the unimaginable, he gave them a faith hurdle that he knew they would not jump and those who did not jump that hurdle did not enter Canaan. In this final Church Age, God has presented a faith hurdle for this Church to leap. The hurdle is the announcement of the Day of his coming. That announcement has come forth against the backdrop of "no man knoweth."
Those in the visible Church who do not belong to Christ are going to reject the message. They will rely on their past salvation experience to take them to heaven. However, God is making it quite clear that yesterday's faith is insufficient in meeting the promises of God for today. No believer will be kept out of heaven because of sin. Your sins and my sins were paid for in full at Calvary. Since dying on the cross almost 2,000 years ago, Christ has never offered himself again as a sin offering for this world. Those of you who placed your faith in the efficacy of the blood of Jesus received remission of all of your sins, past, present and future. While Jesus will not keep anyone out of heaven because of sin, he will keep this Church Age out because of unbelief! We are told to labor to enter into the rest of God. The Church has been preaching a message of works for a long time. Works do not work where salvation is concerned. The only work we can do to be saved is to work to enter by resting in the faith of the completed work of the cross. Any works of righteousness that we do after we are saved are works performed because we are saved; works motivated by our love for God and prompted by the Holy Spirit within us. Those works will receive a reward in heaven but they are useless in gaining entry into heaven.
Israel did not believe Daniel when he told them that they would be released from captivity in about two or three years. When the time came to leave Babylon, only 43,260 Jews left! Many remained behind because of unbelief. Others had become satisfied with life in Babylon in much the same way that many professing Christians today are satisfied with life down here on the earth. Over five hundred years after Israel came out of Babylon, John the Baptist came preaching about the kingdom of heaven as we referred to earlier saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus preached the same message. The Jews rejected the kingdom message because it did not mesh with their worldly plans. Their rejection of the message and the kingdom broke Jesus' heart. Before his death, he wept over Jerusalem because it did not know the time of its visitation. The offer of the kingdom to the Jews was postponed and God instituted the Church.
Once God reveals the time of his appearing it is time then for the Church to make its calling and election sure. When Daniel discovered the time of their deliverance from Babylon, he began praying and taking care of spiritual business above everything else. Hebrews 9:28 tells us that Christ will appear a second time "to those who look for him." Understand that going to heaven in the Rapture is not an automatic departure, it will be accomplished by believing the message of when he will come and then adjusting your life in eager anticipation of his arrival. When you go on vacation you do not prepare to go on the day of the departure. You save money, buy clothes for the trip, make travel arrangements, arrange for a house sitter to tend to the animals, plants, mail, etc. Much planning is involved. You don't just buy an airline ticket and forget all about the day.
So it is with the Rapture. When God swore in his wrath that Israel would not enter into his rest, he wasn't just talking about the promised land, he was talking about eternal life also. Joshua led their children into Canaan but the scriptures state plainly that Joshua did not give them rest:
"For if Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore, a rest to the people of God." Heb. 4:8&9
We can learn much from the world itself in our effort to understand the importance of knowing the times of the end. In professional basketball and football games there is a "two minute" announcement near the end of the game. At that time both the losing and winning teams make major adjustments in the game. In essence, the strategy of the game becomes paramount in the last two minutes. So should it be with the Church. Some things should automatically cease to be important as we head into the final stretch. This is the time when the Church should "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." (Heb. 12:10)
The balance of that message admonishes us to take on the mind of Christ and lay hold to salvation. In Israel, as the Jubile year grew closer the value of the property decreased. If an individual were to sell his property, he was restricted from charging as much for the land as he could if the Jubile year was many years away. Conversely, the further away the Jubile year was, the higher the price of the property. Because the Church is so close to its "jubilee" all earthly possessions should now be at their lowest value and continue to be so until we are taken out of here. (Lev. 25:51) One can immediately see the vast difference in the attitude of the members of the Church today by comparing it with the initial members of the Church in 31 AD. They, not knowing the date of his appearing, sold their houses, land and possessions. This Church age is so attached to this world that it cannot let its earthly treasures go, not even for a few months. Its heart is earth-bound because its treasures are here. Why would a Church who is rich and in need of nothing even want to go to be with the Lord?
Actually, there have always been two churches: the visible Church (the one recognized by the world,) and the invisible Church (the one recognized by God as his own true Church.) The invisible Church is actually much smaller than the visible Church. many will be surprised to find that they are not going to be taken in the Rapture because they do not belong to Christ and are not members of the invisible Church.
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