RAPTURE A REWARD
By J. BUCHLER
On
the most important question the children of God are divided into at least three
parties holding contradictory views, causing great confusion.
1. - One
Party holds that the Rapture is entirely a matter of grace; therefore,
the new birth carries with it the certainty that all truly born again children
of God will be raptured apart altogether from their spiritual condition or
walk. We will call them the All
Rapture Party.
2. - The
Second Party holds that the Rapture is to take place after the great
tribulation. We will call them the Post-Tribulation
Party.
3. - The
Third Party holds that participation in
the Rapture is a special prize to be awarded to saints who, through
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, are blameless in holiness, or to put it in
more simple language, it is a prize to
be awarded to certain overcomers. We
will call them the Selective Rapture Party.
The
writer, before he was born again, had serious doubts as to whether the Bible
was really the revelation of the Creator of Heaven and earth, or simply a human
invention, and one of many such religious inventions. So he approached the subject in this way:- Supposing I accept Christ and become a Christian and
in the end it turns out that I followed a myth, what is the position? I concluded that if I did, I would at
least have lived a healthy, clean and transparent life and followed all that
was good, noble and honourable and have been a blessing to others. On the other hand, supposing I were to refuse
to become a Christian and in the end I discovered the Bible to be true, what
would the position then be? I would have
had the enjoyment of the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb. 11: 25) - though even this is questionable,
for to indulge in selfishness in the end destroys the very capacity for
enjoyment - and then? - Suffering, remorse, darkness, despair and eternal loss.
This method of reasoning induced me to
put the Bible to a practical test and led me to a satisfying and happy
knowledge of God and Christ, which is eternal life (John
17: 3).
Let
us now use this method in considering the teaching of each party in turn and
inquire what the position would be if its views in the end prove to be wrong.
1. - Suppose the All Rapture Party's
views are wrong and only those who are blameless in holiness are raptured, what
has been the effect of this teaching - that everyone born again is safe for the
rapture? It has lulled its followers into a false security resulting in their
losing the prize; they are plunged into darkness and despair, and have in this
condition to face the great tribulation, while their teachers will have to meet
the reproaches and reprobation of their deceived followers.
2. - Supposing the views of the Post
Tribulation Party are wrong, what is the position? First of all, they have not looked for the
coming of the Lord, but for the great tribulation - for
they were told that the Rapture was only to take place after
the tribulation is past - therefore, if they are wrong, and He comes before
that event, the coming of Christ will be to them entirely unexpected, and will
overtake them by surprise - like a thief in the night (1
Thess. 5: 2) -
unawares (Luke 21 : 34).
Having made the successful passing through the Great Tribulation a preparation
and condition for the Rapture instead of making blamelessness in holiness the
condition, they will be utterly unprepared, and in this awful condition they
will have to face the Great Tribulation!
3. - Let us now inquire as to what
the position would be if the views of the Selective Rapture Party are wrong. This party has taught that only those who are
blameless in holiness will be raptured. Well,
suppose they are wrong, what damage have its followers suffered? None at all! For, apart altogether from the question of the
Rapture, God says: "Be holy, for I am holy"
(1 Pet. 1: 16), and "This is the will of God, even your sanctification"
(1 Thess. 4: 3),
and "Follow peace with all men and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb.
12: 14).
So
if this Selective Rapture Party be wrong in having
taught that blamelessness in holiness is the condition for participation in the
Rapture, it has, after all, only taught what God has commanded, and its
followers have received no hurt whatsoever, only blessing. Further, supposing this third party's views be
wrong, what harm could their teaching making blamelessness in holiness a
condition of rapture - have done the followers of the All Rapture Party? Supposing they are right (the first party),
and in the end every Christian is unconditionally raptured - none whatever,
seeing that such teaching uses the hope of participation in the Rapture as the
most powerful incentive to a holy life; it would therefore only have helped
them to make their calling and election sure and preserved them from failing (2 Pet. 1: 10), increased their reward and helped
them to a higher place in heaven.
And
what effect would their teaching have had on the followers of the Post
Tribulation Party, supposing they - the Post Tribulation Party are right?
"Blamelessness in holiness" will prove
to have been the very best preparation possible to pass triumphantly through
the Great Tribulation. So they too would
have received no hurt but help and blessing.
But
supposing now the Selective Rapture Party's teaching is Scriptural and
participation in the Rapture is the prize to be awarded to the overcomers who
are blameless in holiness? Then the
first two parties have suffered irrecoverable and incalculable loss. The thoughtful reader will see that the
teaching of the Selective Rapture Party is absolutely safe from every
conceivable point of view, seeing that holiness - as already pointed out - is
in any case binding, apart altogether from the question of the Rapture.
Finally,
let us, with Paul, remember the issue. The
great President of our athletics, who has decreed them, sits on high, waiting;
and He holds the victor's laurel, the unimaginable prize. "Forgetting the
things which are behind, I press on toward the goal unto the prize."
And what is the prize? Paul has just stated;-
"If by any means I may attain unto the
out-resurrection from among the dead." We can so master the present as to create a
future of boundless glory. And what is
the summary? "Let us therefore, as many as be
perfect" - full grown, fully developed - "be thus minded." The golden eternity that is before all the
redeemed is also a
- The Midnight Cry.
-------
To take such promises of reward and glory as are
given to special labour and make them the portion of all believers, however unfaithful to the Lord, is to destroy the power of the promised recompense. God knows our need of the hope of the reward
or He would not have said so much about it in His Word. And Satan knows its practical power when
fully realised, and has therefore struggled to blind the eyes of the children
of God to this doctrine altogether; either mixing it up with salvation or
filling the mind with mock humility that counts it presumption to strive for
the offered crown. The fact that our
strivings being all so mixed
with sin shall be lost amidst the honours that shall grace the saints in that
day of glory.
- The Prophet Digest.