Page 83 - Signs of the End

THE SIGNS OF THE END 47

Signs of the End,
The New Millennium

By Dr. Thomas S. McCall and Zola Levitt

ARE THERE SIGNS OF THE RAPTURE?

For believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no prophecy
more important than the Rapture, because it is the prophecy that
most intimately and urgently affects us. It is the event we are real­
ly looking for, and that stirs our imaginations and our hearts. It
might be fair to say that the Rapture is the whole point of faith in
this life.

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (Titus 2:13)

The key element of the Rapture is that it is imminent, which
means that this prophecy could occur at any moment, and no
prophecy must be fulfilled before the Rapture. Such an expecta­
tion rules out any date setting. The first coming of Christ was on
a strict timetable once Daniel received the revelation of the 70
weeks, and it was fulfilled precisely. When the Tribulation begins,
there will be another strict timetable of seven years until the Lord
returns to reign on the earth. But the length of this age, the Church
age, is indeterminate. There is no precise timetable. We are told to
keep looking and to be ready for the Rapture when the Lord will
come "as a thief in the night." According to 1 Thess. 4 and 1 Cor.
15, several very exciting things will occur. The souls of the dead in
Christ will go with the Lord from heaven to our atmosphere, and
from there they will descend to the earth to recapture their bodies,
which will be changed instantaneously into resurrection bodies
like that of the Lord Jesus.

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption;
it is raised in incorruption: (53) For this corruptible must put
on incorruption . . . (1 Corinthians 15:42,53)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall