Left Behind?    

    Someone sent me today a web link that was a video of a pastor preaching and talking about the second coming he talked about how it could happen right now.  This month this week or even right at this moment all of a sudden the church is empty the pastor is gone and a small percentage of the congregation is left looking around wondering what happened.  This kind of teaching may seem compelling.  Planes falling out of the sky, car accidents, poor people left behind wondering what happened.  
    The Main problem that I see with this perspective, it is nowhere taught in Scripture it is a speculation based upon a misunderstanding of the idea of Christ’s coming being a thief in the night.  If we look at the idea of the thief in the night as taught in the Scriptures the warning is vastly different than our common understanding of it.  This is true in Matthew 24:42 were Jesus says, “therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this: if the owner of the house had known what time of the night the thief was coming he would’ve kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”  
    What is the point? If we are not watching we will be caught off guard notice Jesus says to watch.  But if the rapture happens the way this video presents what are we to watch for?  The exhortation here takes us back to verse 32 watching means that we are watching for the signs that Jesus has given to us, or we will be caught off  guard.  Jesus tells his disciples, verse 32 “now learn the lesson from the fig tree: as soon as his twigs get tender and his leaves come out you know that summer is near.  Even so when you see all these things, you know that it is near right at the door.”  When Jesus says “even so when you see all these things” he is talking about the signs that he is given to his disciples that refer to the signs of the second coming.  The watching is watching for the signs.  
    The signs are very clear they begin in verse four Matthew 24 they are watching that no one deceives us with a claim of being the Christ.  A person who is not watching his life and does not know his Bible will probably be caught off guard by the claims of a false Christ or a false prophet.  We are to watch the political situation in the world and not be surprised when nations rise against nations and kingdom against kingdom.  We are to watch and note the occurrences of natural disasters Jesus specifically mentions famines and earthquakes.  When we see all these things happening we should know that we are getting closer to the end.   Jesus describes these as the beginning of birth pains.  That means we should not be surprised when the number of false Christ’s wars famines earthquakes increase Jesus said they would and we should be watching for these things.  
    Jesus in verse 14 tells us another thing that we are to look for before he comes back.  He says, “and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole earth as a testimony to all people and then the and shall come” Jesus is telling us that we are to look for the completion of the great commission.  Watching  means being involved in the great commission sharing our faith trying to win as many as possible before Christ comes back.  Knowing that Christ is not coming back until we are finished with the task that Christ is a sign to us.  It is clear Jesus says that once the gospel of the kingdom has been preached then, the end shall come.  “The end” of course means the end of this age which is brought about by the coming of Christ.
    Watching also means looking for the coming of the Antichrist in verse 15 Jesus tells us, “so when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel let the reader understand-then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Jesus is telling us here to watch for the abomination that causes desolation this is the coming of the Antichrist.  We are to watch for the coming of the Antichrist and be ready for the worst period of tribulation that the church has ever faced.  
    In fact Paul says the same thing in second Thessalonians Chapter 2, “concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter suppose it to have come from us saying that the day of the Lord has already come.  Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way  for that day  will not come until the rebellion occurs and a man of lawlessness is revealed (the Antichrist).”  Paul is clearly saying that the second coming and the rapture will not occur until two events happened one the great apostasy and two the coming of the Antichrist.  Why would Paul tell the Thessalonians this if they were to expect at any moment rapture of the church?
    I believe one of the main problems, with the left behind perspective, is that it teaches a shallow discipleship.  It’s about making a commitment to Christ not about being a radical Christ follower.  The perspective of watching is the idea of living in light of Christ’s second coming and this is radical discipleship.  In second John 2Jo 1:8, John says “ Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.”  John is telling us to live cautiously to live circumspectly in light of the coming of Christ.  To make sure that there is nothing deficient in our Christian lives.  The idea of watching is a call to follow Jesus and to live for him.  Don’t be taken in by fanciful left behind teaching instead prepare yourself watch your life and be a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

Blessings pastor Wenner.