When something is about to happen, or could happen at any moment, we call it imminent. In 1972, I watched the implosion of an eleven story hotel in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I had a birds-eye view of the event from another office building just a few blocks away. I can still remember thinking of how I needed to stay focused on the doomed building so that I would see the impact of the first of many blasts that would reduce the old wood and brick structure to a pile of unrecognizable rubble in a matter of seconds. I was afraid to blink because the action was imminent.
As excited as I was to be so close to the making of history that day, it pales in comparison to the excitement that is stirred in me when I think of the ultimate imminent event that still lies ahead—The Rapture of the Church. Though many will scoff, because they don’t know the God of the Bible and have not read the Book of God, there are those of us who personally and effectually know Him, and have mused over His Word and marveled at the accuracy of prophecies already fulfilled.
We believe God when he says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Thessalonians 4:16-17).
To you who may question the sanity of one who would embrace such a promise, I would repeat the words of the Psalmist, “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (Psalm 34:8). I have often marveled at those who insist that they don’t like something while they readily admit that they have never tasted it.
I challenge you to lay aside your preconceived notions about God, His Word and His Promises, and exercise your capacity to discern truth. Jesus told His disciples, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32) Later, He prayed for them,“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17).