Kindle Notes & Highlights
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April 5, 2024
“The great day of the LORD is near; it is near and hastens quickly” (Zeph. 1:14).
“eager expectation” for something that will certainly happen, that is impending and swiftly coming. Biblical hope is the excitement we feel today about what Jesus will do tomorrow.
the Lord has gone ahead of us, but we’re not forgotten. The whole family of God will be together again on that great and coming day. None of His children will be left behind.
passages in Scripture that outline His prophetic plan for the Rapture. Those passages are found in John 14, 1 Corinthians 15, and 1 Thessalonians 4.
I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (vv. 1–3)
Jesus opened His public ministry with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7. Three years later, He closed His earthly work with the Upper Room Discourse, which is recorded in John 13–17.
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. (Matt. 24:36–42)
Without Christ, you’re living as in the days of Noah: cavalier, careless, corrupt, and about to be caught by surprise. At any moment, the door will swing shut, the Lord will come for His church, and you’ll be left behind.
The Rapture, by contrast, will signal the start of the Tribulation. That event will be more of a rescue mission in which Christ the Savior emancipates His people from the chains of death and extricates His living servants from a world on the brink of chaos.
Importantly, the Bible does not describe death as the end of something but as a transition into something new.
The devil wants to get his talons into us. The power of the resurrection, however, provides a pane of protection that cannot be broken. Satan may knock himself out trying, but he can’t claim us.
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death” (21:4).
death is a journey, not a destination. Death takes us “through the valley”
brighter path ahead, a hopeful future. For Christians, problems are always temporary and blessings always eternal
death is a shadow, not a reality. David called it “the valley of the shadow.”
death is lonely, but we are never alone. David wrote, “You are with me” (Ps. 23:4).
we do know butterflies have been associated with Easter for centuries. They are living, fluttering reflections of resurrection.
God created us with eternity in our hearts.
It is now possible for Gentiles to share in the promises of Abraham by being grafted into the olive tree that is Israel (Rom. 11:11–24).
The husband is expected to love his wife sacrificially, and the wife is expected to submit to her husband. It’s the husband’s great love for his wife that motivates her honor and respect. The husband is called to love and nurture his wife and to promote her holiness.
we can rise each day with that same joyous anticipation in our hearts, saying, “Get your things ready. The Boss may come today!”
The apostle Paul said, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5–6).
Our Savior said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13–14 NIV).
We are trapped in our sinfulness with no hope of escape. There is no way for us to save ourselves. We need rescue.
“To be absent from the body [is] to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). And Solomon described the separation this way: “And the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7).
In a manner of speaking, the shout and the trumpet will “wake up” those who are asleep—that is, those who died as believers and have been buried in their graves.
That’s the second reunion on the day of the Rapture: the reunion of deceased believers with living believers.
The result? “We shall be like Him.” This is the ultimate goal of our salvation in Christ: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
death is not final.
No matter what happens here on earth, we have the assurance of ultimate resurrection and reunion.
The Rapture signals the fulfillment of that promise, which encourages us to endure as we wait and gives us strength to face whatever trials may assail us in the interim.
As followers of Jesus, we are instructed to comfort one another continually with the message of the Rapture and the resurrection.
Take this for the guide of your whole life—act as if Jesus would come in the act in which you are engaged—and if you would not wish to be caught in that act by the coming of the Lord, let it not be your act.
anticipate it as something we look forward to and long to see.
our task is not to focus solely on ourselves but to accomplish the work of Christ by loving our neighbors and investing our resources in the proliferation of the gospel.
Our objective as Christians is not merely to be included in the Rapture but to take as many people with us as we can.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
You must be able to say, “My name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I have a reservation. I have put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior and therefore I qualify to come into Your heaven.”
God is full of compassion, tenderness, and mercy. He carries us through tough patches like a father carrying his son.
we are responsible to love God and love others to our fullest capacity while we still have the opportunity to impact eternity.
“Call upon God, but row away from the rocks.” The idea is to put yourself in the best situation to succeed and move as far away as possible from the place of failure.
That is the truth about salvation as well: we can never earn it. But we can, in the words of Paul, “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph. 4:1 NIV).
As believers in Jesus, we are not citizens of earth who are going to heaven. We are citizens of heaven who are traveling through earth. Let that reality change the way you live each day!
He told us to “do business till I come” (Luke 19:13). We are to use the gifts and callings He has placed upon us and take advantage of every opportunity that He puts in front of us.
the imminence of that return should spur us to live as Paul did: focused each day on accomplishing God’s work for God’s kingdom.
“Today, suffering is often the portion of the Christian, but not wrath. Wrath is reserved for unbelievers.”9
“A believer who gets out of bed in the morning thinking My Lord Jesus could return today will probably not let sin take root in his life.
“My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
Remember the words of Jesus’ last invitation: “Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17 NIV).
“Dear Lord, I confess my sins, I’m so thirsty on the inside of my life, and I now receive Jesus Christ—the Living Water. Come into my life and help me live for You from this day forth!”
