The Rapture
Greetings, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. Today, we ponder our lives as we seek to understand the meaning of the rapture.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Rapture
" For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught us together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ” First Titus, Chapter 4, Verse 16.
Brothers and sisters, in today’s broadcast, we consider the rapture, that state where our souls shall be translated into the eternal state. We know that Enoch and Elijah attained that state, but this was an individual achievement not a mass attainment. With every dispensation, those who are qualified to begin their heavenly career are translated to the heavenly estate. When Christ ascended on high, he led a host of captives. These are all the souls of all those who had fallen asleep during the last dispensation.
"We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a twinkling of an eye." But no man knows when Christ shall return to carry away the sleeping survivors. For it is written, that he shall come as a thief in the night, suddenly and unexpected. Therefore it behooves each and every one to find out what Enoch and Elijah possessed that allowed them to be translated. We are told that “by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. “But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
And it is of record, “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder: and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” Now Enoch and Elijah were of status of the old dispensation, the dispensation before Christ who brought the new and living way to earth. The old dispensation paled before the new way, for in the new and living way, we are empowered by the Spirit of Truth to make those spiritual transformation that lead to translation.
Comparing the old dispensation to the new dispensation, Jesus said, of all the prophets of the old dispensation, John the Baptist was the greatest of them all, but the least of the children of the new dispensation are greater than John the Baptist because they know that they are sons and daughters of the heavenly Father. We are giving a new revelation of God’s will, along with the mandate to be perfect even as He is perfect. It is revealed that God is love, and we are to love one another as Jesus loves us. Jesus is the revelation of this love to our souls. Having become sons and daughters of the heavenly Father, we are to have his love perfected within us.
As new creatures, the faith sons and daughters of the Father, it is our privilege to cleanse ourselves from all unrighteousness by the power of his Spirit of Truth. We are to strive to perfect the love of Jesus with in us. Those of us who achieve this spiritual goal of divine perfection, will not taste mortal death, but will be translated to the heavenly estate. Those who fail to achieve this spiritual goal after mortal dissolution will be transferred to the Mansions that Jesus spoke of when he said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions” where they shall continue their efforts to perfect the love of God within their souls.
It is the Father's will and the Son's desire that all the faith sons and daughters achieve the raptured state, but the actuality of its occurrence depends on the faith son or daughter. The experiencing of the raptured state depends on the maturity of the soul, while the maturing of the soul depends on the continuous unbroken communion of the faith son or daughter with the Father.
To rapture is to achieve the doing of the Father's will. To sincerely and with full knowledge cry in every situation, "Not my will, but Your will be done." To achieve such a magnificent state, we must have faith that it can be done. Secondly, we must make such a supernal goal supreme in our lives, make it our supreme desire, and be willing to pay any price to achieve it, to be any and all things to achieve this exalted state. We must be willing to be taught by the Spirit of Truth, and be willing to boldly execute that which we are taught.
But how do we learn how to do the divine will? We learn how to do the divine will by following Jesus, who is the perfect demonstration of doing the Father’s will. He instructs us to love one another as he loves us. If we do that we will learn how to do the Father’s will in perfection. Our supreme spiritual achievement in the flesh will be the learning how to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus loves us. As we continue to do the Father’s will, the fullness of time brings about that day when our souls become filled with the love of God and this is the love of Jesus which qualifies us to be raptured, to be translated to the heavenly estate.
This concludes today’s message on understanding the meaning of the rapture. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
The Rapture
