“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
We have done a lot of cool things with the grandkids over the years, but what I have noticed is that no matter what we do, the kids are ready to do the next thing with great anticipation. We may have just come off setting up a tent, making houses for small animals, or even having milkshakes, but if they hear we are going to something else, they are ready. They are always ready.
As believers we should be the same way. One day, perhaps sooner than we realize, Jesus may return. For the believer that is a day to be anticipated. We will get to heaven in one of two ways- we will go to Him or He will come for us. According to Thessalonians if He comes for us, we will not be getting several warnings like we give the grandkids when we are going to go somewhere. We let the kids go back several times to get the shoes they forgot or the fishing pole they wanted to take or to say goodbye to someone who is not going with us. We will not have that opportunity when Jesus comes. We will just be “caught up” and be gone.
That term, “caught up” is translated from that Greek word harpazÅ, which means to take forcibly, to snatch, or to catch up. And that is what the Rapture will be. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” There will be no warning that allows us to go say good bye, gather our things, or even read a couple of quick verses to impress God. We will be gone.
The word “maranatha” is a Syriac expression that means: “our Lord comes.” In the early church it was used as a greeting instead of hello or goodbye. Some Christians today have a similar thing in mind when they say, “See you there (someplace here) or in the air (heading for heaven). Regardless of how we say it, we need to carry that awareness of the imminent return of the Savior with us all the time.
I have read two books on British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and they are two of the best I have read. When the expedition’s main boat was crushed by enclosing ice while headed toward the South Pole, Shackleton had to leave part of his crew on Elephant Island while he took the other half to try to reach civilization. He promised the crew that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back to rescue the crew left behind, huge icebergs blocked the way and it looked like the men would perish. But suddenly an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard and no sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them. Shackleton said to his men,
“It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!” They replied, “We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, ‘The boss may come today.’”
We need to be like kids anticipating the arrival of the coming event. At our house it is Nana who is the boss and the kids are excited when they know she is coming. How excited we should be when we know that the arrival of our boss, Jesus, may happen any minute. We should always be ready. We don’t want to be half-packed or carrying things we shouldn’t. It could be this afternoon, so when we see each other, let’s not say goodbye, but say “Maranatha!” See you there or in the air!