For us to be taken by the Lord at His return, we need to be those who are watchful and mature for His imminent coming and prepared and ready to be His bride, so that we may be raptured before the great tribulation.
If we read the Bible and have the Lord’s shining, we will take heed to the prophetic word and we will realize we live in the days toward the consummation of the age.
The signs which the Lord has prophesied of and of which Paul and the apostles spoke of, many of them are being fulfilled before our eyes.
For example, the gospel of the kingdom is being preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony – and the end is near!
Furthermore, the nation of Israel has been restored and recovered, Jerusalem was restored to them, and all the preparations for the building of the temple are underway; soon, when a turn of events will happen, the rebuilding of the temple will start.
As we look around us, we see the mystery of lawlessness operating in society, and this will culminate with a man, Antichrist, which the Bible calls, the man of lawlessness.
Once he is revealed, we know the apostasy will come, and the Lord will return soon. So we need to learn to live not lawlessly but under the Lord’s shining, under His throne, with the coming of the Lord in view, being watchful and mature for His imminent coming and prepared to be His bride.
There is a mystery working in society and among the nations today, and it will culminate in the man of lawlessness; people today would rather believe a lie than the truth, for there is an active power of misleading that operates in them.
A great sign of the beginning of the great tribulation is when Antichrist will set up an abominable idol of desolation – an image of himself – in the temple of God, and he will make people worship it.
As to the condition of the people living at the end days, they have an evil living that stupefies them, and they are not aware of the great judgment that is to come.
As to the condition of the believers, a sign of the Lord’s coming is that there’s a lack of faith among many of His believers.
When the genuine believers see that lawlessness is multiplying and there’s no judgment or justice, the love of many grows cold, and their faith decreases. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Lawlessness indeed is increasing, men are increasingly living in sin and doing so with great conviction and pride, and God seems to not be doing anything about it; may we love the Lord, seek Him, pursue Him, focus on Him, not try to change the current situation of society, but seek to be His overcomers today!
Finally, one of the signs of the end times is the over-accumulation of wealth; if we look around us, there are some people in our country and around the world that have an enormous and unbelievable amount of wealth, while many others lack their daily necessities.
Such an unprecedented accumulation of wealth makes men unaware of their coming miseries and their miserable destiny of God’s judgment.
May we seek to be rich toward God, and whether we do or do not have outward riches, may we consider Christ as the most precious One and all other things as refuse, for He is our goal and our everything!
For us to be Raptured – Taken into the Lord’s Presence at His Imminent Coming – we need to Live in His Presence and Love His Appearing
May we be those who are taken by the Lord before the consummation of the age, those who are raptured before the hour of trial!
What a tragedy would be if we in the church life, enjoying the Lord’s up-to-date speaking and being in His ultimate move, would not be raptured before the great tribulation, for we don’t allow the Lord to have a way in us for Him to gain His bride! Oh, Lord!
The meaning of rapture is to be taken into the Lord’s presence; if we would be taken into the Lord’s presence at His second coming, we must be in His presence today (see 2 Cor. 2:10; Psa. 16:11; 27:8; 43:4; Acts 3:19-20; Exo. 33:14-16; cf. Gen. 4:16).
The Lord’s parousia – His coming – is His presence; the Lord’s presence is everything to us in our life and work, for we want His smile and presence both in this age and in the next.
Paul was a pattern of one living in the Lord’s presence, for he forgave a brother in the index of the Lord’s eyes, in the face of Christ, having the Lord’s inner feeling, His inner being, which is His presence (2 Cor. 2:10).
May we be those who are one with Christ in His living today by living in the Lord’s presence day by day. The Lord has made us one with Him; we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), and we need to live one spirit with Him in everything.
In His presence is fullness of joy; there is nothing higher than for us to be in the presence of the Lord! Real joy is nowhere else but in the Lord’s presence.
And He tells us that we seek His face, and our response should be, Your face, oh Lord, will I seek (Psa. 27:8).
When we have the Lord’s presence, we receive seasons of refreshing; His presence is everything to us, and our living in His presence today refreshes us and qualifies us to be taken in His presence at His imminent return. His presence refreshes us.
For us to have such a fresh living in the Lord’s presence and to be refreshed, our heart must be pure and single for the Lord.
We don’t want to miss the Lord’s presence today and on that day. Rather, as the Lord said to the people of Israel and Moses pray-read this to Him, may His presence go with us (Exo. 33:14-16).
His presence makes us distinct from any other people; by His mercy, we don’t want to lose His presence. Cain was one who lost God’s presence, for he went away from the presence of God and invented a godless culture.
May we be those who love the Lord’s presence, enjoy Him in His presence, have His smile, and are qualified to be taken into His presence at His return!
This means that we must love the Lord’s appearing, His appearing to us every day; for us to love His appearing when He returns, we must treasure His appearing – His manifestation – to us today (2 Tim. 4:8; Acts 26:16; John 14:21).
We need to spend time with the Lord daily, enjoying Him in His word and seeking to have His appearing; we need to love the Lord’s appearing today.
As He appears to us again and again, we become a minister and a witness of the things in which He appears to us.
Paul was such a one: he simply testified of what he witnessed of the Lord, for he had the Lord’s appearing.
John also said that, what was revealed to him and what he saw and touched, is what he reports to us, for us to have fellowship with Him, and our fellowship is with the Triune God (1 John 1:1-3).
May we seek the Lord’s appearing in our time with Him and all throughout the day, and may we love HIs appearing today so that, when He returns, we will be rewarded with being raptured into His presence to be with Him!
Lord Jesus, we want to be in Your presence today so that, when You return, You will take us into Your presence forever. We treasure Your presence, Lord, and we love Your smile. Your presence is everything to us. May Your presence be with us and go with us wherever we go, and may we never go away from Your presence. Amen, Lord, make us those who treasure Your presence and love Your appearing! Appear to us again and again, Lord, and make us Your witnesses and ministers, those who speak to others what they have seen of God! We give ourselves to You, Lord, that in our time with You we would have Your appearing, and in our daily life we would have Your presence and live in Your presence until You take us to be with You in Your presence for eternity!
Being ready to be Raptured by being Watchful and Mature – on the Alert and Growing unto Maturity!
In Matt. 24:40-41 the Lord gives an illustration of how it will be at His return: two men will be working in the field – one will be taken and the other will be left; two women will be grinding at the mill – one will be taken and the other will be left.
Both of these pairs refer to believers, and they are just doing their daily chores or working on their job; one, however, is watchful and mature in life, while the other is not.
While the worldly people are befuddled with material things, with no sense of the coming judgment, we need to be the sober and watchful believers who await the Lord’s return to be taken away by Him.
We may do the same things that all the rest do: we study, we work, we take care of our family, etc, but we want to be watchful and being made ready, that is, being matured in life for the Lord’s return.
The one who is taken is mature in life, and the other is not; for us to become mature is not overnight but rather, it is a lifelong matter.
We need to prepare ourselves for the Lord’s coming by loving HIm to the uttermost and by growing up into Him in all things so that, at His appearing, we may be matured to be raptured (Heb. 6:1; John 21:15-17; Eph. 4:15; cf. Gen. 5:22-24).
May we be brought on to maturity until we are full-grown, until we all together become a full-grown man, growing up into Christ in all things. Being ready to be raptured is a matter of being filled with Christ to the uttermost by praying that we may grow and mature in life (Eph. 3:16-17).
May we grow that Christ would grow in us and grow in all the saints, and may we yearn to be matured in life so that we may be raptured at the Lord’s return.
At the same time, we need to be watchful, that is, we need to be careful – not careless – every day, being on the alert against the possibility of stumbling (Jer. 17:7-8; 2 Cor. 1:8-9; Phil. 3:3; 1 Cor. 10:12).
May we be watchful by not trusting in ourselves and not being self-confident but rather, trust in the Lord and cooperate with Him in all the daily things of our life, for only He can cope with things, only He can make us His overcomers, and only He can take us through everything.
May we learn to trust not in ourselves but in the Lord, the One who raises the dead; our confidence shouldn’t be in ourselves but in Him.
And if we stand, may we take heed lest we fall; we shouldn’t think that we stand because of ourselves but rather, trust in the Lord to be watchful and mature.
The Lord will come first secretly, as a thief (Matt. 24:43-44); He will come first for those who love Him and are precious to Him, those who are a treasure in His sight, those who are watchful and being made ready.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the preciousness to His believers (1 Pet. 2:7), and our desire is for Him to fill us and saturate us with Himself as our supreme preciousness, our treasure (2 Cor. 4:7), so that we also become men of preciousness, even preciousness itself (Dan. 9:23; 10:11, 19).
When the Lord comes as a thief, He will “steal” the precious ones, those who are watchful and mature, those who are filled with Christ as their treasure.
May we enjoy this One as our treasure and may we be filled with Him to such an extent that we are “stealable”, worthy of being stolen by the Lord.
Amen, especially in these last days, may we be watchful and give heed to the prophetic word as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts (2 Pet. 1:9).
We don’t know how long we still have left to live on this earth, but in the few remaining days that we have, let us be those who love the Lord and serve Him, those who are revived and overcoming every day, and those who let the world go in order to be ready and waiting with all our heart for the Lord’s second coming! Amen!
Lord Jesus Christ, grow in us, and may all things else recede! Bring us on to maturity so that we may be ripened and ready for Your return. Fill us with Yourself to the uttermost by growing in us and causing us to mature in life. Amen, Lord, we want to be watchful and on the alert for Your return. Our trust is not in ourselves but in You; we are not self-confident but rather, our confidence is in the God who raises the dead! Oh Lord, grow in us, bring us to maturity, and cause the treasure within us to saturate us until we become men of preciousness, even preciousness itself! We give ourselves to be watchful and give heed to the prophetic word as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our heart! Lord, we want to be those who love You and serve You, those who are revived and overcoming every day! We let the world go in order to be ready and waiting with all our heart for Your second coming!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 3, “The Prophecy of the Four ‘Sevens’ in the Bible,” chs. 1, 5-6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 2, Watching and being Ready in Order to be Prepared by the Lord for His Second Coming.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Jesus is now on His way, / Watch, for you know not the day; / Ever in His presence stay— / Jesus is coming again! (Hymns #1302)
– O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all things else recede; / My heart be daily nearer Thee, / From sin be daily freed. (Hymns #395)
– Lord, may Your portion in us / Continually increase / That we may be invited / Unto that wedding feast. / And keep us always watching— / At morning, night, or noon— / For the wedding day that’s coming / Very soon. (Hymns #1316)
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