May we Lose our Soul-Life in this Age to Participate in the Rapture of the Overcomers

If today we lose our soul-life in this age, we may participate in the rapture of the overcomers; if today we overcome the stupefying effect of man’s living and do not preserve our soul-life, we will properly answer the Lord’s call when He comes, and we will be raptured.

This is such a warning to us the believers in Christ, and this is also such an incentive, for us to pursue the Lord, enjoy Him, and lose our soul-life for His sake in this age.

On one hand, the Lord told us to love God with all our heart and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves; this we do by Himself becoming our love and loving others through us.

On the other hand, however, the Lord told us that, if we want to follow Him, we need to deny the self, lose the soul-life, and take up our cross and follow Him.

He even said that we should hate any natural relationships so that we love Him first and best, and nothing and no one else would compete with Him.

We love our spouse, our children, our parents, and our relatives, but nothing compares to the Lord, and for His sake, we must be willing to forsake all our natural relationships.

The Lord doesn’t tell us to hate people or persons; He told us to hate our soul’s desire, wants, preferences, and our very soul-life, so that we may love the Lord Himself.

We are the salt of the earth – we have Christ in us, and He makes us those who repel and eliminate corruption and germs in this corrupted world.

But if we lose our taste, if we lose our salting function, what are we still useful for?

If we love the world and the things of the world just like the rest, if we treasure our soul-life and we do not forsake the desires of the soul so that we may seek the Lord and His kingdom first, then we are just like the rest of the earthly people, and we will suffer a dispensational discipline from God.

According to the Lord’s word, if we become like the worldly people who satisfy the desires of their soul and love the earthly things, we are not fit for the coming kingdom, neither are we fit for eternal judgment; what will happen is that there will be a dispensational punishment, a time in which we are disciplined to love the Lord and treasure Him more than anything else. Oh, Lord!

If we find our soul glued to the earth, if we are unwilling to leave the things of this earth for the Lord’s sake, we will soon lose our taste, and others will realize we are just like them; we are not stealable, we are not prepared to be raptured.

When we start loving the world and the things of the earth, we start to lose our taste and our saltiness; we will lose our function of sanctifying the earth, and this should be a warning to us, for it is a very serious matter.

Overcoming the Stupefying Effect of Man’s Living Today and Not Lingering in the Earthly things but Losing our Soul-Life in this Age to be Qualified to be Raptured

Many Christians believe that, when the Lord returns, He will rapture all the believers, whether or not they have denied their self, lost their soul-life, and taken up their cross to follow the Lord.

And it is true that the Bible tells us that all believers will be raptured; however, there are different rapture times – before, during, and after the great tribulation.

The Lord will return openly on the cloud at the end of the great tribulation, all shall see Him, and the remaining believers will be raptured to Him; this will be the rapture of the believers at the end of the great tribulation.

However, if we want the Lord to rapture us before the great tribulation, before the three and a half years of trials and tribulations that the earth has never seen, we need to lose our soul-life in this age.

For us to participate in the rapture of the overcomers before the hour of trial, we need to lose our soul-life in this age (Luke 17:26-36; 21:34-35).

Such a rapture is a kind of reward from the Lord, and such a destiny belongs to those who would lose their soul-life today.

For us to participate in the rapture of the overcomers so that we may enjoy the Lord’s parousia (His presence, His coming) and escape the great tribulation, we must overcome the stupefying effect of man’s living today (Luke 16:26-30).

To be raptured is to be taken to be together with the Lord in exceeding great joy in His presence, His coming; we need to pray to escape the hour of trial and be raptured to the Lord’s presence!

For this to be our portion, we need to realize that the living of the world today is, as per Luke 17, like in the days of Noah – people are drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, doing this and that until the flood came and destroyed them all.

Also, it is as in the days of Lot, when people are eating, drinking, planting, and doing all kinds of things, and then brimstone and fire descended on them and destroyed them all.

If we look around us, people go about their business and do their own things, including immoral, evil things, with no consciousness of the coming judgment; it seems that it is all in peace and security, and nothing bad would happen.

The conditions of evil living that stupefied the generation of Noah before the deluge and the generation of Lot before the destruction of Sodom portray the perilous condition of man’s living today, before the Lord’s return and the great tribulation (Matt. 24:3, 21).

As believers in Christ, we are those who follow the Lord to lose our soul-life in this age to overcome the stupefying effect of the world’s indulgent living (Luke 17:31-33).

If we are stupefied, however, if we live like the worldlings today, in Sodom and Gomorrah, being like one who lives in Noah’s time, we will be in peril.

We as believers in Christ need to proactively take the lead to lose our soul-life in this age so that we may participate in the rapture of the overcomers.

When the Lord comes, and something we care for and love is in the house, we shouldn’t go get it; if we do, we are disqualified to be raptured.

We need to overcome the stupefying effect of indulgent living in the world today. In particular, we need to be warned concerning lingering in the earthly and material things.

In Luke 17:32 we are told, Remember Lot’s wife. She received the call and followed her husband to be rescued out of the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, but she must have loved something back at home, for she turned and took a lingering look back; she became a pillar of salt as a sign to all the believers in Christ today.

She didn’t go back; she just had a glance, a lingering look, one turn of the head.

This indicates there was still some love of the world, some treasuring of the world that God was judging and destroying. Oh, Lord!

Preserving our soul-life is related to lingering in the earthly and material things; we linger in the earthly things because we care for our soul’s enjoyment in the present age (cf. 2 Tim. 4:10). Oh, Lord!

Lot’s wife didn’t perish, but neither was she fully saved; like the salt that becomes tasteless (Luke 14:34-35), she was left in a place of shame.

This is a solemn warning to all of us, and especially to the world-loving believers (1 John 2:15-17, 28). Oh, Lord! May the Lord save us from loving the world, and may we cooperate with Him by not loving our soul-life in this age.

Lingering in the earthly things for the sake of our soul’s enjoyment will cause us to lose our soul; this means that our soul will suffer the loss of its enjoyment in the coming age (Luke 17:33).

May we be those who heed this warning and are beseeching the Lord to rescue us and deliver us from this age, and may we lose our soul-life in this age so that we may be qualified to be raptured at His secret return!

Lord Jesus, we want to participate in the rapture of the overcomers so that we may enjoy Your presence, Your secret return, and escape the great tribulation! Dear Lord Jesus, we love You, we turn to You, we treasure You, and we want to overcome the stupefying effect of man’s living today. May we realize that these are the last days, and may we overcome the stupefying effect of the world’s indulgent living by losing our soul-life in this age. Oh Lord, draw us to Yourself. Cause us to love You more and treasure You more than anything that this world has to offer. Save us from lingering in the earthly things to care for our soul’s enjoyment in the present age. May we be fully saved and rescued from this present evil age! Lord Jesus, we love You!

If we Lose our Soul-life in this Age, we may Participate in the Rapture of the Overcomers at the Lord’s Secret Return

What will be our reaction to the rapture call? In Luke 17 we see that, when the Lord returns, we may be sleeping, we may be working, or we may be taking care of the daily things, but some will answer the Lord’s call and be raptured, while others will continue in the things they were doing.

Our soul-life may be engaged not with sinful things but with the things of this earth; we need to take care of our daily living, we need to work, and we need to take care of so many things, but at the same time, we need to lose our soul-life in this age so that we may participate in the rapture of the overcomers when the Lord returns secretly before the great tribulation.

In the night that the Lord returns, two will be sleeping in the bed – one will be taken and the other left; two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left; two men will be working in the field – one will be taken, the other will be left.

These all are believers, and they are not involved with sinful or immoral things but rather, they were doing their job, sleeping, and taking care of things; yet one will be taken, and the other will be left.

The Lord’s charge and word in Luke 17 relate not to dealing with sinful things but rather, it relates to our overcoming in our practical life, our daily living.

Whether or not the living believers participate in the rapture of the overcomers depends on their reaction to the call to go; the rapture will occur secretly (not openly or visibly) and unexpectedly (v. 31).

Many believers think that, when the Lord comes, in a miraculous way, they will somehow – no matter how they lived while on the earth – will all be raptured, and there will be an instant transformation at the Lord’s return.

The call for the overcomers in the Lord’s secret coming will not produce a miraculous last-minute change in us that has no relation to our previous life with the Lord.

Rather, at that moment we will discover our heart’s real treasure; if our treasure is not the Lord Himself, we will remain, but if He is our unique treasure, we will not look back but be raptured into His presence.

May we not treasure our soul-life in this age but lose it, and may we enjoy the Lord and treasure Him much more than our very soul-life, so that, when He returns, He would rapture us into His presence!

At His coming, the real treasure of our heart will be exposed, whether it is the coming Lord or is it this age.

May we allow the cross to work in us a thorough detachment in spirit from everything and everyone other than the Lord Himself, so that, when He returns, we will simply answer His call and participate in the rapture of the overcomers!

May we be those who are taken because we overcome the stupefying effect of self-indulging living in this age!

May we beseech the Lord to deliver us from the hour of trial and, on our side, may we lose our soul-life in this age for the Lord’s sake, treasuring Him more than anything else!

As we spend time with the Lord in His word, He becomes more and more precious to us; as we fellowship with Him and enjoy Him daily, talking to Him and opening to Him all the aspects of our living and being, He has a way to become the unique treasure of our heart.

May the Lord be our treasure, even our unique treasure, so that we may be qualified to participate in the rapture of the overcomers at His returns!

Lord Jesus, make us Your overcomers in our daily living. We want to cooperate with the working of the cross in us to produce a thorough detachment in spirit from everything and everyone other than the Lord Himself. Oh Lord, may You be our only treasure, our only goal, and our everything! Prepare us and qualify us to become Your overcomers, those who overcome the stupefying effect of self-indulgent living in this age to be raptured into the enjoyment of the Lord’s coming! Dear Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your appearing! Become our heart’s treasure so that nothing and no one on this earth would distract us from enjoying You and treasuring You! Amen, Lord, grant us the privilege to be qualified to participate in the rapture of the overcomers at Your secret return before the great tribulation!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Luke, pp. 336-339 (by Witness Lee), 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 3, The Losing of the soul-life, Participating in the Rapture of the Overcomers, and Receiving the End of our Faith – the Salvation of the Soul.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord Jesus Christ, our heart feels sweet / Whene’er we think on Thee, / And long that to Thy presence dear / We soon might raptured be! (Hymns #171)
  – When to all who love His coming He shall speak / the word, “Arise!” / Oh, how blessed for that summons to be free! / With what rapture we shall greet Him as we / join Him in the skies— / What a meeting, what a meeting that will be! (Hymns #1313)
  – Each time when of heavenly blessings I think, / O let my heart long to be raptured to Thee; / My only hope here is Thy coming again, / My only joy there, Lord, Thy presence will be. (Hymns #389)