Rapture: The Promise of His Coming

Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle...

that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken by the holy prophets,

and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,

knowing this first:

that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,

and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?"

2 Peter 3:1-4, NKJV

Jesus made many promises while here on this earth two thousand years ago, promises of salvation and life and abundance and blessing, of gifts and power and authority, promises of what he would do for his for us following his death and resurrection, promises that he has constantly and consistently fulfilled to those who have put their faith and trust in him.  Time and again, he has proven himself faithful to his many great and precious promises to all who have called upon him.  But there is one promise yet to be fulfilled, one awesome vow that Jesus has yet to make good on.

It is the promise of his return.

Thirty-five years after Jesus went to heaven, one burly grizzled apostle living under the constant threat of arrest and death took pen in hand to remind those under his care of that very promise.  He wrote of deceivers and false prophets who would come to the church with claims that the promises of Christ were not true, that the declarations of the apostles had misrepresented Jesus.  "If Jesus promised he would come back soon, then where is he?"

Peter had lived with the expectation and anticipation that he was going to live to see the day of Christ's return.  All of the apostles had.  But now some of them were dead, and Peter soon would be.  Was it possible that they had all been wrong?  But through the years, the Holy Spirit had given Peter insight and understanding into the ways of God.  He told his readers, God's times are not our times.  He doesn't do things according to our schedule.  He's working in an entirely different time frame.  In fact, Peter quotes the Psalms and says, "With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."  Put another way, a year to us is like 86.4 seconds to God.  Therefore, since Jesus has only been in heaven a couple of days, if he comes back tomorrow (a thousand years from now) it will still be soon to him.

How could Peter speak with such authority on the return of Jesus Christ?  How could he be sure?  It was because of what he had seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears.  It was because of what Jesus said to him.

For three and a half years, Peter watched the Lord do the incredible and the impossible.  He was there in the bedroom of a little girl who had died when Jesus took her by the hand and raised her back to life.  He was there on the mountain when Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus shone with the brightness of the glory of God, and awoke with the thought that he had lived to see the resurrection.  He was there in the garden when Jesus taught about the signs of his coming and the end of the age.  Peter had heard it and seen it all.  And on the last night of Jesus' life, the Lord made some pretty direct statements just for Peter.

First was the controversy over the foot-washing.  Peter said, "You ain't washing my feet," but soon changed his mind when Jesus said, "If you don't let me do this, you don't belong to me."  Wash me Lord, wash me!

Second was the revelation that someone would betray Jesus.  "Not me, Lord!" Peter exclaimed.  "All these others may deny you and betray you, but not me!  I'm willing to go to prison for you, and even to death!"  And Jesus shocked him by replying, "No you won't, before the rooster crows tomorrow, you will say three times that you don't know me."  What a slap in the face for the boldest of the twelve disciples.

I would like to point out that when the Bible was written (specifically the Gospel of John, which I have referenced in the accounts above), the author did not divide his work in the chapters and verses that we have today.  Those who wanted the Bible to be easily referenced added those markers.  In the original, there was no division between John 13 & 14.  So when Jesus continued talking, he was still looking at Peter.

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me.  In My Father's house are many mansions!  If it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."  That promise that Jesus made was made to Peter!  Satan had sought to sift Peter like wheat and destroy him, but Jesus said, "I have prayed for you this night, and I will not lose you.  So when you repent of what you're going to do, encourage everyone else too."

Jesus was crucified the next day.  He died and was buried.  And Peter did exactly as Jesus said he would.  He cursed and swore and took oaths denying any connection to Jesus Christ.  For three days and three nights Peter wallowed in his own self pity.  Even when the cry came at dawn and Peter rushed down to see the empty tomb and the vacated grave clothes, he could not bring himself to believe.  Until Jesus appeared to him personally and restored him in grace.

Forty days later, Peter was there with the twelve on the Mount of Olives when Jesus blessed them and then rose up to heaven.  And as the disciples stood gazing up at the clouds into which Jesus had vanished, two resurrected saints clothed in white stood there with them and said, "Why do you stand here looking like that?  Don't you know that in the same way you saw him go, he will also return to you?" 

And we still have the promise today:  Jesus is coming soon!