Rapture 2022: Come Up Here!

Discussing current events and how they relate to Biblical prophesy. What are some critical signs are pointing to the imminent Rapture of the Church?

After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was set there in heaven. One was seated on the throne, and the One seated looked like jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne. Around that throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones sat 24 elders dressed in white clothes, with gold crowns on their heads. Flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne. (Revelation 4:1-6)

In Revelation chapter 4, John’s visit to Heaven starts with an open door and a voice like a trumpet, and then immediately he is before the Throne Room. This is a preview of our blessed Rapture – our rescue!

Note that in the analysis of the Book of Revelation, we look at the scriptures from a multidimensional perspective. We accept aspects of the preterist, historicist, and futurist view.

All three views believe that God is sovereign and in charge of all that occurs in history and its ultimate conclusion. All believe in the physical second coming of Christ. All views believe in the resurrection from the dead. All believe there will be a future judgment. All believe in an eternal state in which believers will be with God, and unbelievers will be separated from Him.

Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

The word rapture comes from the Latin rapere, meaning, “to seize” or “to abduct.” It is translated from the Greek word that is rendered “caught up” in English Bibles today.

What is the doctrine of the Rapture? Simply put, it is the teaching that Jesus Christ will return and take all Christians, both living and dead, off of Earth and into Heaven to be present there during the time that the Great Tribulation is taking place on earth. Seven years later Christ will return openly in power and glory to destroy the wicked and to establish His Kingdom.

Experiencing the End Times without the Rapture for the redeemed would be like Noah without a boat, or Lot not getting rescued by the Lord’s angels. In fact, the Lord directly references these two events as relating to His return for the bride:

And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30)

In this message, we will review Revelation 4:1-6 and focus on the open door, the command to “Come up here,” the One seated on the throne, and the 24 elders: An Open Door

In the Holy Bible, the door of Noah’s ark is an example of the finality of judgement:

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened, and the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives entered the ark with him. They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, all birds, every fowl, and everything with wings according to their kinds. Two of all flesh that has the breath of life in it entered the ark with Noah. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in. (Genesis 7:11-16)

When the Lord closed the door, He pronounced a death sentence on all of the people who drowned. The Lord knew beforehand that they would never believe Noah’s preaching.

The next major use of the door symbolism is in Exodus. The Lord instructs the Israelite people in Egypt on how to escape the angel of death:

Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. (Exodus 12:22)

We know from the story that the Lord’s people were effected, but the firstborn of the Egyptians were all killed. The blood and the door were a symbol of our sacrificial Lamb – Jesus Christ.

The next use of the door symbol is a prophesy of the Rapture:

Finally, Jesus admits that He is the door:

So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. (John 10:7-10)

To the good church of Philadelphia, He proclaims:

I know your works. Because you have limited strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name, look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close. (Revelation 3:8)

To the apostate church of Laodicea, He warns them that they have locked Him out. He is sill knocking on their door:

Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)

The last use of the door in the Bible is in Revelation chapter 4. The door symbolizes the Rapture.

Come Up Here

After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” (Revelation 4:1)

Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous will enter through it.
I will give thanks to You
because You have answered me
and have become my salvation. (Psalm 118:19-21)

One was Seated on the Throne

Our first vision of the Lord as King on His throne is at the covenant ceremony:

Then He said to Moses, “Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, and bow in worship at a distance. Moses alone is to approach the Lord, but the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.”

Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey everything that the Lord has commanded.”

Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw Him, and they ate and drank. (Exodus 24:1-11)

In this meeting, we witness God on a sea of glass, just like John’s experience in the Revelation. Present is Moses and his inner circle, as well as 70 elders. They represent the 12 tribes of the Old Covenant, and are redeemed by the blood. The similarities are hard to miss.

Ezekiel also witnessed the Glory of God:

The shape of a throne with the appearance of sapphire stone was above the expanse. There was a form with the appearance of a human on the throne high above. From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire enclosing it all around. From what seemed to be His waist down, I also saw what looked like fire. There was a brilliant light all around Him. The appearance of the brilliant light all around was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the form of the Lord’s glory. (Ezekiel 1:26-28)

24 Elders

Notice the 24 elders are:

* Wearing crowns

* Seated on thrones (having authority)

* Dressed in white

The promises to “the victor” in the 2 chapters previous to this one, apply to all of us who are true believers, who have been baptized, covered by His blood, and sealed by His Spirit:

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

But hold on to what you have until I come. The one who is victorious and keeps My works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations — and he will shepherd them with an iron scepter; he will shatter them like pottery—just as I have received this from My Father. (Revelation 2:25-27)

In the same way, the victor will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5)

I know your works. Because you have limited strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name, look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close. (Revelation 3:8)

Because you have kept My command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come over the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming quickly. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown. (Revelation 3:10-11)

The 24 elders represent all of us, the entire Body of Christ – every Old and New Testament believer.

The Bible uses our relationship as the Church with Jesus Christ as His “body” and His “bride”. These are symbolic designations for something so wonderful and beyond our comprehension that we can’t fully understand it at this time.

As a redeemed Christian, know that:

• You are forgiven of all sin (Ephesians 1:7)
• You are predestined, called, justified and glorified (Romans 8:30)
• You are being transformed into Christ-likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18)
• You are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14)
• You are holy (Hebrews 10:10)
• Your spirit is already seated with Christ in Heaven (Ephesians 2:6-10, Colossians 3:3)

Come Up Here – Part 2 The Last Harvest and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

The final harvest will be the grapes harvest that comes from the four corners of the field.  The grapes have to be crushed to be made into “New Wine.”

The Great Tribulation will bring this about. This symbolizes the people who accepted Christ during the second half of the 7 years, known as the Great Tribulation. That group of people will have to endure the most horrendous time on Earth ever.

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying out in a loud voice to the One who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. (Revelation 14:14-16)

This Rapture is symbolized by the Two Witnesses, who finish their testimony and are martyred by the Beast. This is the final invitation:

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them. (Revelation 11:12)

As you can see, if you are not a believer, it would surely in your best interest to come to know Jesus as Savior early rather than later. You can claim Him now:

Jesus, I thank You that You came to save us from our sins and redeem us back to the Father God that was lost when Adam sinned in the garden.  Please forgive me of my sins and I choose to turn from them and I ask You to help me to sin no more.  I invite You Jesus to be my Savior and Lord over all of my life. I invite the Holy Spirit to live in me and teach and guide me.  Thank you Lord Jesus! Amen! 

Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)  

The end is coming – sooner than we think!

If you are not sure that you are saved, you can accept Christ into your life right now, by praying:

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.  Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life.  I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior.”

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Current events are aligning with Biblical prophecy