Only one church promised the rapture

I often wonder what it was like for John when he had been banished to the lonely isle of Patmos, the sole remaining apostle having outlived the rest by 30 years or more.

What determination, what courage, what intimacy with God must have sustained him in such a fate. But it was here that Jesus met him, and it was in this place that Jesus intended to fulfill the words he left with Peter, recorded in John’s gospel: “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?”

Put yourself in John’s shoes. What would it have been like to have Jesus lay his hand on your shoulder and then begin to peer into the next 1,900-plus years and chart the course of church history?

To forecast the demise of the apostolic era in writing to the Ephesians? To promise more than 200 years of persecution and death to come for those in Smyrna? To see the rise of Roman Catholicism in the descriptions of Pergamos and Thyatira, and then the Protestant Reformation in those of Sardis? And then to describe the last phase of church history as sheer and utter confusion, where denominations are multiplied and materialism reigns in describing the Laodiceans?

But if I were John, my curiosity would have been piqued by the little church of Philadelphia. John was no doubt very familiar with Paul’s writings, even as Peter had been.

Thus, as Jesus speaks to this church, John’s mind must have reflected on Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians where Paul speaks of being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord, for it is to this church, and this church alone, that Jesus now promises the rapture.

The first thing John notices him saying to them is, “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” This is an interesting door, and as Jesus follows this statement with the words “for thou has a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name,” we find this to be a door of persecution. And true enough, though Constantine would stop Roman persecution against Christianity in general, there were churches unwilling to accept his advances and would continue to walk a bloody trail into history.

But if this is a door of persecution, it also is a door of perpetuity. That is, the efforts of man would never be able to cause the light of this church to cease.

Jesus said, “And no man can shut [this door].” And thus history records that though driven from their homes, hunted down and tortured by the cruelest means, their faith in death gave birth to faith in others, which still lives on today.

This door does not end here, but leads to the door of promise. It is interesting to note that immediately following chapter 3, we find a door in Revelation chapter 4. And not only a door, but an open door, and as this door is attended by a trumpet, just as Paul said it would to the Thessalonians, we can identify this as being the rapture. This is that “blessed hope” Paul speaks of in his epistle to Titus, the “glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.”

But not only does Jesus give one promise, he also gives a second: “I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world.”

Notice that Jesus doesn’t promise to keep this church from persecution directed against them, but from a time when calamity will be directed against the world. The word here used is “temptation” and is the same word used in Luke 8:13 when describing the parable of the sower and the rocky soil. However, when Matthew comments about this parable, he uses different words meaning “tribulation” or “persecution.”

Is not the bulk of the book of Revelation dedicated to the hour of tribulation? Are not 14 chapters devoted to this tiny seven-year time period while only eight describe in excess of 3,000 years? Surely this is but an “hour” of temptation, but why should this church be kept from this hour?

It is because this is the hour of God’s wrath upon a Christ-rejecting world. This is the hour reserved for those who chose to pleasure themselves in unrighteousness, who thumbed their noses at God’s son, Jesus Christ.

And it is also because God has not appointed this church unto wrath, but to obtain salvation found only in Jesus Christ.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit a column or other news for the Faith page, send email to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2268.