Before the Boom…
The world’s superpowers are gathering in the Middle East—and it’s not for a peace summit.
Hostile enemy nations are ready to faceoff, and it’s all over a conflict with Israel—which is exactly the scenario the Bible says will be the precursor to the end of human history.
As a friend of mine put it, “It’s like the biggest powder keg the world has ever known and everything seems ready to go BOOM.”
And whether this is another dress rehearsal or it’s the Real Deal, it’s good to be reminded once again of how the Scriptures say it will all unfold.
Because before things go boom, something very encouraging must happen.
The boom, of course, is that seven-year period of cataclysmic, worldwide judgment called the Day of the Lord or the Great Tribulation which culminates with the glorious Second Coming of Christ.
But as I said, Jesus spoke of something that must take place before the end time chaos comes:
The Son of God speaking:
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all (Luke 17:26-27).
You see that?
First God’s people are safe and secured; and then, the judgement falls.
Jesus goes on…
It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, THEN fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed (Luke 17:28-30).
There it is again!
First Lot and his family are escorted up and out of Sodom, and then the fire falls.
The destroying angel tells Lot (and surely for our benefit): “Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing until you arrive there” (Genesis 19:22).
And by the way, the Coming Jesus is talking about here cannot take place at the end of the Tribulation because “marrying and being given in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building” won’t be possible after the 21 judgements (named in Revelation chapters 6-16) have made the earth incapable of sustaining life.
So, in keeping with His illustration, the Lord will appear before the Tribulation to keep the Church from the “hour of testing that comes upon the whole world” (Revelation 3:10).
Did you notice (again) that Lot was rescued… NOT as the fire was falling, or after the fire had fallen, but BEFORE.
Jesus is emphatic—first the rescue, then the judgment.
So how does God plan to rescue Believers who live on the earth from something that will destroy the entire planet?
Before the chaos, He catches us up into the heavens, removing us from harm’s way.
Jesus puts it this way:
“Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left” (Matthew 24:40-41).
Where are they taken?
Well, remember the promise He made at the Last Supper?
I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am (John 14:2-3).
There it is!
He’s talking about a clandestine coming to rescue the Church before the dreadful Day of the Lord.
The Apostle Paul elaborates:
According to the Lord’s own words, the Lord will descend from heaven… and we who are alive and are left will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 condensed).
Paul concludes by telling Christians to encourage one another with the words of this promise.
God has provided a way of escape from the Apocalypse! That takes encouragement to a whole new level!
Yes, we may have to endure man’s wrath, but God’s people will never experience God’s wrath because Jesus experienced that for us.
And that’s the basis for our exemption from the wrath that brings the end of all things.
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
So let’s do what Paul says: Let’s keep on encouraging one another.
As you watch the news and see things heating up, remember…
Before the boom, we’re with the Groom—at the Marriage Banquet of the Son of God.
And, then, the judgment falls.
