I had a dream two days ago. It was very vivid and chillingly real. I can still remember if I try.
The smell.
The sounds.
The palpable fear eating into my heart.
It sucked the very air out of my lungs and left me thoroughly deflated.
It was about the Rapture.
It had started with some flash occurrences I cannot quite place now. But after some of those events, I remember someone telling me the rapture had taken place. And all of a sudden its implication dawned on me.
I had been left behind.
I remember feeling so deflated. So incredibly sad. It was as though no ocean could carry the depth of my fear mixed with sadness and a great level of disappointment. Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing else made sense. After all, I had missed the one event my life revolved around.
The pain was so awful. I thrashed in hysterics but could not find tears. Surprisingly, I saw some other people I did not expect still left behind. This did little to comfort me as I rolled on the floor asking God just one simple, agonized question.
Why?
Not why He come so soon but why I had not gone with him.
Why?
I woke with a jolt and a tangible fear that made me second guess my current reality washed over me. Was it actually a dream? It was as though I had crossed the bridge between reality and illusion and was struggling to find a safe landing port back.
After that morning, I became really sober. This type of dream wasn’t the first this year and I realized that maybe I was on to something. Maybe I should not keep it in anymore.
I’m not usually one to go around spouting dramatic prophesies, but I just had to let this one out. After considering also what is going on around right now, I felt it was expedient. And in my waking moments, one thing became obvious to me;
Jesus is coming SOON.
Of course, most of us know this, we even sing it in melodic and offhanded tunes but I wonder how much of this we REALLY believe. I wonder how many of us really give this a serious thought as we go about our daily activities.
I kept wondering why I had been left behind. Of course it was a dream but I knew i my heart it was no ordinary dream. That morning, in my QT, I kept asking. Kept praying and I got this:
"Therefore if you have been raised with Christ
[to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep
seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right
hand of God. Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."(Colossians 3:1-4. AMP).
Somehow, we seem to have gotten so carried away with what is going on around us.We hardly ever talk about Christ's coming again. Even if we do, it would be in stilted words, and with hands fumbling over invisible threads as we try to surmount this awkward topic. And all of a sudden the initiator of such conversations get more stigma than an HIV patient. You seem like a 'kill-joy' for spouting such things.
But should this be so?
Should the thought of having our Saviour and Lord coming back for us not cause an outrageous delight in our hearts? Should we not view the things of this world with contempt in light of his inexplicable glory? Are we scared to believe? Are we scared to hope?
But hope shields.
Hope purifies.
"My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure." (1 John 3:2-3. GNB)
I realized in that dream that although I did not get an answer to my "why", I knew I had failed the 'hope test'. The truth is that you cannot expect to just disappear into the sky when you are being carried away by something else. You cannot be raptured by Christ when you are enraptured by the world. It doesn't work that way. You have to believe. You have to live with a consciousness of His coming. You have to hope.
Hope shields.
Hope purifies.
Side Note:
As part of getting ready for His coming, we need to tell every ear that cares to hear and even those who don't that Jesus is coming soon.
Call the sinner, wake the saint, Jesus is coming soon.
Photo credit: Lightstock
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