The Rapture?

Recently I was reading some interesting thoughts by N. T. Wright.  It was quite simple, yet quite profound.  It's on the rapture, according to N.T. Wright who I believe would be a post-trib believer, he does not believe that the rapture is the idea of us going to God, but instead God or Jesus coming to us.

In ancient times it was customary that when a king or a emperor came to visit a land, he would be greeted outside the land.  Then there would be a great processional leading into the city welcoming this person to their kingdom.  Wright relates this same idea when the Apostle John was writing in the book of Revelation, about Jesus coming down to the clouds and us being taken up to him.  Almost always when it refers to Jesus going somewhere in clouds, it is the idea or personification of Jesus riding in his chariot of fire traveling to somewhere or someplace.  This metaphor is used multiple times throughout scripture always relating to the same idea.  Now, this is not so life-changing in itself, but it is probable that when John was writing this passage, he was truly referring to our King about to enter the land.

What happens after the tribulation?  Well, Armageddon, and Jesus' second coming.  Would this not seem to fit accurately?  Jesus' coming back, our King and Chief commander, and all of us meeting him, praising and welcoming him all the way into the city, for either the final battle or the New Jerusalem.  It is funny how we have allowed Platonism to effect our beliefs, as most of us want to go to heaven when we die.  But our ultimate destination is not there, but God bringing heaven to earth, and our ultimate destination is to live eternally on the new earth.

If you could picture for a moment, a city like no other coming on to the earth, the very place that Jesus went to go prepare for us.  And God will sit on the throne, with all of creation surrounding him, praising his name.  This is our final destination....not heaven.  Though heaven exists, it is not our final resting place, but a temporary holding of the great city of GOD!   So, now backtracking lets think about the rapture again.

I know I don't have a complete grasp on the end times yet, and am not sure if I am pre, post, or mid-trib.  But Wright brings some good ideas and thoughts I would never have discovered on my own.  So, I share...your decision on the matter will not affect the course of history, but there needs to be more reasoning in your mind that God is nice and therefore I am pre-trib.  I don't wish to go through the tribulation period nor do I wish it on anyone, but its possible.  However all that matters is what my relationship with God is, whether I would die for him, the truest question of love.

~CDS~