Grace for the Rapture

Thought of Revelations - Grace for the Rapture

One of the paragraphs that stirs my thought:

Partial-Rapture Theory

Horton Stanley¹ in touching on the Partial-Rapture wrote “Many who teach a partial Rapture are also very legalistic and look at the rapture as something they must deserve, rather than seeing it as part of the blessing of being heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, something that is ours by grace through faith.” Robert Gundry rightly points out that “viewing the tribulation period as time of purgation for living believers who failed to qualify for the rapture” calls for some sort of purgatory for believers “who died in a state of Christian immaturity”

Stanley clearly pointed out that there is a part of man whereby we like to earn something by our own strength. It is in our nature to prove that we deserve something and receive it and it is also true in this context of the rapture.

An example is in the working out of our salvation. If we have our theology wrong, then we will naturally think that after God saved us, we are left to ‘work out’ or earn our final redemption. And one verse we used is in Phil 2:12 to justify our works towards redemption.

Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB95) ¹² So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

It is not wrong to work out our salvation and we must work out our salvation but we have to also allow God to work in us (Phil 2:13). After that, we will be able to work out our salvation (Phil 2:12). There must be a balance in the ‘working in’ of God and the ‘working out’ of individuals.

Coming back to the context of our rapture, I am inclined to think that just as we received our salvation because of God’s grace through faith (Eph 2:8), likewise it will be of the rapture. Therefore, the challenge is really to walk close to God, allow Him to work in us. Even if at the end of the day, we may not get the specific details of the doctrine correct. But if we are in Christ, we are assured and secured of our redemption.

------

¹Stanley M.Horton, Our Destiny, Springfield, Missouri,Gospel Publishing House: Logion Press books, 2006, pp126-127