Up until Jesus, the prophets were talking about Him, promising His soon coming. We know that Simeon, that old man, was waiting for the consolation of Israel, was patiently waiting for the coming of the Redeemer. People were longing for it, people were hoping for it, people were praying for it. And then He showed up and the last days began, because He’s now fulfilling everything.
And so the last days started and who are those people that are mocking, doubting, the scoffers? The Bible says in Jude, “These people, these mockers, these people would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.”
1 Peter 2:1-3, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisy, envy, and all evil-speaking as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow, thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
People who never tasted the graciousness of the Lord, they don’t even know Him, probably. They think they do. They don’t lay aside the malice. They feed on it. They don’t lay aside the deceit. This is their modus operandi. This is the way they operate. They don’t even tell you the truth to your face. They’re hypocrites.
By the way, hypocrites in the Greek is “a mask”. I don’t know if you know that. In the theater world of those days, the masks that they were using during a show were called hypocrites. That’s why hypocrites are people who are putting on themselves something that they’re not. Envy – so much of why they tell you that your hope is not valid, that the promise is not there, it’s because they envy. They look at you, they see people with hope, they see people with great expectation, that expectation that brings forth holiness and righteousness, and they look at their life. It’s envy. Evil speaking, that’s why we as newborn babes, we need to desire the pure milk of the word. I’m not even sure how much they find themselves in the word. We may grow, if indeed we have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Proverbs 13:1 says, “A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.” These people, they’re not even willing to listen to a rebuke. They know better. They know everything. And what is it that they mock you for? They’re saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? Where is it? Show it to me. I don’t believe it.” Interesting. They’re doubting the coming of Christ to His people. They’re basically saying, “Look, yeah, yeah, yeah, He was here. Yeah, He said things. But you have to take things in the right context. Look, ever since our fathers were here and they died, things are the same.”
Things are the same for them maybe. For a newborn Spirit-filled believer, things are not the same. They can never be the same. You saw my testimony. If things were the same, I wouldn’t be alive today. They doubt the coming of Christ to His people. They doubt the literal promise.
What an amazing time to be alive! We are watching ancient prophecies of the Bible, both positive and negative, happening right before our eyes. Israel is a nation again, world attention is on Jerusalem, people are getting saved through dreams and visions of Jesus in countries where the gospel is forbidden, and, sadly, scoffers of the rapture of the church abound.
2 Peter 3:1-6
Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
It has been said, “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.” We have the advantage of looking back and seeing through scripture that the precedent established at flood was God lifting the righteous above His wrath as the world was being judged. Yet, in spite of this clear Biblical precedent, millions of people who say they are Christians scoff at the idea of the rapture of the church. This too is prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes.
Knowing this, we can come away with two things. We can be frustrated by it, and expectant because of it. The frustrating part is that there doesn’t seem to be much that can be said to convince the rapture deniers since they “willfully forget” what God has done in the past. We can, however, also be expectant because this prophecy is specific to the last days. We know the last days began when Jesus came to the earth, but the phrase is more specific here in that there is an implied capsule of time during which this happens, which is late in church history. We know this because Paul prophesied in 2 Timothy 4 that a time would come when men would not endure (or “put up with”) sound doctrine.
There is much to be concerned about in these last days as we watch the world unravel and become more and more antisemitic and God hating.
Romans 13:12
The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Every day the likelihood of the rapture increases. We don’t know the day nor the hour at which it will happen, but what we do know is if it doesn’t happen today, it’s even more likely tomorrow.
In light of that, let’s make sure we are living all out for the Lord and telling others about Him and His love for the world!
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus ,