Matt, you asked John this question:

 

    Do you believe we will know when before it happens, say a week or even a day before? 

 

     I have been led to study the story of Elijah for quite some time now, and I believe it is because it is a parallel of our rapture to come soon. Elijah was a true prophet of God who was sent to speak the truth to the wicked King Ahab, and who was used in a mighty way to point out and defeat the 850 false prophets that his wife Jezebel supported, but then he fled in fear after his greatest victory at Mount Carmel.

 

    Elijah felt all alone, dejected and ready for the Lord to take him home. Elijah complained to the Lord that he was the only one left who believed in the one true God, that he had been mocked and scorned and abandoned. Sounds familiar to many of us, doesn't it? The Lord sent Elijah to anoint a new prophet who would take his place once he was called home, and that was Elisha.

 

    Elijah and Elisha walked together the last days of Elijah's time on earth, and I am sure that Elijah was teaching Elisha about the Lord so that Elisha would be prepared for his ministry as a true prophet of God once Elijah had departed. Their last day's journey can be read about in 2 Kings 2, and is a thrilling account of Elijah's ascent in the whirlwind. Every place that they went that day they were met by the sons of the prophets who came out to meet them. Each time the sons of the prophets asked this question of Elisha, to which I have added a few grammatical points:

 

    "Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day?" And he (Elisha) said, "Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace."

 

    There is nothing new under the sun as we are told in Ecclesiastes 1:9:  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

 

    I would take this literally and believe that it will not be a new thing when we are taken up, and that just as Elisha knew Elijah would be taken that day, as did the sons of the prophets, then I am confident that we will know the very day also. We may not know a long time in advance, but I am sure the Lord is already in the process of revealing it. We are also given this wonderful promise in Amos 3:7:

 

   Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

    Be encouraged Matt! If we are His servants, He will reveal His secret unto us before He does ANYTHING, and that would surely include the rapture, one of the biggest secrets in the Bible. We may not all be prophets, but there are true prophets among us, even here at Five Doves, and they are being told many secrets. We live in exciting times!

 

    And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:28