The Rapture of My Righteous Ones

I believe Jesus wants us to look forward to the rapture, without worry and anxiety over whether we are qualified to be among those raptured. There are some who are saying that only a small number of elite believers will be raptured. They usually justify this by quoting from Ephesians 5:7 that Jesus is coming back for a “church, not having spot or wrinkle...holy and without blemish”. Their implication is that you do not yet fit that description and are therefore not qualified to be raptured. I would like to show you what the scriptures actually say about what and who qualifies us:

It is Christ Himself (not us) who did the cleansing and the washing, thus making us holy and blameless by His sacrifice on the cross. Note the past tense “were” that I have underlined:

...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-28

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

If you have been justified by His blood, you will be raptured and saved from His wrath:

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Romans 5:9

In the rapture, Jesus, our kinsman redeemer, comes to claim that which rightfully belongs to Him. If you have been born of the Spirit, then His Spirit is in you, and you belong to Christ:
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:37-39

Last, but never least, our salvation is by grace through faith, from beginning to end. The rapture is the completion of our redemption. God is not going to “pull a fast one on us” and change what is written. The finished work of Jesus (not our own works) have made us righteous in Christ. And the righteous are always removed before God pours out His wrath.

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17

However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. Romans 4:5

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

For,“In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. Hebrews 10:37-39

From beginning to end, it is Christ who has qualified believers by His grace. He is the one who washed, cleansed, and sanctified us. We belong to Him because His Spirit lives in us. He has already made us righteous and that makes us rapture-ready. If we accept that qualification by faith, we will not shrink back by depending on self-righteousness and works of the law. Jesus does not want our hearts to be troubled. Surely, He wants us to keep our eyes on Him, the author and finisher of our faith.

Kevin N