The Greatest Witness
                                                                                               By Pastor F. M. Riley
                                                                                               May 11, 2017
     "In My Father's house are many mansions [abiding places]:  if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  
     And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also," John 14:2-3.
     "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory," Colossians 3:4.
     "Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [peirasmos...testing], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth," Revelation 3:10.  
Introduction
     Each of these Scriptures used as a text for this Bible study clearly emphsizes that the Lord Jesus is coming again to take all true believers "home" to glory to be with Him, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.  We commonly refer to this event today as the "rapture," or "catching away" of the Lord's people.   
     There is much debate today in the churches and the ranks of Christianity about the rapture.  Some today believe and teach that the rapture of God's people will be Pre-Tribulational; that is,  preceding the seven year Tribulation period.  Count me in!  
     Others believe and teach that the rapture will be partial, taking only those believers who are faithfully serving the Lord, and that it will occur during the first  half of the Tribulation as a "pre-wrath" rapture.  
     Then there are some who believe and teach that the rapture of believers is "post-tribulational," not occurring until the events described in Revelation 20:4, following the Tribulation period.    
      Finally, there are a few in the ranks of Christianity who believe and teach that there is no rapture; that the rapture teaching is a myth; that there will be no "catching away" of God's people.   
     So what about this question?  Is the rapture for real?  And if so, when  is it going to occur?  And what purpose, other than the deliverance of God's people, will it serve?   I'm so glad you asked!  
     In this study, it is my intention to emphasize the extreme importance of the rapture, and the purpose it will serve above and beyond merely "catching away" all true New Covenant believers.  
     Now let's get started...
AS IT WAS, SO SHALL IT BE.....
    It was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who said, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man," Luke 17:26.  Christ here is referring to the apostate condition of mankind on the earth.  So what was the state of mankind on the earth "in the days of Noah?"  
     In Genesis 6:5, the inspired Word clearly states, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  This was the condition of mankind on the earth just preceding the flood in "the days of Noah," and it appears that the unbelieving world around us has returned to those same immoral conditions today.    
     I would remind our readers that Noah himself was "a preacher of righteousness," 2 Peter 2:5.  Noah preached God's Word for 120 years, preceding the flood, but how many responded to Noah's preaching and were saved?  I don't know!  1 Peter 3:19-20 appears to imply that some did respond to Noah's preaching before the flood, but what I do know is that only eight souls entered the ark and were saved from perishing in the flood.  The same waters that wiped out the pre-flood world, lifted the ark above the flood, keeping Noah and his family safe.   
     Today, mankind on the earth is in a state of apostasy, having turned away from God, just as mankind did "in the days of Noah."  Most of mankind today are not even remotely interested in spiritual truth, and don't want to hear about God or Christ, or about the coming of the Lord and judgment to come.  They just don't want to hear it, as we seek to "witness" to them.    
      Dear readers, we have come to a time in this dispensation, when the "witnessing" efforts of God's people are mostly ignored, or outright rejected, by the lost world.  There are thousands of people today, right here in America, who do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God.  I have had people tell me that they think the Bible is just a collection of Jewish fables; that it likely contains some good moral teachings, but it most certainly, in their opinion, is not Divinely Inspired,  and that God may not even be real.   Although most people today do not want to identify themselves as atheists, yet they are not certain that God is even real.  So how are they to be saved?  Hebrews 11:6.  
     Folks, this is a sad commentary on the "witnessing" efforts of those who "profess" to be God's people today.  The churches and those in the ranks of Christianity, when it comes to winning the lost world for Christ,  are every bit as much a failure as ancient Israel was a failure.  The whole lost world is in a state of apostasy against God and Christ, and our "witnessing" efforts are failing to reach them.  
THE NEED OF THE HOUR
     What then is needed is a "witness" that is so strong and powerful, so dynamic, so overwhelming, that it will convince even most of  doubting, presently unbelieving, mankind on the earth, that God is real and His Word is absolute truth.  Now in this Laodicean Church Age, and this time of great apostasy by mankind on the earth, where could such a "witness" even be found?   I'm so glad you asked!  
     When any true believer has a desperate, pressing need, they should go to the Lord in earnest, sincere prayer.  Almighty God, throughout His Word, has promised, over and over again, to hear the sincere prayers of His people [are you truly saved?] and  meet their needs.  I believe His promises!  But God's people must bring their needs to God in sincere and earnest prayer, if they expect God to help them, Matthew 6:6-8.  
     Now considering the time and spiritually apostate conditions on the earth today, how is God going to reach the masses of mankind who are no longer even slightly interested in hearing God's Word?  
THE GREATEST MIRACLE
     How?  By working one of the greatest miracles ever worked in all of human history.  In our churches today we sometimes discuss the miracles worked by the Lord Jesus Christ during His personal ministry at His first coming, as He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, caused the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk.   These were indeed notable miracles, but they were all worked on individual people, rather than on the whole population.   The masses living at that time went right ahead and crucified the Son of God, for they were not convinced by His miracles, that He was the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, and the Savior of mankind.  In other words, they did not believe what He was preaching was true, and  they simply did not believe that His Word was true.  What mankind needs today is a miracle so great and powerful; that is so extraordinary and unexplainable by human reasoning, that it will convince even the worst skeptics that God's Word is true.  A miracle so great that it will leave those who reject it without excuse for their unbelief.  Well, I have good news for God's people!   Such a miracle is just about ready to happen, and that miracle will be.......
THE GREATEST WITNESS
to the millions of mankind on the earth, that has ever occurred in human history, with the exception of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It will not only convince mankind on the earth that God's Word is absolutely true, but it will leave them without any excuse for not believing, and for rejecting Christ as their Savior.  What could such a "witness" possibly be?   Well, most true Bible believers call it the Rapture!   
     Now think about this seriously.....
     The people of Israel.....Throughout this present Dispensation of Grace, Israel as a nation and people, have rejected Christ Jesus, refusing to  believe that He was (and is) their long awaited Messiah and Savior.  To this very day the so-called "Orthodox" Jewish people reject the entire New Testament.  They refuse to believe that the New Testament was given by God, and is any part of God's inspired Word.  However, over the passing centuries, most religious Jews, especially the Rabbis, have become well acquainted with the teachings of the New Testament,  if for no other reason than to protect their own Jewish people from what they consider to be the "false teachings" of the Gentile Christian "goyim."  
     Also over the past 100 years the Jewish people have been confronted with the Christian teaching of the rapture, over and over again.  They are well acquainted with this teaching, and most religious Jewish people don't believe a word of it.  Often, when the subject comes up, they laugh and ridicule, amazed that the Gentile goyim could be so ignorant of God's Word as to believe such a wild "false teaching."
     Absolutely perfect!  The Lord God will have allowed the Jewish people to set themselves up for their minds to be "blowed away," when, in their own country, among their own people, many Messianic Jewish congregations just suddenly and instantly disappear right before the eyes of many of the presently unbelieving Jewish people.  
     Just imagine the spiritual effect this will have on the Jewish people who are eye-witnesses to the rapture of the Messianic Jews.  Doesn't this explain why, that immediately following the rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation period, 144,000 Jews out of all the twelve tribes listed in Revelation 7, will turn to the Lord for salvation, sealing, and ministry?   Praise God!   Hallelujah!  
     The Gentile Peoples.......Likewise in the Gentile nations of the world, thousands of God's people will just suddenly disappear off the face of the earth, raptured upwards to "meet the Lord in the air," 1 Thessalonians 4:17.  The Lord Himself said that when this happens some of God's people will be working with others in the fields; "the one shall be taken, and the other left."  Some of God's people will be having their grain ground into flour at the mill; "the one shall be taken, and the other left."  Some of God's people will be in bed with a lost spouse; "the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left."  Read it for yourself in Matthew 24:40-42 and Luke 17:34-37.  
     Can our readers even begin to imagine the effect the rapture is going to have on those who are left behind on the earth, when thousands of true believers suddenly disappear off the face of the earth right before the eyes of unsaved people?  The rapture will be the greatest witness to those left behind on the earth, that the Bible is  absolutely the inspired   Word of God, and that it's content is absolutely true.  
      Is this then the reason why, during the first half of the Tribulation period, which will follow the rapture, there is a great multitude of people on the earth, out of "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, who will turn to the Lord for salvation, having by faith, washed themselves in the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Revelation 7:9-17?   I most certainly believe it is!  
     Dear readers, the rapture will be.....
The Greatest Witness
to presently unbelieving mankind which has ever occurred in human history, other than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and millions left behind on the earth when the rapture occurs, will turn to the Lord for salvation.  Glory to God!  Praise the Lord!  Hallelujah!  
     "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," Revelation 22:20.  
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     Permission is granted to any true believer, or Bible believing Christian ministry to reproduce this study to share with others, or to quote from it in context as written.   
      Thank you beloved brothers and sisters in Christ for your prayers and for your gifts for me and for this ministry.  It is your prayers and kindnesses, that enable me to stay busy studying and writing out the great truths of God's Word for God's people, and for lost seeking souls.
May your rewards be great in glory.  Thank you so very much.  
     Please address all comments, questions, and correspondence to me at:  Pastor F. M. Riley, 14275 County Road 8120, Rolla, Missouri 65401.  At the present time, for those who want to call, my phone number still remains 573-201-0491.  May our gracious God watch over you and bless you all is my prayer.   We will meet SOON in glory!
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