Caught Up in the Clouds
“In the twinkling of an eye,” Paul wrote. In a fraction of a fraction of a second, up to one third of the world’s population suddenly disappeared. Two men were walking in a field; one was taken, the other stood there wondering what happened. Two women were tending a garden; one disappeared, her clothes fell to the ground, the other woman sat there bewildered, frightened. People called out for each other and heard the calls of others. Cars, trucks, and buses were without drivers. Planes were without pilots. Classrooms were without teachers. Panic, chaos, and confusion enveloped what was left of the world’s population.
Moments before this visible event, what was not seen by the world was the resurrection of all those who died believing that Jesus is the Messiah. Their bodies were resurrected from their graves. Their ashes were gathered from around the world. Their remains gathered together in new, glorified, incorruptible bodies were rejoined with their spirits and their souls and all of them that joined Jesus in the clouds. Those left behind did not hear the trumpet; nor did they hear the call of Jesus or the echoing of that call from an angel.
Emergency service systems across the globe were overwhelmed with calls of missing people, traffic accidents, plane crashes, and other disasters. Television and radio programs were preempted with news of the disappearances and the catastrophic results of those disappearances. All first responders were called back to work but many were not reachable. Militaries across the globe recalled all their service members; many were not reachable and were considered Absent Without Official Leave—AWOL. Likewise, government officials across the globe were called to emergency sessions but not all showed up. Some simply vanished; others died or were seriously injured in the chaos that immediately followed the disappearances.
People were in denial. “This can’t be real! This can’t be happening! People don’t just disappear!” Some continued to look for lost friends and family members. Others remained glued to television sets. At first they thought they stumbled across an interesting movie until they realized it is news and it is on every channel. Others scanned Internet sources looking for answers or tryed to reach people online.
The first Sunday following this event, people flocked to churches looking for answers. Some were casual attenders. Others never set foot in a house of worship before. But, regular attenders were present, as well as some members and leaders in these churches. Granted, most of the regular members, leaders and attenders were gone. The realization of what happened started to dawn on some of them. Still, they were in denial. “It couldn’t have been the Rapture! Why am I still here?”
In the chaos, many saw opportunities to benefit themselves. Some rioted and looted. Others came up with elaborate schemes to defraud people. Crime increased exponentially but the police agencies were unable to keep up due to a shortage in personnel and an increase in demand for emergency services. Most countries declared Marshall Law.
Young rabbinical scholars from around the globe returned to their rabbinical seminaries, or their yeshiva gedolas, to find answers. Perhaps some of them studied other world religions, specifically, Christianity since Christians claim Jesus is the Messiah and they needed to learn about these claims to defend against them. They may have encountered other Jews who did believe Jesus was the Messiah. They called themselves Messianic believers. These people were dismissed as traitors to Judaism. Efforts to contact them now were futile.
Since all the Messianic Believers these young rabbis met are gone, they started to wonder, “Was Jesus really the Messiah?” They searched all the Scriptures, both the Tanakh and what Christians called the New Testament. Many will come to believe and declare, “Jesus, Yeshua, is the Messiah!” One hundred and forty-four thousand of these news Messianic believers were sealed by God to become messengers of the gospel; they will be Tribulation Evangelists. They poured over the New Testament and found the story of Saul of Tarsus, an educated rabbi like themselves; they read about his encounter with a resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus and how that encounter changed his life and the course of world events. Now it’s their turn.
The Rapture—a controversial topic even among evangelical Christians for years—actually happened. What’s next?
