Children are always asking their parents, "Are we there yet?", and like them, we ask our Father in Heaven, if it's time for Jesus to come for us yet. Are we there yet Lord? He showed me in His Word, the same answer most children here: "Almost!" Let me show you why we can know for sure that it's "almost time".
We know God is sovereign and that all things happen only when He deems it time for them to happen. He doesn't play things by ear, and nothing is chaotic, even when it appears to be to us. We're told in Galatians 4:4-5 that Jesus was born that first Christmas morning, "when the fullness of the time had come". In other words, God planned His first coming right down to the last second, so that everything that would happen afterward, would be according to His Will. Even then our Father was thinking of you and me. He wanted to be sure that you and I were saved, so He planned it very carefully.
The same is true of our Lord's coming to take us off this earth to be with Him forever! (and also of His 2nd coming) In 2 Tim 2:19 we're told that God knows who belongs to Him. Many times we're told that He's known us and planned for us since before the creation of the world. Knowing that God planned for His Son's birth into this world at the perfect time, we can look back and see how miraculously the Church grew after it was born. We can see how things came together that first day the Holy Spirit came on the disciples and they preached - how people from all over the world were right there to hear them, and thousands were saved in one day. Coincidence? I hardly think so!
God has planned for the rapture with exactly the same care. Knowing how impatient children are, the Lord even tells us when the rapture will happen. Rom 11:25 says: I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Up until the church was born, Israel was God's tool to teach others. Because she didn't do the job and rejected her Messiah, God blinded or hardened Israel and created the Church to teach others about Him. Another part of His plan for the Church was to make Israel jealous, (Rom 11:14–15) in order to prepare her for the day the Lord takes the blindfold away from their eyes; but that won't happen until the "fullness (or full number) of the Gentiles has come in".
We've often spoken about God always having a remnant that belonged to Him. A remnant that were truly saved. That's been true since the very beginning of creation. God has never been without His faithful. But, there's another thing we need to realize about that. God knows who belongs to Him and has since creation, and He knows each by name. He's never been surprised because there was an "extra" person saved as part of His remnant, nor has He been taken by surprise because there was one short. Nothing is ever left to chance; God plans everything carefully, especially concerning those who belong to Him. In 1 Kings 19:18 God tells us He had kept 7,000 who were really saved and He'd known their exact number and each of their names since creation. At that same time, He also knew the exact number of Gentiles that would ultimately be saved after the church was born. That's the meaning of the "fullness of the Gentiles". When the last Gentile to be part of the church is saved, then the Father will tell Jesus to come and get us!
Did you notice that I underlined, "to be part of the church"? That's important! God has a plan for both Israel and the Church. What most of us don't realize or stop to think about, is that they're different plans. We tend to think of everyone that's saved as part of the church, but that's not true. Many Jew's were saved before Jesus was born. They aren't part of the church; they're part of God's plan for Israel. The Old Testament especially (but not exclusively) tells us a lot about His plans for Israel, including many promises that won't be fulfilled until Jesus sets up the Millennial Kingdom. He does that for Israel, not for us! While there will be Gentiles in the Millennial Kingdom, they will be under the rule of Israel. All who are part of the Church will already have their permanent immortal and incorruptible bodies by then and will live in New Jerusalem. The Church (us) is the bride of Christ. We are engaged to Christ now and Jesus will soon come to get His bride at the rapture and then, finally, we will have our wedding feast with Him in Heaven as we're told in Revelation 19:7.
Israel is often called God's wife in the Old Testament. This is where it gets confusing because God did not divorce Israel and do away with her. Remember, God hates divorce! In Isaiah 50:1–3 we see that Israel was "forsaken" by the Lord for her unfaithfulness, but not divorced. Hosea illustrates the story of Israel and God. Israel was unfaithful, but while God has and will discipline her, He has not and will not divorce her. He will save her and she will always be His "wife". The problem that causes confusion is that we become to literal in trying to figure out how God can have one set of people as His bride and another as His wife. God chose those terms to show us what His relationship with each of us is like, both Jew and Gentile, not because we are literally his wife or bride. For one thing, obviously men can't be brides or wives, but only husbands. So you can only take those terms to a certain point.
Those who are saved since the resurrection of Jesus and before the rapture, both Jew and Gentile are part of the Church. Those saved before Jesus was resurrected are part of Israel (yes, even the Gentiles) and those saved after the rapture will also be part of God's plan for Israel. (again, including the Gentiles) They won't be part of the Church.
We know too that we are currently living in the "times of the Gentiles". This period of time started when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem in 605 bc and continues until the second coming. During this time, Gentiles will occupy Israel and the rightful heir won't be ruling from David's throne. Let me quote Luke 21:24 in context for you: Luke 21:23–25 —How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. *They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. *“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. As you can see by the context, Jesus is speaking of the end of the Tribulation and His second coming here. So Gentiles will keep their noses in Israel's business right up until then. All this and more, causes them to once more look for their Savior.
We can see in the news how Israel is becoming more and more of a focus and how the church is becoming less of one - except for derogatory remarks anyway. The Church is falling away just as the Lord said it would during the last days, and people are going back to making up their own gods, often themselves. If we look closely, we can see God's Hand in all that's taking place.... in our own country and all over the world. The Church has faded from her formerly high position to one which she is barely holding onto by a thread now. When the last gentile to be a member of the Lord's Church has been saved, the rapture will take place just as the Father has planned. There will no longer be any reason for the Church to be on the earth, because when the tribulation begins, God will be restarting His prophetic clock, restarting the Age of the Law when His focus was on Israel. (that's what age it was when Jesus was here the first time. It ended when the Church was born and the Age of Grace began)
So as we look out the window of our cars and see the scenery changing - the church losing prominence, and Israel being trampled on, and ask our Father, "Are we there yet?" We can hear Him say, "Soon!"
We know God is sovereign and that all things happen only when He deems it time for them to happen. He doesn't play things by ear, and nothing is chaotic, even when it appears to be to us. We're told in Galatians 4:4-5 that Jesus was born that first Christmas morning, "when the fullness of the time had come". In other words, God planned His first coming right down to the last second, so that everything that would happen afterward, would be according to His Will. Even then our Father was thinking of you and me. He wanted to be sure that you and I were saved, so He planned it very carefully.
The same is true of our Lord's coming to take us off this earth to be with Him forever! (and also of His 2nd coming) In 2 Tim 2:19 we're told that God knows who belongs to Him. Many times we're told that He's known us and planned for us since before the creation of the world. Knowing that God planned for His Son's birth into this world at the perfect time, we can look back and see how miraculously the Church grew after it was born. We can see how things came together that first day the Holy Spirit came on the disciples and they preached - how people from all over the world were right there to hear them, and thousands were saved in one day. Coincidence? I hardly think so!
God has planned for the rapture with exactly the same care. Knowing how impatient children are, the Lord even tells us when the rapture will happen. Rom 11:25 says: I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Up until the church was born, Israel was God's tool to teach others. Because she didn't do the job and rejected her Messiah, God blinded or hardened Israel and created the Church to teach others about Him. Another part of His plan for the Church was to make Israel jealous, (Rom 11:14–15) in order to prepare her for the day the Lord takes the blindfold away from their eyes; but that won't happen until the "fullness (or full number) of the Gentiles has come in".
We've often spoken about God always having a remnant that belonged to Him. A remnant that were truly saved. That's been true since the very beginning of creation. God has never been without His faithful. But, there's another thing we need to realize about that. God knows who belongs to Him and has since creation, and He knows each by name. He's never been surprised because there was an "extra" person saved as part of His remnant, nor has He been taken by surprise because there was one short. Nothing is ever left to chance; God plans everything carefully, especially concerning those who belong to Him. In 1 Kings 19:18 God tells us He had kept 7,000 who were really saved and He'd known their exact number and each of their names since creation. At that same time, He also knew the exact number of Gentiles that would ultimately be saved after the church was born. That's the meaning of the "fullness of the Gentiles". When the last Gentile to be part of the church is saved, then the Father will tell Jesus to come and get us!
Did you notice that I underlined, "to be part of the church"? That's important! God has a plan for both Israel and the Church. What most of us don't realize or stop to think about, is that they're different plans. We tend to think of everyone that's saved as part of the church, but that's not true. Many Jew's were saved before Jesus was born. They aren't part of the church; they're part of God's plan for Israel. The Old Testament especially (but not exclusively) tells us a lot about His plans for Israel, including many promises that won't be fulfilled until Jesus sets up the Millennial Kingdom. He does that for Israel, not for us! While there will be Gentiles in the Millennial Kingdom, they will be under the rule of Israel. All who are part of the Church will already have their permanent immortal and incorruptible bodies by then and will live in New Jerusalem. The Church (us) is the bride of Christ. We are engaged to Christ now and Jesus will soon come to get His bride at the rapture and then, finally, we will have our wedding feast with Him in Heaven as we're told in Revelation 19:7.
Israel is often called God's wife in the Old Testament. This is where it gets confusing because God did not divorce Israel and do away with her. Remember, God hates divorce! In Isaiah 50:1–3 we see that Israel was "forsaken" by the Lord for her unfaithfulness, but not divorced. Hosea illustrates the story of Israel and God. Israel was unfaithful, but while God has and will discipline her, He has not and will not divorce her. He will save her and she will always be His "wife". The problem that causes confusion is that we become to literal in trying to figure out how God can have one set of people as His bride and another as His wife. God chose those terms to show us what His relationship with each of us is like, both Jew and Gentile, not because we are literally his wife or bride. For one thing, obviously men can't be brides or wives, but only husbands. So you can only take those terms to a certain point.
Those who are saved since the resurrection of Jesus and before the rapture, both Jew and Gentile are part of the Church. Those saved before Jesus was resurrected are part of Israel (yes, even the Gentiles) and those saved after the rapture will also be part of God's plan for Israel. (again, including the Gentiles) They won't be part of the Church.
We know too that we are currently living in the "times of the Gentiles". This period of time started when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem in 605 bc and continues until the second coming. During this time, Gentiles will occupy Israel and the rightful heir won't be ruling from David's throne. Let me quote Luke 21:24 in context for you: Luke 21:23–25 —How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. *They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. *“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. As you can see by the context, Jesus is speaking of the end of the Tribulation and His second coming here. So Gentiles will keep their noses in Israel's business right up until then. All this and more, causes them to once more look for their Savior.
We can see in the news how Israel is becoming more and more of a focus and how the church is becoming less of one - except for derogatory remarks anyway. The Church is falling away just as the Lord said it would during the last days, and people are going back to making up their own gods, often themselves. If we look closely, we can see God's Hand in all that's taking place.... in our own country and all over the world. The Church has faded from her formerly high position to one which she is barely holding onto by a thread now. When the last gentile to be a member of the Lord's Church has been saved, the rapture will take place just as the Father has planned. There will no longer be any reason for the Church to be on the earth, because when the tribulation begins, God will be restarting His prophetic clock, restarting the Age of the Law when His focus was on Israel. (that's what age it was when Jesus was here the first time. It ended when the Church was born and the Age of Grace began)
So as we look out the window of our cars and see the scenery changing - the church losing prominence, and Israel being trampled on, and ask our Father, "Are we there yet?" We can hear Him say, "Soon!"
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