While I Wait :: By Nathele Graham
Waiting is hard for most of us. Maybe you’re waiting for news about your health or waiting for word that the loan has been approved to purchase your dream home. When I was a child, I had a very hard time waiting for our local county fair to start, and my birthday. Time seems to drag by as we wait for things we can’t rush. We all know the old cliché of a young husband in a hospital waiting room, awaiting the news that his wife has given birth and that she and the newborn baby are both safe and healthy. He paces and wrings his hands, but prayer would be more beneficial. Even the most solid Christian can forget to pray in times of stress.
It’s not a secret that we are nearing the end of days, and Christians need to be busy while we wait. We need to pray for strength, courage, and guidance. The news isn’t fun to listen to. There seems to be evil in every headline, and that can make us fret. But prayerfully studying Scripture should bring Christians a sense of peace because the sin which separated us from God has been forgiven, and our salvation is secure.
Biblical Prophecy discloses the signs of the times, and time is getting short. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
While the signs of the times are unsettling, we can find God’s perfect peace. The word “careful” is better understood as “anxious.” It comes from the Greek verb “merimnao,” which means “to be anxious, to be troubled with cares.” Modern translations say, “Be anxious for nothing” or “Don’t worry about anything.”
When troubles in life have us upset, it’s good to keep busy. Praying is our first priority, but after that, get busy serving Jesus. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid our sin debt, but His example to us and His directions tell us that we aren’t to sit back and be idle.
Jesus was not concerned about upsetting the religious leaders by doing things they felt broke the Law. For instance, on one particular Sabbath, He came across a man who had been blind from birth, and His disciples questioned if the man or his parents had sinned. Jesus said the blindness wasn’t caused by sin, but it was so that God’s works would be seen. Jesus said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4-5).
Jesus knew that a major flap would come from “working on the Sabbath” but knew He had a higher calling. He had to do the works of God the Father while there was still time.
The darkness of evil is falling all around. “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Today, the Light shines through Christians, and we must work for our Lord. Not to buy or earn salvation, but while we wait for Him to call us Home, we need to be busy sharing the Gospel.
An interesting person in Scripture is Enoch. He lived prior to God’s judgment of the flood and is a “picture” of the pre-tribulation Rapture. The truth of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture isn’t a new idea brought about in the 1800s. Those who don’t study Scripture can be very misguided in their beliefs.
In Genesis, we learn that Enoch was sixty-five years old when his son Methuselah was born. “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years and begat sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:22). Enoch didn’t sit around for 300 years waiting to be translated, but He lived a life that reflected God. What did he do while he waited? We know he was a prophet. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 1:14).
Enoch was an example to his family and to the evil world around him. It was up to those who were around him to accept or reject his example. Rejection didn’t turn Enoch away from his walk with God.
“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Enoch was “taken” prior to the judgment of the flood. This is also spoken of in the Book of Hebrews. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had his testimony, that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5).
Enoch’s faith and way of living kept him from facing God’s judgment.
Today, Christians are like Enoch. We see the darkness of sin and evil growing darker each day. What are we supposed to do while we wait for the Rapture? We are to work — not to earn salvation but to be examples to a fallen and lost world.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14).
Some would have us believe that our belief in Christ doesn’t have to change the way we behave. We are saved by faith. That’s true; our faith doesn’t require works. Jesus paid the full price for our salvation, but our faith should change our behavior. While we wait for the Blessed Hope of the Rapture, we need to “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts” and “we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
Ask yourself if you, like Enoch, are walking with God. Enoch lived prior to the finished work of Christ on the cross, and he didn’t have the grace under which we live. We have so much to be grateful for that while we wait for the Blessed Hope, we should submit our self-will to God.
The Apostle Paul could have continued in his evil ways after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, but what kind of witness would he have brought to the world if he had held tightly to his sin?
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
The Rapture is coming closer every day, and there are many people who haven’t met Jesus. We need to share the Gospel with the lost souls around us.
We have work to do while we wait for that call to go Home with Jesus. When the call comes, the sins we hold on to won’t give us any pleasure and will be nothing more than waste products that will be burned up. Every person will one day stand before God’s judgment. Those who reject Christ will be judged by their works at the Great White Throne. No amount of works can bring salvation. Those of us who have accepted Christ for salvation will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ. Our works will also be judged, but not for salvation.
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire: and the fire shall try every man’s work of what short it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire” (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).
Your salvation doesn’t depend upon works, but when you stand before Christ and see His nail-scarred hands, you will want to have done more for Him today. Get busy while you wait.
The Apostle Paul taught about the pre-tribulation rapture in his letters written to believers in Thessalonica and Corinth. He makes it clear that Christians won’t be here to face God’s wrath during the Tribulation.
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).
Jesus took our punishment upon Himself. He died for us, and even though we face many troubles in this life, we won’t face God’s final wrath.
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
We cannot know the date of the Rapture, but we can watch for the signs. Whether we die prior to the Rapture or are alive when it happens, all Christians will be gathered to Him.
What are you doing while you wait? Are you proudly holding on to sin, or are you walking with God?
The last command that Jesus gave to His followers was to preach the Gospel. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
You may not be able to be a missionary to some remote part of the world, but your family and your neighborhood are in need of hearing the Gospel. Share with friends and family while you can. Time is getting short.
When I hear of wars and rumors of war, pestilence, or happenings that tell me we are returning to the days of Noah and the days of Lot, I don’t wring my hands and fret. Scripture tells me that the Rapture will soon happen. While I wait, I try to represent Jesus to the best of my ability. I’m waiting for either death to take me from the world or for the Rapture. While I wait, I want a closer walk with Jesus and to be a stronger witness for my Lord.
God bless you all,
Nathele Graham
Recommended prophecy sites:
All original scripture is “theopneustos,” God-breathed.
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