Some of the hottest books on the market right now in the Christian and even secular market are books about the rapture. The rapture is the biblical teaching taken from I Thessalonians 4 that Christ will return at the sound of the trumpet, the dead will be raised and those of us who are “in Christ” will meet the Lord in the air with all the saints who have died. It’s an incredible event that we wait for and you can understand why these books dramatizing the event are selling like hotcakes.
The doctrine of the rapture wasn’t given to us to instill drama or fear, but it was meant to comfort a discouraged and persecuted church. Although personally, I can’t say this passage has always brought me a sense of comfort. You see, one of my phobias is high places. I don’t like to get any higher off the ground than what I can safely fall from. But I do take comfort in the fact that I will be meeting Christ up in the air, so if I keep my eyes on Him and not below, I should be o.k.
This morning I want to talk about an important Christian doctrine very similar to the rapture, but one that doesn’t get much ink these days, even though the Bible talks about it much more than it does the rapture. It’s about the spiritual rapture that has already taken place in the soul of believers, actually long before we were born. It’s a doctrine that, if we really grasp and accept by faith, can lift us up and change the way we think and live even more than the promised rapture.
Last week we talked about the power of Jesus love in that he died for us while we were still sinners. Rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, but it is unheard of to lay down your life for a wicked person or enemy. You could picture General Marshall in WWII laying down his life for an American or British soldier. But would he lay down his life for a Japanese or German soldier? Of course not. But Jesus demonstrated his love for us by dying while we were enemies of God.
As a comfort, that passage is impossible to top. What greater metaphor of love can you find in Scripture? The passage we study today includes that same metaphor as we studied last week. Verse 5 says that God, because of his great love and mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. We were saved totally by grace. There was nothing good in us that earned that mercy. It was all God.
But in Paul’s letter here to the Ephesians, he takes that same metaphor that he gave to the Romans, and takes it a step further. Verse 6 is our focus for this morning. Not only did God show his love by the death of His Son, but God showed his love by raising us up with Christ and taking us with Him when He ascended to heaven.
Jesus experienced the original rapture when he ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection. In church history the two most important church services have been Good Friday and Easter, but according to the Bible and the Apostles Creed, Ascension Day is just as important. Jesus’ ascension is a symbol of triumph and victory, and it assurance that He now reigns and rules in heaven. He has taken his seat on the throne next to His father, where they both now rule and govern this world.
We are now Christ’s soldiers waging war here on earth against the powers of darkness by the power of the Holy Spirit. We know we have the ultimate weapon and that final victory is assured, but in the mean time there are many clean up battles going on, and all too often we feel like we’re losing those battles.
The Ephesian believers received this letter from Paul to be encouraged in the many spiritual battles they were fighting. They were fighting old temptations and ways of living. They were fighting persecution from outside the church and conflict from within the church. Paul wanted to assure them they had all the resources they needed to win. They had the assurance of God’s love and that their God ruled over all other gods.
But the one piece of assurance that is often overlooked is this promise found in verse 6. Not only were our sins forgiven when Christ died, but we also died with Christ. Not only that, but we were raised with him and when he was raptured into heaven we were right there with him.
One of the most common questions I’ve heard over the years from young people who struggle with believing what the Bible teaches is this: is it fair that we should have to pay for the sin of Adam and Eve committed so long ago and so far away? Why should we be held accountable and face the consequences of a choice that someone else made?
It’s a logical question. Our kids have been taught all their lives that they are responsible for their actions and that our justice system won’t prosecute them for crimes they haven’t committed.
One answer I give to that question is that they all sin and are responsible for their actions. They accept that but that still doesn’t answer the question of fairness. Why did we have to receive that “sin nature” from our grandparents anyhow? Why can’t each person start out with a clean slate instead of being born sinners?
I believe the question of fairness is answered in Ephesians 2 and in the Romans 5 and in many other places by Paul and the gospel writers. For as in Adam all die, but in Christ shall all be made alive. As Adam was the firstborn over all Creation whose actions affected all future people, so is Christ the Son of Man, the firstborn for all future believers who makes right what Adam and Eve made wrong.
If you are in Christ you are a new creation. You have been crucified with Christ and as you stay connected to Him, the Vine, you will be victors in all the spiritual battles you face.
Not only did you die to your sins with Jesus death, but you were raised with him and raptured with Him into heaven. Notice the tense of these words. It’s past tense. You’ve already been raptured. It’s way past tense. It’s not something that happened when you came to Christ, but something that happened 2,000 years ago. If you think that’s impossible remember that your names were written in the book of life before you were born, before the time of Christ, before the world was created.
Realize your position in Christ. You are on top looking down. We are suppose to be soaring, running and not growing weary, rising above tragedy and conflict, and seeing the world through God’s eyes up above. Look forward to the rapture, but realize you’ve already been raptured when Jesus first ascended into heaven. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Glory can come now if you’ll just realize who you are in Jesus.
I used to look at all these glossy words of Paul as some type of charm or encouragement he was bringing to his letter readers. If you read all his letters you see a pattern where he “charms the socks off” his readers the first few chapters by telling them all these positive things: his love for them, God’s love for them, why he thanks God for them, how God chose and predestined them, how they are royalty.
I used to look at all these lofty words as a technique Paul used to get his readers to drop their defensives and listen for the real meat of and purpose of his letters, which came toward the end. Paul usually took the 2nd half of his letters to give instructions, to settle disputes, to encourage giving, Christian love, evangelism, and service. Paul was just being a good politician in the opening chapters of his letters, I thought.
And so I overlooked a lot of good doctrine to get to the practical instructions that could help me know how to live. But Paul wasn’t just charming his hearers. He was telling them some very important truths. Paul knew that if we could just grasp how deep and wide and long the love of God is for us, then we would probably have no problems loving parents, spouses, and our neighbor.
Paul knew that if we understood who we are in Christ, and just learned to let Christ live through us, then dissension, gossip, and church splits in the body of believers would be a thing of the past. He knew that if we were full and overflowing with the love and resurrection power of Jesus, then evangelism would be a natural thing that didn’t need much coaxing.
Listen to how Paul began this letter to the Ephesians. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves….
He started this letter by calling the believers in Ephesus saints. Normally we think of a saint as a super Christian who died serving the Lord like Mother Teresa. But Paul called these new believers, who were struggling just like you and me, Saints. He calls us royalty. He says we’re been raptured with Christ. We’re up in heaven looking down now. So live as children of the light.
Don’t let the devil deceive you into thinking you’re a loser waiting to be taken away from it all. You’re a winner. So let go of you’re fears, insecurities, guilt complex, and your sin, and abide in Christ. Make it your one and only goal to know him more. As you abide in Him and He in you, you will be lifted up above whatever trial you face. You will run and not grow weary. You’re yoke of service will be easy and your burden will be light. Amen.
