The Rapture Song and Your Advent Hope
Were you traumatized as a child by Larry Norman’s The Rapture Song, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” the soundtrack for the ‘under-rated’ “Thief in the Night” film? Go to You Tube right now and listen to a new song that will heal you of your fears. The song is written and performed by Randy Bonifield at Christ Community Church, and is titled, “Left Behind (The Rapture Song).” My sister, Debbie, recommended it, at least I think this is the song she recommended. (The next entry on You Tube, title “The Rapture Song,” is equally hilarious, but it may be offensive in language to some and so I am not linking you to it or recommending it.) However, either song makes the point well and I would like to do my part this Advent season to encourage you to lift up your eyes to the horizon to see by faith the coming Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is he who said upon his first Advent, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, would I have told you? I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also.” Our Lord Jesus also said at his coming to earth, just before he died on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.” In this blessed Advent season, “trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.”
By the way, if you read Jesus’ words immortalized in Larry Norman’s song, you may discover that you have a different take than Norman. In “I Wish We’d All been Ready” and in the eschatological view it promotes, the person taken is assumed to be “raptured,” and thus a Christian taken out of the tribulation. The person left behind is a person who has rejected Christ and thus left behind to suffer the tribulation. You may read Jesus’ words carefully in context and discover that the person who is “left behind” is the blessed of God and that the person who is “taken,” is the one swept away in God’s judgement. Read Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 24, specifically verses 36-51. One contextual key is that (37-39) reads, “For as in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man.” Then in (40) Matthew writes, “Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left…” Who was swept away in Noah’s day? The wicked person. Who was “left behind”? Noah and his family were kept safe in the ark. In these last days, who is “taken”? The wicked will be swept away once again. Who will be “left behind,” kept safe in Christ, the ark of God’s covenant? All of us who trust in Christ and who have embraced his holy gospel. There are more contextual keys, but I thought I would give you one to get you going in the right direction.
As we adjust our views during this Advent season, our brother in Christ, Larry Norman, is suffering poor health, dying in his home in Oregon, as far as I know. Please join me in praying for him as he most likely is nearing his appointed time to be kept safe in the loving arms of his Lord and Redeemer, Jesus. “In life and in death we belong to the Lord.” This is our Advent hope and we share this hope with every eschatological brand of Christian. Some have a more elaborate eschatology than I do. Mine is quite simple: “In life and in death we belong to the Lord.” May your Advent and the following 12 Days of Christmas usher you into a New Year filled with a certain hope in Christ regardless of recession, war, famine, less-than-ideal politics, or anything else the most popular Psychic in America forecasts as she becomes a TV reality queen.
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I have to admit that for many years I had the Matthew 24 passage backwards. It’s what the church I attended as a youth taught, and I had no reason to believe otherwise. Until, one day, I read the passage and the context became very clear! It was one of those humbling light-bulb-lights-up-what-have-I-done-with-my-life-thank-you-Dear-Holy-Spirit-for-revealing-Your-Truth moments where one realizes that nearly everything one believed, debated, argued, taught, and sometimes hurt others for was not the truth.
It is good that your grace is showing with your comment, “This is our Advent hope and we share this hope with every eschatological brand of Christian.” Preach it, brother! And let us all practice what ye preached!
By the bye, do you know the background of the Randy Bonifield parody?
no. the last few lines of the song sound to me as if “Tom,” Randy’s pastor is going to preach from the book of Daniel directly following the song. Christ Community Church in Leawood Kansas is a multi-site congregation. It’s web site does not tell me up front of any denominational affiliation. My sister called me and said that her children didn’t understand the song at all and then she realized that her children have been raised with a completely different eschatology than we were raised to hold. When Glenda and I listened to the song, our children crowded around us asking, “What’s so funny? What? What did he say? Why is that funny Dad?” Glenda and I were rolling on the floor in laughter. We are content to be raising our children to hold to a different eschatology than the one offered to us in our childhood.
nathan.