Ready?

This Sunday at sundown begins Rosh Hashanah which is the Jewish Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23).  It marks the beginning of the Jewish civil year and the calling of all males age 20 and over to come to Jerusalem for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, ten days later.

It is this particular “holiday” that brings on date setting for the rapture.  Why?  The four previous feasts were each marked by God with a most important event: Passover (the death of Jesus), Unleavened Bread (His burial), Firstfruits (His resurrection), and the Feast of Weeks (the coming of the Spirit, Acts 2).  If God hit the first four on the head, there is good reason to believe God will bring about something big on the last three. Thus, Rosh Hashanah could be the time of the rapture.

Jesus talked about grasping the season (Matthew 24:32) and not knowing the hour or day (Matthew 24:36) (Rosh Hashanah this year is from Sunday eve to Tuesday eve) so the thinking that Trumpets could be the time of the Rapture is not out of bounds.

However, date setting has no place for we can’t and we don’t know the date of our demise – it could be tonight or in three days or three years.  We cannot know our appointment with death so we must be prepared today – every day!

So, is your grip (luggage) packed and at the door?  That is, are you ready to take a BIG trip?  Are you ready to run out the door when the horn sounds?  Are you ready to exit this life?

I John 3:2-3, When He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

What does it mean to have your grip ready? It means you are ready to travel.

To be ready for the trip of a lifetime – the trip into the future and into another world -begins with having a ticket.  Tickets can be had but they are incredibly expensive!  You have two options:  pay for it yourself or let someone pay for you.  To pay yourself, you have to live your entire life without sin, without selfishness, and without rebellion.  You have to live a sinless life!   To date, nobody has been able to pay the price so this option is really not an option.

The other means to a ticket is to accept a ticket paid for by Another.  The gift ticket for you was paid even when you were His enemy and everything you did was offensive to Him.  Acquiring the gift ticket requires admitting sins, rejecting sins and rebellion, and humbly bowing in submission to ask for the ticket.  Receiving the ticket makes the taker a huge debtor to the One who paid such high price.  If a person truly rejects self and embraces the Giver, it will show in a life of humility, thanksgiving, and service even to enemies and those undeserving.

Also, to be ready to depart means cleaning up problems the holder has incurred after getting the ticket.  It means the holder has sought to address all that others rightfully hold against them.  It means that the ticket holder has been doing all the Payer has asked and not doing what offends the Payer.

So, is your grip packed and at the door?  You may not have tomorrow or next month!  You’d best have your grip ready – be ready to run out the door and not miss the trip of all trips.  Do you have the ticket?

(Remember that 5 of the 10 waiting for the call in Matthew 25:1-13 thought they were ready and they were not!  They were religious, believed in God, were good people, were givers, etc. They were dutiful in knowing and obeying the Old Testament, but they had not embraced Jesus and thus did not have the Spirit and thus they did not have the ticket.)