Hindson: The promise of the rapture is only for real Christian believers. Not people that just profess it or have some mental assent toward it, but have really made a commitment of their heart to Christ by faith. When the rapture promise is given in 1 Thessalonians 4, it says there very clearly “the dead in Christ.” So those are Christians who’ve already died, spirit’s gone to heaven, “absent from the body, present with the Lord.” But their body’s in the grave. At the rapture their spirit is reunited with their body which is going to be resurrected.

And then he says, “And we which are alive and remain.” And he’s writing to the believers at Thessalonica. So in the rapture the dead in Christ are raised; the living in Christ are caught up in the rapture. Wherever you put the timing of it, the fact of it is clear in the Bible. There is a time when Christ will return, the trumpet will sound, the archangel will shout, the dead in Christ will be raised, and the living will be caught up.

The real question is, if Jesus is coming for His own, is He coming for you? Because for those that are left behind at that point, then the trouble of the tribulation period breaks out: the wrath of the Lamb, the wrath of God, and even the wrath of Satan. You don’t want to be left behind. You want to know that when Jesus comes, He’s coming for you. You want to know that if you were to die and you were to step into eternity, you’re going to meet Him either as your Savior or as your judge. And you have to decide what that’s going to be.

I want to urge you; Bible prophecy’s not written to just stimulate our curiosity about future events, knowing how to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. It’s really written to prepare us to be ready to meet the Lord when He comes. This should give you an impassioned desire to say, “I want to know Him personally. If He’s that wise and that brilliant and that omniscient that He knows the end from the beginning, I need to know that I know Him. If He’s the one who died for my sins and rose from the dead, if He’s the one that can change my life, I need to know that I’ve committed my life to Him.”