This last Sunday morning after church, a mildly frustrated father asked me, “Did you ever accidentally leave any of your kids behind?”
And he proceeded to call his little sons by name:
“Ethan, come on back! Don’t disappear again! Nehemiah, where are you going now?”
I was sympathetic, of course:
“Oh yes, more than once!”
I remembered, as a matter of fact, the time when our neighbor was annoyed with us because he saw our child outside crying after the Haley bus had pulled away on a Sunday morning, and he decided to take her into his home and comfort her until her parents returned in the afternoon. I think he fed her a second breakfast, too. With that particular incident, I don’t even remember how long it took before we recognized the error of our ways.
I told the father on Sunday that we had adopted a counting system-—“Sound off”—where the children would recite their personal numbers, from 1 (the oldest) to 6 or 7 (the youngest) and if there was a number missing, we would stop the proceedings and search for the missing child. That didn’t always work, but most of the time it helped.
But I think it really doesn’t even hurt children to have a somewhat healthy fear of being left behind. It might give them an incentive to not run into the house to get one more thing at the last minute without telling anybody when they’re supposed to be buckled in the car. It might prevent kids from being tempted to take a side trip away from the rest of the family during a hike. The experience of crying, panicked, in Aisle Five when Mom’s in Aisle Four might remind them not to leave her sight.
In fact, a healthy fear of being left behind would be great for adults, too, and that is NOT in the sense of not having the latest iPhone. After all, if you don’t look forward to The Rapture with starry-eyed anticipation, you can at least be afraid of being here on earth during the Great Tribulation. And if the Lord still delays His coming, a good fear of Hell might be more convincing than an anemic longing for Heaven.
Most people still remember the Left Behind books by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. They consisted of fictional accounts of the adventures of people who didn’t make the grade at the time of the Rapture. Of course, it’s all speculation anyway, because in books like that there’s always some remote possibility that the left-behinder can survive by keeping his wits about him for seven years and refusing to take the Mark of the Beast. Unfortunately, there’s a much higher likelihood of martyrdom for a true believer than survival.
But the books are fun adventure, if you don’t mind reading about all the death and despair that comes with being around during the judgment of the world. Surprisingly, I never did read any of the books when they were popular. Probably I was too busy in the here and now, making chicken and biscuits and washing dishes. But I was pretty sure Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye weren’t disappointed that I didn’t read them. I think their intended audience was the unbeliever.
To illustrate the need for unbelievers (or maybe we should call them “pre-believers”) to read the books, here is one unbeliever’s idea of a romantic song that I happened to hear on the car radio a few years ago, when I was on the “wrong station.”
Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through, come on
Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you
Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you
Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you
Love, you're not alone
Oh, I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, heaven, heaven
Yeah, I'm gonna stand by you
(from “Stand By You” by Rachel Platton, 2016)
It is written out of ignorance, or maybe defiance of the Creator. Underlying it, this unbeliever does seem to have a fear of being left behind, but rather than seeking how to not have that happen, she grants herself a make-believe conception of Hell, which in her world is a little warm, like sitting too close to the campfire till you’re sweaty and your hair is a bit singed. But it’s still survivable. And as long as you have your boyfriend there with you, who also is a little smoky smelling, Hell isn’t so bad. It’s just bright orange with some acrid smoky haze—like a bar, more or less. Or maybe she doesn’t even really think Hell is much more than high gas prices or a bad day at work.
As I see it, the unbeliever, who chooses never to receive forgiveness for his sins through faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, faces two possibilities:
1). He will be left behind when he dies and the bus leaves for Heaven, and he will spend eternity in Hell.
2). He will be left behind when Christ returns for His Church at the Rapture so he will experience the wrath of God and the atrocities of man during the Dynasty of the AntiChrist. That is, unless or until he is killed, at which time, #1 still goes into effect.
When I lived in Arizona, I was always taking too long to get ready for school and then missing the bus, until Mom decided she’d had enough. The next time I missed the bus, she told me I had to ride my bike to school—she was not going to drive me there. Not only would I miss my early classes, but riding my bike home in the afternoon was actually pretty dangerous in Arizona. Fortunately, my dad must have heard about it, and “happened” to drive by my geolocation on the way to a hardware store in his air conditioned pickup truck. When he found me, I had clambered down into a cement irrigation ditch to put some of the water on my head. He rescued me from the afternoon heat and saved me the work of pedaling home. I didn’t forget that and a healthy fear of missing the bus was thereby planted.
I think I got a little taste of Hell that day, in an extremely small way. Because real Hell has no escape, no relief—not even a temporary one—and no companionship, just misery. The poem above, about walking through Hell together? Not possible. Hell is a burning fire, but along with that is total darkness—outer darkness. It is not possible to visit with loved ones or even to play poker with the devil. It will be the literal fulfillment of the unbeliever’s request to God to “Just leave me alone!!” That’s exactly what will happen.
Concerning the wrath of God, well, there is an escape! Here’s the verse about it:
“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." ~Luke 21:36
This is no Darby speculation, folks, it’s Jesus talking. Now here’s a shot of the presentation page in the Cambridge Bible my boyfriend Joe gave me the year I graduated from high school, because he didn’t want me reading that old Catholic RSV Bible anymore.
You can ignore the toddler artwork. Over the years, our kids got a hold of my Bible and embellished it, and one of my babies swallowed part of a page in Ephesians, too. But see what I wrote at the bottom? The two passages are as follows:
Revelation 7:9-17:
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’
“And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, ‘Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.’
“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, ‘What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?’
“And I said unto him, ‘Sir, thou knowest.’
“And he said to me, ‘These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
“‘They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’”
And Revelation 20:12-15:
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged, every man according to their works.
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
There is a Rapture. It is our Blessed Hope. But even after the Rapture, there is still the possibility of forgiveness of sins. Jesus died to save those who miss the Rapture as well, if they finally decide to accept the Gospel message in the midst of the Tribulation. There’s a happy ending for them, but it’s a rough road to travel.
In summary, never receiving Christ as your Savior is certain death. You’ll be left behind.
Receiving Christ, whether it is before you die, before the Rapture, or after the Rapture, is Eternal Life. You won’t be left behind.
You must decide. But if you’re still here when I leave, you can have my Bible. That one has been rebound in kangaroo leather …
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