Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Bride and the Wheat: Why I Unpacked My Rapture Bag

By David Ryser
(Written shortly after the New Year, 2009)

The holidays are past, and I am catching up on my reading.  I am especially interested in Christian postings concerning the passing of the old year and expectations for the coming year.  The second coming of Christ is a popular theme, both looking back and looking forward, and one person sums up the feelings of many by saying, “I was disappointed that He did not come….”

Reading this statement, I am reminded about why I recently unpacked my rapture bag.

What is a rapture bag, you ask?  A rapture bag is a small to medium sized tote bag loaded with all of the things one may need to make the trip into the heavenlies more comfortable.  Because many of us are so far from God, the trip might be prolonged, and there is no sense in having it being any more uncomfortable than it needs to be.  In my case, the bag contained a couple of power bars, a liter sized bottle of water, a polar fleece blanket in case I became cold along the way (there is no real defense against becoming hot--extreme heat is a bad sign the trip has gone awry), a good Christian magazine (which was very difficult to find--the good part, anyway), and a good Christian book (equally difficult to find, and for the same reason).

I unpacked my rapture bag because I looked away from the problems in the Middle East, the global economy, worldwide weather patterns, earthquake frequency charts, and the latest candidate for the office of Antichrist--and I looked instead at the Bible--for clues concerning the return of Jesus.  Two words in Scripture repeated themselves in connection with the Lord’s return: Bride and Harvest (specifically Wheat in Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43).  As I considered these many scriptures, I came to the conclusion that the return of Christ is not imminent; or, at least, not as soon as we would like to think (and my power bars and bottled water have expiration dates on them).

Neither the Bride nor the Harvest is ready.

The scriptures concerning the Bride being prepared for Jesus seem to focus on the areas of expectancy (the parable of the ten virgins, for example) and beauty (too many examples to cite).  Considering the former--expectancy--I realized that our expectancy is not that of a loving bride who is lovesick until her bridegroom’s appearance.  We are eager for our Bridegroom’s return when things are bad and we want to be rescued (and begin to enjoy the blessings of heaven).  Considering the latter--beauty--it occurred to me that kings marry only beautiful brides.  There is no politically correct way to put this: Kings do not marry homely women.  Why?  Because they don’t have to.  As I look at the Bride, even though I am not a king, I would not marry this woman--I would not even date her.  She needs some work, maybe a lot of work.  The Bride is not ready for the Bridegroom.  Until we admit this, we will not be motivated to do anything about it.

The Bible says that Jesus is coming back for a Bride without spot, not a Bride that could be named Spot.

As for the Harvest/Wheat, I remain intrigued by the parable of the wheat and the tares, in Matthew 13, cited above.  We are not even left guessing about the interpretation of the parable, as Jesus interprets it for us.  What stands out most to me in this parable is the ripeness of the harvest which is the signal that the time of reaping has come.  When wheat ripens, the kernels of wheat that are the fruit of the harvest look (and are) exactly like the original seed that was planted.  That seed would be Jesus.  Do we look--act, speak, minister--like Jesus?  Are we dead to self while being filled with the life of the original seed that was planted?

Let’s be honest, the Harvest is not ready--many times we can’t even tell the wheat from the tares much less argue the wheat is ripe.

It’s easy to criticize the unprepared state of the Bride until we realize the Bride is nothing more than the aggregate of her members; in other words, I am the Bride (and so are you).  When I stopped looking at the things I mentioned earlier to signal the return of Jesus (Israel, floods, earthquakes, famines, wars, etc.), I began to look somewhere else--into my own heart.  Am I prepared as a Bride for my Bridegroom?  Do I love Him with all of my heart and yearn for Him with all of my being?  Am I producing a harvest--a harvest of the life of Jesus that was planted in me--in my life?  Am I accurately representing God in the world through my speech and actions?  Am I doing the things Jesus did and saying the things Jesus said?  Does my touch impart life or death to others?

Is Jesus returning in this New Year?  I don’t know; I suspect not, but to find out, all I have to do is to look at the Bride/Wheat.

And to do that, I need only to look in the nearest mirror.


Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

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