We tell; most won’t listen. Helplessness is what we often feel as believers who see the rapture drawing ever closer and what’s coming for those who will be left behind. If you read my article, Rapture: Before the Final Sunset, here on RaptureReady.com, then you’ll remember me saying, “I’m tired of trying to shake church people awake and convince them of truth. I think I will enjoy a brief season of helping a people who will be desperately looking for answers and food and Jesus. Let’s focus on them for a while.” Them, meaning those who will be left behind. My goal is to build a sanctuary for them here in my home. I hope you will join me and do the same.
I’m a doer, a put-something-in-my-hand kind of girl. I have the heart of Mary and the hands of Martha. In my frustration with blinded believers and the unwilling-to-listen lost, I need to do something productive with my time as I keep looking up, watching for Jesus, and listening for the trumpet blast. I’m sure you can relate. We need to be on mission, missionaries who just happen to reach a tribulation-dwelling people.
It’s not easy allowing ourselves to see them as anything other than nameless, faceless people who refused Jesus before the rapture. If we can lump them into a broad category like that, “the left behind,” then our hearts are a little safer. That is unless you know and love living, breathing lost people, family and friends who think you’re crazy. In that case, it’s nearly impossible to get them off your mind these days. Whether or not you’re close to any who will be left behind, this is a moment when you need to allow yourself to feel compassion for them, even at the risk of your heart. That’s the actual point of this article, my challenge for you to see the left behind as your mission field.
While I was writing Daybreak, Last Days of Light and reading the passage below, the profound concept of the unborn-again sheep settled into my heart. I’ve never looked at the left behind the same since. Once we’re gone, people, even some of those we’ve been telling the truth, will remember our warnings, call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved.
“…for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17).
They, those who call upon Jesus for salvation, will be His sheep someday. They’re just currently unborn-again, not born-again as of yet. We see space and time differently than the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Our finite minds see people as currently lost or found. He sees those who will be His as His already and has compassion and love for them. What if we imitate the Shepherd, the one who will guide them to springs of the water of life and give them springs of hope? Could we embrace the same call as Peter, whose Shepherd commanded him to feed His lambs and sheep and begin to scatter their food while they are yet to be born?
I grieve for them, our future family, who will be saved during the seven-year tribulation and become tribulation saints. I can’t imagine the regret they will experience over having not heeded our warning in time. The desperation they will feel as they struggle to survive from one day to the next is beyond what any horror movie could depict. They will enter our homes, some good and honest people, feeling guilty for breaking and entering. If they find our welcome and provision, how might that change the course of their short-lived existence? Maybe the nourishment, both physical and spiritual, that they find in our homes-turned-sanctuaries will give them the strength to endure just long enough to lead others to Jesus.
And then there are those who haven’t had family and friends warning of the rapture and tribulation, so the chaos and terror will come upon them like a thief and tempt them to look for hope from anyone who arrives on the scene with answers. We, those of us who see the scene currently being set for what the Bible calls the beast system, can warn them of the Antichrist and the mark.
In His grace and mercy, God will offer salvation to these lost souls through the two witnesses, the sealed 144,000, and the angel who carries the Gospel across the globe. Just like now, their salvation isn’t on our shoulders since the Spirit is the only one who can convict of sin and draw a soul to God through Jesus. But if nothing else, we can leave behind messages of love and hope and guidance that may assist these powerful agents of God in sharing the Gospel.
I want to camp for a moment on the 144,000 who will be sealed, as recorded in Revelation 7. These will be young men from all the tribes of Israel except Dan, indicating they will likely be scattered worldwide. This next thought is absolute wild speculation on my part, maybe even wishful thinking. Considering the population of Jews in the United States is over seven million, compared to nine-and-a-half million in Israel, we can surmise that some of the 144,000 will be here in the U.S. In that case, can we dare even hope that one of these great evangelists might be one who would stumble upon our provisions and use them to advance their divine mission to spread the Gospel?
Remember, I’m a fiction writer, so I sure can spin a tale. But if God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20), then can we put anything past Him as He pulls out all the stops to reach the lost? The point of my wild speculation is to suggest that this could be way more spectacular than we can envision here on this side of the rapture. In that case, shouldn’t we pull out all the stops as well and even ask Him specifically to use what we gather and prepare?
I have no clue how this will all work; I just know that I want to give all I have to aid in spreading the Gospel to those who will be more receptive to it than our current comfy Starbucks-drinking, easy-life-living population. With a world shattered around them, that’s what will happen. Desperation will cause millions to listen and respond to Jesus. Let’s make it our goal to fill our homes with Bibles, verses, and warnings and leave behind a legacy of our faith as we share our own stories. Our efforts won’t be in vain.
Maybe a few of us who prepare sanctuaries will have our homes destroyed by an unmanned aircraft when the pilot is caught up while already in the clouds. Or maybe our sanctuaries will be miraculously spared just for His purposes. Whatever happens, let’s give Him something to work with, acts of love our hands and hearts have provided.
It’s more than spiritual preparations we can make. Recently, I went into a guest bathroom where I have supplies stored. Tears sprang to my eyes when I considered how it might feel for someone who opens the drawer and finds much-needed cough medications and vitamins and bandages. Then I looked at my stocked food pantry. I don’t think we can even imagine the gratitude that will settle upon our home invaders at our invitation to take what they need and share what they can. I plan to leave a note in the drawer telling them that Love left this for them, that God, who is love, prompted my heart to prepare for them.
What better invitation is there to know Jesus than to introduce Him as the God who provides? Bandages and cans of soup will go far beyond meeting physical needs and hopefully will open their hearts to Jesus.
Over the next two articles, I will cover in greater detail how I will provide both physically and spiritually for those who will enter my no-longer-needed home. Maybe a few of my ideas and some I’ve found online will be what you decide to use. And I’m sure, with the Spirit’s leading, you will come up with ideas of your own to implement. Until then, please take these words to heart: Those who will be left behind to endure seven years of spiritual nightfall need you to cast light into their darkness. They need to know who you are and how your life was impacted by Jesus. You can only do that if you see them, the unborn-again sheep, as real, in-need, soon-to-be-family people.
This feels enormous to me. I’m guessing it’s the same with you. In my last article, I suggested we go out (in the rapture) in a blaze of God’s glory. What better way can we show His glory than to cast light ahead onto the mission field of the tribulation? What better way can we show His love than to shepherd and tend His sheep (John 21:15-17)?
Blessings, my family,
Lisa
I will be posting upcoming article links here for quick access: Prepare a Sanctuary.
Reference:
Jewish Virtual Library – Population of Jews in the U.S. (This is by state if you want to check out the population in your area.)
Jewish Virtual Library – Population of Jews in Israel
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Free Resources:
Daybreak, Last Days of Light – Free book download
How Do I Share What I Know? Rapture Ready Series
Prepare Your Heart – Rapture Ready series
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About Daybreak with Lisa:
Daybreak is a way of life, one of exposing the rising darkness and telling of the soon-coming Light. We only have so many daybreaks remaining before that final sunset when we, as believers, are caught up in the air to meet Jesus.
As an author, Lisa Heaton is a storyteller with a heart for truth. Her greatest desire in her fiction and nonfiction work is to challenge the reader to discover the truth of who Jesus is and who they are to Him. Now, here as we wait for the any-minute arrival of Jesus for His church in the rapture, Lisa’s latest mission is to warn the lost and wake the found and to help others discover their unique voice to share the truth of our times. More at DaybreakWithLisa.com. Contact Lisa at Lisa@LisaHeatonBooks.com.