And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. Revelation 10:10
One of our granddaughters has a serious problem with lactose intolerance, a problem that is inherited through her mother’s side of the family. Such a problem is not easy for a little girl to understand, although she is learning to handle it. When she sees a special treat, such as a cone of ice cream, she is naturally attracted to it. Before she learned better, she would take the cone, and enjoy the ice cream as much as the other children did. But within a few minutes, the enjoyment of the delicious ice cream would be all over, and she would be doubled over in pain. Something that started out being sweet would turn out to be bad news. It was little the little book in our text, with a sweet message that has a bitter turn. Prophecy is like that.
One aspect of prophecy of which we are all aware is the Rapture. Although this great imminent event is not spoken about or preached on or made as much of as it was a few decades ago, the Rapture is an event that we are eagerly awaiting. There are some days when we find ourselves bracing like a bird in a meadow for that great launch into the skies to meet our Saviour. We listen with delight whenever someone mentions the Rapture during a word of ministry or reads a portion of Scripture that refers specifically to the Rapture. We rejoice in the knowledge that this great event will take us out of this vale of tears and take us to be forever with the Lord. This great hope has been the comfort of saints down through the ages, and many of our loved ones who have since departed lived and died rejoicing in that blessed hope. And yet, as we consider the Rapture, we know that it will be a great moment of separation. Some dear ones who are still on our prayer lists will not be making that journey to the skies. Some of those who are precious to us will fail to hear that great trumpet sounding that will catch us away. Relatives, friends, neighbours, fellow workers, and others, will be left behind for judgment when the Rapture calls the redeemed home. That is a solemn thought, a bitter reality that tempers our glorious hope with dire concern for those who must face God’s great storm of judgment.
Beyond the Rapture unfolds God’s great program for that period to follow the age of grace, a time of great tribulation, destruction, and death. The sweetness of knowing that we will be spared this terrible period of divine wrath is mingled with the sorrow that so much of humanity, including most of the people that we know, will be oppressed, persecuted, tortured, and slaughtered during that awful time. The sweetness of the knowledge of Christ’s great victory at Armageddon is mingled with the bitterness of knowing that the defeated will include Christ rejectors, including some of whom we may well know. The sweetness of the anticipation of the Millenium reign is combined with the bitterness of knowing that many of those we love will never see that day.
Amid our longings for our Lord to come for us are our prayers and tears that our loved ones will be ready in time to go with us. -Jim MacIntosh