Preserved Until The Rapture
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)
Our God is the God if peace. Peace is the Greek word eirene, which means calmness, perfect wellbeing, harmonious relationships, quietness, rest, contentment, salvation. It means wholeness in every area of life. in Hebrew, peace is the word shalom. Our God is the God of wholeness. We must have the God of Peace to have the peace of God. Jesus is called our peace, and Holy Spirit brings peace.
Sanctify wholly means we are set apart for God in every area of our lives. This affects our whole being, not just part of us. It pertains to our spirit, souls, and bodies. Humans are tri-part beings, made up of a spirit, soul, and a body. The spirit is our deepest part, our inner man. Next is the soul, our the middle man that is made of the mind, will, and emotions. Finally, there is the body, or the outer man. God wants us to be whole, or complete, in all three parts.
Preserved is the Greek word tereo, which means to guard, to watch over, to preserve, to keep, to watch with watchful care, safekeeping. God is watching over our total being, and keeping and preserving us. Blameless means without blame, faultless. God is keeping us and making sure we remain blameless and faultless through the blood of Jesus.
The coming of Christ refers to the rapture, or the catching away of the body of Christ. He will appear in the air to catch us up to be with Him and take us to the third heaven.
The God of peace, the God of wholeness, will keep us set apart from anything that defiles. He keeps us preserved blameless and without fault in our spirits, souls, and bodies until Christ comes for His bride. He will protect, preserve, and keep our entire person until the rapture. As long as we remain in Christ, we are preserved until Christ comes. This is a work of God, not man’s work. Yet, we are to work with God and cooperate with Him.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
Christ has begun a good work in us, and we will be preserved and kept blamelss and faultless in God’s sight until we are caught away off this earth. That takes the pressure off of us to try to be good enough to make it to heaven. Jesus already did it for us and He is keeping us blameless through His shed blood as long as we follow Him. Isn’t that wonderful news?
