Counted Worthy to Reign

         In Luke’s version of Jesus’ teaching on Mount Olivet, he followed the same sequence of events, as Matthew and Luke, but was led by the Spirit to add a few extra details for the benefit of any Gentile believers who would not be so familiar with the Old Testament prophecies.
      Like the other gospel writers, Luke relays Jesus’ parable concerning the fig tree. Jesus linked the growth and fruit-bearing pattern of the trees to know the season to looking at the kairos signs in our time to know what season we are in. This is why Jesus said,  “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).
         The phrase about being counted worthy simply refers to knowing you are in Christ. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, then you are already worthy—not because of your own works, but through the finished work of Jesus. We are counted righteous through His shed blood. If you’re not sure, then it goes without saying that now is the time to make sure. “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).
            End-Time Lesson: When the dawn of the 7th Day is shattered by a glorious trumpet sound, every believer will be immediately judged as being “in Christ.”  When the veil over the spiritual realm is pulled back and God’s throne is revealed, Revelation 6:16 records this moment of truth for those left behind: “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great Day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
        Hopefully, you know how to answer that question. If not, we’re told in the very next chapter, which is a vision of the raptured Church. “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:9-10).
          So if you think you cannot stand the immorality, deceit, injustice, and lawlessness that Jesus warned us would come, this is what lies ahead for every believer who endures and does not let go of the truth of the rapture and the hope of our calling. Oh, by the way, the things that will come to pass that we escape by virtue of the gracious gift of righteousness include the wrath of the Day, the shaking of the heavens and earth, the mark of the Beast, and the command to worship the image of the Beast. We escape all the trumpet and bowl judgments that are God’s vengeance against evil. In fact, one of the main purposes of the rapture is to gather us to God’s throne so that we can be seated as the heavenly immortal government and execute this justice!