Are you rapture-ready?

xdisciplex as I see it in Scripture all Christians will be raptured at the same time whether they are ready or not. To be ready means we are dying to ourselves moment by moment and allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives.

If we are being obedient then we are going to be ready. If we are being faithful we are going to be ready. If we are overcoming the flesh, the world and Satan we are going to be ready.

Those Christians that are disobedient, unfaithful and being overcome by one, two or all three of our enemies will not be ready, but will stand ashamed at the coming of Christ.

Hope that helps.

 

To answer your thread question -- Yes!! And, looking forward to it if I'm fortunate enough to be here on earth when Christ's followers are taken. Hope to see you there!

 

Does looking forward to it automatically mean you're ready?

Nope, looking forward to it doesn't automatically mean one is ready. Being saved by grace through faith does. I have no doubts regarding God's ability to keep that which I've commited unto Him.

 

xdisciplex,
Rapture ready means to live like Jesus Christ could come at any moment, but plan as if He weren't coming for a 1,000 years. You can look forward to the rapture and not be ready. I am looking forward to the rapture, but am not ready to leave yet. I wan't to get married, have kids, be a missionary, etc. before I leave.
Everyone who is saved (born again) will NOT go through the Great Tribulation. 1 Corinthians 15:51, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." This verse doesn't say 'some' will be changed in the rapture, but all will be changed.
The Great Tribulation is the wrath of God being unleashed upon the earth and the inhabitors that rejected Christ Jesus as their saviour. As from what I've read in the Bible there will not be anyone who is born again that has to go through the rapture. I know some about the 144,000 jews (but not enough to explain it) As far as I know, there will be people that get saved during the tribulation, but those are the ones who had never before heard of Jesus Christ's saving grace. People who had the chance to accept Jesus Christ before the tribulation will not get another chance to do so during/after the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 2).
To help explain the story of the 10 virgins here is an excerpt of the
KJV Study Bible:
"Matthew 25:1-13. The Parable of the 10 virgins explains the place of Israel's true converts of the Great Tribulation period in relation to the church. These virgins are the attendants at the wedding, not multiple brides. The one bride of Christ is the church, John the Baptist is the best man (John 3:29), and the prepared virgins are the saved of the Great Tribulation. While all share as the people of God, the church is accorded a unique relationship to the Master. The lamps seem to refer to their lives which are either prepared or uprepared. The oil refers to that which prepares them to give forth light and may properly be illustrative of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. The fact that they all slept while the bridegroom tarried implies a period of Jewish inactivity during the church age, while the bride groom gathered."
To further explain the foolish virgins here is an excerpt of the KJV Parallel Bible Commentary:
"Foolish means 'stupid', and is the designation for those who are carelessly unprepared. They had no oil at all, not an insufficient amount. The refusal of the five prepared virgins to share with those uprepared must not be taken as cruelty. If the oil represents personal possession of the Holy Spirit, He cannot be shared but must regenerate each person individually. Thus the Lord responds, I know you not (vs. 12), indicative of 7:23. False proffession will save no one and only brings the final judgment of Christ upon the unsaved."
I hope that this helps a little bit.

 

Great question. If you will notice in that parable they were left out of the wedding feast. The wedding feast takes place after the rapture. They saw the bridegroom, but were left out because they weren't prepared. That is a picture of judgment, so they stood before the judge, which means if they stood before the judge they will be raptured out, because the judgment happens after the rapture.

Hope that helps.