Many Christians believe that the Lord Jesus will come for those who belong to Him before the period of the Great Tribulation. They are known as pre-Tribulationists, and I am counted in their number. This gathering of the Saints is known as the Rapture. If we are correct, what do you suppose the world will be like after the Rapture?

We all have thought of the immediate results. We can picture auto accidents and plane crashes as cars, trucks and airplanes have no one guiding them. Have you noticed the tractor-trailers with a Cross of lights on the radiator? My guess is the driver belongs to Jesus. Can you imagine the destruction caused by one of those 80,000 pound vehicles when the driver is gone?

There are many further implications of a pre-Tribulation Rapture. First, there will be no children. Jesus said that His Kingdom was composed of such as the little children. He will gather the innocent children to Him on that day.

The economy of all Western nations will collapse. The non-Christian Eastern nations may not be affected. If you remove a portion of the population of any economy, there will be an economic contraction. If you remove a productive, tax-paying, stable segment of a nation, its economy will collapse. If you think roads and bridges are in need of repair now, when the tax base has been decimated, the infrastructure will deteriorate even further. There will be no new houses built, because there will be a supply of empty homes.

Dogs are domesticated animals, but animals nonetheless. A pack of domestic dogs can be dangerous. Packs of hungry, ownerless dogs will prey on whatever they can in order to eat. That is, until they are eaten themselves. Most farmers are conservative and Christian by nature. You have to be a person of faith to put seed in the ground and wait for a good crop. Who will feed the country if a large part of the farmers are gone?

What will society be like without children and without the stabilizing, moral effect of Christians and the Church? There is a film entitled “Escape from New York”. It stars Kurt Russell. It is a story of the island of Manhattan that has been made into a maximum-security prison. To those who live outside the big cities, this seems only fitting. In the film prisoners are turned loose inside of Manhattan and, other than food drops, are left to fend for themselves. There are no children. There is no morality. No one cleans or repairs the streets or buildings. The infrastructure is crumbling. The biggest criminals are running the show. It is probably a prophetic picture of life without the Church.

This is not a situation that I would wish on anyone, and yet I look forward to the Coming of Jesus. Not for the destruction or trials or tribulation that will ensue, but because the Name of God will be honored. This will not happen immediately. It will take seven years if the assumption that the Tribulation will last for seven years is correct. (The Revelation does not so state and Daniel only infers this.) But the end result will be the honoring of God and the glorification of Jesus. Maranatha!! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.