A Place In the Wilderness

The Need for Maturity in Life

…holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God. (Col. 2:19)

…but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. (Eph. 4:15 16)

…till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ… (Eph. 4:13)

Paul tells us that we must all grow with the growth of God. He also says that we must grow according to the working in full measure of each individual part of the body of Christ, until we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. It is altogether a matter of the maturity of the divine life within us. This cannot be stressed enough.

In order to have the clouds of confusion cleared away, that we might clearly see our present condition and situation, we must understand what the rapture really is. It’s not some kind of magical event that just happens to occur. Nor is it simply some point in time when God decides to take all Christians away from the earth. No, the rapture is simply the culmination of a lifelong process through which every Christian is intended to pass.

Simply look at the example the Lord Jesus set before us.¹ The seed is first planted into the good earth. It starts to grow, sprouting up from the ground. It proceeds to grow with its blade shooting upward toward the sky. Near the end of its lifecycle, grain starts to appear in the ear. The grain begins to ripen, changing color into a golden brown. When it is fully ripened—when the grain is ready to be reaped—only then does the harvest takes place.

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¹ Mark 4:28